Some rowers are competing in three events while others have seven.
Partners and families will also join as some members will make a week of it.
“Most of us have been to Twizel with Maadi regattas and things, but this will be the first time that we’ve actually competed as masters,” Loomb says.
“We’re expecting to be competitive but you just don’t know. It’s over two days, so it’s pretty full-on competition.
“It’s going to be a cool week. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m actually towing boats down, so it’s going to be pretty full-on, the first day and a half.
“We’re actually leaving on Thursday and hoping to be in Twizel by lunchtime Friday, so they can rig boats and have a bit of a paddle before the regatta starts on the Saturday.”
After a successful club and school season, Te Awamutu Rowing Club are excited to send such a large number of masters down to compete in the nationals.
There has been a lot of preparation in the lead up to this event.
The crews have put in the hard yards on and off the water, completing long distance rows from Horahora Domain to Lake Karāpiro (approximately 11km), training camps at Mangakino and lots of fundraising.
The main fundraiser was a successful quiz night held at the Pirongia Rugby & Sports Club.
With a full house of more than150 participants, there were raffles on offer and some pretty tricky quiz questions - a great evening all around.
“We’ve had a huge response from the community. At the quiz night out at Pirongia, there were some really cool prizes donated and we raised a lot of money,” Loomb says.
“My company have given us a vehicle to tow the boats down and it’s [all] been very well-received by the community.
“I think because it’s such a diverse array of people that are going, we’ve managed to get money from all different sectors of the community.”
Loomb says that they’re eternally grateful for all the support and they hope to bring back some good results.
Te Awamutu Rowing Club says it wishes its crews luck and looks forward to hearing the results.
