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Andy Hay investigates some of the stepping stones on rowing's domestic pathway.
You'd think Luke Tompkins and Payo O'Sullivan had won Lotto by the way they talk about life at Lincoln University and the rowing scholarships they're on.
"The whole junior team, I've been telling them, come to Lincoln," says Payo from the U19 World Championships in Lithuania. He's on a $6,000 scholarship. "I've just been rambling on about it."
"Genuinely, it's so much fun," says Luke, who's on a part-time arrangement. "You hear all this stuff about Lincoln…'Ohhh, Lincoln this and Lincoln that,' but the student athlete side of it is just amazing. No one listens to us but we try our best to persuade them…some people have applied through mine and Payo's words."
Whether it's the facilities: "The gym's amazing," says Luke. "It's like a big reason why you would choose Lincoln because of the strength and conditioning side of it."
The halls: "First year halls are normally pretty crazy you know," says Payo. "People just partying and stuff, but they encourage the scholarship people to go into Stevens, the non-drinking hall…we're both in Stevens. It's quiet at night. Dead quiet! So you can actually get your sleep that you need for training."
"Stevens is definitely the way to go if you're on scholarship. It's just way better," says Luke.
AH: "You guys should be on commission for Stevens!"
LT: "We should be on commission for Lincoln."
They applied with the help of Gendie Woods at the Canterbury Rowing Association.
Lincoln University Rowing Scholarship :: Lincoln University
You'd think Luke Tompkins and Payo O'Sullivan had won Lotto by the way they talk about life at Lincoln University and the rowing scholarships they're on.
"The whole junior team, I've been telling them, come to Lincoln," says Payo from the U19 World Championships in Lithuania. He's on a $6,000 scholarship. "I've just been rambling on about it."
"Genuinely, it's so much fun," says Luke, who's on a part-time arrangement. "You hear all this stuff about Lincoln…'Ohhh, Lincoln this and Lincoln that,' but the student athlete side of it is just amazing. No one listens to us but we try our best to persuade them…some people have applied through mine and Payo's words."
Whether it's the facilities: "The gym's amazing," says Luke. "It's like a big reason why you would choose Lincoln because of the strength and conditioning side of it."
The halls: "First year halls are normally pretty crazy you know," says Payo. "People just partying and stuff, but they encourage the scholarship people to go into Stevens, the non-drinking hall…we're both in Stevens. It's quiet at night. Dead quiet! So you can actually get your sleep that you need for training."
"Stevens is definitely the way to go if you're on scholarship. It's just way better," says Luke.
AH: "You guys should be on commission for Stevens!"
LT: "We should be on commission for Lincoln."
They applied with the help of Gendie Woods at the Canterbury Rowing Association.
Luke Tompkins and Payo O'Sullivan are thriving at Lincoln University and are making the most of the rowing scholarships they're on.
Will Maling's just returned from six years in Australia, where he was most recently Director of Rowing at Nudgee College in Brisbane, contributing to the school's most successful season at State Championship level. Before leaving New Zealand, he was head coach at Mt Albert Grammar and his old school, Auckland Grammar.
Rowing New Zealand's new Domestic Pathway Lead is just over a month into the job. He can't wait to get stuck in.
Top of the to-do list: "Figuring out how we best communicate what the pathway looks like, the athlete level, the different training environments like the Develop and Performance Hubs and the different teams our pathway athletes can represent. That's a big one."
Will's a big believer in making sure there are no major surprises for those progressing through the system in New Zealand and overseas.
"We want to really develop the guidelines for athletes and coaches on what to expect when they get to each of the major development points, in particular U19s, U23s and Elite. We've been doing some work with the Elite coaches and support staff on what each of those levels will look like when the athletes arrive, and what to do to be ready so that when they do arrive they're ready to succeed."
He'll be getting around the country talking to clubs and coaches and working closely with Athlete Development Manager Janey Charlton and new International Pathway Lead Michele Munro.
"We're all excited for kids that can make it over to the States and for the experience that they can have," says Will. "But in terms of development as an athlete and as a person, New Zealand is a pretty incredible option as well."
"There's a lot out there that people aren't aware of," says Will. "And some of them are pretty special."
It's Thursday morning down at the Otago University Rowing Club and manager Glen Sinclair has 50 athletes and six coaches out on the water.
Glen's just returned from World University Games where Otago had four athletes in the 11-strong squad, and Waikato Uni's Isobel Eliadis-Watson and Frances Casey won bronze in the Women's Pair.
Next month is huge for Otago. Glen has three separate trips organised into China starting with the Shenyang International Open regatta for a Women's Eight leaving on September 3.
On the 10th, a Senior Men's Eight will head to the Nanjing regatta which offers $5000 prizemoney to be shared by the winning crew. Then on the 24th a Men's Eight of first-years is off to the prestigious Chengdu regatta which will include crews from Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London and Sydney University.
For the most part, the cost to athletes will be $150. Everything else is paid for - food, accommodation, uniforms, flights - largely from the Chinese organisers.
Athletes also receive a $1,000 subsidy from Otago to attend the regattas on the condition they're passing their papers.
The scholarships available to rowers at Otago are almost eye-watering.
- There's three offered by Otago alumnus Sir Murray Brennan: A two-year scholarship worth $16,000 awarded to a second-year student; and two recently introduced one-year scholarships worth $10,000 each for first year students.
- Another former student, Bill Lindqvist, and his wife Helen, sponsor two one-year scholarships worth $5000 each.
- On top of that, Glen says there are up to 20 Performance Entrance scholarships available each year worth around $7000 each.
Jameson McConnochie's in his first year at Waikato University studying chemical engineering.
After winning the U17 Single (and the Laszlo boat) for Tauranga Boys' College in 2023 he went on to make the A Final of the U18 event in '24. That left him with lots of rowing opportunities, here and in the U.S.
"I did go over there and visit four universities just to check that side out," says Jameson. "Then I visited Waikato University to have another perspective on comparing those universities to a New Zealand university."
He applied for one of the 25 prestigious Sir Edmund Hillary scholarships offered annually at Waikato. They offer up to $30,000 over three years. For Jameson, being awarded the 'Sir Ed' was a game-changer.
"100% because I was looking at the universities over in the US and with what they were offering, I actually had a larger scholarship here at Waikato. The Hillary Scholarship helped massively with that final decision."
He has a part-time job at Burnsco Marine in Te Rapa and does tutoring, which boost the finances a bit.
Conditions of his scholarship include: maintaining the same sporting level as when you came into the scholarship, so that's another season at Club level for Waikato and at least a B- average for course work.
Rowing remains a big priority for Jameson. He got a taste for age-group repping as part of the North and South Island squads that went to the Under 22 Oceania Championships in Adelaide in July, all athletes coming out of New Zealand universities.
And while he's living in Hamilton for now, home remains just ''over the hill" in Tauranga where he grew up. That proximity played a part in his decision to stay in New Zealand.
"The US is a pretty big commitment," says Jameson. "Not being able to come home for massive amounts of time, and then the resources that we have in New Zealand for rowing. There might not be as much money going into it as the US but it's still clearly putting out good athletes."
Waikato's Frances Casey is one of rowing's real outliers who's achieved a lot in three short years. She only took up the sport after finishing her law degree at Waikato University in 2022.
"I'd done competitive swimming in the past and I sort of wanted to re-ignite some sort of competitive sport again," says Frances. "I gave rowing a go because, to be honest, it just popped up on Facebook. My sisters had been involved and it had always been in the back of my mind."
She won gold in the Novice Four at nationals in 2023 then gold in the Intermediate Four at Karapiro in 2024.
But it was in another event at those Karapiro nationals where things really started to snowball. Frances teamed up with Alex Peoples for a dig at the Senior Pair.
"It was very much a throw-together boat, one training, and we ended up making it go quite fast," says Frances.
They made the A Final, finishing a distance behind winners Phoebe Collier and Jemma Burrowes from Avon.
"To put that final into context, I'd just finished the Intermediate Quad [where they'd won silver] and so was literally going into the Pair not fresh and pretty buggered…to achieve a seventh place was probably the best we could have done.
What it also did is ignite a passion for the small boat.
"That season just cultivated my love of the pair…just the feeling of it, it's a cool boat to row. In terms of setting up my mindset for the next season, it made me want to have a good crack at the Club grade pair."
Not only did Frances have a crack, she won the Club pair with Madison Wright at Ruataniwha last February, and also took home gold in the Club Four and Eight.
After talking with Waikato clubmate Isobel Eliadis-Watson, Frances started thinking about international opportunities. Having aged out of Under 23 consideration she discovered she was eligible for World University Games by virtue of doing some post-grad papers.
She and Isobel got together in a pair and the result was a bronze medal in Duisburg, Germany last month.
Frances has only just got home from overseas. She's had to a couple of weeks to think where she wants to go with her rowing.
"I've been lucky to row with people who are much better than me with some amazing coaches as well and that's helped me progress maybe quicker than normal. But I've still got a long way to go."
The snowball is still gathering pace.
" I'm currently graded Senior, but it would be cool to have a crack at some Premier racing just to see where I sit… for now though just continuing to train hard, learn more about technique and try and get fitter and faster…."
There's a bit more to that sentence, but she checks herself: "I haven't really said that out loud before."
She's going to let the thought sit for a while. One thing is there for all in black and white. Even an outlier like Frances Casey has shown there are all sorts of pathways in rowing whether you're still at uni or have done your degree.
The Men's Eight on the final day of racing at the U23 World Championships in Poznan, Poland
There's like a lot of people that have gone to the States and come back just absolute machines and that's good. But there are people that have stayed in New Zealand that have still been very successful…I'm happy staying here. Like if you look at like Fred Vavasour and Henry Kirk, they went to Wairau for a season and just stuck it out in the pair. And now there's Cody Johnson, all second in the Under 23 Eight, which is pretty cool.
-Payo O'Sullivan
Our 'Lotto' winners from Lincoln are back in the country. Back in the halls, back in the gym. Back out on the water with Avon. They also hope to be building Lincoln's momentum at Uni Champs next year after they finished third in the Championship Eight in April.
"I'm so excited for that," says Payo.
"There's a Champ Four too," says Luke. " Henry Kirk's got another year at Lincoln, Matthew Glen, me and Payo."
PO: "That's the dream. Hopefully get rid of UC or Otago."
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
- /
- University Rowing
- /
- Tag on, tag...
Tag on, tag off, or go all the way
Andy Hay investigates some of the stepping stones on rowing's domestic pathway.
You'd think Luke Tompkins and Payo O'Sullivan had won Lotto by the way they talk about life at Lincoln University and the rowing scholarships they're on.
"The whole junior team, I've been telling them, come to Lincoln," says Payo from the U19 World Championships in Lithuania. He's on a $6,000 scholarship. "I've just been rambling on about it."
"Genuinely, it's so much fun," says Luke, who's on a part-time arrangement. "You hear all this stuff about Lincoln…'Ohhh, Lincoln this and Lincoln that,' but the student athlete side of it is just amazing. No one listens to us but we try our best to persuade them…some people have applied through mine and Payo's words."
Whether it's the facilities: "The gym's amazing," says Luke. "It's like a big reason why you would choose Lincoln because of the strength and conditioning side of it."
The halls: "First year halls are normally pretty crazy you know," says Payo. "People just partying and stuff, but they encourage the scholarship people to go into Stevens, the non-drinking hall…we're both in Stevens. It's quiet at night. Dead quiet! So you can actually get your sleep that you need for training."
"Stevens is definitely the way to go if you're on scholarship. It's just way better," says Luke.
AH: "You guys should be on commission for Stevens!"
LT: "We should be on commission for Lincoln."
They applied with the help of Gendie Woods at the Canterbury Rowing Association.
Lincoln University Rowing Scholarship :: Lincoln University
You'd think Luke Tompkins and Payo O'Sullivan had won Lotto by the way they talk about life at Lincoln University and the rowing scholarships they're on.
"The whole junior team, I've been telling them, come to Lincoln," says Payo from the U19 World Championships in Lithuania. He's on a $6,000 scholarship. "I've just been rambling on about it."
"Genuinely, it's so much fun," says Luke, who's on a part-time arrangement. "You hear all this stuff about Lincoln…'Ohhh, Lincoln this and Lincoln that,' but the student athlete side of it is just amazing. No one listens to us but we try our best to persuade them…some people have applied through mine and Payo's words."
Whether it's the facilities: "The gym's amazing," says Luke. "It's like a big reason why you would choose Lincoln because of the strength and conditioning side of it."
The halls: "First year halls are normally pretty crazy you know," says Payo. "People just partying and stuff, but they encourage the scholarship people to go into Stevens, the non-drinking hall…we're both in Stevens. It's quiet at night. Dead quiet! So you can actually get your sleep that you need for training."
"Stevens is definitely the way to go if you're on scholarship. It's just way better," says Luke.
AH: "You guys should be on commission for Stevens!"
LT: "We should be on commission for Lincoln."
They applied with the help of Gendie Woods at the Canterbury Rowing Association.
Luke Tompkins and Payo O'Sullivan are thriving at Lincoln University and are making the most of the rowing scholarships they're on.
Will Maling's just returned from six years in Australia, where he was most recently Director of Rowing at Nudgee College in Brisbane, contributing to the school's most successful season at State Championship level. Before leaving New Zealand, he was head coach at Mt Albert Grammar and his old school, Auckland Grammar.
Rowing New Zealand's new Domestic Pathway Lead is just over a month into the job. He can't wait to get stuck in.
Top of the to-do list: "Figuring out how we best communicate what the pathway looks like, the athlete level, the different training environments like the Develop and Performance Hubs and the different teams our pathway athletes can represent. That's a big one."
Will's a big believer in making sure there are no major surprises for those progressing through the system in New Zealand and overseas.
"We want to really develop the guidelines for athletes and coaches on what to expect when they get to each of the major development points, in particular U19s, U23s and Elite. We've been doing some work with the Elite coaches and support staff on what each of those levels will look like when the athletes arrive, and what to do to be ready so that when they do arrive they're ready to succeed."
He'll be getting around the country talking to clubs and coaches and working closely with Athlete Development Manager Janey Charlton and new International Pathway Lead Michele Munro.
"We're all excited for kids that can make it over to the States and for the experience that they can have," says Will. "But in terms of development as an athlete and as a person, New Zealand is a pretty incredible option as well."
"There's a lot out there that people aren't aware of," says Will. "And some of them are pretty special."
It's Thursday morning down at the Otago University Rowing Club and manager Glen Sinclair has 50 athletes and six coaches out on the water.
Glen's just returned from World University Games where Otago had four athletes in the 11-strong squad, and Waikato Uni's Isobel Eliadis-Watson and Frances Casey won bronze in the Women's Pair.
Next month is huge for Otago. Glen has three separate trips organised into China starting with the Shenyang International Open regatta for a Women's Eight leaving on September 3.
On the 10th, a Senior Men's Eight will head to the Nanjing regatta which offers $5000 prizemoney to be shared by the winning crew. Then on the 24th a Men's Eight of first-years is off to the prestigious Chengdu regatta which will include crews from Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London and Sydney University.
For the most part, the cost to athletes will be $150. Everything else is paid for - food, accommodation, uniforms, flights - largely from the Chinese organisers.
Athletes also receive a $1,000 subsidy from Otago to attend the regattas on the condition they're passing their papers.
The scholarships available to rowers at Otago are almost eye-watering.
- There's three offered by Otago alumnus Sir Murray Brennan: A two-year scholarship worth $16,000 awarded to a second-year student; and two recently introduced one-year scholarships worth $10,000 each for first year students.
- Another former student, Bill Lindqvist, and his wife Helen, sponsor two one-year scholarships worth $5000 each.
- On top of that, Glen says there are up to 20 Performance Entrance scholarships available each year worth around $7000 each.
Jameson McConnochie's in his first year at Waikato University studying chemical engineering.
After winning the U17 Single (and the Laszlo boat) for Tauranga Boys' College in 2023 he went on to make the A Final of the U18 event in '24. That left him with lots of rowing opportunities, here and in the U.S.
"I did go over there and visit four universities just to check that side out," says Jameson. "Then I visited Waikato University to have another perspective on comparing those universities to a New Zealand university."
He applied for one of the 25 prestigious Sir Edmund Hillary scholarships offered annually at Waikato. They offer up to $30,000 over three years. For Jameson, being awarded the 'Sir Ed' was a game-changer.
"100% because I was looking at the universities over in the US and with what they were offering, I actually had a larger scholarship here at Waikato. The Hillary Scholarship helped massively with that final decision."
He has a part-time job at Burnsco Marine in Te Rapa and does tutoring, which boost the finances a bit.
Conditions of his scholarship include: maintaining the same sporting level as when you came into the scholarship, so that's another season at Club level for Waikato and at least a B- average for course work.
Rowing remains a big priority for Jameson. He got a taste for age-group repping as part of the North and South Island squads that went to the Under 22 Oceania Championships in Adelaide in July, all athletes coming out of New Zealand universities.
And while he's living in Hamilton for now, home remains just ''over the hill" in Tauranga where he grew up. That proximity played a part in his decision to stay in New Zealand.
"The US is a pretty big commitment," says Jameson. "Not being able to come home for massive amounts of time, and then the resources that we have in New Zealand for rowing. There might not be as much money going into it as the US but it's still clearly putting out good athletes."
Waikato's Frances Casey is one of rowing's real outliers who's achieved a lot in three short years. She only took up the sport after finishing her law degree at Waikato University in 2022.
"I'd done competitive swimming in the past and I sort of wanted to re-ignite some sort of competitive sport again," says Frances. "I gave rowing a go because, to be honest, it just popped up on Facebook. My sisters had been involved and it had always been in the back of my mind."
She won gold in the Novice Four at nationals in 2023 then gold in the Intermediate Four at Karapiro in 2024.
But it was in another event at those Karapiro nationals where things really started to snowball. Frances teamed up with Alex Peoples for a dig at the Senior Pair.
"It was very much a throw-together boat, one training, and we ended up making it go quite fast," says Frances.
They made the A Final, finishing a distance behind winners Phoebe Collier and Jemma Burrowes from Avon.
"To put that final into context, I'd just finished the Intermediate Quad [where they'd won silver] and so was literally going into the Pair not fresh and pretty buggered…to achieve a seventh place was probably the best we could have done.
What it also did is ignite a passion for the small boat.
"That season just cultivated my love of the pair…just the feeling of it, it's a cool boat to row. In terms of setting up my mindset for the next season, it made me want to have a good crack at the Club grade pair."
Not only did Frances have a crack, she won the Club pair with Madison Wright at Ruataniwha last February, and also took home gold in the Club Four and Eight.
After talking with Waikato clubmate Isobel Eliadis-Watson, Frances started thinking about international opportunities. Having aged out of Under 23 consideration she discovered she was eligible for World University Games by virtue of doing some post-grad papers.
She and Isobel got together in a pair and the result was a bronze medal in Duisburg, Germany last month.
Frances has only just got home from overseas. She's had to a couple of weeks to think where she wants to go with her rowing.
"I've been lucky to row with people who are much better than me with some amazing coaches as well and that's helped me progress maybe quicker than normal. But I've still got a long way to go."
The snowball is still gathering pace.
" I'm currently graded Senior, but it would be cool to have a crack at some Premier racing just to see where I sit… for now though just continuing to train hard, learn more about technique and try and get fitter and faster…."
There's a bit more to that sentence, but she checks herself: "I haven't really said that out loud before."
She's going to let the thought sit for a while. One thing is there for all in black and white. Even an outlier like Frances Casey has shown there are all sorts of pathways in rowing whether you're still at uni or have done your degree.
The Men's Eight on the final day of racing at the U23 World Championships in Poznan, Poland
There's like a lot of people that have gone to the States and come back just absolute machines and that's good. But there are people that have stayed in New Zealand that have still been very successful…I'm happy staying here. Like if you look at like Fred Vavasour and Henry Kirk, they went to Wairau for a season and just stuck it out in the pair. And now there's Cody Johnson, all second in the Under 23 Eight, which is pretty cool.
-Payo O'Sullivan
Our 'Lotto' winners from Lincoln are back in the country. Back in the halls, back in the gym. Back out on the water with Avon. They also hope to be building Lincoln's momentum at Uni Champs next year after they finished third in the Championship Eight in April.
"I'm so excited for that," says Payo.
"There's a Champ Four too," says Luke. " Henry Kirk's got another year at Lincoln, Matthew Glen, me and Payo."
PO: "That's the dream. Hopefully get rid of UC or Otago."
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.
