Jake Newton and William Herd (seen on their way to win a gold medal in the New Zealand Coastal Beach Sprint Championships U17 Doubles) have been selected for the New Zealand Coastal Rowing Team.
Jake Newton and William Herd (seen on their way to win a gold medal in the New Zealand Coastal Beach Sprint Championships U17 Doubles) have been selected for the New Zealand Coastal Rowing Team.
Newton, Herd (Whanganui High School students) have been selected for the World Coastal Rowing Championships in Genoa, Italy.
After the New Zealand Selection Trials in Takapuna at King’s Birthday weekend, rising young star Jake Newton has been selected for the 2024 Rowing NZ Coastal Beach Team in the World CoastalBeach Championships in Genoa, Italy this September.
William Herd, Newton’s club and school double partner, has been selected as a travelling reserve.
Coastal beach rowing will replace lightweight rowing at the 2028 Olympic Games In Los Angeles.
It is expected to grow exponentially as an Olympic sport and is a great opportunity to take rowing to the community and our beaches.
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Jake Newton and Williams Herd (travelling reserve) have been selected for the World Under-19 Coastal Beach Sprint Team.
Newton will compete in the NZ team, alongside Olympic champion single sculler Emma Twigg and other notable NZ and World rowers, following the Paris Olympics.
He was selected for the Coastal Team after he competed at the New Zealand Nationals in May (winning U17 with William Herd) in Wellington and trials held in Auckland. Newton recently went to a training camp in Nelson to prepare for his trip to Genoa.
He had a successful season in flat water rowing, winning the U17 single at the North Island secondary school champs and silver medallist at Maadi (national secondary schools), as well as being the top sculler at the U18 North Island vs South Island regatta.
Jake Newton with a haul of rowing trophies.
Newton won various other medals in the double and quad at North Island and National regattas throughout the season.
Special boats
Compared to a normal rowing boat, coastal rowing boats are wider and deeper, and able to handle big waves. There are two types of races: slalom, which is a short distance of 250m out and return - a hard-core sprint; and long distance, a 6km race around the harbour, similar to the Winter Series on the Whanganui River.
In comparison, a standard rowing boat races over 2000m normally, and a coastal boat is two to three times heavier.
“It’s quite a new sport compared to normal rowing,” said Newton.
“Some of the surf clubs are buying them, and rowing clubs like Nelson and Auckland. We borrow boats to use when we race.
“When we went to the nationals, we used all their equipment. Short-distance races are head-to-head - against one other person. Long-distance races could have 20 boats competing at the same time. When we travel to Italy, we’ll be borrowing boats,” he said.
Jake says he performs better in the sprints, having to train in ordinary rowing boats as there aren’t any coastal boats in Whanganui.
“The coastal boats are better balanced and are unlikely to tip over,” said Newton. “In a long-distance race, we could be in a five-metre swell, some proper waves,” he said.
World event
Newton heads to Italy with Herd about September 2 and they are away for 20 days. The beach sprints (short-distance) will be held over the first weekend, and then the following weekend the long-stance race will be held. At 16, he will be representing New Zealand at the U19 level.
“It’s very exciting,” Newton said.
He told Midweek he is doing lots of weight training and long-distance rowing. He will study online while away when his mock exams are on, which he will take when he returns.
To help fund his endeavour, Newton will be erging a marathon on a rowing machine at 8am on July 27, at the Aramoho-Whananui Rowing Club. He’ll be aspiring to break the New Zealand 15-16-year-old erg marathon record of 2.55.39.2. Anyone wanting to sponsor Newton and help support his journey to Italy can make contributions to JT Newton 38-9023-0540780-00.
Travelling reserve
William Herd, 17, another Whanganui High School student, was selected as a non-travelling reserve in the same team as Newton but has just been upgraded to a travelling reserve.
“We have been hugely impressed with William, he’s engaged so well and got stuck in,” said one of the selectors. “Being a reserve is far from ideal, but he has been so committed and we’d like him to attend the 2024 World Championships as a travelling reserve and be offered a seat to row in the 2024 World Coastal Championship.
“This is club-based and happens a week before the World Beach Sprints. He will also be a key member of the 2024 Coastal Sprint Team at the Beach Sprints, as a boat holder.
“If someone gets injured, he would be put in the boat to race.”
Herd participates in a group chat to submit his erg scores (rowing machine) each week. He’d been consistently beating two other members of the selected crew.
“The trial was in singles and I’m not the most able - I missed out on the team selection by one second,” said Herd. “I was a bit star-struck when I found out I’d been selected as a travelling reserve, it was very exciting.
Herd was born in the United Kingdom and has been in Whanganui for 10 years, but has never been to Italy. He will fly into Milan with the team which includes nine juniors and then travel down to Genoa.
“It was quite nice finding out that both Jake and myself are going to Genoa. We’ve done well in the doubles over the past two seasons,” he said.
In 2023 at the New Zealand Rowing Championships flat water rowing, in the intermediate quad, Newton and Herd won gold medals. They won silver in doubles at the Maadi Cup in a thrilling finish - being fifth at the 1900m mark and sprinting to take second place. They won a bronze in the U18 Quad at North Island Secondary Schools and U16 Doubles.
This year the pair made their mark by winning the U17 New Zealand Coastal National Championships in the Doubles, held at Titahi Bay, Wellington.
Herd, more of an endurance rower, can mentally find that next gear when required, together with Newton - they both have that ability.
Herd would like to make it into a future New Zealand rep team and has an eye on the 2028 LA Olympics Coastal Rowing. He has another ambition to get an Ivy League scholarship at a US university.
