There are promising signs for several Wanaka rowers this weekend.
The club’s under-16 squad has been in top form this season, although the South Island championships are something of a trip into the unknown. Poor conditions had seen the majority of finals being cancelled at the Otago and Canterbury championships. That has made it hard to get a true gauge on where everyone is placed ahead of the regatta starting tomorrow at Lake Ruataniwha.
Sam Pearce is the club’s only school-aged boy and had impressed in the heats of both championships this season. Two weeks ago the 15-year-old was the second-fastest qualifier in the under-16 single sculls at the Canterbury championships. He was second only to Otago rower Jack McLaughlan. Pearce also qualified for the A final of the under-19 race.
It can be hard to read too much into heat times, however. Under-16 coach Rob Bruce said he would let the weekend’s results speak for themselves, rather than go in with any expectations. He said Pearce was a hard trainer who had done exceptionally well working as the only boy in the squad. While this weekend would act as a stick in the ground, he referred to the South Island secondary schools regatta in March as more of a target.
"It will be a good opportunity to see how the boys are placed in the South Island and how they fit later on at the secondary school event," he said.
Pearce was in his third season of rowing, and after making several finals in past seasons, had come into his own this year.
He was not the club’s only chance at silverware. The girls in Bruce’s under-16 squad had started the season well and would have six rowers competing in the single sculls. They would also feature in the double and quadruple sculls. Greer Porter continued in good form, while Peta McKay and Jordan Fox were stepping up well after being novices last season.It boded well for the sport in Wanaka.
Amanda Inkster, another of the club’s coaches, was positive: "At the moment we’ve got a good group of young novices," she said.
"We’ve got 12 new novices, eight girls and four boys. And we’re running a squad, we’ve got eight kids in Rob’s squad, six under-16s and two under-15s, all doing really well. The novice kids have been doing really well as well.
"We’ve had not too much water time for them because the weather’s been so bad. But [the novices have] been getting through to A finals as well, not at the top end, but getting in there.
"They’ve all been putting in a huge amount of work, because we haven’t been on the water, doing ergs and running."
The championships begin today and will have 312 Otago rowers from nine different clubs competing. In total the event will comprise 1366 competitors from 37 clubs, with 4085 seats being filled in 1238 crews across 80 events.
