Aramoho rise to champs - February 2016

RED AND GOLD: Aramoho Wanganui Rowing Club athletes Hugh Pawson (left) and Luke Watts on the winner's dais with coach Ian Weenink after claiming the men's double sculls at the national championships last week.

ARAMOHO Wanganui Rowing Club (AWRC) athletes once again proved they can mix it with the best after a successful campaign at the Bankstream New Zealand Rowing Championships on Lake Karapiro last week.

Best of the AWRC crews was Luke Watts and former WHS student Hugh Pawson who combined to win gold in the men's senior double scull, and head coach Ian Weenink was pleased with the performance of all in the 18-man squad.

"It [the nationals] was a very strong regatta this year with all the top rowers competing and I was very pleased all the ARWC stood up to be counted," Weenink said yesterday.

"I took a few younger guys up to blood them at this level and they performed well - they really put Whanganui and the club on the map. It proved we are highly competitive against all those bigger clubs."

Watts, in particular, had a successful regatta, bringing back five medals, including silver in the men's senior single scull and podium finishes with other crews.

Watts claimed silver in the men's senior coxless quad sculls with Tom Monaghan, James Sandston and Hugh Pawson and in the men's senior coxed eight that included Sandston, Monaghan, Hugh and Gus Pawson, Hamish Maxwell and two Gisborne ring-ins, Alec Hyland and Luke Jenkins, while Erica Gibbs was coxswain. She is originally from Adelaide in Australia.

"I had the option of including a couple of our younger guys in the eight, but decided on a composite crew instead and that's why Luke Jenkins and Alec Hyland were roped in. If the eight had won those younger guys would be deemed seniors and it's a bit early for them to be up in that class - they're only about 16 and need time to develop with less pressure on them," Weenink said.

Watts also brought home two bronze as part of the men's coxless four, alongside Sandston, Hugh Pawson and Monaghan, and as part of the men's coxed four, with Ben Tijson-Cox, Sandston, Maxwell and cox Rylee Dudley.

Meanwhile, the Whanganui School Championships were abandoned before completion at the weekend due to bad weather.

(Wanganui Chronicle 24/2/16)