Well, it should be an interesting gauge of the Avon vs Dunstan head-bashing. Consistent with the previous regatta, the Open events will consist of the Single, Pair, Double, Four, Quad and Eight. Unlike the men’s events, both clubs have spread their efforts across sweeping and sculling events thus far, with little doubt that the rivalry will continue at this weekend’s Canterbury Championships. With the dismantling of Cure Boating Club’s women’s squad, sadly it seems that little to no contention exists besides Avon and Dunstan.
Avon Rowing Club
The club has many newcomers in their squad this season, filling out many of the athletes who departed from the previous year. Notable scullers have entered the club, including Twizel’s Sadie Mason and Lilly Grant from Timaru. Competing at the U19 World Champs in 2025, the two combined at Otago Champs regatta to finish fourth behind three Dunstan Open Women’s Doubles. Avon also had an efficient Quad at this regatta, finishing second behind Dunstan in a crew of Sadie and Lilly, joined by UK sculler Teagan Smith, and Tyler Stewart. While it’s likely the club swapped rowers between days at this regatta, a second Quad finished closely in fourth behind a Dunstan ‘B’ crew. Will the typical Avon women’s fours dominance switch to a quad with so many celebrated scullers? Continuing the discussion of their previous results, Avon had the winning Pair, Four and Eight in the Open categories at Otago Champs. This included three fours finishing within less than five seconds of each other, and the return of famed rowers Phoebe Collier and Jemma Burrows in the pair. The two have back-to-back wins in the Senior Pair at the 2024 and 2025 New Zealand Rowing Champs. Without question, the Open Women’s Eight will be dominated by Avon – with more numbers at the upper end than ever, the squad will hope to go one and two at Canterbury Champs, much to Dunstan’s dismay.
Dunstan Arm Rowing Club
As discussed, Dunstan are looking hot in the sweeping categories coming into 2026. At the last regatta, they came off 9 nine seconds from the Avon women’s eight crew, jumping from fourth to second place between the straight heat and the final. No doubt, the club will have something to contest in this event with so many notorious athletes. Emma Spittle, Olivia Piebenga and Millie Scott are all coming off hot from a U22 representative stint in 2025. The Dunstan ranks are joined by 2025 Maadi gold medalists from Dunstan High School, Ruby Smith and Bella Breen. Breen, still in school, came out of last Maadi with three gold medals and finished second in the Open Women’s Single as an U16 rower at Otago Champs. This placement was behind Isla Westlake, a somewhat new rower on the scene who won the Open Single as a novice rower this last regatta. While Dunstan came through with a fifth place in the Women’s Open Pair at Otagos, just under 40 seconds off the winning Avon pair, and not boating a four, the squad has the numbers, strength, history, and results to back up any boat they target. The question for the squad and the results for the season will truly lie in, sculling or sweeping?
Notable Mentions
The Rangi Ruru Girls School contingency will be a threat to Avon’s sweeping results coming into Canterbury Champs. As consistent as it comes, the school will be looking for redemption this season, with a win in the Levin Jubilee race at Maadi 2026, making the senior girls’ hot contenders. They placed fourth in the Women’s Open Eight last regatta and also had a crew 11 seconds back from Avon number one in the Women’s Open Coxless four. With many young rowers, it’s hard to determine who the standouts are, but with fresh additions to the coaching team in famed rowing coach James Armitage and Craig Harper to the senior program, it will be interesting to see how much speed the squad will gain.
Without discounting the lineage of other schools, Christchurch Girls High School managed a Rangi Ruru defeat and third-place finish in the final of the Women’s Open Eight at the last hit out in December. While a potential priority boat for the school, which recently took their first win in the Levin Jubilee back in 2024, the school is hot on the heels of both Avon and Dunstan in the eights, only three seconds from Dunstan’s number one crew and twelve from Avon.
