Sports Code Rowing
Sports Code 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
Selection Process
The Ōtūmoetai College Rowing Squad is affiliated with two rowing clubs, Tauranga Rowing Club (based at Memorial Park, Tauranga) and Baycoast Rowing Club (based on the Wairoa River).
School rowers and whānau choose to affiliate and train at the club that suits their needs best, i.e. location, training times, coaches, rowing community, friends etc.
Once the school rowing season starts in February, however, all Ōtūmoetai College rowers are expected to train together until the end of the season, i.e. after Maadi. The club with the most affiliated ŌTC rowers will be the location for school training sessions.
Training Times
Coaching is provided by rowing clubs. Once the school season starts, ŌTC athletes train together at the club with the largest number of affiliated ŌTC rowers to ensure maximum time together on-water. For the 2025/2026 school season, Bay Coast Rowing club will be the venue for joint training for February to March.
Event Dates / Game Days
Club regattas are from November 2025 until the end of January 2026.
School regattas start in February and end with the Maadi Cup in March.
The Maadi Cup is the pinnacle regatta for school rowing and alternates annually between Lake Ruataniwha at Twizel in the South Island and Lake Karapiro, Cambridge in the North Island. In 2026, Maadi Cup will be held in the South Island.
Season Dates
Athletes train and compete at their club from June 2025 – January 2026. Training sessions during this period focus on preparing for the club rowing season from November to January 2026. Rowers from any school, within a club, row together, representing the club (not the school) during the club rowing season. In some instances, club teams may be composite (rowers from more than one club row together, i.e. a school team).
After the North Islands Club Champs and Club National Champs in Jan/Feb, the school rowing season starts. Refer to the Calendar for dates.
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.
Event Venues and Transport
Uniforms
FEES 2026