Rowing: Waka crews dominate opening race

In foggy conditions, AWRC's Heather Gee-Taylor and Bayley MacDonald compete on the Whanganui River.

While some changes were made to the judging standards of their finishing times, the waka crews were still the most dominant boats in the opening race of the 2014 Winter Series on the Whanganui River on Sunday morning.

The first event of the monthly six-race series attracted a strong field of 29 starters, more than the May 2013 race, for what was a 5km row which started from the finishing line beside the Aramoho club and went south to wind up opposite the National Library on Bates St.

There were 11 crews and individual competitors from the hosting AMRC, seven from the Union Boat Club, two from Wanganui Collegiate, two Wellington rowers and seven waka entries.

As there are many different classes and age groups, the best overall results on each day are decided by "prognostic time".

This involves taking the distance each class will race, then calculating the time they would be expected to reach if racing at international level.

AWRC spokeswoman Jacs Rush said after the domination by the waka crews in the 2013 series, some changes were made to their prognostic standards to make the overall competition fairer.

Despite this, waka boats still took the top three placings, led by individual competitor Anne Kauika, whose 27m 59s finishing time was 99.82 per cent of her prognostic standard.

The Women's 6 composite crew of Renee Tawhiwhirangi-Clark, Ashley Morgan, Leilani Tua, Pitihira Tamehana, Sheryl Brightwell and Te Atareta were second with a 95.56 per cent prognostic.

The best rowing boat time was AMRC's Jackie Gowler and Georgia Nugent-O'Leary, completing the course in 19m 44s at 91.93 per cent prognostic.

Both girls have just been selected for the New Zealand Development team, while NZ Universities crew member Luke Watts came 11th on prognostic after completed the 5km in 19m 14s. The series has also added a Club Grade category.

Another popular sight was Collegiate's Barry Banks racing with "Rangi", who acts as a lookout for the school coach.

The next race of the series will be on June 8.

Results

Prognostic time: 1. Anne Kauika, V1 Snr Master Women Waka; 2. Composite crew, Open Women W6; 3. Composite Crew, Waka; 4. Jackie Gowler, Georgia Nugent-O'Leary AWRC GU18; 5. Trevor Rush, AWRC MGM1x.