The Otago University Rowing Club had a good outing at last week’s national championships.
A strong women’s squad of 13 crews secured eight medals — two bronzes, five silvers and a gold in the senior coxed eight. Club CEO Glen Sinclair said it was a great reward for a group that had been training for a long time under coach Matt Smaill.
"We wouldn’t normally have this size of squad, so it’s a bigger squad obviously. But also the group of girls has been maturing over the past two or three years. So I suppose the results are just reward for three to four years of hard work, not just this past season."
It was particularly special for Hannah Kennedy and Natasha Bonham-Carter, both of whom are finishing up with the university club. Bonham-Carter had emerged as one of the club’s top rowers over the past four years and claimed two bronze medals, a silver and a gold. Kennedy had been the club’s top coxswain and coxed the champion eight crew.
Winning gold in the eight was a highlight, while Sinclair said Haruna Sakakibara and Hayley Keatings’ silver medal in the senior double sculls was another standout moment. After qualifying for the final in fifth place, the duo switched seats, with Sakakibara taking the stroke position. The change worked wonders and they finished second in 7min 28.06sec, just over 1sec ahead of third.
"It was really exciting to see those two. That was probably their race of the season, whereas they haven’t been performing so well. But the coach, Matt Smaill, certainly knew they had the capabilities of doing that."
The squad was now heading into the university season over the New Zealand winter. That means many of its members represent New Zealand universities crews and compete in international regattas.
