Ashburton College rowing star Veronica Wall has made an early impact on the Maadi Cup at Lake Karapiro. Photo Steve McArthurAshburton College rowers are in a great position to push for outstanding results at the Maadi Cup on Lake Karapiro.

With two days of competition done and dusted, the 16-strong squad have six heat wins next to their name already and the potential to go big in some of the events judging by their comparative times with their rivals.

Rowing superstar Veronica Wall is again leading the Ashburton College charge and made her mark on the championships early on in proceedings.

She won her girls’ under 17 single sculls event by a massive 33 seconds and was 13 seconds faster than anyone else in the event.

She then returned to the single boat and won her under 18 girls’ single sculls heat beating fellow Ashburton College rower, Grace Wilson in the process.

Wall was seven seconds up on her closest rival in the under 18 girls’ division with Wilson’s time 26 seconds behind Wall.

The pair then combined forces to record the fastest time in the heats of the girls’ under 18 doubles sculls event finishing 10 seconds faster than anyone else.

The winning didn’t stop there, with Mollie Gibson winning her heat of the girls’ under 16 single sculls, posting the third fastest time overall, leaving her in a good position to push forward in the semi-finals and then, all going well onto the final.

In the boys’ under 17 single sculls Haxby Hefford and Harrison Davies picked up second placings in their heats respectively, registering the 11th and ninth fastest times of the division.

The pair then combined to finish second in the boys’ under 17 double sculls, recording the 10th fastest time.

College’s star under 16 coxed quad sculls team of Laura Biggs, Mollie Gibson, Emma Stagg, Katie Donlan and Emma Jansen finished second in their heat as well with their time of 7:09.62 the fifth fastest time of the heats.

Yesterday the crews returned to the water and Ashburton College was to the fore early on in proceedings.

Veronica Wall teamed up with Olivia Gibson, Grace Wilson, Mollie Gibson and Emma Jansen to smash it out in their heat, recording the fastest time overall and moving them into favourite to win their way through to the final.

Mollie Gibson and Emma Stagg then matched that effort in the under 16 girls’ double sculls later in the morning to win their heat in the seventh fastest time overall.

In the boys’ under 18 coxed four, Wyatt Burrows, Artem Kravchenko, Caleb Pierre, Jared Mattson and Patrick Dekker finished second in their heat with the 11th fastest time overall.

Students are back in action today throughout the day’s racing with the quarter-finals of the under 17 single sculls expected to be a major highlight of the day’s racing.

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 29 March 2017

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

Hayley Whiting is powering up for Commonwealth Games selection. Photo suppliedHayley Whiting is well and truly punching above her weight.

The 24-year-old former Ashburton College student impressed in her first international weightlifting competition, held in Melbourne last weekend.

Competing in the under-75kg category, Whiting lifted 81kg in the snatch and 93kg in the clean and jerk, for a total of 174kg.

Whiting, who only took up the sport 18 months ago, described competing for New Zealand in the Australian International Weightlifting Competition as “a big step up” in her career.

“I’ve got a lot to work on but I really enjoyed myself,” she said.

“It was really exciting just being part of the New Zealand team and also to see athletes at the top of their game performing during the competition.”

A natural athlete, Whiting left her mark on a number of sporting codes during her time at Ashburton College, excelling on the track and the court.

“I used to play netball and do athletics but when I went to university I couldn’t really do that any more, so I picked up Crossfit – and through that I found my interest in weightlifting.”

Whiting studied physiotherapy in Dunedin, graduating in 2014.

She has since worked in Christchurch in a profession she says benefits her weightlifting aspirations.

“I can patch myself back together,” she said.

“But weightlifting is not as dangerous as it might appear, there’s a lot of technique involved – if you didn’t have that right it might be risky.

“I think you’d find injury rates in rugby or even netball would be higher that weighlifting.”

Whiting currently trains at a weightlifting gym in Christchurch under the direction of more experienced lifters, who are also part of the New Zealand team.

From here her focus will be on a competition in the North Island in June, as one in a series in the build-up to Commonwealth Games selection.

“There’s two other females in my weight class who currently rank above me, one who went to the last Commonwealths.

“It will be a lot of hard work, but I may as well give it a shot.”

By Michelle Nelson © The Ashburton Guardian - 23 March 2017