Froude mixes it with older rivals to ease into semifinals
ROWING
The Waihopai Rowing Club has had a successful day at the national rowing championships on Lake Karapiro.
Kristen Froude was first up in the women’s under-21 single scull. From the outset Froude showed she could mix it with the bigger and older girls as she stormed into second with Tessa Young, of Waihopai/southern RPC.
Through the 1000m race Ashleigh Hodge from Waikato RPC took over, taking Young with her. Froude had only to get into the top four to qualify for the semifinals, but came in third for a good first outing.
Ollie Behrent was next but with a tougher qualifying path to the semifinals. Like last year and the year before, he was the only club rower in his heat among seven other Regional Performance Crews.
Behrent pushed out with James Hunter from Central RPC to establish a good lead over the rest of the field, and that was how it finished. Behrent rows a repecharge today and should qualify easily.
Froude joined with Sarah Hamilton, Katelyn Froude and Lori Comer to win the women’s senior coxless four, followed by Lisa Owen jumping in to replace Comer for the women’s senior coxless quad to take second place behind Avon of Christchurch.
Froude and Hamilton will take confidence from their women’s senior pair race after winning in fashionable style. The crew pushed out and held a nice rhythm to win by a few lengths over other clubs.
Matt Malcolm was dominant in his men’s senior single event. With the rest of the field out of fighting distance, he was left to push ahead and take the fastest time of the heats.
Malcolm is on a mission to re- gain his title after placing third last year. The final should bring a fierce battle with Waikato’s Matthew Glenn, with the two having had several tussles in previous years.
‘‘The first 800 metres I was pushed hard and was then able to take it down a bit. You can’t take much from the heats just yet,’’ Malcolm said.
He joined with Mark O’connor to take second in the first heat of the men’s senior coxless pair, while TJ Leeming and Toby Pascoe had the fastest heat of the men’s senior double sculls and took third place.
Both crews will head to a repecharge today but should qualify for the finals.
Malcolm, O’connor, Behrent and Pascoe started their men’s senior coxless four event with a win in the heat.
With all crews progressing to the final on Friday, there were racing games being played with Waikato bursting out of the start before Waihopai took the lead with ease.
Eight points under race pace, the Waihopai combination continued to pull away and after a few more rows this week, will be ready for a tougher final.
Lori Comer, Jessica Hayes, Ingrid Mitchell and Morgan Shepherd won the women’s club quad, finishing two lengths clear and will be in the centre lanes on Friday for what promises to be an- other great race.
Thomas Jenkins, Scott Jones, Ben Mcleod and Guy Redpath will head to the repecharge in the men’s club quad after a fourth placing.
After a good push in the last 500m, the crew crossed the line with a Tauranga crew in the first dead heat of the regatta.
In the elite division, Genevieve Behrent from Waihopai/southern RPC took second place in the women’s premier single and will progress straight to the semifinal.
World champion Hamish Bond joined with Southland’s and Waihopai’s Jade Uru to win their heat of the men’s premier coxless pair. The crew is going for its fifth consecutive national title and was a few seconds quicker than rivals Eric Murray and Tyson Williams from Waikato.
Nathan Cohen and Matthew Trott had a close race against partner Joseph Sullivan and Robbie Manson in the men’s premier double scull, coming a split second behind the latter of the two crews.
Today will see the conclusion of the heats with the Waihopai men’s senior eight featuring before the repecharges for a couple of men’s and women’s events. Qualification should be on the radar of each of them as they progress into the finals this weekend.
The Southland Times.