Rotorua Rowing Club

Karapiro Christmas Regatta

Held: 13th December, Venue: Lake Karapiro (2k)

THANKS ANNA RUFER FOR GREAT PHOTOS, Ann Woolliams

The 2013 Christmas Rowing Regatta hosted record numbers of 2190 athletes competing in perfect conditions over the weekend. Connor Broughton and Andre Le Lievre had the fastest time of the total

49 crews entered in the heats, and won the A Final of the Boys Under 17 Double Sculls 2 lengths ahead of the field in a time of 7:08.64. With that winning time they could have entered the Premier Men’s

Double Scull and placed 8^th in the A Final –behind five NZ Rowing Summer Crews and two Regional Performance Centre crews.

“ It was good to see where we sat compared to the other under 17 competitors” said Connor Broughton“and to see that our hard work is already paying off and that we have a good foundation that we can

continue to improve on.”

At 16 years old, they also showed exceptional promise with a 4^th place in the Under 18 double sculls. Finishing in 3^rd position over all 31 crews in the heats, the young crew gained an honourable 4^th place in a time of

7:26.57; seven seconds behind the Whakatane winning crew time of 7:19:31.

“The tougher competition was good as it showed us the higher standard of racing we need to be doing if we want to keep winning” said Andre Le Lievre “and this is good encouragement to keep improving.”

Other results from the school rowers included two Western Heights High School crews; Bradley Grant and Lewis Morrell taking 3^rd in the Boys Under 18 Coxless Pair Oar and Grant, Morrell , joined by Stephen Wright , Conner Spackman and coxed by Keely Gage in the Boys Under 18 Coxed Four Oar taking 2^nd place.All three place - winning crews are coached by Glen Reichardt, Club Captain of the Rotorua Rowing Club.

Rotorua Rowing Club’s (RRC) Jeff Francis (NZ Summer Squad) won 1^st place in the Men’s Premier Coxless Quad Sculls and RRC’s Julia Edward (NZ Summer Squad) breezed ahead of rival Louise Ayling by 0.014 seconds to take 3^rd place in the Women’s Premier Single and there were three lightweight scullers in the top 4 places. Edward took a turn as cox for the Men’s Open Eight Oar event and took her crew to 2^ndplace.

RRC’s Claudia Hyde (Waikato Regional Performance Centre) placed 3^rd in the Women’s Premier Coxless Quad Sculls and former Rotorua rower Thomas O’Donnell (Waikato Rowing Club) gained a 2^nd in the Senior Men’s Coxless Four Oars

Karapiro Christmas Regatta

RESULTS

WOMENS PREM DOUBLE SCULLS

A Final: placed 6th (7:27.51)Crew: RNZX 4 - Julia Edward

(stroke) (ROTC) | Louise Ayling (WHOC)Coach - Gary Hay

MENS PREM SINGLE

Progression
Heats: 1,2->Final + 2 Next Fastest Crews

A Final: placed 2nd (7:11.01)Crew: RNZX 1 - Mahe Drysdale (WESC)Coach - Dick Tonks

A Final: placed 1st (7:05.39)Crew: RNZX 2 - Hamish Bond (NOEC)Coach - Noel Donaldson

A Final: placed 3rd (7:17.14)Crew: RNZX 3 - Eric Murray (WKOC)Coach - Noel Donaldson

WOMENS PREM SINGLE

Progression
Heats: 1,2->Final + 2 Next Fastest Crews

A Final: placed 4th (8:16.58)Crew: RNZX 1 - Louise Ayling (WHOC)Coach - Gary Hay

A Final: placed 1st (8:08.40)Crew: RNZX 2 - Lucy Strack (NOEC)Coach - Gary Hay

A Final: placed 3rd (8:16.44)Crew: RNZX 3 - Julia Edward (ROTC)Coach - Gary Hay

MENS PREM COXLESS QUAD SCULLS

A Final: placed 1st (6:15.01)Crew: RNZX 1 - Joseph Sullivan (stroke) (PICC) | Jeff Francis (ROTC) | Karl Manson (BLEC) | Giacomo Thomas (HWBC)Coach - Calvin Ferguson

WOMENS PREM COXLESS QUAD SCULLS

A Final: placed 3rd (7:13.88)Crew: RPCW 1 - Jessica Ria (stroke) (CAMC) | Brooke Donoghue (WKOC) | Claudia Hyde (ROTC) | Ashlee Caskie (WKOC)

WOMENS PREM SINGLE

A Final: placed 5th (8:18.07)Crew: RPCW 1 - Claudia Hyde (ROTC)

WOMENS PREM DOUBLE SCULLS

B Final: placed 1st (7:28.33) RPCW 1 - Claudia Hyde (stroke) (ROTC) | Brooke Donoghue (WKOC)

MENS SNR COXLESS PAIR

A Final: placed 4th (7:51.52) WKOC 1 - Thomas O'Donnell (stroke) | Edward Cade

MENS SNR COXLESS FOUR

A Final: placed 2nd (6:34.39)Crew: WKOC 1 - Will Guest (stroke) | Edward Cade | Liam Herder Thomas O'Donnell (former Rotorua rower)

MENS OPEN COXED EIGHT