“At the 1750m mark- we went  all out till the end…”

John Paul College student Natalie Hill won the Bronze medal in the Women’s Junior quad at the 2012 World Junior Rowing Championships in Bulgaria. Attending this event were almost 1,000 athletes from 57 countries. Natalie’s Women’s quad scull event had 16 international crews competing, including Australia, Bulgaria, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Romania, Ukraine and the USA.

“Sitting in the starting blocks with the official calling out the names of all the countries, was building up the butterflies in our stomach” said Natalie.

The kiwi women’s quadruple scull crew of Hill, Hannah Osborne (Te Awamutu RC, Waikato RPC),Ruby Tew (Star BC, Central RPC),Zoe McBride( Kavanagh College, Dunedin), coached by John O’Connor , are happy with their Bronze medals. The race went well, Natalie and her crew came out of the blocks about 3rd or 4th and did three sets of 10 strokes ‘on’ ( long, powerful strokes) just after the start.

“Through the middle we did seven ‘on’s’ and at the 1km we did the 30 strokes again. At five hundred to go (1500m mark) we do a build up of pressure,” said Hill “ then at the 1750m mark- we went  all out till the end.“

A Bronze medal at an international level this early is an impressive achievement in her rowing career.

“It was amazing to stand the podium with our new bronze medals, just to know that we are now 3rd in the world for the women’s quad under 19”.

Because of her achievement she gains an automatic entry into the Waikato Regional Performance Centre, for the 2012-2013 rowing season.

The Gold medal went to 2011 Bronze medallists; Romania and the Silver to the USA.

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 .

 

 

PHOTO; Natalie Hill from Rotorua in bow (Rowing NZ PHOTO)

The NZ Junior Women’s Quad battle Romania for first

Natalie Hill from Rotorua’s John Paul College finished second in her heat, to progress to the semi final after a great race with the Romanians at the 2012 World Rowing Senior and Junior (Under 19) Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Germany, The Czech Republic and Ireland were left behind by the two leading crews.

Natalie and the New Zealand Junior Women’s Quad crew of Hannah Osborne (Te Awamutu RC, Waikato RPC),Ruby Tew (Star BC, Central RPC),Zoe McBride( Kavanagh College, Dunedin), fought hard with Romania, the bronze medallists from 2011,but the Romanians pulled  away from New Zealand. Our kiwi girls stayed ahead of reigning junior champions, Germany. Coming into the final sprint Romania was on 32 rating while New Zealand used a 35 rating to stay up with the leaders.

There are 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.

As this is an Olympic year the 13 boat classes in World Rowing Junior Championships have combined with the seven boat classes of the World Rowing Championships

that are not on the Olympic programme to become one 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 .

The New Zealand’s Senior Rowing Team 2012 is two crews; the Senior Lightweight Women's Single Scull and the Senior Lightweight Men's Pair.

PHOTO; Women’s Junuior Quad training in Bulgaria. Rotorua’s Natalie Hill; far left

Natalie Hill ready for her Junior challange

After a grueling 24 hours  flight, Rotorua’s Natalie Hill, who will compete in the Women’s Quad has  finally made it to Bulgaria,with a couple of weeks left to train, before the2012 Junior World Championships starts on the 14^th of August..

“Of course our first impression of the place was that it was really, really hot. “ said Natalie

“On Sunday we rigged our new boats and measured our oars, then went for a walk around the course in a decent 36 degrees.”

Most mornings the Women’s quad have been doing 2km races at rating 22. They competed at training with the Women’s Four and the Men’s Lightweight Pair and the quad has been on target and above target splits.

“Afternoon trainings start at 4 pm to ensure we are training in the hottest part of the day.”

To ensure the crew are capable in the heat, said Hill.

“We will have time trial race this coming Sunday morning” added Hill “ to see what times we are doing at this stage of our race build up.”

Better late than never… Riordan Morrell made 5th in the C Final at the 2011 Junior World Champs.I only realized now Riordan did not get a mention on the blog. Valiant effort Riordan, after a stressful changeover from  training for the double sculls and being moved to a single just before leaving for Eton.

Natalie Hill is in Stroke position (at far right)

Natalie heading for the 2012 Junior Worlds

It was a misty cold day in June on Lake Karapiro and a smiling Natalie Hill has a chance at a medal at the 2012 Junior World Rowing Champs. Earlier this year,at the 2012 NZ Secondary School Rowing Champs in Twizel, Natalie came 4^th in the U18 single scull , 5^th in the U18 Double Sculls ;with fellow JPC sculler Olivia Ashby, and is a major force in young New Zealand women’s rowing.

The Junior worlds are held, this year, in  Plovdiv, Bulgaria, from the 14^th to the 19th of August.

“We only have one more month to go now. I am very excited to go to Bulgaria “ said Hill “but there's still a lot of hard work to be done yet. “

Natalie will compete in the Women’s U19 quadruple sculls and she will be in stroke position, setting the stroke, each sculler will follow.

The crew comprises of ;Natalie Hill(  John Paul College),Hannah Osborne(Te Awamutu RC, Waikato RPC),Ruby Tew (Star BC, Central RPC),Zoe McBride( Kavanagh College, Dunedin ) and is coached by John O’Connor.

Natalie is training 4-5km every morning Monday, Tuesday , Wednesday  and Friday, with a short row, weights session or Ergs session  in the afternoons. On Saturdays they row two 4km races or one 8km race and an extra row later in the morning.

“We just had winter series on the weekend of the 22nd of June where our quad had two very good races out of three. Our prognostic for the second day was the highest we have gotten so far.”

5^th in repechage

and this means Riordan Morrell will  race tomorrow in a C/ D semi-final and hoping to race later in the day in the C Final…

putting him at a possible 17^th place in the world…a good start for a rising star.

Over the entire group of scullers in the 4 repechages , Riordan was the next best time ..

Assuming there will be 8 scullers in each A and B Final then he might make 1^st in the C Final.

http://www.worldrowing.com/events/2011-world-rowing-junior-championships-eton-gbr

 

 

3^rd in heat at the Juniors

Riordan Morrell from Western Heights High School came in third in his heat and he is set up for his quarter final at Eton for the 2011 Junior Rowing Championships.

Heats day was pretty much as wet as it could be. There was a 4 metre per second head wind up the course which made for a hard slog but temperatures were moderate in the Eton summer weather .

New Zealand rowers are used to a blustery wind and choppy water back home so it was no difficulty for the crews .

The Men’s coxed four finished first in their heat, as did the Women’s coxless four and the Men’s quad.  The women’s quad came in second in the repechage.

 

‘Checkin’ on Riordan Morrell

Riordan at Auckland Airport ready to go. bit late in blogging but just found this photo on Adam and Louis’s blog….what is it called when you lift off a another blog? (apart from stealing). Have a look – really interesting…love the photos of Adam and Louis in U15 shot then the U18 MAADI Cup winners

http://www.adam-and-louis.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/groups/237324202957906#!/groups/237324202957906?closeTheater=1

 

 

PHOTO; RIORDAN MORRELL in the back

 

Wed 27/07/2011 10:30 a.m. ROSS MORRELL Ann-There are great photos to see on these sights. Got home after the meeting and my father had called to offer to pay for me to go to London with Sharon. So were frantically researching flights and have booked a ticket on same flights as Sharon's. Leaving tomorrow. Feel like a little kid -Ross

 

27.7.11 FACEBOOK PAGE NZ JUNIORS 11 Michelle Lassche Our final pre event excursion is to visit Windsor Castle on Thursday afternoon, our sources have informed us it is 16 pound an adult !, but Steve is working on this with a visit in the morning to see what can be done about a group deal ! We shall keep u posted ! It is so close to the course, and so impressive it would be a shame not experience it !
The first teams to join us have arrived, Argentina yesterday and Australia last night. So our week of having the course and dining room to ourselves is over. Having said this, it is exciting to have other nations around us adding to the atmosphere and giving us the feeling we are at the World Champs !

Riordan Morell at training

Riordan is enjoying the camp at Eton, England. The Men’s and Women’s Junior squads are nearly ready for the 2011 World Junior Rowing Championships regatta which starts on the 3^rd August.

PHOTO;LEFT TO RIGHT -RIORDAN MORRELL , GREG BRAND

‘Big Red’ rearing to go…

Riordan Morrell, from WHHS, is readying himself for the highlight of his young rowing career; the World Junior Rowing Championships held at Eton, England, from the 3^rd to the 7^th of August ..

Morrell has spent the last few months living in Cambridge, rowing alongside the Elite, U23 NZ Rowing teams , and his U19 Junior rowing team mates.

the International squad has had its fair share of injuries , as they approach their respective departure dates. Unfortunately one of the Junior Men’s eight crew suffers from a chronic back injury and Rowing NZ has made a decision to leave him home . For our Riordan this has meant big changes. Morrell’s Junior Double Sculls partner Greg Brand will now take up the vacant place in the Junior eight , as he is the more experienced rower (a rower holds 1 oar) . Morrell, who is a high performance sculler (a sculler holds 2 oars) has until the 9^th of July, to realize his fate.

Rowing NZ are going to put Morrell  out in a single scull with 2 selectors, for time trials. If he succeeds, as he is hopeful of,assuring them of his potential, he will be going to the Junior World Rowing Championships as their single sculler. “He is nervous” his father Ross Morrell said “ if he doesn’t make it he will be the non-traveling reserve.”

Morrell has gained 5 kilo while at the Karapiro High Performance Centre. His weight change is likely to be muscle gain. The athletes train hard. Riordan arrives each day at Rob Waddell House, at 5.20am. The porridge is warm and waiting-left on the warmer the night before, for the rowers first breakfast, before going ‘On-Water ‘at 5.45am.

Morrell will return after training, for his second breakfast of the day, at 8.45am. “Riordan commented ‘ the food’s great’ “ says Dad “ He’s pleased he can have Weetbix three times a day, like he does at home”.

The Junior crews row again in the afternoons, and are shifting into speed work now, before they leave for London on the 18^th of July.They will have Pre-competition training, on the Rowing Course, at Eton, from the 19th July  to the  2 August and the World Champs are 3-7 August.

Rotorua’s Women’s Heavyweight Single sculler; Claudia Hyde is “having a ball” says her Dad, Martin Hyde. Claudia will compete at the 2011 Under 21 Youth Cup Regatta, racing at Penith, Sydney, Australia.

The U21 Squad will depart for Australia on the 5^th July. A day later , Rotorua’s Julia Edward and Laura Fischer leave for Europe to attend the World Under 23 Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, Holland from the 21^st to the  24^th of July.Laura Fischer is part of the U23 Women’s Quad Sculls crew and Julia Edward is in the U23 Lightweight Women’s Double Scull crew.

 

 

‘Big Red’ will row at Eton

Rotorua Riordan Morrell will row in the Junior Men’s Double Sculls at the 2011 Junior World Rowing Championships at Eton,  England, this August.

 “It was a bit touch and go” Riordan said “but I’m happy now. I wouldn’t say I was confident before coming to trial, I was completely undecided. All I knew was I was going to be working hard“ ..

This determination and drive did not go unnoticed. “Riordan is a very pleasant young man with an awesome attitude to the sport” commented Junior Squad coach Duncan Bydeley. “ He was unwell most of the trials and showed guts to perform to the level he did-which did not go unnoticed by myself and the other coaches”.

On the last day of trials, Riordan’s new Men’s double sculls and the other crews completed a time trial, racing the 2ooo metre course on Lake Karapiro. Even if crews are selected, Rowing New Zealand insists they achieve times which will place them in the top six places in the A Final.

The double seemed to be an ‘add-on’ after the selectors had selected the four and then the quad, Riordan believes.The crew of the Men’s coxed four is 2 pairs of rowers from two different schools.“These rowers have rowed so well together , in the past, the selectors try not break up the pair. The two Napier rowers won the U18 pair by so much, at Maadi“ Riordan said “ and the two Auckland Grammar School rowers were 2^nd in the pair , won the four and won the eight at Maadi” .

The Men’s quad has 2 sets of scullers too, much the same as the Men’s four . “The two Nelson College scullers won the U18 double sculls at Maadi “ Morrell said “and the two Westend Rowing Club scullers were originally from St Peter’s School and won the U17 quad sculls at Maadi” .

Riordan will head off to The Gallagher High Performance Centre at Karapiro to train with the Juniors Squad on the 15^th May. He will be working on two Waiariki Marketing and Management Business papers while in Cambridge and  Rowing New Zealand will find him a flat ;most likely with the two Westend Rowing Club scullers. Morrell and the New Zealand Junior Rowing squad depart for England on the 18^th July ,to train for  2 weeks before the regatta from the 3^rd to the 7^th August.