Almost 150 Otago rowers will compete in the annual Maadi Cup on Lake Karapiro this week.
Wakatipu High School is sending 37 pupils - more than any other Otago school - to the annual regatta, which alternates between Lake Ruataniwha and Lake Karapiro every year.
Otago crews have not had the best preparation for the national event, with half the South Island secondary schools championships cancelled because of bad weather a fortnight ago.
However, the annual Head of the Harbour regatta went uninterrupted in Dunedin last weekend to give most of the Otago crews some much-needed time on the water.
Coached by rowing stalwart Fred Strachan, Otago Boys' High School will attempt to become the first Otago crew in history to win the Maadi Cup, the trophy awarded to the winner of the boys under-18 coxed eight.
Scott Bezett, Corey Lewis, Aaron Roydhouse, Ben Sinnamon, Nick Henderson, Thomas Chin, Callum Gordon, Marc Herger and coxswain Robbie Lindsay make up the Otago Boys' crew, which won the Phillip Ham Trophy last weekend for best Otago senior boys eight.
They will face a much stiffer challenge this week, with opposition such as Hamilton Boys' High School, Auckland Grammar and Mt Albert Grammar set to compete.
Hamilton Boys' has won the trophy, which has been contested since 1947, the past two years.
The Otago Boys' eight will then split in two and compete against each other and 18 other crews in the boys under-18 coxed four, with Luke Hurdle the extra coxswain.
The first medal of the regatta will be won in the boys under-17 single scull on Friday morning, an event with six Otago hopefuls.
Mark Taylor, of Waitaki Boys', and John McGlashan's Tom Grave and Woody Kirkwood are most likely to challenge for a medal.
Eight heats will be needed in the girls under-17 single scull, with seven Otago rowers among the 64-strong field.
Otago Girls' Juliette Alm-Lequeux, who finished second in the senior girls single at the Head of the Harbour regatta last weekend, is set to compete.
Lucy Geddes and Milly van Dam (both Dunstan High School), Annie Blakey (Kavanagh), Cameron Murphy (Wakatipu) and Lola Garden and Georgia Clarke (both St Hilda's) are the other Otago competitors.
Karley Wilden-Palms, of Otago Girls', won the senior girls single scull last weekend, and is one of five Otago rowers gunning for the Stephanie Foster Cup for the winner of the girls under-18 single.
Wakatipu's Nina Champion and Jacqui Bell, Eliza Adams, of St Hilda's, and Riley Homan, of Mt Aspiring, are also in the 57-strong field.
John McGlashan's under-16 coxed quadruple sculls crew of Lochie Bain, Alexander Timmings, Ben Morris, Josh Smith and coxswain Jacob Cotton will be full of confidence this week.
The crew won the South Island title at Lake Ruataniwha a fortnight ago, comfortably beating second placed Timaru Boys' High School in 7min 30.18sec.
King's High School, which finished third behind Timaru Boys', and Wakatipu High School are also entered in the race, which 38 crews will contest.
Heats and preliminary finals for the 52 events will be completed between today and Thursday, before the finals are completed on Friday and Saturday.
Hamilton Boys' High School has been the overall school champion for the past two years.
Maadi Cup
Lake Karapiro, today to Saturday
Total competitors: 2170.
Schools competing: 125.
Events: 52.
Races: 600.
Total Otago entries: 149 (Wakatipu High School 37, St Hilda's Collegiate 25, Otago Boys' High School 22, Columba College 19, John McGlashan College 13, Dunstan High School 11, Waitaki Boys' High School 9, King's High School 5, St Kevin's College 3, Mt Aspiring College 2, Otago Girls' High School 2, Kavanagh College 1.
