Coach left irritated at Maadi protest decision

A Rotorua Lakes High School rowing coach is frustrated after his team’s race result was overturned following a protest today.

Alastair Riddle, who has been involved in rowing for 14 years, said he had never seen anything like it and he was strongly opposed to the decision upholding the protest.

“The issue is later in the day, I have had to call a girl to come back (to Lake Karapiro) who was almost home in Rotorua.”

Immediately following the girls under 15 coxed race, which was run in its entirety, there were multiple protests from competing schools who claimed they had been disadvantaged by the conditions.

A spokesman for the New Zealand Secondary Schools Rowing Association declined to say which schools had lodged the protest.

Association board member Andrew Carr-Smith said while he understood that the decision would upset people, it was all part of rowing.

“The results were nullified, the decision was that the event would be re-raced so no there is no official result from the earlier race.

“The Rotorua coach is quite right in that it’s not an everyday occurrence…it’s a rowing regatta, things happen.”

Choppy conditions at the regatta had meant that racing was put on hold from around 11am through to 2pm, causing some crews to wait on the water for up to an hour awaiting confirmation from officials.