For some of these athletes, this will be their final South Island Secondary Schools. These are the U17 events at these championships. For all of these athletes, it is the final chance to book their ticket to the hallowed Maadi Regatta. What will the final stop on the long road of the 2025/2026 season bring?
Sweeping
Sweeping in the South Island is often a tale of a few schools. Whether it’s St Bede’s College, Christ’s College, St Andrew’s College or Christchurch Boys High School, you can usually guarantee it will be a fight between any number of them to make the podium. The 2025/2026 season is mostly the same, but Timaru Boys have emerged as a genuine contender this season for the U17 sweeping events. Since the U17 coxless pair was reintroduced in the 2019/2020 season, there has been greater intrigue surrounding this set of events. The U17 eight, for many schools, has sat in a weird in-between phase of the sport, as your top athletes may be prioritising U18 events while others may have already chosen to leave the sport. This being said, although the field might not be the largest, it is still a fiercely entertaining spectacle. For the 2026 regatta, your front-runners in the coxed eight look like it will be a two-horse battle between Christ’s College and St Bede’s College – two of the absolute powerhouses of the sport in recent years. At the recent South Island Championships in January, St Bede’s took the bragging rights, winning gold one length ahead of Christ’s College. Christ’s, in their yellow Empacher, have always brought something different to any eight they race, often opting for a triple tandem rig. Anything can happen when they want to make a boat go fast, and two men who I think will be contributing hugely to that will be George Hadden and Alex Lascelles. In the powerhouse of the eight, Hadden and Lascelles will be leading this crew through both technique and power. For me, there has always been something poetic about a Christ’s College Eight. Christ’s will be in for one heck of a fight with St Bedes’ big red sled for the U17 eight.
When it comes to the U17 four, we again find ourselves looking at St Bede’s, but this time, their biggest competition comes from Timaru Boys and St Andrew’s College. All three of these schools have put out very fast U17 fours recently, and we only have to look as recently as the 2023 Maadi Regatta to find this event putting on a sight to behold. St Bede’s led from the start until the final few strokes when St Andrew’s pipped them on the line. Timaru were back in fourth that day. Will we have a similar spectacle at this year’s South Island Secondary Schools? It is looking likely. Just 0.01 seconds separated Timaru and St Andrew’s for silver and bronze, respectively, at the South Island Champs. Cameron Sharpe and George Barclay set up the rhythm of the coxless four in the stern pair for St Andrew’s, and they will be hoping to pull off a miraculous victory like their recent crews. They are also the stern pair of the St Andrew’s U19 four at the recent South Island Champs, which shows the class these two athletes have. The Timaru crew cross over as fine scullers, so look out for them further on in this article. St Bede’s are the favourites for the pair and the four, and the two athletes who had a perfect regatta at the South Island Champs are Carter Connolly and James Franken. Not only did they win in U17 events, but they also claimed gold with St Bede’s in the U19 pair and U19 eight. Franken and Connolly are front-runners for South Island and Maadi honours. They could even claim higher honours and attract the attention of national selectors. I’m sure they would’ve looked up to recent Red Coat winner Matthew Glen as a former Bedeian. St Bede’s will be hard to chase down across these disciplines.
Sculling
One, two or four, it doesn’t matter how many athletes, the U17 sculling events will be a treat for those who get to see them. The U17 sculling events in the South Island for the 2025/2026 season are again proving why sculling events can be so exciting. While the sweeping events are more often than not won one of four schools, the sculling field is wide open.
For the U17 double, my favourites are Wakatipu High School, Shirley Boys, and Burnside High School; whereas for the U17 quad, my favourites are Timaru Boys, Otago Boys, Wakatipu, Shirley, and St Bedes. The scullers eyeing the single sculls cup closest would be Timaru, Cashmere High School, St Andrew’s, and Burnside. For these events, I will focus on a different school for each event and on a promising athlete from each of the two crew boat events.
In the largest boat, I will turn my attention to Wakatipu out of the deep south. At the recent South Island Champs, Wakatipu bagged bronze in the U17 quad with Oli Watson sitting in the stroke seat of the quad. Watson had a regatta to be jealous of, picking up gold in the U17 double and U19 quad, along with his aforementioned bronze in the U17 quad and a strong showing in the U17 single. Wakatipu have always been fast starters, and I see this as their weapon when it comes to these sculling events. I expect this to continue under Watson’s leadership. This might not be the last we hear of this talented sculler from Wakatipu. Recent Wakatipu alumnus Marley King-Smith is now rowing stateside at College, and I’m sure Watson will be wanting to replicate the form of his fellow collegiate.
The double scull was an event you could have thrown a blanket over at the medalists at the South Island Champs. Picking up the bronze medal that day, less than two seconds off gold, was Burnside High School. Thomas Carey sits in the bow of that crew, and he is a very prodigious sculler. Carey claimed fourth in the U17 single, along with the bronze won with Jack Payne in the U17 double.
Finally, the smallest of the boats, but the hardest to perfect. The U17 single is a special event; it kicks off the Maadi Regatta later in the season, and, recently, the winner has received a boat for their school. Timaru Boys’ George Talbot won at South Island Champs and will come into this regatta as the favourite, but I think Cashmere’s Jacob Haley will be tracking him down with haste. Cashmere have produced some great scullers in recent years, and I think they might have another in the form of Haley. These sculling events sound scintillating just writing about them.
Outstanding Athletes
One of the biggest and best schools in the South Island is Christchurch Boys’ High. Although I haven’t directly mentioned them above, I think they could be keeping their powder dry and will be there or thereabouts in the U17 events come the South Island Secondary Schools. Romey Johnson is a fine young sweeper for Christchurch Boys and strokes their U18 eight elegantly. Don’t be surprised to see the boys in Christchurch Boys’ row suits make their way onto the podium.
Prediction Time
Enough said, time for me to put my money where my mouth is. What are my podium predictions for U17 Boys events?
U17 Single; Gold – George Talbot (Timaru Boys), Silver – Jacob Haley (Cashmere High School), Bronze – Domenico Fricker (Shirley Boys High School)
U17 Double; Gold – Wakatipu High School, Silver – Shirley Boys High School, Bronze – Burnside High School
U17 Pair; Gold – St Bede’s College, Silver – Timaru Boys High School, Bronze – Christchurch Boys High School
U17 Four; Gold- St Bede’s College, Silver – St Andrew’s College, Bronze – Timaru Boys High School
U17 Quad; Gold – Timaru Boys High School, Silver – Otago Boys High School, Bronze – Christ’s College
U17 Eight; Gold – St Bede’s College, Silver – Christ’s College, Bronze – St Andrew’s College
