An Otago Boys’ High School crew has pulled off a remarkable comeback at the Maadi Cup after a start that probably could not have been worse.
The school’s under-16 boys coxed quadruple sculls crew of Sam Moore, Thomas Ryan, Jack Holland-Spinks, Michael Manson and cox Tate Drummond looked dead and buried in its semifinal on Thursday.
But it never threw in the towel and ended up claiming bronze in yesterday’s final.
The team always looked a chance after impressive performances in which it finished a close second in its heat and then won its repechage.
In the semifinal the quad bombed the start. One of Thomas Ryan’s oars fell out of the boat, he fell out of his seat and the seat came off the rails.
So as the other seven crews took off, the Otago Boys’ crew sat on the start line.
But all was not lost: the oar was retrieved from the water, the seat fixed, the bottom placed and all hands and oars went into motion.
The other crews may have got a 150m start but the crew dug deep and performed well enough, rowing through the field.
A time of 6min 59.57sec saw it sneak into the fourth and final qualifying spot, almost four seconds in front of fifth-placed Timaru Boys’ High School.
Even the officials were amazed, giving the boys a chocolate fish each for their efforts.
Being the slowest qualifiers, the crew found themselves in lane one for the final yesterday morning, usually for the rank outsiders.
But it managed to stay intact at the start and remained in touch with the contenders the whole way, finishing almost three seconds ahead of fourth place to grab an unexpected bronze.
Its time of 6min 36.22sec was only just shy of that of Marlborough Boys’ College, which finished in 6min 35.97sec to take the silver. King’s College, of Auckland, won in 6min 34.33sec.
