Maadi Cup to ‘write-off’ crew

Press, 29 March 1982, Page 32

Maadi Cup to ‘write-off’ crew

PA Hamilton Tauranga Boys’ College staged one of the biggest upsets of the school rowing year when it won the prestige Maadi Cup senior eights on Lake Karapiro yesterday. It was Tauranga’s fifth straight win in the big event of the national secondary schools championships, but it was one few of the experts had picked. After a series of indifferent performances this year, including failing to make the final of the senior fours on Friday, Tauranga had been all but written off as a Maadi Cup chance. But the veteran coach, Bill Eddy, produced a winning change of tactics which shook the two favoured crews, Westlake Boys’ High and Hamilton Boys’ High. Once Tauranga had weathered a withering opening burst by Hamilton, the young crew quickly went to the lead with less than half the race gone.

In spite of having six of last year’s novices in the crew, Tauranga held off challenges from Westlake over the final 560 m, and was going away at the finish.

Westlake was clearly second from fast finishing Wanganui Collegiate, while Hamilton dropped away to finish out of the placings with Christ’s College and King’s College. Westlake won the Springbok Shield for the senior fours, as well as numerous titles through the grades. It capped the championships by winning the Derbyshire Shield for over-all points by a narrow margin from the surprise packet of the championships, tiny Hauraki Plains College. In spite of the disappointments of the senior crews, the Christchurch schools did not return empty-handed from their Lake Karapiro campaign. The St Andrew’s College under-17 four, in fact, became the first South Island crew to have won that event in the history of the Maadi Cup regatta. St Andrew’s came home from Hamilton yesterday with a huge , trophy, a Waikato area shield, which has also not been in the South Island before. The crew was John Tisso (stroke), Andrew Taylor, Graeme Black, Gary Blay and the coxswain, David Nicholls.