A Pediatrician, a Consultant, a Surgeon and an Engineer got into a boat…

“The Rotorua Rowing Club was well represented by 4 of the Masters men at the National masters championships at Lake Ruataniwha near Twizel”  said Head Coach Alastair Riddle.“- a flying visit to the deep south for the weekend and an enjoyable experience”

The Rotorua rowers were entered in a mixture of age driven events including the D and E grade quads and the D and E grade doubles. While some of the fields were not big, the competition was hot and the Rotorua crews finished in the finals of every event they entered.

The best result of the weekend was the Men’s E grade coxless quad with Lakes DHB Medical Director; Johan Morreau,

Engineer;Tom Clark, Ear Nose and Throat Surgeon; Steven Donn and Forestry Consultant ;Robert Prebble being rewarded with a Bronze medal.

They were placed 3rd in a time of 3:52.28 over a 1000m course

For Grade ‘E’ the crew must have a Minimum Average age 55 years.“We were actually older than we thought we were!” laughed rower Rob Prebble. The average age of the crew (excluding the coxswain) is calculated by dividing the total number of years of age of the crew by the number in the crew rounded down to the nearest whole number.

The Rotorua Men’s crew teamed up with other masters from Bay Coast and Tauranga to make the crusade down to Lake Ruataniwha to compete in the Masters Nationals.

“She’s a pretty big job to go all the way down to Twizel in the South Island to compete in a rowing regatta” said Robert Prebble “Preparation had not been great ,with two of the crew being away overseas, in the lead up to the regatta and rough weather conditions hampering training sessions. The third place was a pleasing result”

An impressive total of 318 crews from 30 clubs – all still buzzing after the world champs – descended on Lake Ruataniwha .Flat water and some very beautiful views accompanied by a warm sunshine gave the visitors from England, Australia and Germany who had stayed on after Karapiro to come and row a real McKenzie Basin treat .

“Thanks must go to the Rotorua Rowing Club for supporting the crew and providing boats” said Robert Prebble “and to Bay Coast who supplied the vehicle and trailer to cart the boats to the regatta.”