Shelton makes her homecoming a victorious one

Unfamiliar conditions greeted Petone rower Erin-Monique Shelton in her first regatta at home after a four-year OE in Tennessee.

Shelton, 22, won the women's single sculls in scorching conditions at the Wellington rowing championships on Saturday. Michelle Campbell (Star Boating Club) was second with team-mate Lauren Gibbs third.

Shelton, who attended St Oran's College in Lower Hutt, was among 250 rowers who experienced a hot, windless day at Korokoro. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting, on completion of her sports scholarship at the University of Knoxville, and returned to Wellington in late December.

She studied fulltime while training with a large elite crew and competing in the college women's eight.

"Getting a degree while still being able to row at a really high level was great," Shelton said.

She felt the experience had made her tougher.

"I've come from rowing in a big team in the States, to a smaller group of people here.

"We rowed on a river there, we row on the sea here. Although Wellington gets its windy days, sometimes I think the water has been better here than it was in the States. But I had a good river to row on."

Shelton will next race at the national rowing championships at Karapiro next week. The nationals have been scheduled earlier this season to make way for the world rowing championships.

She hopes to qualify for Rowing NZ trials after the championships and aspires to represent New Zealand.

"You've really got to prove that you're fast enough. I still have some work to do, but that's what I'm working towards," she said.

Shelton will race against Emma Twigg next week, but considers her quest to the top level still a "big picture sort of thing".

Last month, Shelton competed at the Otago championships in Twizel in the women's singles, but finished out of the medals. She believes time will tell if she has enough talent to impress the national selectors.

"If I don't make it this year, I'm not going to give up, not yet."

In other regatta results, Owen O'Brian (Porirua) won the men's single sculls from James Hunter (Wellington Rowing Club) with Bruce Tate (Horowhenua) third. The men's open coxless pair was won by the Wellington crew of Samuel Anderson and Dougal MacDuff from the Wellington No 4 pair of Simon Woodfine and Mike Grace.

Faye Waddington and Sarah Bayley (Wellington) won the women's pairs from Campbell and Gibbs (Star). Star won the women's four and the women's coxless four. Wellington No 1 won the men's four from Horowhenua.

Petra Feickert and Nicole Taylor (Wellington) won the women's double sculls and formed part of the winning Wellington crews in the women's quad and women's eight.

Rhett Hornblow and Matthew White (Star) won the men's double sculls from Wellington.

Star won the men's novice eights, with the Wellington No 2 crew in second, ahead of Wellington No 1 in third. Wellington won the novice women's eight from Star.

Star won the James Wattie Trophy for the most club points, and the Harbour Board Trophy for the most women's points. The Star Centennial Cup for open (non age-grade events) was won by Wellington.

- © Fairfax NZ News