Rowing: Accidental oarsman who never looked back

Paddy McInnes visits HB Rowing Club at Clive River. Photo / Duncan Brown

Paddy McInnes was a late bloomer and an accidental athlete in rowing.

McInnes picked up a paddle with the Napier Boys' High School crew while a fifth-form boarder at the hostel in 2008.

"I hadn't done any rowing but an older boy [Daniel Kittow] at the hostel had won the Maadi Cup novice cox four the year before and they were looking to replace a [crew member] to hold on to the novy four title so I just got dragged down there and didn't look back," he says.

As an NBHS second XV rugby jock, he initially embraced rowing as a social sport.

"When I went home I found my father [Hamish] and his brother were rowing for Gisborne in their school days so I had a connection in the family," he says of his uncle, John McInnes, of Gisborne.

Even at that stage McInnes was oblivious to the feats of New Zealand greats in the code.

"I think it was the time when the Evers-Swin-dell twins [Georgina and Caroline] were rowing in 2008 but I never really looked at them to say one day I want to be like them," he says, referring to the Bay double gold medallists now married and living in Waikato.

Club level success paved the way to higher echelons.

"Hawke's Bay Rowing Club is definitely the foundation of my career so I always make sure I go to see them every time I come back to any regatta or to coach," he says, saluting Bay mentors Mike Trautvetter, Cedric Bayley and Doc McDonald.

"Mike was my very first coach and they were the old boys of Hawke's Bay rowing back when I was in the lightweight eight.

"The passion they had, I guess, rubbed off on me so what I have now I want to one day give back."

He recently got in touch with the Duffy in School books organisers to front as a role model for the campaign along the East Coast from September 5-20.

"I'll be visiting the lower-decile schools, speaking about my rowing career and presenting books to children," he says.

His farm manager father and mother, Sally Hammerton, of Havelock North, are avid supporters but he also has relatives in England who have fuelled his passion in Europe.