PHOTOS  Women’s Club Coxed and Coxless Quad Sculls; 3^rd place getters ;(left to right) Emma Cronshaw-Hunt,  Jenna O’Connell, Kayla Merriman, Alice West      

PHOTO (left to right); Harry Allom, Bradley Grant, Thomas Bailey, Mathew Cooper, Connor Spackman, Stephen Wright, Coach Chris Pearson, Emma Cronshaw –Hunt, Grace Eriksen, Mea Hunter, cox; :Delaney Phillips, Stacey Tamblin,

The goal…to make it to the other end…

A very successful Rotorua 1000m Novices and 500m Corporate Regatta was held at the Blue Lake on Sunday 28th in perfect racing conditions. There was a good turnout of crews from the BOP Rowing Clubs. Bay Coast, Tauranga and Whakatane clubs joined the Rotorua rowers for 6 hours of competition.

The purpose of the regatta said Rotorua Rowing Club Head Coach Alastair Riddle was“to give senior rowers an early hit out and give the novices some early racing experiences ”The Rotorua Rowing Club (RRC) rowers will forge on towards the more formal events at Lake Karapiro.

A highlight of the regatta were the 8 heats of Corporate rowing coxed eight oars. The overall winner was ‘ The Council Oars’( Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Whakatane),     with rowers-up in 2^nd place;‘Kidz in Boatz’( CYFS Tauranga) and in  3^rd place; ‘Forest Oars’(Rayonier NZ Ltd, Tauranga)  . “Early heats were pretty shaky but they improved with every race“ said Coach Riddle.“The regatta gave the rowers the chance to try their new skills.”

The corporate rowers came from Whakatane, Rotorua and Tauranga. They worked hard, training on water in skiffs and off water on ERGs for 8 weeks.The final was a hotly contested event with a very close race and plenty of intensity from the imaginatively named crews;

 ‘Kidz in Boatz’ ( CYFS Tauranga),  ‘The Council Oars’ ( Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Whakatane),  ‘ Scullduggery’ (PF Olsen Limited, Rotorua),‘Oarsome Beanies’ (Ingram Mora, Tauranga),   ‘Goardon's’  (Sicon, Rotorua), ‘Forest Oars’ (Rayonier NZ Ltd, Tauranga),   ‘Oarsomseeka’ ( Seeka, Tauranga),‘RIO 16’ ( NZ Police, Tauranga),’Educ8Oars’ ( Selwyn Primary School, Rotorua).

Rotorua coaches were very pleased with their Novice, Masters and Corporate crews efforts and the way they all worked together loading and unloading trailers.“It was a good start to the season.“ said Coach Riddle.