Zoe McBride competes in final Maadi Cup Regatta
Zoe McBride is one to watch at the Maadi regatta, on the back of strong form at the recent South Island champs and a bronze at last year’s world junior champs.
Rowing enthusiasts should keep their eyes on 17-year-old Zoe McBride at the 2013 Maadi Regatta next week.
Zoe, a Dunedin student, looks to have a promising future after she competed at the World Rowing Junior Championships in Bulgaria last year, winning bronze in the junior women’s quadruple sculls. “They had heaps of elite rowers,” she says. “That was really awesome. You’re watching the top of the world race.”
The teen, who took up rowing for Kavanagh College in 2009, also took home four medals from last year’s Maadi Regatta: three golds and one silver.
On top of that, Zoe goes into this year’s Regatta on the back of success at the South Island Secondary Schools rowing championships held earlier this month, where she won three gold medals in the under 18 single, under 18 double (with partner Hannah Duggan), and the under 18 quad.
“It gives you a good benchmark to go off but you can never compare,” she says. “You’ve got to expect the unexpected and just go out there and give it your best shot and see how it goes from there.”
Zoe is excited about the upcoming regatta, in which she will compete in under 18 single, double, lightweight double and quad.
“It’s going to be my last Maadi,” she says.
“My main thing is to go out there each race and have my best performance.”
Zoe is still unsure what she wants to do after finishing school, though university is definitely on the cards. After studying, she hopes to make the under 23s and go for a lightweight double.
McBride may be the name to watch for future Olympics, with Zoe confirming that it’s “definitely a dream” of hers.
“It’s just about putting in the work and seeing if I can get there.”
She says she looks up to the likes of Mahe Drysdale, and Lucy Strack, who has been named to compete with her partner, Julia Edward, at the World Cup Regatta in Sydney this year.
“She’s a lightweight from Dunedin as well. Just to see where she’s got, it makes me really want to do what she’s done.”
The best is yet to come for Zoe McBride. Watch this space.
