The Star: March 16, 2023

Cup glory?
CHAMPIONS: St Bede’s
College are contenders
for this year’s Maadi
Cup after winning the
under-18 coxed eight
at the South Island
championships. PHOTO:
SHARRON BENNETT
PHOTOGRAPHY
CGHS rower Lucy Haller
said the crew has been focused
on bringing intensity to their
last few sessions, particularly
transferring erg training to the
water. “It would mean a lot to
all of us to medal in the most
prestigious girls’ race, especially
after all the training we’ve
done,” Haller said.
•Boys’ under-18 coxed
eight – Maadi Cup
The Maadi Cup is no doubt
the most anticipated race of the
regatta. St Bede’s are in contention
to lift the Cup for the first
time since 1991, after winning
the race over the weekend. The
majority of this year’s crew are
the under-17 coxed eight gold
medallists from last year’s Maadi
Cup, with Bede Giera the only
new addition.
Head coach Dale Maher said
he took on a group of novices in
2019 and they made an agreement
to stick together until they
could race for the Maadi Cup in
four years.
“The first thing we talk about
is making the final and if we can
podium, then that’ll be great
too,” he said.
“We’re really process driven
and focused. If we can produce
that time we’re aiming for, then
we should be good, and even if
we don’t win, it’s still a success.”
Last year’s Maadi Cup silver
medallists, Christ’s College, had
three crews race at the South
Island event over the weekend,
with the No 3 crew finishing
with bronze. Christ’s will have
plenty of time to establish their
top crew to contest for a 14th
Maadi Cup title before the
national regatta gets under way.
Christchurch Boys’ High cannot
be ruled out either. With four
of last year’s bronze medal crew
retained this year, CBHS will
challenge Hamilton Boys’ High’s
bid for a second consecutive
win.
•The 2023 Aon Maadi
Cup finals will be livestreamed
from Lake
Karapiro at www.maadi.
co.nz/livestream
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
TREVOR WILKES is being
remembered as a well-respected
and universally-liked man who
“lived for racing.”
A race caller for more than 40
years, he retired at the end of the
2021/22 season.
He died after a battle with motor
neurone disease in Christchurch
last week, prompting an
outpouring of tributes, with
many praising him as generous,
kind-hearted and well-liked.
In his 43 years behind the
binoculars Wilkes’ first love
was calling the dogs. Famously
he only missed one meeting
through illness in all that time.
Such was his contribution to
the sport that he was inducted
into the New Zealand Greyhound
Hall of Fame following
his retirement. He got a standing
ovation at the time.
It was January 1979 at QE2
Park when Wilkes called his first
race meeting for the Christchurch
Greyhound Club. He had
been calling harness trials before
that and he continued calling
trials, especially at Rangiora
and Addington, until relatively
recently.
In 1988 when Reon Murtha
went to Seoul to commentate
at the Olympic Games Wilkes
called all three codes in
Canterbury for six weeks. He
continued to call the occasional
harness meetings at Addington
throughout his career. He was
also a licenced judge for harness
meetings.
For over 20 years, he was an
on-course commentator on the
West Coast, and hosted many
supporters’ tours there. At today’s
Kawatiri Cup at Westport
all drivers will be wearing black
armbands in his honour.
In 1991, Trevor joined the
Radio Pacific and Trackside TV
commentary teams to call TAB
races. Before that he and Neville
Thursday March 16 2023 The Star
SPORT 27
Race caller’s first love
was for the greyhounds
TOP BLOKE: Trevor Wilkes
“lived for racing.”
Muir had a company called
Mirage Recordings which would
film and then sell trials videos,
especially from Rangiora.
He also raced greyhounds
himself, including Wink At
Wilkes. He quickly gave up his
greyhound ownership interests
though, being quoted at the time
as saying, “I found it too hard
to call my own dogs”. Wink at
Wilkes raced in the early 90s,
winning nine times in 72 starts.
Included in the ownership
group of Wink At Wilkes was
former long-time HRNZ employee
and now Addington Raceway’s
Racing Industry Manager
Darrin Williams.
“We go back to the 1980s, he
was a brilliant guy with a great
voice for commentating.”
“Everyone loved Trevor - he
didn’t have a bad word for
anyone and no-one had one for
him.”
“He lived for racing.”
On retirement, Wilkes said,
“Commentating has been a wonderful
job. It has been fantastic
to get paid for work that you love
doing.”
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