OVERVIEW OF TWIZEL REGATTAS PARENT HELP:

The Whakatipu Rowing Clubs Regatta Season is October – April.

We are lucky to be just 2.5 hours from the home of South Island Rowing, the Meridian Rowing Centre located on the beautiful shores of Lake Ruataniwha at Twizel. 

Lake Ruataniwha is a purpose-built 2000m rowing course with 10 buoyed lanes. The lanes are fully buoyed throughout the year, which allows for year-round training. 

Whakatipu Rowing Club (WRC) attend approx. 4-5 Regattas here through the season. The Aon Maadi Cup regatta is the National Championships for school rowing in New Zealand. Run by the NZSSRA and Rowing New Zealand, it is New Zealand's largest rowing regatta, alternating annually between Lake Ruataniwha in Twizel and Lake Karapiro, Cambridge in the North Island.

The Regattas are a weekend event starting on the Friday night through to Sunday afternoon. The Rowers sub fees for each regatta cover the Rowers seat fees, 2nights accommodation and all lunches and snacks at the Marquee on Saturday/Sunday.

WRC have worked closely with the team at Stay Mackenzie to ensure our rowers and Houseparents accommodation needs are met during their stay in Twizel. The homes are comfortable and well equipped for our rowers and parents. They are a sanctuary for rowers. The environment at the house needs to be calm and provide the support they need for rest and focus.

Our Houseparents have a huge role during the regattas.  Our club relies on families being willing to help with houseparent duties at Twizel. It is a great way to be involved and meet other parents – we literally couldn’t do this without you!  The Houseparents role is to ensure that the rowers are awake and are fed breakfast in time for their racing, transport to and from the boat park the following morning on time.  Coxswains need to weigh in two hours before their first race which means some early trips to the lake before everyone else.

Rowers will bring their own meal to be heated for Friday night and breakfast each day. Each rower is required to bring home baking/cooking which is to be dropped off in the marquee on Saturday morning. Healthy/Nutritious muffins, tray bakes, savoury mini pies, sausage rolls The Saturday night meal for the rowers is usually a shared effort by the squads parents. 

A typical Regatta Plan for the Twizel Regattas would be:

THURSDAY: De-rigg and load boats at Lake Hayes onto trailer ready to transport to Twizel Friday

FRIDAY: All Rowers/ Houseparents check in to their allocated squad house at Twizel then meet at the Boatpark 6pm to unload and re-rigg boats. Parents assist with the setting up of the WRC Marquee on our designated concrete pad located at the 1750m mark (site 17).

SATURDAY: Houseparents drop rowers to Lake ready for the days racing. At the WRC Marquee there is plenty to do to keep the parents busy. In the morning bacon, eggs and hashbrowns are cooked on the BBQ so the rowers can grab and go between their first races. The sandwich/salad bar, cold meats and pasta is prepped during this time so it is all ready for the lunch rush and the home baking and fruit is always available.

SUNDAY: Finals day!  Much the same as Saturday but our Houseparents will checkout of accommodation by 10am. De-rigging and boat loading will take place after the last race. The parents will pack down the kitchen/bbq and marquee.  Time to head home to Lake Hayes Club for re-rigging and unloading.