Rowing: Pair add silver to Rotorua's haul

Rotorua's Andre Le Lievre and Connor Broughton won silver medals at the Maadi Secondary Schools Rowing Championships. Photo/Supplied

John Paul College rowers Andre Le Lievre and Connor Broughton collected Rotorua's second medal during the final day of competition at the Maadi Secondary Schools Rowing Championships.

Le Lievre and Broughton, who won gold as novices in the under-18 double last year, collected silver on Saturday in the under-18 lightweight double in Twizel.

The pair started well and led the field for the first quarter of the 2000m race, until the Wakatipu High School crew of Dylan O'Conner and Jacob Flanagan gained the lead.

Broughton and Le Lievre produced a strong finish crossing the line in 7min 03.83sec, two seconds behind the winners.

Broughton described the race as painful.

"We tried to claw them back but just ran out of lake," he said.

He said they knew it was going to be a hard race and had a huge amount of respect for O'Conner and Flanagan, after rowing against them in the under-17 double.

The silver medal was the second gong for Rotorua crews after Hannah Cox collected bronze in the under-17 single sculls.

The Western Heights High School under-18 eight rowed the final event of the regatta competing for the prestigious Maadi Cup.

Although they won their repechage to qualify they finished eighth in the nine-boat final.

Coach Glen Reichardt said it was a particularly fast final with the top four all finishing in under six minutes.

He said the crew rowed an excellent race and posted their fastest finals time of the season.

Western Heights were the first Rotorua rowing crew to qualify for the A final of the eights since Rotorua Boys' High School in 2006.

Following the Maadi Cup Regatta four Rotorua rowers have won trials for the North Island under-18 team.

They are Broughton, Le Lievre, fellow medallist Cox and Sofia Morrell.