Maadi 2023 - Lake Karāpiro, Cambridge
By Rachel Ozanne | Posted: Tuesday April 4, 2023
The Aon Maadi Regatta is the National Championships for school rowing in New Zealand.
Run by the NZSSRA and Rowing New Zealand, it is New Zealand's largest rowing regatta, alternating annually between Lake Karāpiro in Cambridge and Lake Ruataniwha in Twizel.
This year it was held in Cambridge with 2087 competitors from 113 schools. OBHS had 29 rowers competing.
The races consist of heats (up to 6 heats of 8 rowers for each race). Of these heats, perhaps one boat will go to the A final, and boats coming in 2nd to 5th will go repechage with the rest of the boats being eliminated. In the repechage generally only the top boat will get through to the A final and a couple to B and C finals. It is brutal, so it is a huge achievement for OBHS rowers and coaches that all boys got through to the finals.
A finals - six crews (top 8 in NZ)
B finals - four crews and (top 16 in NZ)
C finals - two crews (top 24 in NZ)
From the A finals, two of the six crews managed to get on the podium to receive silver medals, which means that OBHS has some of the best rowers in New Zealand.
Congratulations to all the OBHS rowers, training on the harbour at 5.15 in the morning is not for the faint hearted. Special congratulations to those who got onto the podium:
U16 quad - Levi Heffernan, Harrison Thode, Roland Ozanne, Jack Scott, and Dylan Young (Cox).
U16 single - Harrison Thode.
It is with sadness that we say goodbye to five of our senior crew who have rowed with OBHS for four years. We wish Harry Graham, Alex Drummond, Niall Alexander, Cam McFarlane, and Charlie Tisdall all the very best in the future.
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