Latest news with #WakatipuHigh
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Rowers on world stage
Wakatipu High's Seb Watson, left, and Harry Lightfoot proved their rowing chops with a record win in the U18 double sculls at this year's Maadi Cup on Lake Karapiro. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Two Wakatipu High 17-year-old rowers are furiously training and fundraising to represent New Zealand at world under-19 champs this winter. They are Arrowtowner Harry Lightfoot and Queenstowner Seb Watson, who sensationally broke a record of about 20 years' standing when they claimed gold in the U18 double sculls at this year's national secondary schools Maadi Cup regatta. Following trials, Harry's made NZ's team for the U19 worlds in Lithuania in August, which will be preceded by six weeks' training in Cambridge. He'll row in the double with Nathan Strachan, from Auckland's Macleans College, who won the U18 single sculls at this year's Maadi. Seb, meanwhile, has made the U19 NZ development team who are off to the Continental Challenge Cup regatta in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the United States, where he'll compete in multiple events including a mixed eight. Both trips are solely self-funded, Harry's costs reaching $20,000 and Seb's $8500 — a Givealittle page is running for the pair who are also fundraising themselves, including a raffle in Harry's case. Both have been rowing since year 9 at Wakatipu High, but have come on particularly over the past two years under Whakatipu Rowing Club coach John Morrison. Last year they won golds at Maadi in the U17 double and coxed quad, and they repeated the dose at U18 level on Cambridge's Lake Karapiro this year. For their upcoming worlds they've upped their training to 10 or 11 times a week including gym, rowing machine and on-water work. "Normally there's the big group trainings but at the moment there's just like me and Seb in a double or we'll be in singles, and it's freezing," Harry says. Both boys say they enjoy the social side of rowing — "I just enjoy being with my mates", Seb says — but also the competitive side. Both intend carrying on when they finish school this year, initially with the Whakatipu Rowing Club this next season — Seb's off to Canterbury University, and Harry's still deciding his next move. Harry follows in the wake of local rowing star Marley King Smith who competed at the past two U19 worlds.
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Duo on caravan tour
From left, Charles, Olive, 4, Emily and Teaumarino Looker, 1. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Award-winning husband-and-wife duo Aro rock into Glenorchy and Queenstown for concerts next week on a caravan tour of the country with their two young tamariki. Aro comprises Charles Looker, whose first language is te reo Maori, and his wife Emily, who's learnt the language. Having formed Aro in 2017, the couple have released two albums, two EPs and numerous singles, and last year won the Waiata Maori Music Award for Best Pop Album. Their 'An Evening with Aro' gigs at Glenorchy's The Headwaters Eco Lodge next Thursday, at 6.30pm, and at Te Atamira next Friday, 7pm, promise to be "an intimate evening of original waiata blending jazz and folk", including their newest single, Te Karanga. Emily: "It's going to be a musical experience of harmonies, storytelling and our bicultural lifestyle. "Hopefully a whole lot of love and enjoyment can be had and felt by the listeners when they come along to the show." The Lookers, who travel with Olive, 4, and one-year-old Teaumarino, decided to rent out their Pukekohe home after the latter arrived and take to the road. Along with performing and writing songs inspired by Aotearoa's stories and nature, they take songwriting workshops. They'll take one at Wakatipu High — about the 20th since they designed them specifically for schools last year — and a public one at Te Atamira next Friday at 1pm.
RNZ News
12-05-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
The 17-year-old rodeo star
It's time to talk rodeo. One Queenstown teenager is grabbing life by the saddle and riding toward a new adventure in the US. Seventeen-year-old Zoe Johnston, from Wakatipu High, is part of a five-person team heading to the senior national high school finals in Wyoming.
