Christchurch Girls High struggle in rough conditions
Quake damage to the river where they train left Christchurch Girls High rowers unprepared for the rough conditions at Karapiro.
Christchurch Girls High School rowers were challenged with rough waters during the Maadi regatta after the Christchurch earthquake had limited their practice to calm water.
Girls High rowing coach Michael Petherick said the quake caused a bridge to be closed on the Avon river where they practise, meaning their usual 5 km stretch was restricted to 2 km.
“The last three years have been quite challenging for us since the earthquake,” he said.
“One of the bridges has been closed all summer which has meant we’ve had quite limited water to train on, so that’s been quite challenging as the river’s been quite congested.
“We don’t get a lot of rough water to train in, we can do it but our girls seem to be far more comfortable in calm conditions. A couple of crews this morning broke oars because they got caught on the wave.”
Although the girls haven’t had the best results so far in the competition, their spirits remain high as they have a history of success at Maadi.
“Directly after the earthquake the school was closed so we moved to Twizel and trained there for three weeks before we came to Maadi. We had quite a good regatta that year, we got five medals. It is difficult now training back in Christchurch, I’m hoping it’ll get better.”
Petherick said the earthquake gave them a number of problems, damaging their shed and coach lane.
“We used to have a nice smooth asphalt path for the coaches to bike along beside, since we don’t use coaching boats in Christchurch, but that path is all wrecked now. Our shed was damaged in the earthquake, and then just over a year ago it was burned to the ground by arsons. It was all covered by insurance so we came out of it no worse off but it’s just a pain really. We’ve definitely had our challenges to deal with.”
Although the girls have been through difficult times, Petherick said these setbacks have encouraged them to work harder for success.
“They’re quite a positive bunch. They’ve shown through the last couple of seasons that they can get through difficult times, so if anything I guess that’s helped us in preparation for this regatta, having to deal with the earthquakes.”
