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Inside the red circle
In the build-up to this year's Maadi Regatta, Andy Hay goes into the crowd for some eye-witness accounts from last year's headline races.
Kay Gregory
" What I suspect inspired that moment, the angle from that pontoon to the finish line is quite odd. And I might have thought at that point that Waikato Diocesan, where my daughter went, might have done better than they did. And so maybe it looked to me like they had won or were in the medals."
That's long-time Rowing New Zealand medal ceremony presenter Kay Gregory talking about that leap of excitement as St Margaret's, Rangi Ruru and Waikato Diocesan converged into the finish line for the Levin Jubilee Cup.
"To me, whoever wins and whoever comes second and third, they're all heroes. You get involved; you get tied up in that moment. There are people everywhere and there's all those kids in the water and it's the end of a couple of really full-on days. And you just think you great kids, you know? You great kids."
It's 20 years since she first picked up the Maadi mic.
"For the first few years I was up in the tower where the commentators were so I couldn't check any of the kids' names or pronunciation and you never really knew when they were ready to come onto the podium.
"Then one day I said, 'Do you think it would be a good idea if I went and did it from down there?' And everyone went, 'Yeah, perhaps it would be much, much, much better!"
Kay's excitement for Maadi really started though when she was still a student herself, at Fraser High in Hamilton
"I was always very aware of how huge the Maadi is because in 1975 our very small state school won the Maadi Cup race. Those boys were just heroes. Absolute heroes. Anyone who was at the school at that time would remember that. And when my daughter came home from school, saying they're keen for me to be a coxswain, I really bought into it because I had those memories."
Kay gregory on the mic at the 2025 Maadi Regatta. Photo: Picture Show Ltd.
Conrad Blind (Picture Show Ltd)
Conrad was trying to juggle shooting the races from behind the dais and the medal ceremonies in front as well as all the emotion with family, friends and athletes to the side on finals day.
"So, it's obviously a massive atmosphere and all the kids are getting into the water early on, you know, and they're creeping further and further out into the water…one of the umpire boats was assigned to keeping the kids safe and off the course as eights were coming down.
"So, I asked the safety guy Greg if I could get onto that boat, because when you're standing behind the dais trying to get a shot, everybody's got these great big flags up in the air and they're all in the water, so the finish line's obscured and the splashes play havoc with the auto-focus and all that sort of stuff.
Spectators at the 2025 Maadi Regatta getting ready to cheer on the U18 coxed eight crews captured by Conrad from the safety boat. Photo: Picture Show Ltd.
"As the races were coming down, the, the main concern was that the kids were just going nuts, with the whole hype of the situation and because I was there with the camera, I think it just actually made it worse.
"It got to the point where they're just getting further into the water and almost on the side of the course, and the boat was actually pointing into the crowd, into the kids, into the water as opposed to more across the course, so I couldn't actually see what was coming down the track either.
"You've literally got a few seconds and it's all over."
Conrad didn't quite get the finish line shot he was hoping for...and then the St Margaret's girls started getting up on their feet.
Click. Click.
We asked the man who's always looking for the perfect moment to pick some of his favourite shots from over the years and why:
"It’s all about attitude." photo: Picture Show Ltd.
"Victorious!" photo: Picture Show Ltd.
"Contentment after a job well done." photo: Picture Show Ltd.
"Always need a coxswain toss." photo: Picture Show Ltd.
"Lifting the boat after winning the Maadi Cup." photo: Picture Show Ltd.
Dale Maher
Tony O'Connor couldn't bear to watch his Tokyo Eight come down the course at the Olympics in 2021, staying out of sight behind the grandstand. Mike Stanley waited quietly and nervously out of earshot far away in the boat park at Karapiro when Westlake oh-so-nearly won the Maadi Cup in 2009. One of the other coaches had to go and tell him the news his crew had lost to Hamilton Boys by the slimmest of margins.
Every coach has their own way of dealing with the tension and the unknown in the big races.
Dale Maher's a pacer.
"At Karapiro I normally park myself down where by Rowing New Zealand store their coach boats. I've done that forever. I just stand down there and pace backwards and forwards with my back to the race.
"About 500, 450 to go I'll probably have a look and if they're going okay I'll usually run with them to the finish line."
In 2017, he'd wandered down to his usual spot as his St Andrew's crew was lining up.
"Just by chance Rob Waddell was down there as well.
"So I filled the first 1000m just chatting with him then he said, 'Who you got out there?'
"I said, 'The crew out in front.'
The victorious St Andrew's U18 eight of 2017: Ben Taylor (stroke), Zackary Rumble, Thomas Russel, Mitchell White, Sam Paterson, Oliver Bailey, Flynn Dijkstra, Hamish Veitch and Tom Flavill (cox).
He appears as a black blur on the YouTube copy of the race. He's more visible in the 2023 head-to-head between Bede's and Hamilton Boys.
So, to 2025. That's Dale you can see at about 250 to go, almost physically trying to urge his St Bede's crew on.
They'd gone back to the accommodation pre-race with a tailwind blowing down the course.
"I thought, 'They're actually good in a tailwind, we might be thereabouts.'
"But when we came back it had changed to a headwind and I thought, 'Oh Bugger.'
"Through the race I'm listening to Kirsty Dunhill's commentary and I'm thinking, 'Holy heck, we're up there, we're up there.'
"In that last 250, I'm thinking, 'Can you hang on, can you hang on, can you hang on?'
"I was just so in awe of what they'd done to get themselves there. I didn't expect it."
The Milford livestream from Altitude HD has opened the sport up to a whole new audience, especially those who can't be on the banks of Karapiro or Ruataniwha. But the experiences of those on the grassy knoll prove that there's nothing quite like being there.
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and Maadi Cup-winning coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
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- Home
- /
- School Rowing
- /
- Inside the red...
Inside the red circle
In the build-up to this year's Maadi Regatta, Andy Hay goes into the crowd for some eye-witness accounts from last year's headline races.
Kay Gregory
" What I suspect inspired that moment, the angle from that pontoon to the finish line is quite odd. And I might have thought at that point that Waikato Diocesan, where my daughter went, might have done better than they did. And so maybe it looked to me like they had won or were in the medals."
That's long-time Rowing New Zealand medal ceremony presenter Kay Gregory talking about that leap of excitement as St Margaret's, Rangi Ruru and Waikato Diocesan converged into the finish line for the Levin Jubilee Cup.
"To me, whoever wins and whoever comes second and third, they're all heroes. You get involved; you get tied up in that moment. There are people everywhere and there's all those kids in the water and it's the end of a couple of really full-on days. And you just think you great kids, you know? You great kids."
It's 20 years since she first picked up the Maadi mic.
"For the first few years I was up in the tower where the commentators were so I couldn't check any of the kids' names or pronunciation and you never really knew when they were ready to come onto the podium.
"Then one day I said, 'Do you think it would be a good idea if I went and did it from down there?' And everyone went, 'Yeah, perhaps it would be much, much, much better!"
Kay's excitement for Maadi really started though when she was still a student herself, at Fraser High in Hamilton
"I was always very aware of how huge the Maadi is because in 1975 our very small state school won the Maadi Cup race. Those boys were just heroes. Absolute heroes. Anyone who was at the school at that time would remember that. And when my daughter came home from school, saying they're keen for me to be a coxswain, I really bought into it because I had those memories."
Kay gregory on the mic at the 2025 Maadi Regatta. Photo: Picture Show Ltd.
Conrad Blind (Picture Show Ltd)
Conrad was trying to juggle shooting the races from behind the dais and the medal ceremonies in front as well as all the emotion with family, friends and athletes to the side on finals day.
"So, it's obviously a massive atmosphere and all the kids are getting into the water early on, you know, and they're creeping further and further out into the water…one of the umpire boats was assigned to keeping the kids safe and off the course as eights were coming down.
"So, I asked the safety guy Greg if I could get onto that boat, because when you're standing behind the dais trying to get a shot, everybody's got these great big flags up in the air and they're all in the water, so the finish line's obscured and the splashes play havoc with the auto-focus and all that sort of stuff.
Spectators at the 2025 Maadi Regatta getting ready to cheer on the U18 coxed eight crews captured by Conrad from the safety boat. Photo: Picture Show Ltd.
"As the races were coming down, the, the main concern was that the kids were just going nuts, with the whole hype of the situation and because I was there with the camera, I think it just actually made it worse.
"It got to the point where they're just getting further into the water and almost on the side of the course, and the boat was actually pointing into the crowd, into the kids, into the water as opposed to more across the course, so I couldn't actually see what was coming down the track either.
"You've literally got a few seconds and it's all over."
Conrad didn't quite get the finish line shot he was hoping for...and then the St Margaret's girls started getting up on their feet.
Click. Click.
We asked the man who's always looking for the perfect moment to pick some of his favourite shots from over the years and why:
"It’s all about attitude." photo: Picture Show Ltd.
"Victorious!" photo: Picture Show Ltd.
"Contentment after a job well done." photo: Picture Show Ltd.
"Always need a coxswain toss." photo: Picture Show Ltd.
"Lifting the boat after winning the Maadi Cup." photo: Picture Show Ltd.
Dale Maher
Tony O'Connor couldn't bear to watch his Tokyo Eight come down the course at the Olympics in 2021, staying out of sight behind the grandstand. Mike Stanley waited quietly and nervously out of earshot far away in the boat park at Karapiro when Westlake oh-so-nearly won the Maadi Cup in 2009. One of the other coaches had to go and tell him the news his crew had lost to Hamilton Boys by the slimmest of margins.
Every coach has their own way of dealing with the tension and the unknown in the big races.
Dale Maher's a pacer.
"At Karapiro I normally park myself down where by Rowing New Zealand store their coach boats. I've done that forever. I just stand down there and pace backwards and forwards with my back to the race.
"About 500, 450 to go I'll probably have a look and if they're going okay I'll usually run with them to the finish line."
In 2017, he'd wandered down to his usual spot as his St Andrew's crew was lining up.
"Just by chance Rob Waddell was down there as well.
"So I filled the first 1000m just chatting with him then he said, 'Who you got out there?'
"I said, 'The crew out in front.'
The victorious St Andrew's U18 eight of 2017: Ben Taylor (stroke), Zackary Rumble, Thomas Russel, Mitchell White, Sam Paterson, Oliver Bailey, Flynn Dijkstra, Hamish Veitch and Tom Flavill (cox).
He appears as a black blur on the YouTube copy of the race. He's more visible in the 2023 head-to-head between Bede's and Hamilton Boys.
So, to 2025. That's Dale you can see at about 250 to go, almost physically trying to urge his St Bede's crew on.
They'd gone back to the accommodation pre-race with a tailwind blowing down the course.
"I thought, 'They're actually good in a tailwind, we might be thereabouts.'
"But when we came back it had changed to a headwind and I thought, 'Oh Bugger.'
"Through the race I'm listening to Kirsty Dunhill's commentary and I'm thinking, 'Holy heck, we're up there, we're up there.'
"In that last 250, I'm thinking, 'Can you hang on, can you hang on, can you hang on?'
"I was just so in awe of what they'd done to get themselves there. I didn't expect it."
The Milford livestream from Altitude HD has opened the sport up to a whole new audience, especially those who can't be on the banks of Karapiro or Ruataniwha. But the experiences of those on the grassy knoll prove that there's nothing quite like being there.
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and Maadi Cup-winning coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
