Gold galore for Blenheim club
BY JOHN ALEXANDER
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Blenheim Rowing Club coach Bill Campbell is not one to get carried away with a bit of success but even he couldn't help but be impressed by his charges' efforts at the South Island championships at Lake Ruataniwha in Twizel last weekend.
Blenheim rowers picked up six gold, five silver and four bronze medals, a huge improvement on last year's result when the squad captured just one title at the event.
Heading last weekend's performances was under-19 rower Stefan Meaclem. He took out the under-19 single and the under-19 pair title with Elliott Harvey.
Harvey joined Rutger Maasdam, Ben Black, Liam Beattie and coxswain Mitch McDonald to win the under-17 quad title, beating a classy field including last year's Maadi Cup champions.
Dave Henry's well-drilled novice four crew excelled. Callum Streeter, Guy Young, Nic Henry, Keagan Saul and cox Hayden Nicholls won gold despite being up against much bigger and more experienced crews from the Canterbury and Avon clubs. The talented Blenheim youngsters maintained the pressure, forcing the others into errors as the heat went on near the finish.
This crew combined with under-16 rowers Cory McCaffery, Tom Murray, Ryan Wilson and 14-year-old Hugo Smith to pull off a stunning win in the novice eight, an amazing result given that they were rowing together for the first time and had never even trained together.
Ryan Wilson kept the Picton Rowing Club's flag flying with a fine gold medal-winning row in the under-16 single scull.
Silver medal winners for Blenheim were the under-17 eight comprising Pim Greven, Maasdam, Harvey, Black, McCaffery, Murray, Wilson, Beattie and cox McDonald.
Maasdam and Harvey won silver in the under-17 double, Greven in the single scull as did the under-16 quad of Harry Taylor, Murray, McCaffrey, Wilson and cox Kyle Walter.
The under-15 eight won silver, that crew comprising Hayden Beavis, Connor Irving, Marcus Henry, Max Bicknall, Mitch Avery, David McNamara, Piers Dashfield, Chad Ternent and cox Walter.
Eathan Ward and Meaclem won bronze in the under-19 double sculls, Taylor took out bronze in the single. Streeter and Henry were third in the novice double and Streeter, Young, Henry, Saul and cox Nicholls won bronze in the novice quad.
Coach Campbell said the results were confirmation that their base programme was on track and as yet they have not done any designated speed work.
"There were some good performances overall, especially considering we are light on experience throughout, with 25 of our 35 rowers competing in their first year of rowing.
"This did show to some extent where a more disciplined focus in race preparation will increase results.
"We could easily have won two more titles last weekend so there was invaluable experience gained in the fine tuning needed in the lead-up to racing."
Campbell said they would be leaving no stone unturned in their build-up for the major focus this season, the Maadi Cup national secondary schools regatta at Lake Ruataniwha at the end of March.
The Blenheim Rowing Club's next regatta with a full squad is the Canterbury secondary schools championships at Lake Hood in Ashburton on February 27 and 28 followed by the South Island secondary school championships a week later at Twizel. On Sunday, eight of the squad leave for lake Karapiro in Cambridge for the national club championships which start next Tuesday.
- The Marlborough Express
