Rowers get among medals

Wairau rowers claimed seven medals of different colours at the national champs which concluded on Lake Ruataniwha on Sunday.

Tristan Gregory-Hunt struck gold in Friday’s final of the club single sculls, prevailing by a second and half from Otago’s Edwin George in the title decider, where just two seconds separated the top four scullers.

Tristan took the long way to the final. He finished third in his heat, won his repechage, came fourth in his quarter final and second in the sem ifinal to make his way into the final. The club single is viewed as the biggest and toughest field in the cham pionships to get through, la belled “New Zealand rowing’s version of Squid Game”.

The men’s club eight crew was a composite mix, containing Wairau rowers Hugh Strak er, Liam Collins, Joe Hughes, Liam Kirkland and Gregory-Hunt. They won their heat and progressed directly to the final, where they finished second, claiming the silver medal. Wairau’s third medal was a bronze secured by the men’s premier quad, a composite crew comprising stroke Kobe Miller and Fred Vavasour from Wairau, plus Connor Bacchus and Sam Wilson from the Avon RC. Wairau’s Kirstyn Goodger

Kirkland came home eighth in their final, while Vavasour and Docherty finished fourth in the final of the under-22 double.

The men’s club quad of Straker, Collins, Hughes and Kirkland wound up sixth in the final, after finishing second in their heat and third in the semifinal.

The Blenheim club’s sole representative at the champs, Tokyo gold medallist Tom Murray who is making his back into action at Ruataniwha, picking up three gold, a silver and a bronze medal. In Friday’s premier single final, Robbie had to settle for third in a race won by Phillip Wilson from the Petone club, however he picked up his first gold medal of this regatta later in the day when he took out the premier double title alongside Finn Hamill. On Saturday he added gold medals in the senior and premier quad events, plus a silver as part of the second-placed Waikato eight.

There was more success for former Marlborough athletes. Charlotte Lightfoot out of the Picton club and now rowing for Dunstan Arm, had a successful regatta, picking up silver in the senior double while Phoebe Trolove, rowing for the Otago University club, won gold medals in the women’s under-22 single and double, plus silver in the sen