Rowing

Teacher in Charge – Mrs Bircham (sbircham@otc.school.nz)

Ōtūmoetai College Rowing

Ōtūmoetai College works alongside two local rowing clubs: Tauranga Rowing Club, based at Memorial Park, Tauranga, and Bay of Plenty Coast Rowing Club, on the Wairoa River, near Bethlehem, Tauranga.

Please find information about Ōtūmoetai College Rowing here.

Our annual Rowing fundraiser on 24 August 2024:

(Ergathon Poster coming)

For more information email sbircham@otc.school.nz

The Maadi Cup – The most prestigious regatta in the NZ Secondary School Rowing calendar and every rowers dream to be part of it. https://maadi.co.nz/

The Maadi Cup is the name given to the New Zealand National Secondary Schools Rowing Regatta. The regatta is the largest school sports event in the Southern Hemisphere, with over 2,087 rowers from 113 secondary schools participating in 2023.

The regatta is held annually in late March, alternating between the country’s two main rowing venues: Lake Karapiro near Cambridge, North Island (on odd years), and Lake Ruataniwha near Twizel in the South Island (even years).

A bit of history: During World War II, members of the 2nd NZEF based at Maadi Camp in Egypt competed in regattas on the Nile against local Egyptian rowing clubs. At a regatta held on 20 November 1943 the Maadi Camp Rowing Club “Kiwi” oarsmen beat the Cairo River Club by 11 points to six to win the Freyberg Cup, which they then gifted to the competitors. In return, as a token of friendship, Youssef Baghat presented the Kiwis with a cup. Youssef Baghat’s cup was offered to the NZARA (now NZRA) as a trophy for an annual boys’ eight-oared race between secondary schools and was brought to New Zealand at the end of the war.

Renamed the Maadi Cup it was first raced in 1947 at Wanganui where it was won by Mount Albert Grammar School, who beat Sacred Heart College by a half-length. Four boats took part in the original race. The Maadi Cup gained its native timber pyramid shaped base from Mt Albert Grammar’s woodwork master and first rowing coach, Jack Jenkin, in 1951. Only 17 schools have ever won the cup, with Wanganui Collegiate School the most successful, having won it 17 times.