The Rutledge boys of St Andrew’s College.

This year’s Aon Maadi Cup will mark the end of a lengthy family tradition for the Rutledge boys of St Andrew’s College.

The three boys, George, Oscar and Fergus, all rowed at both the 2018 and 2019 Maadis but are back together for the regatta at Lake Ruataniwha this week.

Their combined Maadi time goes back to George’s first year, 2015. He turned 21 on Monday, and is on leave from Sydney University, where he’s studying commerce but also coaching Newington College.

He started coxing at 12 and won the Simon Briggs Cup as top cox in his final year at high school.

Oscar, 19, is at Canterbury University, also studying commerce, and is coaching the St Andrews squad.

And Fergus, 17, is in his final year at school and is in the St Andrew’s eight, having won a bronze in the same event last year.

Their father, Andrew Rutledge, is on the St Andrew’s rowing committee.

‘’I just think it’s them having a common interest. They are passionate about the same thing, which makes them very close,’’ Mother Justine Wyld said.

‘’It is unusual to find siblings passionate about the same thing.’’

She is one of the contingents of volunteers at the regatta, without whom, put simply, you don’t have a regatta. She wanted to do that to keep busy while the boys were on the water.

‘’I wanted to contribute, and it helps to get to know the kids a lot better.’’