Shakira Mirfin riding and rowing to the top

Shakira Mirfin after winning U16 Single ScullsMaadi Cup gold in March this year.

 ​There aren’t too many more diverse sports than BMX racing and rowing.

Both involve hours of commitment, strong motivation and the will to win, but the similarities end there.
Shakira Mirfin has been on the winner’s podium several times over the past few years in both sports.

The year 11 Southland Girls’ High School student is a former national champion and international BMX rider and now a national champion Maadi Cup Single Sculls rower.

At the Aon Maadi Cup regatta in March, Shakira won gold in the U16 Single Sculls and was second in the U17 Single Sculls as well as finishing fourth in the U16 Double Sculls with school teammate Anna Rikiti.

She powered to victory in the U16 Single Sculls, beating second placed Holly Chaafe of Mount Albert Grammar School by over eight seconds, with Alice Fahey of Wellington Girls’ College coming in third.

Prior to Maadi, she had also won the Single Sculls at the SISS Championships. At that point she was hoping to do well at Maadi but not getting ahead of herself. “I didn’t know what to expect, I was just ready for whatever was going to happen. I didn’t know the North Island competition so I just concentrated on doing my best.”

Following Maadi, she also won the Single Sculls and the Quad for the South team in the North v South regatta on Lake Karapiro.
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This all followed up her second placed finish in the U16 Single Sculls and third in the over 15 Double Sculls in her first Maadi Cup last year. In the 2017 Single Sculls final she cleared the field with Ashburton College’s Mollie Gibson with 750 metres to go and pushed the Ashburton sculler right to the finish line. The two rowers finished first and second at this year’s U17 Single Sculls final. 

Two years ago - at about the same time in March - she was at the BMX nationals where she won the U14 title in Christchurch.

She also represented New Zealand in Auckland and Sydney in series against Australia and then in Belgium in July 2015 at the BMX World Championships where she finished sixth in the semi-finals.

She got into BMX racing through family, with her uncle running a track in Invercargill and her cousins and brother also into the sport.

Rowing has taken over now. “I do a little bit of road biking, but I don’t really do any BMX anymore,” she says. ”Now I just row fulltime and that is my main sport, except for some social football when I can.”

She followed in the wake of her family members in starting rowing.

 “My sister and brother both rowed, so I was watching them and decided to try it as well.”
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Her older brother and sister are both former medallists at the club rowing and university rowing nationals respectively. 

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The days are getting shorter and colder now, but off-season training isn’t just confined to indoors. “We go for long rows on the water once a week on Sundays to keep the endurance up.”

Shakira has also recently been selected in the Southland Sports Academy as a foundation member. 

The Academy Southland athlete programme includes a foundation level in the first year and a focus on leadership in the second. Athletes are given a solid grounding in mental skills, athlete life, nutrition, and strength and conditioning in order to prepare them for a high performance environment.

This programme has seen many local athletes going on to compete in Commonwealth and Olympic Games – with two SGHS old girls recently returning with medals from the Commonwealth Games in cycling (Emma Cumming) and rugby sevens (Alena Saili).

“It’s good to be part of this, everyone is very experienced and I am already getting a lot from it,” says Shakira. 

Unsurprisingly, Shakira lists PE as her favourite subject at school.

Southland Girls’ High School Maadi Cup success

In winning the U16 Single Sculls this year, Shakira became the second SGHS rower since as far back as 2004 to win a Maadi Cup sculling gold, after Michaela Townshend won the U18 Single Sculls in 2015.

A list of A final SGHS medallists at the Maadi Cup since 2010 is below (no medallists between 2005-10):

2018
1st U16 Single Sculls: Shakira Mirfin
2nd U17 Single Sculls: Shakira Mirfin
[Plus] 4th U16 Double Sculls Shakira Mirfin Anna Rikiti
 
2017 
2nd U16 Single Sculls: Shakira Mirfin
3rd U15 Double Sculls: Shakira Mirfin Anna Rikiti

2015
U17 Single Sculls: 2nd Moira Macdonald (No relation to Olivia MacDonald below)
U18 Single Sculls: 1st Michaela Townshend
 
2014
1st U17 Coxed Quad Sculls: Michaela Townshend, Kerri-Anne Sinclair, Georgia Smith, Rhianna Maxwell cox Reeney Souness
3rd U16 Coxed Quad Sculls:  Maiah Hegarty, Kerri-Anne Sinclair, Georgia Smith, Rhianna Maxwell cox Reeney Souness
2nd U17 Double Sculls: Michaela Townshend, Kerri-Anne Sinclair
 
2013
3rd U18 Coxed Quad Sculls: Oliva MacDonald, Georgia Yaxley, Katie Moffatt, Annabel Ronald, cox Eden Cross
3rd U16 Double Sculls: Kerri-Anne Sinclair Michaela Townshend
 
2012
2nd U17 Coxed Quad Sculls: Jessica Hayes, Olivia MacDonald, Amy Jenkins, Annabel Ronald,cox Charlotte Bell
1st U18 Coxed Quad Sculls: Jessica Hayes, Olivia MacDonald, Morgan Shepherd, Annabel Ronald, cox Penny Barnsdale
3rd U18 Double Sculls: Morgan Shepherd Jessica Hayes
 
2010
1st U16 Doubles Sculls: Morgan Shepherd Jessica Hayes

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