Mollie Gibson and her New Zealand quad crew training on Lake Karapiro ahead of the World Rowing Junior Championships in the Czech Republic. Photo supplied.Ashburton’s Mollie Gibson is about to embark on the biggest adventure of her young rowing career to date.

Tomorrow she’ll board a plane with 19 other budding young Kiwi rowing stars, bound for the Czech Republic, where the World Rowing Junior Championships awaits them.

For 16-year-old Gibson, it’s a huge opportunity. It will be her first time competing on the world rowing stage, and although she can’t wait, she admits the nerves are starting to build.

Gibson will race in the girls’ quad.

She’s the boat’s stroke – the one who sets the pace – and after seven weeks in camp at Lake Karapiro in the Waikato preparing themselves for what lies ahead, the crew know each other well and have become good friends, Gibson said.

Just how they’ll fare against the world’s best though is hard to gauge at the moment.

All they’ve been able to do is prepare the best they can and hope they’ve done enough.

“It’s hard to tell because we have no idea what the other countries are going to be like,” Gibson said.

“But everyone’s goal is to win, I guess.”

A Year 12 student at Ashburton College, being in camp for seven weeks in the Waikato hasn’t meant Gibson has missed out on school work in what is a vital schooling year in determining a student’s future plans.

Six days a week, the young rowers have been getting up at 5.15am, to start training at 6am, and on school days returning at about 9am to get ready to head to school.

For the past seven weeks, Gibson’s school has been St Peter’s in Cambridge.

But there’s been no classes. Gibson and her fellow school-aged New Zealand reps have been setting up camp in the school’s library and completing work set out for them by their own teachers, before heading back to training again at 3pm.

It’s been hard, tiring work.

“A lot of people fall asleep at school,” Gibson said.

Even she did, just the once.

Being away from home and family for so long hasn’t been easy, with the rowers’ families allowed just one weekend visit, and the rowers allowed just one weekend at home.

The Ashburton College school ball – which would have been Gibson’s first ball – fell while the camp was on but even if she’d wanted to make that her weekend at home, the rowers were not allowed to attend their school balls.

“But that’s a small price to pay, I’d say,” Gibson said.

Being a rower takes dedication.

It means early starts and countless hours both on the water and in the gym.

But all that work has been paying off for Gibson.

Up until now, the biggest rowing regattas she’s has attended have been Maadi Cups – the New Zealand secondary school rowing championships.

At Maadi earlier this year she won gold in the under-18 double and quad, and the under-17 single, and bronze in the under-17 quad – performances that earned her a place in the 20-strong New Zealand team for the junior worlds.

“The world champs are a lot smaller than the New Zealand secondary schools’, there’s only about 600 athletes I think go, compared to like 2200 at Maadi,” Gibson said.

The worlds may be smaller, but Gibson knows it will be a lot harder on the water in the Czech Republic.

She’s more than ready though.

The seven weeks in camp have taught her a lot and she’s loved spending so much time on Lake Karapiro.

“You can row for ages, just in one direction, without having to turn around like at Lake Hood,” she said.

Gibson is one of two Mid Canterbury rowers heading to the Czech Republic for the worlds, with Veronica Wall the other one.

She’ll race in the single, while her dad – Ashburton rowing coach Justin Wall – is the coach for both the single and the quad.

Gibson said it has been great having a coach she knows so well coaching her in the New Zealand boat.

At just 16, Gibson is the second youngest member of the New Zealand team, and she has one more year where she’ll be eligible for the junior worlds.

But she’s not getting ahead of herself.

This year’s worlds are yet to come – they begin on August 8 – and Gibson plans on giving it her absolute all in the hope of becoming the latest in a long line of New Zealand rowers to medal on the world stage.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 27 July 2018