| Gentle winds on Lake Ruataniwha made for great racing at day five of the 2018 Aon Maadi Cup, with crews taking to the water to battle it out in semi-finals and C & D finals. It was a tight race in both semi-finals for the girl’s under 17 double sculls. With only the first four crews in each race progressing, the fight for a lane in the A final tomorrow made for great viewing. Craighead Diocesan School, Glendowie College and Rotorua Lakes High School all move forward in the first semi final. There was a fierce race between Glendowie College number 2 and St Hilda’s Collegiate for fourth place, with St Hilda’s Collegiate missing out by nearly two tenths of a second. In the second semi-final, Mt Albert Grammar School, St Peter’s School (Cambridge), Avonside Girls’ High School and Maclean’s College also moved forward to the A final tomorrow. Semi-final one of the girl’s under 16 coxed four saw both Waikato Diocesan School and Rangi Ruru Girl’s School competing for a spot in the A final, each winning the North Island and South Island Secondary School Championships respectively. Waikato Diocesan School finished first in 7:32.94, with Rangi Ruru Girls’ School finishing in 7:37.61. The second semi-final was won by South Island Secondary School Championship bronze medallists St Margaret’s College, followed by Wellington Girls’ College, Sacred Heart Girls’ College and Epsom Girls’ Grammar. Jack McLaughlan of John McGlashan College took out his semi-final in the boy’s under 17 single and went on to win his semi-final in the under 17 double when he teamed with Nic Chamberlain, beating Takapuna Grammar School by five seconds. The second semi-final was a much closer race with 0.63 seconds between Cambridge High School and St Peter’s School (Cambridge) in second. With only the first four in each race progressing, there was another close race between Cambridge High School’s second crew and Timaru Boys’ High School, with TImaru Boys’ High School making their way into the A final by 0.84 seconds. Timaru Girls’ High School took out a confident win in the second semi-final of the girl’s under 16 double. Brian Mallinson and Molly Clayton opened a gap of more than two boat lengths over the rest of the field, finishing in an impressive nine seconds ahead of second place Craighead Diocesan School. Racing concludes tomorrow with all A and B finals, including A finals for the boy’s and girl’s under 17 single sculls, with each winner’s school taking home a new skiff from Aon & Laszlo Boats, and a set of new sculls from Concept 2. Full event schedule, entries and live results will be available on rowit.nz A live webcast of finals will be available tomorrow from 8am via the Aon Maadi Cup website maadi.co.nz | 
