Our oarsome rowers
By OBHS Rowing | Posted: Wednesday April 2, 2025
Otago Boys' rowing had a hugely successful week of competition at Maadi Cup at Lake Karapiro last month.
Our boys worked incredibly hard and each year-group qualified for at least one A-final. In total we made it to seven A-finals and three B-finals.
Securing a spot in an A-final is no easy task. Maadi is the biggest secondary school tournament in the Southern Hemisphere, with 2225 students from 116 schools competing. There are heats, repechages and often quarter and semifinals to make it through in order to secure one of eight spots in that final race.
Our U15 squad made it through to the Coxed Eight A-final and placed 6th and the Coxed Octuple Sculls A-final placing 5th (the best result an U15 OBs boat has had for many years).
Our U16 squad WON the Coxed Quadruple Sculls, got 7th in the Double Sculls A-final and 6th in the U17 Coxed Quadruple Sculls.
Our U17 team got 8th in the Coxed Eight A-final and our U18 Double Sculls #1 boat also got 8th in their A-final.
Congratulations to all of these boys - this regatta culminated from six months of early morning sessions on the Harbour and erg machines, challenging training camps and a whole lot of self-discipline!
Well done to Ollie Scott and Ben Thompson who have been selected to trial for the U18 South Island rowing team.
Our rowing squad cannot do this sport without the support and backing of a large group of adults who make it all happen. A big THANK YOU to the coaches: Lauren Gibb, Thomas Ryan, Beth Anderson, Matt Thompson and Cam McFarlane for committing yourselves to early mornings, weekends and all that time off work in order to be there for the boys at regattas.
And of course to our hugely supportive rowing parents - thanks to each and every one of you. Special mentions to Robyn Miller - thank you for organising all the food, Katrina Adams for your exceptional organising and logistics planning, and to club president Anna Ollerenshaw for being that rock that kept us all together and so tight knit. Also, thanks to Ben and Anna Graham who towed our boats up to Lake Karapiro and back.
The 2026 season will commence with two Learn to Row sessions in September, and the season kicking off in October. If your son has considered rowing as a summer sport, we would love to welcome him next season.
The final word comes from these four U18 boys who have just completed their last season with our club. We asked them two questions:
What was your biggest challenge this season?
What has rowing taught you about yourself?
Here are their answers:
Henry Lucas (Club Captain)
“Dealing with injury - I overcame it by using as many resources as possible with physio and recovery techniques, coach advice and training as well as I can.”
“I thrive when I have a good routine to follow.”
Ben Thompson
“Hitting a wall with training and pushing through - we started at the start of August last year, so we’ve been training for a long time.”
“That I always have more to give.”
Nic Thom
“Keeping up with the workload with school, life and training and not getting worn out.”
“The fact that I know I can go into the “pain cave” and keep going.”
Andre Adams
“At the start of the season I was in bow seat and my whole rowing life I have been in stroke seat - I have been used to leading and I had to learn to follow and that was hard.”
“I am more confident in myself, I know I am capable of doing hard things. I have gotten better at catching myself when I start that negative self-talk which I know gets me nowhere.”
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