“They’re aware of the history, but it’s not something we spend a lot of time on,” Clemo says. “The focus is on what this group can control in the present rather than comparisons to previous years.
King’s College won the Star Cup for best performed school overall at the 2025 Maadi Cup. Photo / Supplied
“The goal of our programme is to be a contender every year in the U18 8+, so what’s happening at our junior levels is equally important. We will attempt to defend the Star Trophy with a squad-wide performance focus.”
The Star Trophy is presented to the best-performed school across the regatta and King’s won it for the first time in 2025.
In the glamour event, King’s has one notable advantage over their Maadi Cup rivals. No other crew has as much Maadi Cup experience in their boat. Six oarsmen and the cox will line up from last year’s event, where they finished a credible fifth with a young crew.
NISS winners and Maadi Cup joint favourites, King’s College. Photo / Supplied
Now, 12 months on, that experience on top of another year’s worth of development has given King’s a formidable under-18 coxed eight.
“Having a number of athletes return does help. Many have raced the 18 8+ in their U16 and U17 seasons, so they understand the standard required, but ultimately it still comes down to how well they execute on the day,” says Clemo.
Lake Ruataniwha
In 2025 it was Westlake Boys’ High School who ended a 41-year drought – but that pales in comparison to King’s 66-year wait. The last time they won, the lake that they’ll row on this week was dry. In fact, it wasn’t a lake at all.
Lake Ruataniwha wasn’t filled until 1982. It functions as a surge reservoir for the Upper Waitaki Hydroelectric scheme – effectively to make the project flood-proof. The Ministry of Works developed it as a major recreational venue and opened the rowing course in 1982. The course was pre-planned and constructed with lane anchors in place before the lake was filled. The course was largely the brainchild of Max Smith, the locally based project engineer for the scheme.
Lake Ruataniwha and its neighbouring holiday park on the southern boundary of Twizel. Photo / Supplied
Lake Ruataniwha sits on the southern outskirts of Twizel, a quirky town of just under 1800 people, more than 1800 private residences and two Four Squares roughly 100 metres apart. Twizel’s population can surge by more than five times its usual size in peak holiday periods.
Maadi stretches it to its limits too. King’s alone are anticipating plenty of travelling support.
“We’re fortunate to have incredible support from families and the wider rowing community and we’re expecting a big presence on the bank. Our travelling squad is nearly 60 rowers strong, and we have a packed programme of events. So, it will be a busy week of racing with lots for our supporters to watch over the course of the week,” says Clemo.
The town was founded in 1968 as a base for workers on the hydroelectric scheme. Most of those homes are still standing, and many have become holiday homes. There are new subdivisions in development as well.
The attraction is the nearby lakes of Ōhau, Ruataniwha and the largest artificial lake in New Zealand – Lake Benmore.
Maadi History
The Maadi Cup was first raced in 1947 at a regatta in Whanganui – but the trophy’s origins began half a world away. The cup was donated by Dr Youssef Bahgat of the Cairo Rowing Club in Egypt, as a token of friendship. It was awarded to the winners of a points competition between Maadi Camp (where Kiwi soldiers were stationed from 1940) and the Cairo Rowing Club. The camp was beside the famed Nile River.
The Kiwis won the competition in 1943, and soon afterwards, the Maadi Camp Rowing Club captain gifted the cup to the New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association, with the intention for it to be used to foster inter-schoolboy eight-oared rowing. The trophy was then renamed the Maadi Cup and is among the most prestigious prizes in school sport.
The girls’ equivalent is the Levin 75th Jubilee Cup. In 1981, the Maadi regatta was held on Lake Horowhenua. That same year, the Levin Borough Council held its 75th jubilee and the then mayor, Jack Bolderson, decided a fitting memorial would be for a cup for the champion girls senior eight.
Maadi Cup winners Westlake Boys’ High School with Headmaster Paul Fordham. Photo / Facebook
Recent winners
Maadi Cup
2025 – Westlake Boys’ High School
2024 – Hamilton Boys’ High School
2023 – St Bede’s College
2022 – Hamilton Boys’ High School
2021 – Christ’s College
Levin Jubilee Cup
2025 – St Margaret’s College
2024 – Christchurch Girls’ High School
2023 – Rangi Ruru Girls’ School
2022 – Rangi Ruru Girls’ School
2021 – Rangi Ruru Girls’ School
Form Guide
The best in each island was decided earlier this month – but they won’t know the context of those results until the North Island and South Island crews face off.
Boys’ U18 Coxed Eight
The 2025 champions have it all to do if they’re to be the first crew to be back-to-back Maadi Cup champions. Westlake Boys High School were sensational at Lake Karapiro last year, breaking a drought of 41 years for the school.
With less than half of that crew returning in 2026, Westlake has seen other crews leapfrog them. They finished 5th in the North Island Secondary Schools Championships earlier this month and may find the going a bit too tough in Twizel. But Westlake teams are made of stern stuff and they’ll have been working hard in between regattas.
King’s College won the North Island A Final and boasts a hugely experienced crew. Seven of their crew from last year are back in the boat for another tilt at a title they haven’t held since 1960. They finished fifth in the 2025 event – but only a boat length behind the third placed crew.
Auckland Grammar finished fourth in the B Final last year and has made huge strides with a relatively inexperienced crew. Four of the nine boys in that 2025 boat are back, and so is their form, finishing just behind King’s at the North Island Champs.
Hamilton Boys’ High School placed third in that regatta, with little between them and the first two boats. Winners in 2024 on Lake Ruataniwha, they’ll arrive in Twizel with plenty of belief that a new crew can repeat that southern raid of two years ago.
2026 SISS Champions and joint Maadi Cup favourites – St Bede’s College.
St Bede’s College once again reigned supreme at the South Island Secondary Schools Championships. Winners in 2023 and runners up in 2024 and 2025, St Bede’s will again be in the mix when the final race of the regatta reaches its conclusion. Despite the fact that just two of the eight from last year have returned – as well as the cox, the St Bede’s programme has proven that it can continue to produce crews that compete at the highest level.
Christ’s College also have a boat full of new faces – but they were good enough to claim second place quite comfortably in the South Island regatta. Of the two College crews that competed last year, only three are in the top boat this week.
Christchurch Boys’ High School won the B Final at the 2025 Maadi Cup and has a couple of boys returning for 2026. They finished third in the SISS event at the start of the month with some clear air immediately in front of them and behind. The school is one of handful that has won the Maadi Cup just once – that was in 2019.
Girls U18 Coxed Eight
St Margaret’s College will attempt to retain the Levin Jubilee Cup at Lake Ruataniwha, a trophy they have successfully defended twice before (2003 & 2004, 2012 & 2013). Their win in 2025 was memorable – holding out Waikato Dio and Rangi Ruru. If they are to go back-to-back, they’ll do it with a host of new faces. Only two of their champion crew are back in the boat for 2026.
Rangi Ruru Girls’ School is the single-most successful school in Levin Jubilee Cup history. 18 times they’ve won the event, and their 2026 crew looks supremely capable of adding to that tally. Seven of the nine girls who won this month’s South Island Secondary Schools title got a taste of top-tier racing last year. Rangi Ruru had two boats in that race, finishing third and sixth. This year, they form one very powerful 8 that cleared the field in the SISS regatta.
Rangi Ruru powered away to win the SISS title on Lake Ruataniwha. Photo / Sharron Bennett Photography
Christchurch Girls’ High School were the forgotten crew in 2025. The Levin Jubilee Cup winners of 2024 didn’t even send a crew last year. In 2026 they’re back with a vengeance – beating St Margaret’s in the SISS and finishing second behind a turbo-charged Rangi Ruru eight.
Waikato Diocesan School for Girls will bring some strong form south after romping home in the North Island champs – seeing off Whanganui Collegiate by almost 10 seconds. Half of their crew from 2025 return to see if they can go one better than the silver medal they received on the banks of Lake Karapiro.
North Island champions and Maadi Cup contenders Waikato Diocesan School for Girls. Photo / Supplied
Whanganui Collegiate will take plenty from their strong showing at the NISS event at Lake Karapiro. Despite being outclassed in the final by Waikato Dio, the River City school edged out some quality crews to claim second.
Diocesan School for Girls (Auckland) finished just behind Whanganui Collegiate. They’ll bring some experience to Lake Ruataniwha with three of their crew from last year – where they finished a credible fifth.
Favourites
It’s unusual to see a Maadi Cup winner come from outside of the champions from either of the respective Island Championships – especially given neither of those finals were a photo finish. The last six Maadi Cup winners had previously won either the North or South Island Championships.
The early favourites are undoubtedly St Bede’s College and King’s College.
Favouritism brings its own layer of pressure but Clemo says his crews will not be focused on the result while they race.
“Pressure is a given, they’ve raced big races before and we will, as all crews do, look to focus on what we can control to row our best race.
“If the athletes are clear on their roles and what they need to do technically and physically, that tends to take care of most of the external pressure. The messaging is consistent around preparation and execution rather than outcome.”
The trend had been even stronger in the Levin Jubilee Cup until St Margaret’s tore up the form guide and conquered Rangi Ruru who’d beaten them just a few weeks before.
This year, given the margins of victory, both Rangi Ruru and Waikato Dio will hit the water as favourites.
Waikato Dio’s rowing team prepare to head south for Maadi Cup. Photo / Supplied
The first heat of the regatta gets underway on Monday morning at 8am with the Levin Jubilee Cup and Maadi Cup races completing the meeting on Saturday afternoon. Final preparations began well before that. Transporting boats from one end of the country to the other is a logistical undertaking of its own.
“Two dads have made the trip South with the truck and trailer. I’m not sure whether they have spent more on fuel or pies on the journey! It’s always a big effort to get everyone down there but it is a special place to row, and we are looking forward to the week ahead,” says Clemo.
It could be an even bigger week to follow if King’s can head home with the Maadi Cup.
Mike Thorpe is a senior multimedia journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.