ROWING: Club crews set up for top season

The coxed quadruple scull crew was the toast of the Hawke's Bay Rowing Club's contingent at the Te Awamutu club's annual Lake Karapiro-hosted regatta on Saturday.
Lillie Brownlie, Bridget Edwards, Lidia Pulford, Bianca Buddo and cox Zac Simmons won the girls under-17 coxed quad title before going on to capture the women's club coxed quad title. Brownlie and Edwards completed a hat-trick of titles for the day when they won the senior women's double sculls title.
New Zealand under-19 representative Giacomo Thomas displayed the benefits of his international experience by winning the men's premier single scull title. The Bay club's other winners at the regatta, which attracted eight other North Island clubs, were Adam Tripp and Richard Harrison, who won the men's premier pair title.
The intermediate men's crew of Jack McLeod, Hamish Cowie, Tom Thomas, Patrick McInnes, Alex Wilson, Colin Chisholm, Nick van Voorthuysen and Nick Laracy, coxed by Simmons, finished second in the club eight after a disastrous start.
McInnes and Wilson celebrated their first appearance in a boat together with a second placing in the men's senior pair final. Cowie and Chisholm came third in the men's senior double scull as did Thomas and McLeod in the same event but different division.
Bay club president Neil Pulford was encouraged by the results and excited at the prospect of another successful season. Club crews are focused on retaining the Jury Cup at the Wanganui regatta on November 28.