Champion rower Veronica Wall will again spearhead the Ashburton College crew at the Maadi Cup, being held at Lake Karapiro. Photo suppliedA lot can change in 12 months and the Ashburton College rowing team, who are bound for Lake Karapiro this weekend, is about to find that out first-hand.

A year ago, the same school sent a small squad south, to Lake Ruataniwha, for the pinnacle of secondary schools’ rowing – the Maadi Cup – and they did so without any real expectations on their shoulders.

As far as most were concerned they were just another small regional school, put there to help boost up the regatta’s numbers.

But when they get on to the water from Monday morning, rivals will now be that little bit more cautious when they see the green and gold singlet, knowing full well what they’re capable of.

Of course the majority of the fear will come when they see rowing superstar Veronica Wall hop into a boat, but the other members of the squad up there to compete over the next week are just as dangerous as the linch-pin of the Ashburton line-up.

“Our results this year, have been excellent, but when you compare those from the South Island Secondary Schools to the North Island equivalent I think it shows that we are in a very good place at the moment,” coach Justin Wall said.

The squad had just docked in Wellington yesterday afternoon and were looking ahead to the long drive up to Waikato through the heart of the North Island.

Wall said that time would be used to prepare for an intense week of competition.

“I think after the past two weeks, they are all fed up with training.

“But now it’s not about the training, it’s about the racing and there’s an element of excitement to that for them.”

Sixteen students will be representing Ashburton College at the regatta across a variety of age groups and disciplines.

They will have two entrants in the under 18 novice girls’ doubles and the same in the under 18 boys’ novice doubles.

A strong line-up will tackle the under 16 girls’ quad sculls and also in the under 17 boys’ event of the same discipline.

They will also have representation in the under 18 double sculls with a number of rowers splitting up to tackle single sculls events across the week as well.

Competition kicks off on Monday morning and runs through the week, with the team travelling home on Sunday.

A welcoming ceremony is planned for tomorrow.

“It’s a big week, but a great experience for them all,” Wall said.

“We are taking a much larger team this year than what we took last year so it’s really positive from that perspective.

“Now we just hope we can produce the results on the water.”

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 25 March 2017