2021 Ruataniwha Masters and Aoraki 1000
29 - 31 October, Lake Ruataniwha
And the Gold Medal goes to...
South Island Rowing’s organisers and volunteers for their being so generous with their time while organising and running Masters Nationals and Aoraki 1000 under level 2 restrictions. It was a great weekend of flat water (until Sunday anyway) warm air, friendly competition, team building and after-hours fun – and a great set of results for Union, including the top club trophy!
The zones clubs were allocated made for good team building as you all stayed together and it made it easy to find crew members when it was race time. We liked getting and returning our bow numbers as there were no queues. Unisex toilets were fine as we had cubicles, rather like you were on an episode of Suits. Our thoughts were with our friends from the North Island who could not travel to the event- we missed you! That said, most races had good competition, but there were events where only one crew entered. If that was the case, the organisers put you in another race where feasible, so the row-over felt a little more like racing.
The blocks of races worked well, with the exception of Saturday morning, where D to F events were too close together. Someone could enter all 3 of these events and be on the water non-stop for an hour, especially when one of these events had heats and a final. But overall, we all had ample time to get to our races and we did not upset the starter too many times.
As you would expect, we all entered multiple events, and some of us arguably too many, but as our keen competitors have few regattas to look forward to, this is very understandable. On the whole we stuck with our club crews and collaborated with the Avon Masters only a handful of times. This enabled our small squad of 21 to compete in 34 events, and because we raced mainly as club crews we were able to once again win the trophy for the most club points earned during the regatta. This trophy was constructed by our patron Jim Little and encourages competing for your club, proudly wearing your club colours. You are awarded 5 points for gold, 3 for silver and 1 for bronze, while composite crews do not get any points. From our novice women’s double of Claire and Kirsty McD. winning gold, to our most experienced and very busy athletes winning multiple medals, we all contributed to that overall success. For example, Union had 6 entries in the D to F Mixed Double and we were delighted to see the blue-and-white finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd in one heat, with additional good placings for the other crews - this was a particularly proud moment for us. It was also great to be able to boat two mixed eights, even if the competition from Hawkes Bay was a bit too strong for us in the end.
A novel “long distance race” of 3 km was added at 8 am Sunday morning, rowing from the salmon farm to the finish line. Entries for this had to be in Saturday noon. The water was choppy but the race came off without a hitch. It appeared that our crew of Gina, Astrid, Russell, Brendon, Jono, Shelley W., Deb and Dorle and cox Peter G, heard ‘start’ at various times, or perhaps did not hear the start at all. Once we got it together we were able to finish ahead of Canterbury eight, but well behind the composite quads which made lighter work of the rough conditions.
As the Masters Nationals wound down, our juniors entered the fray in the Aoraki1000 regatta. The masters rowers had appreciated their support on the bank, and we were able to return the favour when it was their turn to race. As expected, the experienced and highly competitive crews from Dunstan Arm RC set the standard in many of their events. However, we saw a definite improvement in the skill level and stamina of our own scullers, many of whom have put in long hours on the erg and on the water over winter. Beth and Lauren also entered the pair, a newly discovered favourite of theirs, but due to the deteriorating conditions could not row their final. Our keen female scullers were unlucky with the weather, with the very changeable water chopping up just in time for their much-anticipated events. Bella and Ella, in their first ever outings in a singles race, did well just to stay in the boat all the way to the finish line. Overall the Aoraki regatta was a very well run, early-season event, but in this competition, the men’s open double and the single were too close together, with only 30 minutes separating the two races. This made things difficult for Nic, our sole male junior at the regatta, who in the absence of BJ rowed with our masters Theo and Stuart in the double.
Being able to run these two events together shows what can be done, especially with all the discussions that have taken place about running the NZ Nationals and NZ Masters Nationals within the same week. It works so well combining juniors races in with the masters and vice versa, the entire club cheering for each other and supporting each other on and off the water. That support enabled us to complete the hard work of loading and unloading the many boats that travelled to Twizel with relative ease, and they were certainly well used over the three days of competition. With some quick thinking by our boat-loader and trailer-tower in chief Stu, we were even able to squeeze in our brand new coxed quad/ four, which SLR had delivered to Twizel. The new boat was not admired for long, but rigged and pressed into service right away, with our junior girls of Eva, Lauren, Caitlin and Beth rowing it to a very pleasing 3rd place in their women’s open coxed quad A final. We now just have to find a ‘fast’ name for it that we can all agree on. After an eventful four days, our heartfelt thanks go to everybody who made the weekend such an enjoyable and safe experience – you know who you are.
Dorle Pauli and Deb Hymers-Ross
Results: Masters Nationals
mens masters B coxless quad sculls T Hudson, D Mahoney, A Giannakogiorgos, S Chretien A Final: placed 1st womens masters E coxless quad sculls A Harris, S Atkinson, D Hymers-Ross, L Jarmey A Final: placed 1st womens masters C double sculls T McDonald, V Dent A Final: placed 8th W Duggan, S Washington A Final: placed 7th
Mens D double Brendon and Russell
mens masters D single sculls S Wade A Final: placed 1st J Turnbull A Final: placed 7th womens masters D single sculls G Colvin A Final: placed 4th mens masters A single sculls S Wade A Final: placed 3rd mixed masters D-F coxless quad sculls S Wade, T Hudson, V Dent, T McDonald Division 1: placed 1st A Harris, J Turnbull, B McKenna, S Atkinson Division 1: placed 5th S Chretien, N Ward, R Watson, G Colvin Division 1: placed 4th
Mixed D – F eight
womens masters D double sculls A Harris, G Colvin A Final: placed 5th womens masters E pair oars D Hymers-Ross, W Duggan A Final: placed 1st mens masters B double sculls D Mahoney, A Giannakogiorgos A Final: placed 1st mixed masters A-C coxless quad sculls S Chretien, W Duggan, S Washington, R Watson A Final: placed 7th
Mixed D- F double Tanja and Stu
mixed masters D-F coxed eight A Giannakogiorgos, D Mahoney, D Pauli, W Duggan, S Washington, A Harris, B McKenna, S Chretien + P Gamble A Final: placed 2nd S Wade, T Hudson, N Ward, T McDonald, J Turnbull, R Watson, V Dent, L Jarmey + H Rutter A Final: placed 3rd mens masters D double sculls R Watson, B McKenna A Final: placed 9th S Wade, T Hudson A Final: placed 2nd womens masters F single sculls D Pauli A Final: placed 2nd womens masters F double sculls D Hymers-Ross, D Pauli A Final: placed 1st
Womens F pair Deb and Dorle
mens masters A double sculls D Mahoney, A Giannakogiorgos A Final: placed 1st womens masters novice double sculls K McDonald, C Farrelly A Final: placed 1st womens masters D coxless quad sculls N Ward, L Jarmey, V Dent, T McDonald A Final: placed 2nd A Harris, S Atkinson, S Washington, G Colvin A Final: placed 3rd mixed masters A-D coxless four S Wade, T Hudson, L Jarmey, T McDonald A Final: placed 1st S Chretien, W Duggan, S Washington, B McKenna A Final: placed 5th mens masters E single sculls S Wade Heat 2: placed 2nd A Final: placed 2nd
Womens novice double Kirsty and Claire
womens masters C single sculls T McDonald A Final: placed 3rd mens masters C double sculls D Mahoney, A Giannakogiorgos A Final: placed 2nd mens masters D coxless pair oars S Wade, T Hudson A Final: placed 1st
Womens D quad Vicki, Nic, Liz and Tanja
womens masters F coxless pair oars D Hymers-Ross, D Pauli A Final: placed 1st womens masters E double sculls D Hymers-Ross, S Atkinson A Final: placed 2nd mens masters C coxless quad sculls T Hudson, D Mahoney, A Giannakogiorgos, S Chretien A Final: placed 2nd
Mixed D – F eight
mixed masters D-F double sculls T Hudson, D Hymers-Ross Division 1: placed 1st S Wade, T McDonald Division 1: placed 2nd S Chretien, S Atkinson Division 1: placed 3rd A Harris, J Turnbull Division 1: placed 6th R Watson, V Dent Division 2: placed 7th B McKenna, G Colvin Division 1: placed 8th
Mens D double Theo and Stu
womens masters D coxless four D Pauli, A Harris, S Washington, W Duggan A Final: placed 2nd L Jarmey, N Ward, V Dent, T McDonald A Final: placed 4th mens masters B single sculls D Mahoney A Final: placed 2nd S Wade A Final: placed 3rd mens masters D coxless quad sculls S Chretien, J Turnbull, R Watson, B McKenna A Final: placed 5th
womens masters D coxed eight A Harris, N Ward, D Hymers-Ross, W Duggan, S Washington, L Jarmey, G Colvin, D Pauli + P Gamble A Final: placed 3rd mens masters C coxless four D Mahoney, T Hudson, A Giannakogiorgos, S Chretien A Final: placed 1st mixed masters A-C double sculls S Wade, T McDonald Division 1: placed 3rd
Womens open single Ella
Results: Aoraki 1000
girls u17 double sculls E Bader, S Lewell Heat 1: placed 2nd A Final: placed 5th I Watson, I McConaghty Heat 2: placed 5th A Final: placed 6th mens open double sculls N Pilditch, T Hudson Heat 1: placed 9th A Final: placed 8th mens open single sculls N Pilditch Heat 2: placed 6th B Final: placed 4th womens 50% novice coxed quad sculls C Farrelly, K McDonald, W Duggan, D Hymers-Ross Heat 2: placed 4th
Womens open coxed quad Izzy, Bella, Sam, Ella
womens open double sculls E Bader, B Farrell Heat 2: placed 3rd A Final: placed 6th C Dent, L Isitt Heat 3: placed 2nd A Final: placed 7th E McNab, I McConaghty Heat 1: placed 7th womens open coxed quad sculls E Bader, B Farrell, L Isitt, C Dent + P Gamble Heat 1: placed 3rd A Final: placed 3rd E McNab, I Watson, I McConaghty, S Lewell + H Rutter Heat 1: placed 8th A Final: placed 7th womens open single sculls B Farrell Heat 2: placed 5th L Isitt Heat 1: placed 2nd A Final: placed 7th E McNab Heat 1: placed 6th girls u17 single sculls E Bader Heat 1: placed 3rd A Final: placed 7th I McConaghty Heat 2: placed 6th womens open coxless pair oars B Farrell, L Isitt Heat 2: placed 5th
