Ashburton rower Mollie Gibson is eyeing up another big summer on the water. Photo supplied.For Mollie Gibson, 2019 is going to be huge.

A champion rower who has her eyes set on future glory on the water, she has an additional ball to juggle next year, having been named Ashburton College’s head girl for 2019.

But she’s ready to give it her all, on and off the water.

The 2018 rowing season was a massive one for Gibson, after taking three golds and a bronze medal at the New Zealand Secondary School’s Maadi Cup regatta at Lake Karapiro.

From there Gibson made the New Zealand junior rowing team for the World Rowing Junior Championships in the Czech Republic.

Gibson said the highlight of any secondary school rower’s year was the Maadi Cup.

“Maadi Cup never fails to be the highlight and this year was no different.

“It was such an amazing week and was really great to see so many of us achieve our goals we had set out for,” Gibson said.

But this year that experience was topped by the trip to Europe for the junior worlds.

She said being part of the New Zealand junior team campaign was incredible.

She said she got to experience the next level of racing and spend time with the most incredible bunch of people.

“Representing New Zealand was such an amazing opportunity and I would be really eager to give it another go in the future.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself however, and so I know I just need to be consistently working hard and hopefully it will pay off.”

Ultimately, every young rower’s dream was to go to the Olympics one day, but Gibson wasn’t thinking too far ahead at the moment.

She just wanted to take things as they came.

With the 2018/19 season under way, Gibson was focusing her attention on some of the smaller regattas at the moment before moving her focus to the big ones – nationals in February and the Maadi Cup in March.

“I am hoping for a junior trial from that and it just depends on how successful that is as to what the rest of 2019 looks like,” Gibson said.

This year, her rowing schedule would have to fit around a busy schooling schedule.

She was not only in her final year of secondary schooling and making plans to head to university next year, but she was also Ashburton College’s head girl.

She said her naming as head girl took a while to set in but she was looking forward to the challenge.

And a challenge it would be, balancing head girl duties, vital year 13 studies and rowing.

“I am expecting it to be a lot of work but I am ready to take it as it comes and do my best to keep a good balance between the three and hopefully get the results I am after,” Gibson said.

“It will be a good challenge for me and I am looking forward to tackling it.

I know I have plenty of support so I have no doubt everything will go to plan.”

Off the water, Gibson saw herself going to university in 2020, but she wasn’t yet sure what she wanted to study.

On the water, a lot of Gibson’s future plans rested on how the 2019 season went and what opportunities were available, but she wanted to continue rowing after she finished school.

As a rower she has plenty of idols to look up to, and to aspire to be like.

New Zealand has produced a number of world beaters in recent years, but for Gibson, her inspiration was closer to home, as some might expect, in a fellow Ashburton rower.

“Veronica Wall has definitely been a huge inspiration for me as she’s been around since I started rowing and has taught me a lot,” Gibson said.

“I would say I am very lucky to have had her to train and compete with for the last couple of years.”

Wall had made a name for herself in recent years, dominating at the Maadi Cup and winning 18 gold medals at both club and school level over the past four years.

She also made the trip to the Czech Republic with the junior team for the world where she rowed in a single.

Gibson rowed as part of the quad in the Czech Republic and said she didn’t have a favourite boat, she loved aspects of each of them.

But she did enjoy racing a single as when you were in a boat by yourself, it was all on you, and that was special.

“I also love rowing with my friends in quads or doubles as you have someone to share the successes with which is awesome,” Gibson said.

She hoped to continue rowing a variety of boats over the next couple of year and just see where things took her.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 28 December 2018