Roncalli's Fraser brothers call strokes

Roncalli College will have a nice mix of youth and experience, as well as two brothers hoping to steer their crews to Maadi Cup glory.

Cameron and Sam Fraser are two of the school's coxs for the week-long national secondary school's rowing regatta.

This will be the third year for Cameron, while Sam is in his first year.

As the smallest members of the squad, a cox must be as light as possible, so the boats can move faster through the water, sixteen-year-old Cameron weighs 61 kilograms – the minimum weight he can compete at is 55 kilograms – while 14-year-old Sam weighs 56 kilograms, but can compete at 50 kilograms.

"I'll be losing a bit of weight next week.

"It works out to every 10 kilos is a second [lost] on the water," Cameron said.

Cameron will cox for the senior girls and boys, while Sam will seat with the novice boys' crews.

Cameron said knowing the crew's pain tolerance was important in knowing how hard to push them.

"The seniors hit the pain barrier a bit harder than the juniors.

"I guess that comes with experience.

"You know what's happening and you deal with it."

Sam said he hoped to be a rower in coming seasons, but knew he had to add some muscle to do it.

Roncalli boys' coach, Andrew Darling, said that he was happy with his squad's performance at the South Island championships recently, despite late seating changes in some of the boats.

He said the under-17 quad of James Wilson, Ben Rush, William Crawford and novice, Chris Clapham were a chance of meddling, while Wilson and Rush could combine for a strong performance in the double scull, Rush will go-it-alone for glory in the single scull.

He said Clapham was a rower to watch, because he was competing against rowers two years older than himself.

"You wouldn't notice [his age] by looking at him, he is a big boy for his age."

With 10 in his squad including five new-comers to the Maadi Cup, Darling said he had high expectations for a strong week.

Girls' coach Geoff McCrostie said he thought this could be the strongest squad he has taken to the Maadi Cup.

With 12 rowers and two cox, McCrostie said making `A' finals was important.

"Anything can happen once you get in to an A final."

With experienced rowers Sarah Bruce and Louise Livesey competing in their fourth Maadi Cup, McCrostie said he hoped it would rub off on the younger members of the squad.

He said that all the girls had put in a lot of effort in training and he hoped their dedication would be rewarded with some positive performances during the week.

- © Fairfax NZ News