Novice crew targeting Mardi Cup regatta after fine showing | Rotorua Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Rotorua

Rotorua rower Stephen Wright may be new to the sport but the youngster and his team mates are already making waves.

The 15-year-old took part in the Blue Lake Rowing Regatta on Lake Tikitapu at the weekend involving more than 20 clubs from the North Island.

Stephen, a Western Heights High School Year 11 student is part of the novice men's coxed fours crew. The team is made up of his school mates Lewis Morrell, Matthew Bennett, Connor McNamara-Spackman and coxswain Keely Gage.

The crew have only been training together this year and at the weekend finished a gallant second behind the more experienced Hawkes Bay crew.

"We've been training hard since early this year, just after New Year's we started and we've been going about five times a week, hard out.

"We were pretty confident going into this weekend, but we had heard the Hawke's Bay crew had won the North Islands so we knew we were going to have a challenge but we were up for it."

The crew, who train out of the Rotorua Rowing Club, will now prepare for the schools competition, aiming to do well in the Mardi New Zealand National Secondary Schools Championships on Lake Ruataniwha, South Island, from March 26 to April 1.

Stephen is the crew's stroke - his role is to ensure the rate they paddle at keeps the boat running at its optimal pace for the entire race. Although it's an important job Stephen said every member of the team was important.

"All the boys put in the same effort. I've just got to make sure I go hard so they know how fast to go as well."

He said the vital member on their boat was the coxswain Keely. "I just focus on keeping the stroke rate and Keely our coxswain, tells us how fast we are going, where we are in the field and when to go hard."

Stephen said overall the crew were pretty pleased with how they went but knew there was still work to be done before the Mardi Cup. Rowing wasn't something he was initially interested in doing but got talked into it by his team mates Lewis and Matthew.

"The boys came up to me and said we should start to get a crew together. So I went along a couple of times, really enjoyed it."

Now Stephen who weighs 75kg and is 186cm tall, has to keep an eye on his diet. "I started of about 80kg but I've got it down a bit. But I've got to watch the diet - 'no takeaways', the coach says. It's a bit of a shock and a change. Christmas set me back a bit."

Their coach Glen Reichardt was impressed with how his team performed at the weekend and thinks they have the potential to upset some of the favourites at the Nationals.

"They are a novice crew, they are an awesome crew and they've done really well. I'm definitely looking forward to Mardi. I think they can medal in the A final. That's the goal and they're on track."