Aramoho Whanganui Rowing Club bring home golds from New Zealand Rowing Championships

Aramoho Whanganui Rowing Club's men's winning intermediate coxed quad scull crew; From left, Zac Visser, Logan Joubert, Lauren Davies, Quin Vivian and Ross Llaneta.

Aramoho Whanganui Rowing Club won four national titles, contributing to a fifth-equal overall placing at the New Zealand Rowing Championships.

The club had four boats claim gold and another win bronze and placed third in the Centennial Scull at Lake Karāpiro last week.

The men’s intermediate coxed quad sculls, men’s novice coxed quad sculls, men’s novice double sculls and Quin Vivian in the men’s intermediate single sculls are national champions.

The women’s intermediate coxed four were the bronze medallists.

Head coach Axel Dickinson said it was a great weekend of rowing, despite the “dodgy weather” that stifled racing on February 18.

“It was really cut-throat from the jump, it was really hectic from day one with crews getting eliminated but we navigated that successfully,” Dickinson said.

“We had some amazing performances, both from our medallists and non-medallists, in the finals.”

The club had 17 crews make A finals.

“Being able to walk away with four titles is really special and there were a lot of crews that were really close to a medal and put forward good performances,” he said.

Dickinson said it was particularly cool to see the novice and intermediate crews rewarded with medals.

He said the novice double race, raced by German international students from Whanganui High School, Milo Weber and David Strobel, was a highlight for him.

“That double was just all guts. It was nip and tuck the whole way with Clifton Rowing Club, they had the lead on us for, virtually, the entire race by about half a length and then the boys put in a very late surge to push ahead of them,” Dickinson said.

“That was a very incredible race to watch.”

Quin Vivian’s effort in the single was a reflection of the development he had made at the club, Dickinson said.

“He was sitting back probably a length-and-a-half off the leader for the race until the last 500m, then he started to chew through him and once he had got in contact, he was away laughing and boosted on,” Dickinson said.

“It’s a really tough event to win, the intermediate single, it was really impressive that he managed to pull it off.”

The bronze-winning women’s intermediate four were close to not being selected to attend the regatta.

“But a few days before nationals, we had them out in the quad and they were working really well together so I made a last-minute decision to send them,” Dickinson said.

“That was awesome to see them come away with a medal and get close to winning the intermediate quad.”

The Union Boat Club reached five A finals, with the best placing coming from the women’s intermediate coxed eight in fifth place.

Dickinson said the focus shifts to the North Island Secondary Schools Championships on March 6 before the Maadi Cup Regatta on March 23.

Dickinson said the club member numbers are good, with an improved flow of high school students continuing the sport.

Dickinson hopes to send a junior boy’s quad to the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta in June, which he is excited about.

Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.