Twin Hawke’s Bay rowers choose different paths after US scholarship offers

Twins Megan (left) and Sarah Ritchie racing together at the Maadi Cup before their paths split. Photo / Supplied by Iona College

After 17 years side-by-side and oar to oar, Havelock North twins Sarah and Megan Ritchie are about to row off in different directions for the first time.

Both were offered rowing scholarships at United States universities at the end of their schooling at Iona College.

While Sarah will move offshore on a full-ride scholarship, Megan has chosen to remain in New Zealand.

“It wasn’t an easy decision in any way, shape or form,” Megan told Hawke’s Bay Today.

The sisters have spent the past five years sharing the same boat as members of their school team and the Hawke’s Bay Rowing Club.

Sarah has accepted a scholarship to the University of Oklahoma, covering all the costs for four years, while Megan has decided her future sits just a few hundred kilometres from home in Hawke’s Bay.

“I want to do vet school, and for that degree would be a four-year undergrad and then a four-year post grad, so a total of eight years, and then coming back to New Zealand, I wouldn’t be able to transfer easily, so I’d have to do another one of full vet school here,” Megan says.

“Also, I’ve recently had some back issues, which has kept my rowing to nothing for the past three months.

“And I don’t want to add the pressure on me to be 100% by the time going overseas comes around.”

Megan starts vet school at Massey University in Palmerston North in February and said the decision to separate was emotional, but expected.

“Even if we both stayed in NZ we wouldn’t be on the same island because Sarah was going to Otago for med school,” Megan says.

“We support each other. Sarah’s doing what she loves, and I’m happy for her.”

Sarah, who is going to start her pre-med studies in Oklahoma in August next year, said her pathway began with an unexpected Instagram message.

“I thought it was a scam,” she said.

“I didn’t apply for anything. Oklahoma reached out, then Indiana. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but it turned out to be real.”

She says balancing pre-med studies with 20 hours of training weekly is a challenge she is willing to take.

Sarah Ritchie will study pre-med on a four-year rowing scholarship in Oklahoma. Photo / Supplied by Iona College

Both twins say the lure of the silver fern remains the long-term dream, where they might race alongside each other again.

“I would love to race for New Zealand one day,” Megan says.

“I don’t see us racing against each other, given that the US will allow you to trial for your home country.”

Sarah isn’t the only Hawke’s Bay rower chasing black singlets overseas next year.

From the same school and rowing club, Aishling White is also preparing for her own chapter in the United States.

The 18-year-old has accepted a full-ride scholarship to Eastern Michigan University, where she will study finance and economics while rowing Division 1.

She received scholarship offers from Kansas University, the University of Sacramento in California, and Eastern Michigan.

“It was overwhelming and exciting,” White said of the offers.

“I visited the universities, and they were all phenomenal, but Michigan just felt like the right place. It was one of those things that when you know, you just know.”

Aishling White at Eastern Michigan University, where she will study finance and economics while rowing Division 1. Photo / Supplied by Iona College

White will move in August 2026 and plans to keep training through next year to arrive ready to compete. Her long-term goal mirrors the Ritchie sisters’.

“Representing New Zealand would mean everything,” she says.

“In Michigan, they can help me to get faster, and then, potentially, if I’m at that level, I would love to be offered a trial and come back to wear the fern and represent New Zealand.”

Rower Angalla Carney is also heading to Duke University in North Carolina on a scholarship in 2026.

Formerly of Iona College, Carney completed year 13 at Waikato Diocesan School for Girls, in Hamilton. She has represented New Zealand in the under-19 team, among other achievements.