Without many recent results to go off, the Men’s Senior Single could be anyone’s to grab at North Island Rowing Championships. This event is always one to keep an eye on, consistently producing great races and fierce battles. With the event won by an overseas entrant in 2025, there will be a multitude of scullers looking to bring it back home.
St Georges Rowing Club: Nathan Strachan
Topping the table at Christmas Regatta, and beating out a host of more experienced athletes, was U19 Nathan Strachan from St Georges, clinching the top step of the podium by just one second. This is an impressive feat from such a young contender, at least until you realise he raced the Double at the last U19 World Rowing Championships, and claimed gold in the U18 single at last season’s Maadi Regatta. Still, with such a tight margin to take the win, it will be an exciting watch to see if he can do it again, assuming he chooses to race this event again, of course.
Clifton Rowing Club: Clayton Potts
With Clifton Rowing Club having two athletes (second, fourth) in this event last year, they look like strong contenders to get on the podium this weekend. Primarily, the sculler to look out for now seems to be Clay Potts, finishing a close second at Christmas Regatta. I can expect to see a sculler from Clifton on the podium this weekend, the question is whether it’s their turn for the top step?
St Pauls Collegiate Rowing Club: George Benjamin & Gus Weir
At Christmas Regatta, St Pauls were out in force, really testing out their athletes to see how they fared in the big leagues. Obviously, we will have to wait and see what events they choose this side of the Christmas break, but with a third, fourth, and seventh, it could be to their advantage to try out the Senior Singles again. Primarily, the two to look out for will be George Benjamin and Gus Weir, not necessarily in that order, with less than a second separating them previously.
Waikato Rowing Club: Corben Campbell
With several strong scullers in their squad, an entry from Waikato Rowing Club could change things in this event. Being a high-performance squad and having so many athletes affiliated with RNZ, they have the quality to win this event, so it just depends on whether they choose to enter an athlete to do so. At Christmas Regatta, they entered just one, Corben Campbell, who will likely be looking to improve his fifth place. Should Waikato choose to enter scullers into this event, it would be hard to rule them out.
Prediction
As always, this event will be keenly watched from the banks as scullers look to assert themselves as a chance to take out the event at club champs. In my opinion, the podium will be Waikato Rowing Club, St Georges and Clifton. However, with entries not yet published, the event remains open to competition from other clubs.
