BOOST FOR CHRISTCHURCH ROWERS
23 January 2009
A new $25,000 skiff was delivered to Avon Rowing Club today – considerably enhancing the chances of two crews being selected to represent New Zealand later this year.
The Under 21 Women and Lightweight Men crews of the Canterbury Rowing Association’s Southern Regional High Performance Centre (the Avon Ratas) have done exceedingly well at recent events, but until the new skiff arrived, they were disadvantaged by having to share equipment.
The four person skiff – partly funded by NZCT – is a great bonus and will make a world of difference for both crews. The trust came to the aid of the Avon Rowing Club (which hosts the high performance centre), providing seed funding and enabling the boat’s purchase.
“Rowing is a highly skilled, technical sport,” says club captain Don Symon. “Canterbury has some of the best rowers in the country, but it’s difficult to reach the top level if you haven’t got the right training equipment.
“When top performing athletes train and compete, they have to have their boat set to exact specifications: the rigging, the gearing, the height all have to be adjusted to suit each rower’s weight and height,” says Don.
“Until today, the Under 21 Women and Lightweight Men crews have been sharing a boat. This meant that before every training session, the whole boat had to be re-adjusted, which was pain-staking and frustrating. We are really grateful to NZCT for supporting our rowers and resolving this issue for us,” he says.
Mr Symon says rowing has traditionally been a male-dominated sport and it’s only in the past 10 years women have become seriously involved. For this reason, it’s been doubly hard to get funding for women’s equipment.
He says despite the odds and the difficulties training thus far, the club’s Under 21 Women’s crew has some strong contenders for spots in the New Zealand rowing team.
The crew is made up of Lucy Spoors (who has already won gold at the Junior World Champs), Ali Burnside (represented New Zealand at junior level and won at U23), Kate Reymer (silver at Junior World Champs and U23 representative), and former All Black Richard Loe’s daughter Jes (who has represented New Zealand at junior and U23 level).
Three crew members were identified by the Association’s Talent Identification Programme three years ago. All four should have a good opportunity to represent New Zealand at the Open Women’s grade in the near future.
The Lightweight Men’s crew will also benefit from the new boat. All four have achieved good results at the New Zealand Rowing Champs and are pushing for New Zealand selection.
Stephen Boock, NZCT Regional Advisory Committee chair, says NZCT is only too happy to help. He says NZCT fully supports Avon Rowing Club’s goal of advancing its rowers through to national selection and appreciates how difficult it is to raise the funds needed.
“The Avon Rowing Club and Canterbury High Performance Centre are achieving wonderful results and it’s our pleasure to help out by funding this training equipment,” says Stephen. “We believe amateur sport is a vital part of our society, which is why NZCT is the largest funder of amateur sport in New Zealand,” he says.
“We always try to return money raised through gaming machines back to the community from where it came, and we are very pleased to be able to help these two crews in their quest to represent our country.”
