Ashburton rower Veronica Wall had another great year on the water, continuing her dominance at the Maadi Cup, as well as travelling to Europe for the junior world championships. Photo Jaime Pitt-MacKayIt was another big year of medals and pulling on the silver fern for Ashburton rower Veronica Wall, and she is hoping to do it all over again next year.

Having finished Ashburton College this year, she now has the Maadi Cup and school regattas behind her, but by the virtue of being born January 4, she will likely get another crack at glory with the junior New Zealand team.

“This year it was a bit disappointing at the (Junior World Championships) with my doubles partner getting sick, which was something out of our control, so it would be nice to go and have another go there,” Wall said.

“It was an amazing year with going to Maadi, then the junior team stuff and then travelling away.

“It was a good experience with a lot of highs and lows.”

Coming off a 2016 where she became the first person to win the Maadi single sculls titles across three age-grades, Wall said she did not really feel the pressure this year.

“There was a little bit of pressure there but there is always that expectation there, but for me it was just about rounding off a great Maadi career,” she said.

“With the quad there was a bit more pressure as we were the defending champions, and in the double was probably the most competitive field.”

Wall was faced with a big decision towards the end of this year, and has decided to not go to university next year to focus on her rowing.

“I was planning on doing health sciences, but if I made the junior team I would have had to miss out three or four months like I did this year and that would not have worked so I had to choose between the two,” she said.

Her training schedule will not change much, still training twice a day with the occasional rest day thrown in.

“As long as I am improving, that is the main thing,” she said.

It has also been a busy end to the year for the former AshColl student, not long back from competing at the Christmas Regatta at Lake Karapiro.

“I was there just to get some more racing experience in,” she said,

“I was able to race against the New Zealand summer squad which was awesome and I was able to stay up there for a few days after and do some training with them.”

Despite plenty of race experience, nerves are always a factor.

“It is alright when you are racing in a quad and you can kind of bounce your nerves off everyone else because you are all feeling the same thing,” she said.

While she is still able to qualify for the New Zealand junior team, this will be the first year Wall will not be racing at the Maadi Cup.

“You are always going to miss Maadi because it is such a massive event and you miss the experience but also in a way you do outgrow it, and we still have nationals as well for the club,” she said.

“It is always good to see others coming in driving to improve and do well for the club.”

By Jaime Pitt-MacKay © The Ashburton Guardian - 29 December 2017