Turning up the mental magnitude
First medal winners find different ways to drive themselves to the dais.
At the U23 Worlds in Canada last September, Oscar Ruston decided the only way to race the final of the Men’s Single was to go hard from the start and see how long he could keep the pressure on the defending world champion from Germany.
Oscar hung in before fading with a couple of hundred to go to finish in fourth place. He was pretty happy with where he’d got as he gave it his all.
Another round of big miles with Dick Tonks left him as the one others were trying to stay with on the first day of finals at the New Zealand Rowing Championships at Lake Ruataniwha.
The big focus has been trying to stay loose and keep learning from what the boat’s doing. It’s a trademark Tonks coaching tool.
“A big part of it is training and the racing is literally just a cherry on top,” Oscar said after winning gold in the Men’s U22 Single.
It was another step on from that do-or-die row in Canada five months ago.
“It's still a work in progress, it always will be,” Oscar says. “Trying to find the perfect stroke is, it's near impossible to do.”
He reckons he did get close a couple of times in his lead-from-the start victory, crossing in 7.10.25.
Oscar Ruston on his way to a gold medal in the U22 Single. Photo: Picture Show Ltd
Dunstan’s Matt King put in a huge performance for second (7.18.98), after having to take a month off over Christmas with rib injuries. Auckland’s Ryan Gass was third in 7.19.59.
Waikato women’s coach Anna DeLong has a way of coming up with the unexpected. Before the final of the Women’s U22 Single she told Charlize Tutbury to “walk up to the cliff of belief, jump off and hope you fly”.
So the Waikato sculler, who started rowing as a Year 8 at Aquinas College in Tauranga, stepped up to the edge, waited for the gun...and soared.
“I'm just still trying to process it all,” said Charlize after the race. “Didn't really think I would get a gold medal, but pretty happy with that one.”
Charlize led all the way, but reckons the planned move at 1000m was the highlight.
“I went to 38 through the 1km, maybe for 250m. And just flew, just held it. Felt really good. I was flying, soaring off the cliff of belief.”
Madison Neale (Cure), Charlize Tutbury (Waikato) and Mackenzie Tuffin (Star) celebrate their medals after the U22 Single. Photo: Picture Show Ltd
Mackenzie Tuffin had her own mantra in one of the gutsiest finishes you’ll see. She tracked Charlize through the 1000 and then had to fight off a huge challenge from Cure’s Madison Neale.
After her heat on Tuesday, Mackenzie’s training partner at the Waikato Performance Hub Juliette Alm-Lequeux sat her down and told her to put six words on high-rotate for the final.
There were moments she had to dig deep, especially with 600m to go.
“It was pretty rough seeing Maddie kind of overtake. All I could hear [from the shoreline] was, ‘You've got her Maddie!’ And I was like, ‘No, no, no!’
“And then I just saw the last like 10 buoys and I was like, ‘Okay, 12 strokes. You can dig it in for 12.”
And the words were charging through her head: “I’m stronger, I’m fitter, I’m faster.”
Six words, repeated often, that carried Mackenzie Tuffin to silver.
Just four years ago Oliver Welch and Cody Johnson were rowing mates at Auckland Grammar, heading into their final season of Maadi racing. The senior squad spent summer camp at Lake Whakamaru where coach Dave Newhouse had the boys in pairs.
“We kind of rowed with everyone,” says Ollie, “and we'd do a piece each day, and if you won the piece, then you'd stay together in that combination, and everyone else would switch, and eventually we ended up together, and we won the piece, and then kind of stuck from there...we never got switched after that.”
It was a great year for Grammar, Ollie and Cody won the U18 Pair and were part of the school’s Springbok Shield-winning four. They were second in the eight against a once-in-a-lifetime Christ’s crew.
“We're back together again this year, and we kind of found what we had back at school,” says Ollie.
They won by six seconds back in 2021. Today, in the U22 Pair, the gap was nearly the same, against Fred Vavasour and Henry Kirk from Wairau.
They weren’t going to let Fred forget that he was in the Marlborough Boys’ College pair back in ‘21, that finished “second” and is “still second.”
The Avon pair finished in 6.35.16, Wairau crossed in 6.40.28.
Oliver Welch and Cody Johnson after winning the U22 Pair, and reliving their successful combination at Maadi Regatta four years ago. Photo: Picture Show Ltd
Avon’s Will Mackintosh and Sam Wilson were third.
The six of them have been staying in the same house for nationals, so the off-water rivalry has been pretty steady through the week.
Now that Ollie and Cody have had the full reunion, they’d be keen to keep it going.
“If the opportunity is there, then yeah, as long as we keep going well, then, definitely. It's an enjoyable boat to row, we get along well, so yeah.”
Georgia Graham says when the famous nor’wester roared through the course at about 2.10pm, with her not far from the finish, her split went from “2.05 to 2.40 in like a second.”
It was the first semifinal of the Women’s Club Single and Georgia’s main focus turned to not tipping out. She held on for fourth in a time of 8.54.29, the big positive being she’s through to the A Final.
Her North End clubmate Lola Castles was in the same race, her language to describe the sudden onslaught had a bit of force to it as well.
“Coming into that [last] 250, it was bloody terrible. I nearly got washed into lane zero and then finished the race and nearly ended up in the water...felt like I was back on Dunedin Harbour, not very enjoyable at all.”
The crowd on the bank had the sight of Lola getting blown backwards across the course after the race, surviving two near capsizes and finally getting to shore down by the dais.
The second semifinal got hit even harder. That was won by Dunstan’s Olivia Ollerenshaw in 9.24.65, nearly a minute longer on the race track than semifinal one winner Tegan Negus from Waikato.
Semifinals day has a way of inspiring incredibly close finishes. There’s no Plan B if you want to make the A Final. Make the top four or go home.
The second semifinal of the Men’s Club Quad produced the tightest finish of the day, with the crews across lanes 2-6 desperate to qualify for the big race.
Whoever was hitting the buzzer up in the tower had to be on their game.
Here’s the photo finish with Canterbury crossing in 6.24.82, then Nelson (6.25.63), Avon (6.26.42), Whakatane (6.26.62), and Aramoho-Whanganui missing out (6.26.71)
Whether you were first, fourth or fifth, it truly was a day of high mental magnitude.
The photo finish of the second semifinal of the Men’s Club 4x- with five crews finishing within two seconds of each other.
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and rowing coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
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Turning up the mental magnitude
First medal winners find different ways to drive themselves to the dais.
At the U23 Worlds in Canada last September, Oscar Ruston decided the only way to race the final of the Men’s Single was to go hard from the start and see how long he could keep the pressure on the defending world champion from Germany.
Oscar hung in before fading with a couple of hundred to go to finish in fourth place. He was pretty happy with where he’d got as he gave it his all.
Another round of big miles with Dick Tonks left him as the one others were trying to stay with on the first day of finals at the New Zealand Rowing Championships at Lake Ruataniwha.
The big focus has been trying to stay loose and keep learning from what the boat’s doing. It’s a trademark Tonks coaching tool.
“A big part of it is training and the racing is literally just a cherry on top,” Oscar said after winning gold in the Men’s U22 Single.
It was another step on from that do-or-die row in Canada five months ago.
“It's still a work in progress, it always will be,” Oscar says. “Trying to find the perfect stroke is, it's near impossible to do.”
He reckons he did get close a couple of times in his lead-from-the start victory, crossing in 7.10.25.
Oscar Ruston on his way to a gold medal in the U22 Single. Photo: Picture Show Ltd
Dunstan’s Matt King put in a huge performance for second (7.18.98), after having to take a month off over Christmas with rib injuries. Auckland’s Ryan Gass was third in 7.19.59.
Waikato women’s coach Anna DeLong has a way of coming up with the unexpected. Before the final of the Women’s U22 Single she told Charlize Tutbury to “walk up to the cliff of belief, jump off and hope you fly”.
So the Waikato sculler, who started rowing as a Year 8 at Aquinas College in Tauranga, stepped up to the edge, waited for the gun...and soared.
“I'm just still trying to process it all,” said Charlize after the race. “Didn't really think I would get a gold medal, but pretty happy with that one.”
Charlize led all the way, but reckons the planned move at 1000m was the highlight.
“I went to 38 through the 1km, maybe for 250m. And just flew, just held it. Felt really good. I was flying, soaring off the cliff of belief.”
Madison Neale (Cure), Charlize Tutbury (Waikato) and Mackenzie Tuffin (Star) celebrate their medals after the U22 Single. Photo: Picture Show Ltd
Mackenzie Tuffin had her own mantra in one of the gutsiest finishes you’ll see. She tracked Charlize through the 1000 and then had to fight off a huge challenge from Cure’s Madison Neale.
After her heat on Tuesday, Mackenzie’s training partner at the Waikato Performance Hub Juliette Alm-Lequeux sat her down and told her to put six words on high-rotate for the final.
There were moments she had to dig deep, especially with 600m to go.
“It was pretty rough seeing Maddie kind of overtake. All I could hear [from the shoreline] was, ‘You've got her Maddie!’ And I was like, ‘No, no, no!’
“And then I just saw the last like 10 buoys and I was like, ‘Okay, 12 strokes. You can dig it in for 12.”
And the words were charging through her head: “I’m stronger, I’m fitter, I’m faster.”
Six words, repeated often, that carried Mackenzie Tuffin to silver.
Just four years ago Oliver Welch and Cody Johnson were rowing mates at Auckland Grammar, heading into their final season of Maadi racing. The senior squad spent summer camp at Lake Whakamaru where coach Dave Newhouse had the boys in pairs.
“We kind of rowed with everyone,” says Ollie, “and we'd do a piece each day, and if you won the piece, then you'd stay together in that combination, and everyone else would switch, and eventually we ended up together, and we won the piece, and then kind of stuck from there...we never got switched after that.”
It was a great year for Grammar, Ollie and Cody won the U18 Pair and were part of the school’s Springbok Shield-winning four. They were second in the eight against a once-in-a-lifetime Christ’s crew.
“We're back together again this year, and we kind of found what we had back at school,” says Ollie.
They won by six seconds back in 2021. Today, in the U22 Pair, the gap was nearly the same, against Fred Vavasour and Henry Kirk from Wairau.
They weren’t going to let Fred forget that he was in the Marlborough Boys’ College pair back in ‘21, that finished “second” and is “still second.”
The Avon pair finished in 6.35.16, Wairau crossed in 6.40.28.
Oliver Welch and Cody Johnson after winning the U22 Pair, and reliving their successful combination at Maadi Regatta four years ago. Photo: Picture Show Ltd
Avon’s Will Mackintosh and Sam Wilson were third.
The six of them have been staying in the same house for nationals, so the off-water rivalry has been pretty steady through the week.
Now that Ollie and Cody have had the full reunion, they’d be keen to keep it going.
“If the opportunity is there, then yeah, as long as we keep going well, then, definitely. It's an enjoyable boat to row, we get along well, so yeah.”
Georgia Graham says when the famous nor’wester roared through the course at about 2.10pm, with her not far from the finish, her split went from “2.05 to 2.40 in like a second.”
It was the first semifinal of the Women’s Club Single and Georgia’s main focus turned to not tipping out. She held on for fourth in a time of 8.54.29, the big positive being she’s through to the A Final.
Her North End clubmate Lola Castles was in the same race, her language to describe the sudden onslaught had a bit of force to it as well.
“Coming into that [last] 250, it was bloody terrible. I nearly got washed into lane zero and then finished the race and nearly ended up in the water...felt like I was back on Dunedin Harbour, not very enjoyable at all.”
The crowd on the bank had the sight of Lola getting blown backwards across the course after the race, surviving two near capsizes and finally getting to shore down by the dais.
The second semifinal got hit even harder. That was won by Dunstan’s Olivia Ollerenshaw in 9.24.65, nearly a minute longer on the race track than semifinal one winner Tegan Negus from Waikato.
Semifinals day has a way of inspiring incredibly close finishes. There’s no Plan B if you want to make the A Final. Make the top four or go home.
The second semifinal of the Men’s Club Quad produced the tightest finish of the day, with the crews across lanes 2-6 desperate to qualify for the big race.
Whoever was hitting the buzzer up in the tower had to be on their game.
Here’s the photo finish with Canterbury crossing in 6.24.82, then Nelson (6.25.63), Avon (6.26.42), Whakatane (6.26.62), and Aramoho-Whanganui missing out (6.26.71)
Whether you were first, fourth or fifth, it truly was a day of high mental magnitude.
The photo finish of the second semifinal of the Men’s Club 4x- with five crews finishing within two seconds of each other.
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and rowing coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
