Every year Dunstan Arms rowing team has punched well above its weight, but the 2020/2021 has been our most successful one to date. 

After a long club season, the start of our school regattas was delayed due to covid as the South Island Secondary Schools were canceled. So, our first school regatta was Maadi Cup. This year’s Maadi Cup was the biggest ever with 2432 athletes from 127 schools with Dunstan bringing a squad of 19 athletes.

In the Monday and Tuesday heats, Dunstan put out some top times, notably Paige Furrie & I in the U18 double had the fastest time by 13 seconds out of all 7 heats, which contained 54 other doubles. All the other Dunstan crews had heats like this which meant no Dunstan crews had to repechage on Wednesday. The Thursday semi-finals then rolled around with 10 out of 11 crews making A finals. On Friday and Saturday, the finals were raced with 8 of the 10 crews that made A finals earning spots on the podium, with 5 gold and 3 bronze medals.

Because the South Island Secondary Schools results were based on our Maadi Cup results. It meant 7 of our crews were the fastest in the South Island and another 3 gained South Island silver. This left each Dunstan athlete with at least 1 medal coming home. 

We ended the week as the third top rowing school overall in New Zealand as well as the top co-ed rowing school in New Zealand. Our gold winning U18 quad was awarded the President’s Scull for the top sculling school in New Zealand and our volunteer coach, Simon Smith was awarded the Bill Eaddy Cup for the best coach of junior crews in New Zealand. 

But it didn’t end there, as Sophie Smith, Paige Furrie & I gained U19 junior New Zealand trials, and the other Sophie Smith and Mackenzie Bryant gained U18 South Island trials with Sophie making the team. Here she won the U18 single and quad against the North Island’s best, alongside Pipi Horan, our new rowing recruit at Dunstan. Lastly, through all the hard work over the past 5 seasons, next year I am going over the United States to attend Yale University on a full scholarship to row and study, and Sophie Smith is going to LMU on a full scholarship as well.

But none of this could have happened without our awesome parents alongside Mort. We'd again like to say thank you for driving us to and from the lake several times a day, for feeding us between races, and for being someone we can come to.

And the biggest thank you to our amazing coach, Simon Smith, without him none of us would be where we are with these results. It takes a great passion for a sport to coach around 30 athletes alone 7 times a week for free, let alone the many regattas we attend.

And on behalf of the departing seniors, we would like to thank you for everything you have done for us over the past 5 years, and the life lessons you’ve taught us, such as true grit,