Maadi magic

A golden glow surrounded the Marlborough college contingent at the 79^th Maadi Cup secondary school rowing regatta which wound up at Lake Ruataniwha, near Twizel, yesterday.

Three gold medals, along with a silver and bronze, plus a string of A final appearances, combined to made this a successful and memorable regatta for the students wearing blue and golds.

Leading the way was a young man who has indelibly stamped his mark on college rowing this season, Aidan Bennett adding the national under-18 single sculls title to his South Island schools crown earlier in the month.

Another crew backing up their gold medal success at the SI champs was the boys’ under-18 novice double sculls combination of Isaac Coleman and Max Skehan.

The third gold medal was also a case of ‘rinse and repeat’, the Marlborough Girls’ College under-16 coxed four crew of Charlie Bennett, Maisie Shenfield, Daisy Lindstrom and Ruby Lindstrom, plus cox Hayley Sutherland, adding the national crown to their SI gold in a race they led from start to finish.

Two MBC crews picked up podium placings.

The boys’ under-15 coxed four comprising Ollie Saggers, Billy Hurren, Sam Shenfield and Harris Spencer, plus coxswain Dion Crafar, bagged silver, while Aidan combined with Hunter Marfell to claim a bronze medal in the boys’ under-18 double.

Aidan paced himself throughout the regatta. He cruised to a heat win in 7.51.06, won his quarterfinal in 7.36.16, then upped the ante in the semifinal, winning again in 7.26.22.

He made a steady start in the final, trailing the fast-starting St Pauls oarsman, but told Rowing NZ after the race that he was always confident that if he stuck to his race plan he would be in the hunt.

“I knew the middle K was certainly my strong point … it was all about getting my boat speed up.”

He did just that, taking the lead in the middle stages and holding on over the final 500m.

“It was pretty unreal, eh,” the elated teen said post-race, “I certainly left it all out there.”

His winning time was 7.18.43, with George Benjamin from St Paul’s second in 7.21.92 and Ted Rattray from Mount Albert Grammar third in 7.22.40.

For novices Max and Isaac, their success was reward for taking a chance on a new sport.

Originally a swimmer, Max explained the encouragement he got to give rowing a try, “My cousin started rowing, and all my friends and family thought I should start, so I thought I would give it a go in my last year of school, and it’s worked out pretty well,” he said.

For Isaac there was some encouragement coming from another sport he was involved with during the winter months.

“My hockey manager, from last year, her son rowed and she thought I would be good at it, and here we are”,” he added.

MBC head coach Clayton Lindstrom said he was “really happy” with his charges, the small team of 20 rowers and four coxswains reaching eight A finals and three B finals.

He was “rapt” with Aidan’s victory, coming as it did in what he described as one of the prestige events, the first time an MBC rower has claimed the trophy.

“Overall, it has been an awesome season, with plenty of highlights … it is great to see a good number of young fellas stepping up – hopefully we can retain them all for next year.”

Two thousand two hundred rowers competed at the regatta, with 500 races staged from March 23-28.

Notable Maadi results:

Marlborough Boys’ College

GOLD

Boys under-18 novice double (Isaac Coleman and Max Skehan)

Boys under-18 single scull (Aidan Bennett)

SILVER

Boys under-15 coxed four (Ollie Saggers, Billy Hurren, Sam Shenfield, Harris Spencer, Dion Crafar)

BRONZE

Boys under-18 double (Aidan Bennett, Hunter Marfell)

A FINALISTS

Boys under-18 coxed quad (Aidan Bennett, Hunter Marfell, Matthew McLeod, Blake Pitts, Harry McKendry) 5^th in A final

Boys under-15 coxed quad (Ollie Saggers, Bily Hurren, Sam Shenfield, Logan Planthaber, Elijah Flight) 5^th in A final

Boys under-18 novice coxed four (Isaac Coleman, Max Skehan, Cooper Murray, Ned Bowron, Patrick Gaines) 5^th in A final

Boys under-15 coxed octuple sculls (Logan Planthaber, Harris Spencer, Billy Hurren, Ollie Saggers, Sam Shenfield, Nico Bailey, Max Campbell, Gus Hoban, Elijah Flight) 8^th in A final

B FINAL WINNERS

Boys under-18 novice coxed quad (Isaac Coleman, Max Skehan, Cooper Murray, Ned Bowron, Patrick Gaines)

Marlborough Girls’ College

GOLD

Girls under-16 coxed four (Charlie Bennett, Maisie Shenfield, Daisy Lindstrom, Ruby Lindstrom, Hayley Sutherland)

A FINALISTS

Girls under-16 single (Maisie Shenfield) 4^th in A final

Girls under-16 eight (Charlie Bennett, Emma Eyles, Ruby Lindstrom, Casey Twidle, Poppy Fernandez, Kate Young, Maggie Clark, Daisy Lindstrom, Hayley Sutherland) 6^th in A final

Girls under-18 coxed four (Celia Spencer, Anna Hurren, Daisy Lindstrom, Paige Wentworth, Molly Hoban) 6^th in A final

Girls under-18 pair (Anna Hurren, Paige Wentworth) 7^th in A final

Girls under-18 novice coxed quad (Georgina Musgrove, Lena Bailey, Julie Mackay, Laura Anderson, Annabel Rea) 8^th in A final

Girls under-16 coxed four (Maggie Clark, Casey Twidle, Poppy Fernandez, Emma Eyles, Molly Hoban) 8^th in A final

B FINAL WINNERS

Girls under-18 novice double (Lena Bailey, Julie Mackay)

B FINAL SECOND

Girls under-18 novice coxed four (Georgina Musgrove, Lena Bailey, Julie Mackay, Laura Anderson, Annabel Rea)