© Kevin Strickland
Championships have been established. The
championships attract about 400 athletes and
President of New Zealand University Rowing,
Glen Sinclair, says that half of the rowers are novices.
There are two events that feature annually for
university rowers, the Trans-Tasman series
(against selected Australian universities) and the
World University Rowing Championships. The
New Zealand University Rowing Championships
serve the purpose of selecting a national team
for the Trans-Tasman series and also for the World
University Championships.
and Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell all have
had their time racing as students.
The“really mixed eights race”
which mixes novices in the
same boats as intermediate and
seniors, is held on the second
day of the University National
Championships.
■ M.S. B.
“University is a perfect time to start rowing,” says
Sinclair who has witnessed the growth of the sport
at university over the last decade. Sinclair sees
university rowing as acting as a feeder for the
under- 23 national team.” We want to fit into the
area of athletes who miss out on the under-23s
and elite teams.”
Members of the Canterbury
University team
© Kevin Strickland
At present Sinclair says there are positive talks going
on with Rowing New Zealand. Simon Peterson,
chief executive of Rowing New Zealand, says they
are looking at integrating university rowing under
one umbrella which would help improve its status.
“We’re keen to advance the profile of university
rowing,” says Peterson.
This year a strong team was picked for the World
University Championships. Held in Szeged, Hungary,
New Zealand picked up a bronze medal in the
lightweight men’s double with Andrew O’Connor
and Armin Svoboda. In the men’s single Fergus
Fauvel was touted for racing to fifth as this is only
his third year of rowing.
Other big names in New Zealand rowing have also
raced at the university championships over the
years with rowing and study often going hand-in-hand. Names like Rob Waddell, Nathan Twaddle
