Auckland Grammar Rowing Dinner

Saturday 20 August 2011, 6-10 pm, Royal NZ Yacht Squadron, Westhaven.  This dinner to celebrate past and current success is for rowers, coaches, supporters, partners - past and present. 

For details download the Invitation and Reply Form.

Auckland Grammar Rowing Website

Click here to view the Auckland Grammar Rowing Website

Maadi Cup Win (NZSS Rowing Regatta)

28 March - 2 April 2011

U18 coxed 4s with the Springbok Shield	U16 8s National Champions
U18 8s with Headmaster and Maadi Cup	U18 pairs - Silver Medallists
Louis van Velthooven and Adam Smith U18 pairs	U18 pairs with Master in Charge of Rowing, Des Cutler
Grammar boys on the big scrren	U16 8's - National Champions
Brilliant Grammar support	U18 4's - National Champions
The euphoria after claiming Gold medal - U18 4's	U16 8's
Cross the line for the Gold	U16 8's heading for the podium
U16 8's cox	U18 8's
Unbelievable moment - The Maadi Cup victory	The scoreboard that tells the story
Stroke Tom Batts holds the Maadi Cup aloft	The triumphant crew and coaching staff.

Click to see photos of the rowers receiving the Maadi Cup at assembly on 5 April 2011.

To see more photo galleries of all the Grammar crews at Maadi:

http://gallery.me.com/nigelspeakman#100215

http://gallery.me.com/nigelspeakman#100223

North Island Rowing Championships

12 March 2011

On Thursday 10 March 2011 the Grammar Rowing Squad left to travel to Lake Karapiro to compete in the North Island Secondary Schools Rowing Championships. The team was looking to build on what has been a very strong start to the season, and they did just that.

With medals and major titles on the line this regatta provided the first real opportunity for all schools to boat their top combinations and test them against others in the chase for gold.

Friday saw the start of the heats delayed by low lying fog over the river, but as soon as it cleared racing kicked off and the tone was set for the day by the top 3 u18 pairs all qualifying for the A final. Throughout the first two days of heats another 11 crews qualified for A finals, including the u18 lightweight four, u15 eight and both the top and second u17 fours.

After two long days of racing to qualify, Saturday night had all the boys bouncing off the walls pumped for finals day. There was no fog to delay the racing and the action got under way with the u18 pairs. A dog fight all the way to the line saw Napier Boys High pip our top pair by 0.66 of a second, and the second Grammar pair came storming over the line to pick up the bronze medal 0.12 seconds ahead of fourth place Westlake Boys High.

Another notable performance was a bronze medal to the u18 novice eight, a crew of first year rowers who have come a long way over the season. The close racing continued with the Grammar u18 four charging home to claim the bronze medal, 1 sec off gold and 0.2 seconds of silver. One of the outstanding performances of the day came from the Grammar u16 eight, crossing the line with clear water over all other crews to claim the gold medal.

The crowd was building on the banks to watch the event of the weekend, the men’s u18 eight. The Grammar 1st VIII of stroke T Batts, L Van Velthooven, A Smith, J Fyfe, K Kennedy, J Bridgman, C Ross, J Little and coxswain J Bateman qualified into one of the middle lanes next to Hamilton Boys High.

Straight out of the blocks the crew from Hamilton put the hammer right down but through the middle 500m of the race the yellow bow of Auckland Grammar edged further and further up a fading Hamilton Boys High crew. A strong Grammar support crew shouted chant after chant, and the crowd began to roar as the commentator’s calls swayed the Auckland Grammar way. It came all the way down to the line and Hamilton was left in disappointment as the Grammar crew took it out by 0.36 seconds, taking out the top spot on the podium and the Thompson Shield for only the 4th time in our School's rowing history.

The squad will look to build on these results at The Maadi Cup regatta (NZ SS Championships) held two weeks from now. With plenty of points still needing to be worked on no crews will settle for what they’ve achieved. The team would like to say a big thank you to all the boys who made the trip out to the lake to support and would also like to extend an invitation to all current students and old boys to come to watch the Maadi Cup finals held on Friday the 1st and Saturday the 2nd of April, again down at Lake Karapiro.

Auckland Secondary School Rowing Championships: Head of Harbour

12 February 2011

Saturday 12 February saw the annual Head of Harbour Regatta held on Lake Pupuke in Takapuna. The day began with overcast skies and a strong headwind but that didn’t deter the hundreds of athletes from a wide range of Auckland schools entered in events throughout the day and even some appearances from schools as far as the Waikato.

The shores were lined with thousands of supporters, flags waving and loud hailers blaring, cheering for their crews to pull through and take out the honours. Along with the choppy conditions, this set the scene for an action packed day of racing, it was one of the first opportunities in the new year for schoolboys and girls to show off how far they’d come over the holiday break and there were plenty of battles right to the line.

The crowd was building and becoming more and more vocal as the two biggest event of the day approached; the boys and girls u18 eights. A proud King’s College haka was performed to their eight as they pushed out onto the water and a lone bagpiper sent the St Kentigern crew out to race. The girls race was dominated by a strong Baradine College squad taking out both 1st and 2nd place. The boys race set off to a flying start and several crews in the running for the top spot. But a strong Auckland Grammar crew came through to complete a very successful day of racing, it was the first time in the school’s long history that a crew has placed first in the u18 pair, four and eight. This as well as many other top three placings meant that Auckland Grammar took out the boys top school ponts system trophy. Takapuna Grammar claimed the girls top school and also the overall top school of the regatta.

Some crews were left elated with their efforts and others disappointed, but all left the lake with things to work on for the coming regattas and by the quality of racing that took place it seems clear that Auckland will be setting the bar at the wider region regattas in the future.

A huge thank you must go out to all the support team down at the lake, from the starters, the timekeepers, on water marshals, boat landing ushers, the commentators and the event organisers. Thank you for once again making such an incredible day in schoolboy and girl sport.