Jury Judges Westlake To Be In Good Form Ahead Of Maadi

It took Ben Jury a long time to embrace rowing. Strongly encouraged by his parents to take up the sport, Jury languished in novice races for a while until he found sanity from the camaraderie the sport provides.


“The greatest enjoyment in rowing is the team aspect, the brotherhood you build as a crew. My rowing mates are my best mates and always will be.” Jury enthuses.

Dury earned a place in a Westlake A crew of four at the under-16 level and his results rapidly improved. He won two bronze medals at Maddi regattas and was a member of the Westlake coxed eight that won a silver medal at the 2016 North Island Secondary Schools Championships.

Hopes were high for a strong showing at Maadi Cup, but Westlake faded to fifth.

“It was really disappointing. We got caught up in the hype last year and focused too much on the outcome rather than the process. We have learned to concentrate on our own boat and do the things we have been working on rather than get caught up in what others are doing.” Jury reflects.

This single-minded focus reaped rewards at the North Island Secondary Schools championships over the weekend. For the first time since 2012, Westlake was crowned coxed eight champions.

“The weather changed throughout the day, but fortunately settled down before our race as it had been pretty crazy. We came out cautiously and fell behind. We were further behind than what we wanted to be after a kilometre, but we didn’t panic. We started winding up with 750-meters to go and managed to pull ahead and just win. It was a great race because we kept our cool,” Jury says.

Jury occupies the seventh seat in the Westlake boat behind the stroke. The translator for the bow side of the boat, seven takes Stroke’s rhythm and acts as the man to follow for the blades behind his. If he does not back-up the stroke’s commitment or follow any change in pace, it is certain that none of the rest of the crew will.

Familiarity with Lake Karapiro, the course where Maadi Cup will be staged, will help with this process.
“Karapiro is pretty much a home course for us. We have raced there many times before and understand how the wind works and the challenges the course presents.” Jury believes.

“There haven’t been massive changes in the boat. We have three of the crew back from last year as well as the same coaches.  We are training ten times a week for about 25 hours. There is a huge effort going in. We are feeling good.” Jury continues.

Jury expects Westlake’s toughest competition to come from perennial powerhouse Hamilton Boys’ High School, defending champions Christ’s College, St. Kentigern’s College as well as a vastly improved Sacred Heart College.
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“Crews always find another level at the Maadi Cup. The next few weeks will be entirely focused on getting better for Maadi. We can’t wait,” Jury concludes.

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