Mollie Gibson and one of her Ashburton College crews head out onto the water during the weekend’s Canterbury Junior Rowing Regatta at Lake Hood. Photos Heather MackenzieWith just three weeks to go until the most prestigious event in New Zealand secondary school rowing – the Maadi Cup – gets under way, Ashburton’s young rowers are starting to hit their straps.

A number of young Ashburton crews were in action at Lake Hood over the weekend, when the lake played host to the Canterbury Junior Regatta, and it was another successful meet, resulting in three medals to Ashburton crews.

Mollie Gibson was the star, teaming up with Aidan Elvines to take gold in the girls’ under-18 pair and bronze in the girls’ under-18 double, as well as claiming silver in the girls’ under-18 single.

Ged Wall just missed out on a podium finish, crossing the line in fourth in the boys’ under-16 single, and finishing sixth in the boys’ under-17 single.

Elvines also picked up a sixth placing, in the girls’ under-18 single.

Wall also teamed up with Paddy Dekker for the boys’ under-17 double where they made the B final and finished second.

Near perfect conditions for rowing contributed to a fantastic weekend of rowing at Lake Hood, and Ashburton College’s young rowers now hoped that the good weather would hang around for a few days, with a big weekend of rowing awaiting them in Twizel.

Crews are set to head south this weekend, with the South Island Secondary Schools’ Rowing Championships being held at Lake Ruataniwha from Friday until Sunday.

The big one – the national secondary schools’ Maadi Cup – would then be held at Lake Karapiro near Cambridge, from March 25.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 4 March 2019

Hugh (left) and George Donaldson are in Australia this weekend competing as part off the New Zealand Open Waterski Team. Photo supplied.Ashburton’s water-skiing dynamos, the Donaldson twins, are set to take on the world again, but this time, they’re in the big leagues.

Hugh and George Donaldson jetted off to Australia yesterday as part of a 14-strong Kiwi contingent to compete at the Oceania Championships for the New Zealand Open Waterski Team at Latrobe, just out of Melbourne.

The competition will see two teams of six, plus a reserve for each team made from the 14-member squad and they will compete in the open and over-35 titles during the competition.

Age group stars up until this point, it’s a step up in competition for the Donaldson twins at Latrobe.

Both made podiums at the last Asia-Oceania championships, where Hugh won gold overall and George took the bronze in the under-17 boys championship, but now they take on the open grade, they are expected to face some stiff competition – particularly from the local Australian side.

“We’re expecting it to be tough,” said mum, Janeen Donaldson, who is also the New Zealand Oceania team manager.

“Particularly from the Australians.

“Their best chances of making the finals cut-offs are likely in the tricks or jumps.”

The competition will also see some independent international skiers in action in the open competition as they ready themselves for the Moomba Championships which are held on the Yarra River next week.

Some Kiwis will stay on for the Moomba, but Hugh and George are returning to New Zealand and getting back to their studies as they both complete their final year at Ara this year.

Donaldson said returning to Latrobe felt a bit like going full circle for the family.

“Karl was the first Donaldson selected to a NZ ski team back in 2007 and he and Neil (father) went over for the annual OZ-Kiwi challenge.

“Now we’re returning 12 years later for the Oceanias with the twins at the top of their ski careers.”

The Latrobe skiing set-up is built on a power station lake, and with it being an inland site, the temperatures are expected to be soaring and the prospect of minimal wind has everyone involved hopeful of some high scores throughout the course of the competition.

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 28 February 2019

Shania Harrison-Lee’s first season of outdoor target shooting has been a top one. Photos Erin TaskerJust four months after taking up outdoor target shooting, Shania Harrison-Lee has shot up the national rankings.

By the time the national outdoor target shooting championships in Christchurch wrapped up at the weekend, the 16-year-old Ashburton College student had shot her way to becoming the captain of the New Zealand junior team and the junior women’s team, and made the New Zealand women’s team, the New Zealand Wakefield (top 10 in New Zealand) and New Zealand Slazenger (top 20 in New Zealand) teams.

She won the Isle of Man Trophy for the shooter with the top junior aggregate and had three new pockets (badges) to add to her collection, for making the open, women’s and junior teams.

Her collection of medals, trophies and pockets is vast considering she has only been an outdoor target shooter since November.

But that was because before heading outdoors, Harrison-Lee was already an accomplished young indoor target shooter.

She had two full indoor seasons under her belt and headed into her first outdoor season off the back of a top few months indoors.

At the national secondary school championships she was the top individual and won the B grade, while she was second in the B grade at the national indoor championships and earned herself pockets for making the New Zealand women’s and junior teams.

Her shooting career started in Year 10, when she went looking for a new sport after a bad run of injuries on the hockey turf.

She tried pistol shooting for a start, before heading along to the Coronation Target Shooting Club where fell in love with the sport, the people, and the place.

Harrison-Lee is one of a number of youngsters currently shooting out of Coronation, and the Phoenix Target Shooting Club, but she was the first of the current crop to give outdoor a try.

The two disciplines aren’t that different.

They use the same equipment and the concept is the same, but outdoor shoot over 50m compared to indoor’s 25m, and outdoors there are the added variables like wind to deal with.

It was often said that a good outdoor target shooter should make a good indoor shooter, because if you learnt how to shoot with the added challenges of the outdoors first, indoor wouldn’t seem so hard after that.

But Harrison-Lee was doing things round the other way.

As well as the added challenges like wind, outdoor also required a lot more endurance.

A championship indoors involves three cards of 10 shots, making each championship 30 shots, but outdoors, a championship is a minimum of 120 counting shots.

A single card in indoor takes around 12 minutes while outdoors it takes 60 minutes, with an hour-and-a-half for prep and sighting.

It was a challenge, and one that Harrison-Lee was glad she took up at the end of the 2018 indoor season.

“The indoor season finished in September/October and I was like, ‘what will I do for the next six months’,” Harrison-Lee said.

Her first six months outdoors should help her when it comes to the next indoor season.

A shooter who had noticed she took a while to get going when the indoor season started, she hopes her experience outdoors will help rid her of that early indoor lull.

When indoor shooting restarts around April, Harrison-Lee will move to the masters grade – the top grade – and when outdoor restarts again later this year she expects she will be moving up to A grade.

Harrison-Lee came to the outdoor version at a time when it looks like the days of shooting as a Commonwealth Games sport were numbered, but there was still plenty to aim for.

Next up for Harrison-Lee is a potential trip to the Oceania championships in Sydney in November.

Whether she makes it could depend on how many shooters New Zealand take.

Currently, Harrison-Lee is the fifth ranked woman in New Zealand, and she has one last chance to better that ranking with a strong performance at the South Island Championships, held in Christchurch in three weeks.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 27 February 2019