King’s sets new record at North Island Secondary Schools Rowing Regatta

14 Mar 2018

Wednesday 14 March 2018

The North Island Secondary Schools Rowing Regatta was held on Friday 2 March to Sunday 4 March at the scenic Lake Karapiro.

The regatta was very successful for the King’s College rowing team, with 41 athletes competing in various events across the three days of racing.

The Senior Boys team topped the King’s results with two gold medals and one bronze medal.

“This was quite a triumph as four out of the 12 were novices,” says Head of Rowing Peter Jansen.

The most impressive King’s performance of the weekend came from the Boys Under 18 quad sculls, made up of Thomas Hall (Year 12, Major), Sam Cummins (Year 13, Averill), Matthew Caro (Year 13, Greenbank), Luke Shannon (Year 12, Averill) and Angus Brady (Year 10, Peart) on cox. The crew won their race as well as setting a new national record time of 6 min, 15 seconds.

Two of this crew then teamed up in the Under 17s to win the Boys Under 17 quad sculls.

Also impressive was Sam Cummins, who, in gaining the second fastest qualifying time in the singles heats, came fourth equal in the A Final.

Also performing well were the Boys Under 18 Novice quad sculls. This crew of Max Webb (Year 11, St John’s), Cassian Upton (Year 11, Selwyn), Joe Taylor (Year 11, Greenbank), Maxwell Brady (Year 12, Peart) and Angus Brady battled their way through to an A Final and won a Bronze medal.

The girls crew made up of Hannah Caddie (Year 12, Middlemore) and Annie Williamson (Year 12, Taylor)also raced well and showed great potential. Hannah and Annie teamed up for both the Girls Under 18 pair and Under 17 double sculls. After only two weeks in the pair, the girls performed credibly, gaining a sixth placing in the A Final. The crew also won the Girls B Final of the Girls Under 17 double sculls event.

“There was also a few dramatic moments and disappointments,” says Peter Jansen, referring to the Boys Under 15 octuple sculls.

“After a good start, the Boys A crew suffered major gear failure and had to row the rest of the 2000-meter course with only six rowers.”

The crew were beaten into fourth place by less than a meter and narrowly failed to qualify for the A Final.