Three gold for captain
ARAMOHO GOLD: The winning Aramoho Whanganui RC senior coxless quad sculls of (current/former WHS students) Levi Carroll, Guy Thomson, Nathan Luff and Luke Watts, along with coach Pedro Figueira.
PHOTOS by Rowing Celebration (Steve McArthur)
It was a strong week for the Aramoho Whanganui Rowing Club on Lake Karapiro at the Rocket Foods New Zealand Rowing Championships, with their club captain able to 'hit the cycle' with three gold medals.
Luke Watts was able to back up his and Nathan Luff's gold in the Men's senior double sculls on Friday by also claiming the single sculls crown, while Watts then teamed with Luff, Guy Thomson and stroke Levi Carroll to win the Mens senior coxless quad sculls on Saturday.
"We're pretty happy with it," said Watts
"We won all the races we needed to and did well all round."
Conditions had been flat at the lake for the majority of the racing, which started last Tuesday, aside from being greeted with choppy water before the start of their coxless quad final.
"That was a bit of a surprise, but we seemed to manage it better than the competiton," said Watts.
In the single sculls final, he was the clear winner in 7m 3.96s, nearly eight seconds clear of Canterbury runnerup Harrison Joesph, with Otago's Simon Smith in third.
The coxless quad final saw AWRC finish in 6m 28.66s, just over three seconds ahead of the runnerup Nelson crew, with the Waikato RC right beside them for third.
That win completed an excellent weekend for stroke Carroll personally as well.
"Jonty Thompson and Levi Carroll to get the bronze medal in double sculls, after getting silver in the [Men's club coxless] quad, and then for Levi to get the full set [of medals] at his first nationals," said Watts.
Thompson and Carroll had teamed with Union Boat Club's Kurt Browning and Donovan Thompson for the silver on Friday.
They backed up with Saturday's bronze in the Mens club double sculls A Final, finishing in 6m 44.34s, just under 1.5s behind the runnerup Waikato crew, but with the Otago team comfortable winners in 6m 39.02s.
Making a comeback to national competition, Georgia Nugent-O'Leary capped off a good week with silver in the Women's senior single sculls, finishing the A Final in 8m 38.99s, narrowly ahead of Hawke's Bay's Georgia King but well back from Ashburton's Veronica Wall (8m 31.75s).
Nugent-O'Leary also came fifth in the A Final of the Women's Under 22 single sculls.
AWRC's other medal was the bronze in the Women's club double sculls from Ally Bennett (stroke) and Niamh Monk.
Bennett and Monk completed the A Final in 8m 0.6s, just under a second behind the runnerup Canterbury crew, with the Invercargill RC crew comfortable winners in 7m 53.97s.
Watts said there was success for the club other than just medals.
"Our women's club [coxless] quad sculls made the A Final. To come back from no girls last summer to making an A Final – starting from nothing."
Bennett (stroke) and Monk teamed with Elizabeth Norman and Millie Thomson to come through in sixth in their heat and then third in the repechage to make the A Final, finishing eighth.
Watts praised AWRC's head coach Pedro Figueira, as their Portugese coach had worked hard to introduce a good culture at the club.
Having to take part in the Whanganui championships the weekend before, the AWRC members limited themselves to one race each before packing up the gear last Sunday and heading to Lake Karapiro to begin their heats on the Tuesday.
"It was quite a long week and we set it up to pace ourselves through the week, something we haven't done before," said Watts.
"That's something new that Pedro has brought in for us."
As well as the silver for Browning and Thompson in the composite crew on Friday, the two UBC rowers also made the Men's Under 19 double sculls A Final on Saturday, finishing seventh.
They went into the B Final of the Men's club double sculls, coming third.
There was also a fistfull of medals for the expat Whanganui rowers representing the Regional Performance Centres.
Chris Harris backed up his Men's premier coxless quadruple sculls gold on Friday by teaming with his former Olympic Games partner Robbie Manson to control the Mens premier double sculls A Final, winning by four seconds in 6m 24.36, ahead of the Southern RPC and Waikato RPC crews.
With two golds, Harris had to settle for silver in the Men's premier coxed eight A Final, when his Central RPC team finished in 5m 52.89s, just over two seconds behind the winning Waikato RPC team, which included another Whanganui expat in Martyn O'Leary.
It was a good end to the nationals for O'Leary, who had previously had to settle for two fifth placings – one in the premier coxless pairs oars for Waikato RPC, and the other in the premier coxless four while rowing for his Waikato club.
The Gowler girls also finished their week at Lake Karapiro with gold as they were in the Central RPC crew that won the Women's premier coxed eight, dominating the A Final with a 6m 17.89s time, over eight seconds ahead of Southern RPC, with Auckland RPC third.
On Friday in the Women's premier coxless pair oars, Kerri Gowler claimed a silver while younger sister Jackie got the bronze in their respective Central RPC crews.
Jackie Gowler also earned a medal of each colour when she claimed a silver in the Womens premier coxless four on Saturday, as her Central RPC's crew time of 6m 29.99s was four seconds behind Southern RPC, with Auckland well back in third.
By Jared Smith
Wanganui Chronicle 19/2/18
