It’s no secret that Maadi Cup is the Holy Grail of secondary school rowing regattas, this year Lake Karapiro played host to more than 2100 rowers from 125 participating schools from around New Zealand.  Naturally the Concept2 team were out in force, braving the elements and proudly supporting the country’s top young rowers. 

The C2 tent was the place to be – over the course of the week we were stoked to host NZ Rowing Royalty and put Eric Murray in a head to head erg battle with the Prime Minister Bill English- even if it was only for fun.  We were really grateful to have Eric around for a couple of days taking pictures with fans and signing our specially designed and limited edition t-shirts.  Maadi Cup attracts a massive fan base and it’s always great catching up with generations of rowers, still super passionate about this incredible sport.

Check out how our friend Mark Meates enjoyed his week: 
“The regatta seemed like it was bigger than ever and so it proved, the biggest yet. The weather did not disrupt the finals other than a 1 hour delay to Saturday's finals due to fog.There were some emphatic wins especially in the Springbok Four with St. Andrews exhibiting a very high standard of rowing matched only by the Kings pair and the sculling of Veronica Wall in her various sculling events.

Many of the races came down to the wire. There was some great racing from many crews. To mention a few, by Christ's in the 16, 17 and 18 eights, by St. Margaret's and Dio in the Women's u18 8. Wanganui Collegiate punch well above their weight for the size of their school. The Rotorua Lakes novice double rowed one of the bravest races of the regatta.

However the standard is still being set by two schools. St. Peter's (sculling) and Hamilton Boys (sweeping) continue to set the bar high. The programmes they run are a credit to Janie and Glen, and to the coaches, the rowers and their schools”

We had some fantastic training tips from Stevo (Coach from St Paul's Collegiate) on the Concept 2 Dynamic, it was awesome to see so many people taking an active interest in bettering their fitness and technique.  Rental enquiries for the erg since the event have been really high with so many people keen to keep up their rowing fitness during the off season.  Contact hire@concept2.co.nz if you’re keen to discuss hire options with us or sales@concept2.co.nz if you are looking to purchase your own.

As always, our competitions were a huge success and we’ll be sure to have the Fish Game back next year! The competition for the "6 Month Hire" will be drawn on Wednesday 12th April on Facebook- Make sure you check in.
Until then keep up to date with latest news and the best freebies on our Facebook page facebook.com/concept2newzealand