Natalie Hill powers to Bronze at the Juniors

Natalie Hill from Rotorua’s John Paul College powered to Bronze in the Women’s Junior quad Sculls at the  2012 World Rowing Senior and Junior (Under 19) Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

“The quad settled into a strong third place at 500 metres, just a second down on the USA and under a second ahead of the Germans in fourth.” Said Richard Gee; Rowing NZ Spokesperson.

“These gaps had grown marginally by halfway but into the last 1,000 metres the New Zealand crew was able to pull away from the Germans and slowly but surely close on the United States.”

But it wasn’t enough- Romania , the bronze medallists from 2011,took gold, the USA silver and the talented NZ junior quad of Natalie Hill (RRC), Hannah Osborne (Te Awamutu RC, Waikato RPC),

Ruby Tew (Star BC, Central RPC),Zoe McBride( Kavanagh College, Dunedin), had to be satisfied with Bronze

There were 16 Quads in the event with New Zealand, including Australia, Bulgaria, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Romania, Ukraine and the USA, and nearly 1,000 athletes from 57 countries are competing at the regatta.

New Zealand’s Junior Rowing Team 2012 comprises of four crews; the Junior Women’s Coxless Four, and the Junior Men’s Quadruple Scull, Junior Men’s Coxed Four and the Junior Women’s Quadruple Scull .