Nearly 2,000 high school rowers

Brave showing by Christchurch at NZ junior regatta

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05/04/2011 10:36 CET

It is New Zealand’s largest rowing regatta and the biggest schools sporting events in the country. It is the Secondary Schools Rowing Regatta, the Aon Maadi Cup. Nearly 2,000 high school rowers participate for a week of racing that, for some, is the highlight of their rowing year, if not their rowing career.

This year the event was held at Lake Karapiro, the venue of the 2010 World Rowing Championships, and over 120 high schools competed with 1400 crews racing.

This year the focus of the regatta was on the crews from Christchurch who have creatively found ways to continue to row despite the February earthquake which destroyed their boats and boathouses and caused their rowing river, the Avon, to be too polluted to use.

A number of methods to keep training and still compete at this year's Maadi Cup were used. Some schools moved their rowing crews out of Christchurch to relocate in places where their training could continue. A popular destination was Twizel, the small town next to New Zealand’s international standard rowing course, Lake Ruataniwha. This meant more training opportunities with some school teams training up to three times a day. The different schools training there united to hold joint school classes starting at 4.30pm each day. This meant that the normal school day could be dedicated to rowing and related activities.

Some Christchurch school rowers went to other schools around the country like Liv Morgan’s crew from Marian College.

North Island school, Tauranga Girls College, billeted Liv and her crew. "They gave us training facilities, boats, coaching and schooling until after Maadi Cup.” Missing the Maadi Cup regatta was not an option for the crew. “It was our intention from the start of the season (to race at Maadi) and we have kept this as our goal even through these difficult and interesting times."

Of the 400 races at the regatta, the most anticipated race is the Maadi Cup for the men’s eight. This year it was won by Auckland Grammar School with the women’s eight being won by Waikato Diocesan School. Waikato Diocesan also won the overall award for most points throughout the regatta.
At the conclusion of this year’s regatta selectors invited a small number of athletes to take part in junior trials. These trials will be held at Lake Karapiro from 18 to 25 April and will select crews for the New Zealand national junior team to compete at this year’s World Rowing Junior Championships in Eton, Great Britain. There will also be selection for North Island and South Island under-18 crews to compete in the Trans-Tasman series against Australia.
The Maadi Cup regatta is named after a camp in Egypt where members of the New Zealand army were based during World War II. While at the camp some of the New Zealanders competed in a regatta on the Nile against some local Egyptian rowing clubs.

As a mark of friendship a cup was given to the New Zealand Rowing Association as a trophy for the winner of an annual secondary schools boys eights race. The boys eights race and the regatta are both now called the Maadi Cup.

For full Maadi Cup results click here.