Day 3 provided some thrilling finishes

One of the more heartening results of day three at the Aon Maadi Cup regatta came in the two repechages to decide the last four crews to make Saturday’s final of the U18 boys’ eights at Lake Ruataniwha.

And there was also an indication of what making the final of the celebrated trophy race (the Maadi Cup trophy) meant too.

In the first repechage, Mount Albert Grammar, Westlake Boys High and Christ’s College No 2 crew nabbed the all-important three spots.

And what did that mean? From out on the water a voice shouted out. It was difficult to figure out which boat it came from. Doesn’t really matter. The sentiment was what counted.

‘’Wow! A final!’’ was the roar.

In the second repechage, there was special delight for Cashmere High School, who had made the U18 boys’ eights final last year for the first time in its history.

For an encore this week, Cashmere did it again.

In a thrilling finish, where three out of four crews striving for the line would be grinners in a matter of moments, Christchurch Boys’ High won in 6min 11.38s.

There was an almighty duel between Cashmere, St Andrew’s College and Auckland Grammar, Cashmere nabbing second in 6:14.81 from St Andrews (6:15.35) while Auckland Grammar were the unlucky crew, just pipped in clocking 6:16.06.

‘’It’s a great feeling,’’ Cashmere head coach Hayden Soper said after the race.

‘’We came off a rough heat and to be in the mix in the final, with more speed to be found…we’re looking forward to Saturday.’’

Making the U18 boys’ eight final last year was historic for the co-ed Christchurch school.

They don’t have a decades-long history in rowing. The programme began about nine years ago and has gone from strength to strength.

They are akin to young upstarts trying to poke their heads in at the table dominated by the older, established rowing schools and making a good fist of it.

‘’It started out of a passion for the sport,’’ Soper, an old boy of St Bede’s College in Christchurch, said.

‘’There was a lot of support from the school and community, recently acquiring more grant funding and sponsorship which has allowed us to really grow.

‘’It took quite a few years of development from a motivated committee and alumni coaching coming back to the sport.’’

Success started in smaller boats, but Soper has a special passion for bigger boats and has set about creating a belief that ‘’we can be up there with some of the bigger, established schools’’.

That said, Soper acknowledged the support and help they have received from other Christchurch schools, notably Christ’s College, who lent them an eight boat, and St Andrew’s College while Canterbury Rowing Club have helped with equipment.

There’s another side to Cashmere’s growing presence – they also have promising young girls in their programme – and that is the positive element for the sport in general.

‘’100 percent,’’ Soper said. ‘’We are one of the bigger schools in Christchurch, there is a good pool of young athletes and it’s just a case of giving those kids a belief that they can get involved in rowing and that it is for everyone.

‘’We’re really looking to grow the programme and I hope we do inspire other kids to get involved in the sport.’’

Cashmere is not historically known as a rowing school. Basketball and volleyball are more its forte along with arts.

That’s not lost on Soper either.

‘’It’s always good to be winning and doing better than what you expect to.

‘’It’s a good feeling to be competing with schools who spend weeks down at Twizel and a lot of time on camps. We don’t quite have the ability and funds, but we do what we can.’’

Last year, the under 17 and under 18 boys’ eights both made their A finals, while the boys under 17 four won the silver medal in the RJ Hampton Memorial Shield.

Call that a first stirring from Cashmere.

A final thought: the U18 Boys eight this year are coxed by Hazel Bown. She’s not the first, and won’t be the last female cox in a boys eight, still’’ it’s quite cool having a girl leading the boys down the course.’’

Indeed, it sounds like there’s quite a bit of cool rowing activity right now at Cashmere.

Meanwhile, the tightest finish of the day came early, in the boys U16 second repechage.

Cromwell High’s Harrison Mills won in 8:17.50, pipping Wellington College’s Tai Renner by just .29s.

That was the difference between making the quarterfinals and dropping into the E final.

In the Levin Jubilee Cup for U18 girls, Rangi Ruru had been hoping to nab a third spot in the final after two wins in the heats 24 hours earlier.

But it was not to be. The No 3 crew posted 7:22.04, well behind Waikato Diocesan.

In the U17 boys single, Marley King Smith of Wakatipu High School was fastest to advance to the semi-finals, in 6:40.27.

And he doubled up in the double scull with his chum Sam McAtamney, in recording 7:03.12, the quickest quarter-final time.

Cambridge High School’s Isabel Murray and Lucy Eastwood were impressively the fastest of the quarterfinalists in the girls U16 double, clocking 7:51.90.