Junior rowers show the way ahead for Westlake Girls

The future is looking bright for Westlake Girls rowing after its Under-15 coxed four took home a national title at the Maadi Cup.

The crew of Talia Chatfield, Charlotte Mawston, Maeve Lockett, Sacha van der Net and Tessa Guthrie (cox), beat Sacred Heart Girls College by five seconds to claim victory on Lake Karapiro, in rowing’s national secondary schools’ annual championship.

Charlotte and Sacha were also part of the U18 novice coxed four that placed second in the A final.

Westlake’s rowing coach, Ella Campbell, told the Observer that although winning the senior events is the main goal, it was great to see up-and-coming rowers excelling. A squad of 35 girls headed to the event.

“If we can keep going in this direction it’ll be an exciting next few years.”

Next year the girls would aim to further develop their potential.

“Going into their second year of rowing we’ll look at mixing them in with senior crews because that’s how they get better and develop their skills.”

The main focus is training and development, but spots on the senior boats could be up for grabs if the juniors are fast enough.

“At the end of the day the quickest girls get on the boat so we’ll have to see.”

The spirit of the Westlake girls crews stood out for Campbell at the regatta.

All the Maadi competitors were cheering on their team mates racing on the water.

“It’s really good to see the kids feed off the school culture and get behind each other,” Campbell said.

Two other crews made A finals with the U18 coxed four coming fifth and the U18 coxed eight coming seventh in that pinnacle race. The school also made four B finals.