2019 Aon Maadi Cup - Day Two

The 2019 Aon Maadi Cup (New Zealand Secondary School Championships) is being hosted by Karapiro Rowing Inc. at Lake Karapiro, Cambridge from 25 - 30 March, with Sunday 31 March morning reserved as a spare day in case of bad weather.

Run by the NZSSRA and Rowing NZ, the Aon Maadi Cup is the national championships for school rowing. Being New Zealand's largest rowing regatta, it's the most prestigious event on the school rowing calendar with six days of racing.

Amongst breezy wind conditions today 130 heats and repechage races across all age groups were contested at four minute intervals.

Live results from all races today can be found at rowit.nz, as well as a full event schedule and entries.

In the girl’s U18 eight, eight crews lined up in the event’s heat to compete for lanes in the event’s final on Saturday. Waikato Diocesan School for Girls took first place with St Margaret’s College and St Peter’s School (Cambridge) in second and third respectively. Saturday’s A final will determine the winner of the famous Levin Jubilee Cup, historically dominated by schools from the Canterbury region despite its North Island origins. In 1981 when Levin-hosted the Maadi regatta on Lake Horowhenua, Levin’s then Mayor Jack Bolderson contributed an award to celebrate the Levin Borough Council’s 75th Jubilee. First won by Whanganui Girls’ College, Rangi Ruru Girls’ School have since won it 15 times. In 2018, St Peter’s School (Cambridge) took an easy first place, with Rangi Ruru Girls’ School taking silver, and Waikato Diocesan School for Girls taking bronze.

In the boy’s U18 eight, Christ’s College won gold in 2018 and look to be strong contenders for this year’s final again, after taking took first place in their heat today. Hamilton Boys’ High School and Westlake Boys’ High School took second and third place, with all crews moving straight to the final. Christchurch Boys' High School took first place in the second heat, also moving forward to the final. The Maadi Cup hails from WWII, where two NZEF members based at Maadi Camp in Egypt raced in regattas on the Nile against the Egyptians. The Kiwi Oarsmen beat the Cairo River Club in 1943 to win the Freyburg Cup, which was then gifted back to Cairo River Club. In return, Youssef Baghat also presented the Kiwi crew with a cup. At the end of that year the cup was offered to the New Zealand Rowing Association as a trophy for an annual boy’s eight-oared race between secondary schools, and it was then that it was renamed the Maadi Cup.

In the girl’s U16 double scull, seven heats lined up for progression into quarter-finals, with crews outside of top four placings moving to repechages or elimination. MacKenzie Ealson and Paige Furrie of Dunstan High School clocked the fastest heat time, finishing in 8:38.40.

In the boy’s U15 coxed four Hamilton Boys’ High School were the only crew across three heats to finish in under 7 minutes crossing the line in 6:57.61. First and second placing crews all progress to the A final, with the rest facing repechages.

Repechages were raced for the girl’s U17 coxed quad, with the top two placing crews moving to the semi-finals. Whanganui High School took the fastest time across all three repechages with Zeah Brewer, Mikayla Manville, Niamh Murphy Ella Dudley and coxswain Campbell Monk.

In the boy’s novice double scull 24 crews were vying for lanes in the event's semi-finals across three repechages, with only the top two crews progressing. It was a North Island affair with St Peters School (Cambridge), St Peters College (Auckland), Onewhero Area School 1, Takapuna Grammar School, Huanui College and Onewhero Area School 2 all securing lanes.

After winning the U18 single, double and quad at the South Island Secondary School regatta, Otago Boys’ High School are off to a strong start in the U18 age sculling events winning their double, single and quad heats. They also took a win in the U17 double heat today.

Sponsor support

Aon has been a major partner to Rowing NZ for over 14 years, and the Aon Maadi Cup continues to be proudly sponsored by Aon.

Aon is the leading provider of insurance broking, risk management and associated services both in New Zealand and globally. They pride themselves on protecting all different kinds of Kiwis, from young families through to businesses and farms of all types and sizes. With over 950 staff located in offices spanning from Kerikeri to Invercargill, Kiwis will be sure to find a local Aon broker no matter where they live.

‘’Aon have supported rowing in New Zealand for almost 15 years, and it’s a relationship we’re both grateful for and immensely proud of. Fostering secondary school rowing is incredibly important – it obviously generates talent for future New Zealand representatives, but more importantly it helps grow New Zealand’s youth into great people. Aon have never been the type to provide us with financial support and walk away – they genuinely care about our sport and athletes, and are familiar faces at our regattas across the country. In recent years their support has stretched to working with secondary schools directly and providing much needed equipment.

The Aon Maadi Cup remains one of the biggest secondary school sporting events in New Zealand and we’re proud to work alongside Aon to bring it to life each year.’’

Simon Peterson, Rowing NZ Chief Executive

Tomorrow’s schedule includes repechages, quarter-finals and E, F and G Finals.

The event’s programme is available to view online at rowingnz.kiwi, maadi.co.nz and via the Rowing NZ App. A live webcast of finals will be available from Friday onward via the Rowing NZ App and maadi.co.nz