The Star: April 06, 2023

The Star Thursday April 6 2023
24
SPORT
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
CLOSE CALL: St Bede’s College led for the majority of the Maadi Cup race on Saturday but a late surge by Hamilton Boys’ High meant the winner had
to be decided through a photo finish.
PHOTO: PICTURE SHOW LTD
Golden haul at Maadi Cup
Christchurch schools
have dominated
the pinnacle of New
Zealand high school
rowing – the Maadi
Cup regatta. Jaime
Cunningham reports
FOUR YEARS after they made a
pact to row through high school
together, the St Bede’s College
under-18 coxed eight have won
the Maadi Cup.
In arguably the greatest race
in the regatta’s history, Hamilton
Boys’ High almost pipped St
Bede’s at the end of the 2km
course on Lake Karapiro on
Saturday.
Commiseration hugs quickly
turned into leaps of joy for St
Bede’s when the final result
showed the crew had won by
0.06sec. The college last won the
Maadi Cup in 1991.
Head coach Dale Maher was
near the finish line and thought
his crew had held on for the win
but admitted he couldn’t bear to
watch the race.
“I give Hamilton credit as they
were the fastest boat crossing
the line but obviously not fast
enough,” he said.
“I saw the guys giving each
other hugs and I thought we
hadn’t done it. Then I saw them
jumping up and down. It was a
real emotional roller-coaster.”
Maher has now completed
the rare feat – and may even be
the first – to coach two different
schools to victory in the Maadi
Cup and Levin Jubilee Cup. He
coached St Andrew’s College
to its first Maadi Cup in 2017,
led St Margaret’s College to
victory in 2001 and won four
consecutive titles with Rangi
Ruru Girls’ School from 2007 to
2010. The former New Zealand
representative can now add
St Bede’s completion of the
so-called “triple” – gold in the
premier under-18 pair, four and
eight events – to his impressive
coaching resume.
The school racked up its
highest medal tally ever at the
regatta with four gold, two silver
and two bronze. The under-18
coxed eight also recorded the
fastest time in Maadi Cup
history with 5m 42.17sec,
breaking the record by almost
10sec.
“We knew 5min 51sec was
the fastest time, so it was always
going to be our target,” Maher
said.
With St Bede’s novice coxed
four winning gold and the
novice eight finishing with
bronze, a third Maadi Cup win
in the years to come does not
look out of reach.
“The goal is always to retain
the kids,” Maher said.
“Winning medals is good
and all, but the experience and
buying into the culture is the
most important. Sometimes
success isn’t the be-all and endall.
“I’m more proud of all the boys
taking up rowing, achieving
their goals and the outstanding
culture change at St Bede’s
rowing.”
Rangi Ruru continued its
stellar Maadi Cup form from last
year at the regatta, entering 15
events and winning 11, plus two
silver and bronze medals.
Coxswain Annabel Wynn-
Williams led Rangi Ruru to the
Levin Jubilee Cup for the third
time in a row on Saturday. She
also coxed the school’s top crew
to the 2021 and 2022 titles. The
17-year-old took home four golds
and a silver at the regatta.
Rangi Ruru retained the Star
Trophy, awarded to the school
with the most points. Its crews
DOMINANT:
Rangi
Ruru Girls’
School’s
under-18
coxed eight
coxswain
Annabel
Wynn-
Williams
goes in
the water
after the
crew won
the Levin
Jubilee Cup
for the third
successive
year.
PHOTO:
PICTURE
SHOW LTD
claimed first and second in Levin
Jubilee Cup race and won the
Dawn Cup for the 16th time.
Cashmere High School had
an impressive regatta, finishing
seventh on the Star Trophy
points table, ahead of rowing
powerhouses Hamilton Boys’
High, St Andrew’s College and
Christ’s College.
In 2021, Cashmere had a
boat in the Maadi Cup for the
first time and last year finished
fourth in the most prestigious
race of the regatta. This year
the school claimed gold at the
regatta for the first time and not
just one, but three.
The under-15 coxed octuple
won the first gold medal for
Cashmere as second-to-last
qualifiers who unexpectedly
raced home in 7min 28.47sec in
lane one.
Poppy Wyndham and Abbie
Higgins then claimed two golds
– one in the under-16 double,
and the other alongside Eliza
O’Meagher, Thea Murdie and
coxswain Meg Macdonald in the
under-16 coxed quadruple sculls.
St Andrew’s won the school’s
first gold in a premier under-18
event since they claimed the
Maadi Cup in 2017. Freddy
Todhunter won the girls’
under-18 single sculls. She
finished in 8min 1.06sec, just
over a second ahead of Otago
Girls’ High School’s Harriet
Thompson.
Christ’s College picked up gold
in the under-15 octuple sculls.
The crew finished 0.17sec ahead
of Hamilton Boys’ High, with
the school’s second crew close
behind in fourth.
St Margaret’s College finished
second to rivals Rangi Ruru
in five A finals on Friday and
Saturday but managed one gold
in the under-16 coxed eight,
ahead of Rangi Ruru’s No 1 crew.
They also picked up bronze
in the under-18 coxed eight,
clocking 6m 35.78sec, behind
Rangi Ruru’s two boats, followed
by Christchurch Girls’ High in
fourth.
Villa Maria College also won
gold in the under-18 novice
quadruple event.
Christchurch rowers were
awarded for their performances
at Maadi Cup, with 17 to trial for
the New Zealand under-19 team
and 31 for the under-18 South
Island team.
Maher has been named New
Zealand men’s under-19 sweep
team coach and hopes to be
coaching a few of his St Bede’s
rowers at the next level.
“It was on the back of my mind
a little bit and I would like to
have followed them from taking
their first strokes to the start of
their international careers,” he
said.
SHARRON BENNETT PHOTOGRAPHY
FINISH LINE: St Bede’s Maadi
Cup winning crew (from left)
Dale Maher (coach), Thomas
Woodgate, Sam Earl, Max
Walsh (on shoulders), Bede
Giera, Matthew Glen, Luke
Hickling, Sam Woodgate,
Luke McBrydie, Josh Hamer
and Jack Dennehy-Coles.
Right – Freddy Todhunter
from St Andrew’s College won
gold in the girls’ under-18
single sculls.
PICTURE SHOW LTD