The usual suspects of St Margarets and Rangi Ruru have been in their normal sittings in the sweep events, but, unusually, Burnside High School, Ashburton High School, and Craighead have been right in the mix across the U17 events.
Single Sculls
To start, we have a few single scullers to highlight. Melissa Irvine from Burnside High School had a strong effort at the South Island Championships, taking the win in the double, though having to settle for silver in the U17 single. In her defence, she was still the fastest South Island schoolgirl in the event, with the win going to Queen Margaret College‘s Alma Steinfeld. Not far behind Irvine was Avonside’s Kate Orchard, and the last notable candidate to highlight should be Maisie Shenfield out of Marlborough Girls. Shenfield finished behind Irvine two regattas ago, but scratched at the regatta just been. Overall, Irvine has been the most consistent, contending well in her crew boats outside the single; she should be the confident one come Secondary schools.
Double and Quadruple Sculls
The double is a similar tale to the singles. Melissa Irvine, joined by Aimee Muncaster, sat very comfortably in front at the South Island Champs. Six seconds to the next crew, and an undefeated track record for the past three regattas, it seems they’ll be sure to win. Besides the Burnside girls, the six-second gap was occupied by Craighead Diocesan School’s Jasmine Payne and Kate Caird. Furthermore, at that regatta, it was comfortably these two crews. However, Ashburton High School have been careful to hide their combination, having won the U17 girls quad but racing their girls in only club events outside of this. Early in the season, they were sitting in front of Craighead in December when they last raced the double. Therefore, there is potential for an exciting race on our hands.
Looking at the quad, Ashburton were last regatta’s winners, followed by a contingent of Burnside rowers three seconds back, followed by another three seconds to Cashmere High School. Cashmere, having their recent history in the quad events over recent Maadi Regattas (second last year, first the year before), are unlikely to be the underdogs. However, it is surmised that they haven’t sat particularly close to the Ashburton or Burnside quads this season, who will be the two top contenders for the event.
Pairs and Fours
No U17 pair event has featured this year, so true interest in the event is hard to foresee. Alongside this, the girls U17 pair sits very close to the U18 eight, something many of the big sweep schools often prioritise. So, South Island secondary schools will likely be mainly small school entries, such as the likes of those mentioned above. Though this does not at all mean it will be an unexciting spectacle, it does mean that I don’t feel confident making a prediction at this stage.
Now this is one of the fun events: the four. Christchurch Girls High School finally get their foot in the door here. Their four of Millie Parsons, Sienna Cochrane, Olive Cooper, Emily Shearer and coxswain Greta Brokenshire won the South Island Champs, comfortably three seconds ahead of Rangi Ruru too. This was a close finish behind Rangi, with St Andrews College only 0.29 seconds back. However, all three schools will undoubtedly be prioritising the U18 eight, which could be to the detriment of their U17 fours.
Coxed Eights
However, the eight is different from the four. No St Andrews and no Girls High School crews are expected to be in contention. In first and second, St Margarets and Rangi Ruru, respectively, were untouchable at South Islands. This is really no surprise. They have numbers, resources and storied histories in the U17 eight. The Rangi crew have three of the girls from their winning 2025 Maadi U17 eight here too: Charlotte Gorman, Maddy Young and Amelia Jones. While St Margarets won, Rangi will certainly be ready for a fight. I would expect them to be keeping their cards close to their chest for now, but we could see them out front…
