Veronica Wall, of Ashburton, now holds the world record for a junior rower. Photo Steve McArthurAshburton’s gifted teenage sculler Veronica Wall set a world record on her way to winning three gold medals at the New Zealand rowing championships at Lake Karapiro over the weekend.

Wall, 18, actually took silver in the under 22 singles, but her blistering time of 7.33.14 was more than a second faster than the world record for junior rowers, set by Clara Guerra in the Netherlands in 2016.

She returned to the water later in the day to comfortably win the women’s senior single sculls in 8.31.75 and the under 20 singles in 8.12.22. She also teamed up with her Ashburton Rowing Club team-mate Grace Wilson at the championships to win the under 19 double sculls and take silver in the under 20 double sculls.

Wall’s outstanding display of potential will surely have cemented a spot in the New Zealand team to compete at the world junior rowing championships in the Czech Republic in August.

“I’m very happy and rapt with a world’s best time,” Wall said.

“I didn’t have that time in mind, I just wanted to row the best I could.”

The teenager, who has deferred her university education to pursue rowing, will likely move to Rowing New Zealand’s high performance base in Cambridge later in the year where she is able to train with the national under 23 squad, as well as the juniors, before the world championships.

Coach and father Justin Wall said it had been an amazing week for the whole contingent of Ashburton rowers, which collected a haul of three gold, three silver and two bronze medals.

“It has been awesome right across the board,” he said yesterday from Wellington, as he was waiting for the ferry to cross Cook Strait and continue the long haul home with their boats.

“We were in nine A finals and in some of those finals we had three crews.”

Sisters Mollie and Olivia Gibson won silver in the under 19 doubles and bronze in the senior women’s doubles, and Terry O’Neill won bronze in the open para event.

Matt Rae and Haxby Hefford were also in A finals for club singles and doubles and they combined with Timaru rowers Michael Wall and Cameron Moffat to make the A final of the club quad, where they came fifth.

Mollie Gibson was fifth in the senior women’s singles (behind winner Wall) and Wilson eighth.

Wilson and Fran Connelly-Whyte also made the senior women’s doubles A final and combined with the Gibson sisters to make the final of the senior women’s quad.

Wall said the results showed how much the club had grown in the three years since his daughter was the only representative at nationals.

Their hard work has not gone un-noticed.

“The feedback is we are punching well above our weight.

“Our crews go there and get into finals and there is a lot of positive vibe around the club and Lake Hood.”

Wall said all the rowers handled multiple events across the five-day championships and their workload reflected their training ethic and ability.

There will be no rest for Ashburton College rowers in the squad though, with the Canterbury junior regatta at Lake Hood this coming weekend, then South Island secondary schools and finally, Maadi Cup in March.

By Linda Clarke © The Ashburton Guardian - 19 February 2018