Ashburton’s Veronica Wall (right) and her New Zealand under-23 quad have finished fifth in their A final at the world under-23s in the US. Photo Rowing NZAshburton rower Veronica Wall and her New Zealand under-23 quad crew mates have finished fifth at the 2019 World Rowing Under-23 Championships in the USA.

The Kiwi quad made it through to the A final courtesy of a second placing in a repechage and were one of four New Zealand crews contesting an A final in Sarasota-Bradenton early yesterday morning (NZ time).

In calm weather after a couple of days of delays due to severe weather, the quad of Wall, Laura Glen, Katherine Lush and Kathryn Glen placed fifth in the final, in a time of 6:40:430 minutes.

The race was taken out by Great Britain in a time of 6.31:800 minutes, with Germany in second, Romania third and Switzerland fourth.

Rounding out the race was the crew from the Netherlands, who finished more than nine seconds behind the Kiwi girls.

In other A finals raced overnight Saturday, the New Zealand women’s pair of Ruby Willis and Grace Holland were sixth in the women’s pair, and the men’s quad of George Howat, Ben Kirsop, Mark Taylor and Jonathan Kumarich were also sixth.

In a very tight race, the New Zealand men’s coxed four of Angus Macfarlane, Luca Kirwan, Blake Bradshaw, Flynn Watson and coxswain Natalie Bocock placed fourth in the men’s coxed four A final, finishing just 0.8 seconds off third and just 1.4 seconds off first place.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 28 July 2019