ROWING: Runner made an oarsome decision

29th March 2007

ANENDRA SINGH

Running was Julia Trautvetter's thing but one day she got bored.

During art class in school with rowing coach Dick Tripp's daughter, Kelsie, the Hastings Girls' High School pupil decided to pick up the oars in 2005.

"I wanted a change so I joined Kelsie at a regatta," Trautvetter told SportToday last night from Lake Karapiro, near Cambridge, where she is competing in the elite national secondary schools' Maadi Cup regatta for the first time.

With father Mike a former Hawke's Bay lightweight eights winner, Trautvetter took lessons from him before Hawke's Bay Rowing Club coach Rohan Condon included her in the senior women's quad team.

Trautvetter struggled to fit in but four months ago Condon put her in as a lightweight single sculler. She finished first as a novice at the nationals in the under-17 race at Lake Karapiro.

"It's the first time for anyone in the Bay to win the national event since (junior world champion) Emma Twigg won in 2004," Condon said from Karapiro.

The 16-year-old is the only Bay rower to qualify for Maadi Cup races in the A grade finals. She is a favourite to win gold tomorrow in under-17 girls' single scull and should be in the medal hunt in the under-18 race, if her times are anything to go by.

"Mmm, I don't know about the under-18s. I'm too light (59kg) and there are some big girls in there. Besides, I'll be doing two races and I hope I won't be too tired," she said.

Trautvetter puts her sudden success down to her coach and the mental fortitude built during her running days in the 1500m, 3000m and steeplechase days.

"I love rowing and I've also been doing a little bit of kickboxing so I'm happy with my fitness," said Trautvetter, who was guarded about her racing technique but said she liked leading a race from the start.

Napier Boys' High School have made the B final of the under-18 coxed four while St John's are in the B final of the under-18 double scull tomorrow.

Christchurch's St Bede's College and Wanganui Collegiate made the final, winning their respective repechages in rough conditions at Lake Karapiro.

In the premier girls' event, the Levin Jubilee Cup, Nelson, Baradene College, King's College School, Waikato Diocesan, St Margaret's and Sacred Heart Girls College all made it through to today's semifinal in a bid to make Saturday's final.