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Games glory celebrated
Adam Hall, in action in Beijing, added to Olympic bronze medals to his collection.
Adam Hall returns to Wānaka with two medals from the Beijing Paralympics and Aaron Ewen plans to get to the beach. The pair made up two thirds of the New Zealand contingent at the games which ended at the weekend. New Plymouth’s Corey Peters also won two medals and the haul – gold, silver and two bronze, caps off a wonderful winter Olympic series for both New Zealand and Wānaka New Zealand finished 15th out of 46 nations on the medal table. Ewen, who became Paralympian 228 in
PHOTO: OIS Photos
Beijing, finished his campaign on a high, a feeling he’ll enjoy through the rest of the Kiwi summer before returning to the ski fields. He finished with an 11th place in the Men's Downhill Sitting and ninth place in the Men's Slalom Sitting and Men's Super-G Sitting. Recording two top-12 finishes at the Paralympics is a long way from where he has been. As a teenager Ewen was a promising mountain-biker, but suffered a spinal chord injury as a 16 year-old that left him without movement in his legs. Chef de Mission Jane Stevens said the games were a massive learning curve for Ewen.
PHOTO: Getty Images / Paralympics NZ
Aaron Ewen was looking forward to sme tme on the beach after his Paralympic efforts.
“The experience he has gained in his first Paralympics will no doubt work as a catalyst for him to achieve great things in the future. He has experienced the ups and downs of performance at the highest level, and this gives him the understanding of what he needs to work on going forward.” Adam Hall was also delighted with his campaign finish and hopes it will inspire others: “We’re fortunate that the hard work that we've had and the challenges that we have overcome to get here paid off. And I think together as a team and the nation back home in New Zealand, every
Mac rowers’ golden weekend
From left, coach Rachel O’Connell, Lola Ritchie, Annika Massey, Lucy Maibach, Annie Wells and coach Matt Rickard carry cox Thomas Mitchell after their gold medal winning effort.
There were gold medals, finals and plenty of outstanding rowing on show from Mt Aspiring College athletes last weekend at the South Island Secondary Schools Rowing Regatta at Lake Ruataniwha. The three days event was a conclusion to the season for much of the squad and also a lead in to the Maadi Cup competition for those racing at the end of this month. The school sent a squad of 17 rowers to Twizel, including 13 novice rowers in their first year of competition, and a number who have had less than six months experience in the boat. All of the team performed very well in what was a mixed weather weekend with some very challenging water conditions on both Friday and Saturday, and near perfect conditions on Sunday. Notable performances included a determined effort from the girls u18 novice coxed four of Chole Murray, Sophia Tuck, Lucy Radford, Skye Watson and Thomas Mitchell cox who endured extremely choppy conditions to finish a very commendable 5th in their heat, the last before wind conditions
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forced a short course format. The same crew (with the experienced Jess Gould in for Abbey) racing in the girls u15 coxed quad sculls also received praise when despite a very sketchy stalled start, they overtook two other crews to finish very strongly. In a similar vein it was a commendable effort for Anton Jones in the boys u16 single sculls who faced very difficult water in an outside lane to finish in good form. Coach Rachel O’Connell singled Anton out for his composure in the windy conditions. Jem Curtis and Phillip Massey in the boys u17 double sculls did extremely well against very well drilled competition to finish 5th in the A final, a great achievement for this developing combination, with Phillip describing it as his most enjoyable race to date. In another A final showing for Mount Aspiring College, Phillip, this time in combination with Thomas Mitchell in the Boys u18 novice double sculls, should be very pleased with their performance keeping amongst the pack throughout the final.. The highlight of the weekend came in the Girls
U18 novice coxed quad sculls who have been improving all season and working especially hard over the past two weeks to increase their boat speed. The crew of Lola Ritchie (stroke) Annie Wells, Annika Massey, Lucy Maibach and Thomas Mitchell (cox) were thrilled to end their season on a high with an extremely satisfying gold medal performance which saw them outrace the second placed Columba College crew by a comfortable seven second margin. The girls pairs of Annie and Lola, and Annika and Lucy also shone as both crews also made it through into the A finals of the girls u18 novice double sculls - a wonderful showing for a small squad. A powerful start saw Lola and Annie lead from the outset and claim the Gold Medal over Craighead by 11 seconds. Coaches Rachel O’Connell, Matt Rickard, Rob Bruce and AJ Humphreys have done a great job with the squad to have them racing fast at the business end of the season and deserve a huge shout out for their skills and commitment to the rowers. – By Karen Wells
THURSDAY 17.03.22 - WEDNESDAY 23.03.22
New Zealander can be proud of what we've been able to do and, and represent and stand for. “Hopefully, we can inspire and motivate just one or two people to get out there and do something. “There's so many facilities and resources out there... Just go to Google, go to whatever it is and search for it. And get out there, get involved. There's all sorts of different pathways and opportunities to get into any sport you want to.” “We definitely celebrate together as a team, which is awesome, but we've all sacrificed so much. We have amazing family and friends and support network back home.”
Exhausted Wright takes a break Wānaka’s Campbell Wright will take a deserved break from competition after the Biathlete succumbed to exhaustion this week. Wright, who impressed against older and more experience athletes in the Olympic biathlon, subsequently contracted Covid when he was favoured to win a IBU Junior world championships at Soldiers Hollow, in the United States. This week his results were below expectations in Italy and it transpired he was exhausted. His father Scott explained that Campbell was tired after a stressful World Cup Season. “At The WC’s he needed to be so focused and he said to me it’s incredibly stressful. If he makes one mistake at a WC he is essentially last. Plus, the year’s pressure to try and achieve Olympic selection added more pressure. “Then there was Covid. He competed with Covid but thought it was a simple cold. And because he was Campbell he tried his hardest knowing he was the favourite to win the Junior world champs. He was terribly disappointed. “Then he had to isolate due to Covid and didn’t train for 10 days prior to this race. In an American motel room. Not the greatest to lift spirits”. When he finally tested negative, he went to board his flight from New York to Milan and discovered his flight had been cancelled – leading to a 12 hour delay. By the time he boarded his flight he had not slept for 27 hours. “So basically no sleep, jet lagged, no training previous the 10 days, coming off a stressful WC season… trying to do everything when other teams had a full contingency of support staff and recovering from Covid” his dad said. “So it was a miracle he didn’t get last.” The curtain has been draw on Wright’s season and he is now “officially” on holiday.
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