Aon Maadi Cup finals line-ups confirmed

The final line-ups for the 2016 Aon Maadi Cup (New Zealand Secondary School Rowing Championships) have been confirmed today at Lake Ruataniwha with the semi-finals completed.

Semi finals day at the 2016 Aon Maadi Cup regatta began with calm conditions but due to a front passing through racing was suspended for a period towards the end of the day with the race programme eventually concluding at 5pm.

In the first semi-final of the day, the boys under-17 single, Sam Monkley from Cambridge High School produced an accomplished performance to win in a time of 7:41.53. There was a sprint for the three remaining semi final berths with the scullers from Glendowie College and John McGlashan College grabbing the second and third spot while St Peter’s School finished fourth. Waitaki Boys High School Sculler, Mark Taylor won the second semi-final with the fastest time of the two semi finals in 7:41.76. Verdon College, St Patrick’s College 2 and St Patrick’s College 3 also qualified for the medal final.

The boys under-18 pairs berths were claimed in the first semi-final by Marlborough Boys College, Hamilton Boys High School and St Paul’s Collegiate while Mt Albert Grammar School were also comfortably through. In the second semi-final Marlborough Boys College 1 claimed a convincing win in 7:15.55 seconds, demonstrating the depth of talent at Marlborough Boys. St Andrews College were just under four seconds back in second spot, Auckland Grammar School and Nelson College are also into the A final.

The girls under-16 double boasts the largest field at the regatta and the semi-finals saw St Andrews College proceed straight to the medal final after winning their semi-final in 8:01.66. Villa Maria chased strongly and finished in 8:05.19 while crews from Dunstan High School and Macleans College also advanced. The quickest time was achieved in the second semi-final with Hauraki Plains College posting a time of 7:55.27. Hauraki Plains were not under a huge amount of pressure as they were comfortably over the line six seconds ahead of Onslow College with Glendowie College and Christchurch Girls High School a way back in third and fourth respectively.

Ashburton College rower Veronica Wall is set to contest A finals in the girls under-16, under-17 and under-18 single as well as the under-18 quad. The 16 year old has progressed to the finals unbeaten and looks to have every chance of medalling in all of these events.

Tomorrow is set to be an exciting day with 26 medal finals to be raced culminating with the Sprinkbok Shield (boys under-18 four) and the Dawn Cup (girls under-18 four). The first medal final of the regatta is the boys under-17 single scull set to kick off at 8:30am.

The six day regatta began on Monday 4 April and concludes on Saturday 9 April. The regatta participants contest four age group classes U15, U16, U17 and U18 and a variety of boat classes including singles, pairs, doubles, fours, quads, eights and octuples. There are more than 2200 rowers representing 120 schools at this year’s Aon Maadi Cup regatta.

The 2016 Aon Maadi Cup’s 52 medal finals are divided over Friday and Saturday concluding with two of the most prestigious races at the regatta, the Levin Jubilee Cup for the girls under-18 eights and the Maadi Cup for the boys under-18 eights both to be raced on Saturday afternoon.

​For full results from the 2016 Aon Maadi Cup: http://www.rowit.co.nz/mads2016/results
The event will be webcast LIVE on Friday and Saturday 
Friday direct link: https://livestream.com/i-filmsport/AonMaadiCup2016Friday
Saturday direct link: https://livestream.com/i-filmsport/AonMaadiCup2016Saturday

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