The Levin Jubilee Cup is a prestigious event so the winning coaches and the squad were invited to enjoy a brilliant evening of fun and also fund raising.
The Club Chairs Rachel Stotter and Mark Hawksbee welcomed our guests in the chapel courtyard. Watching the arrivals was brilliant where girls from past years reacquainted with their former friends and rowing buddies. It is a sport with such a very strong community, and we were fortunate that Rachel Williams, the coach of the winning quad and eight attended from Christchurch. Rachel recently had a baby, so it was delightful to hear about her journey after Dio.
Rachel was appointed after a period of relatively quiet years. The rowing club under new leadership, saw an opportunity to grow with a compelling vision for the future. With the right coach on board, Rachel Williams (nee Arbuckle) was appointed to make the change. This was a slow build to put in place a collaborative and supportive team culture – this created a new success story as Rachel led the team to two consecutive wins competing against the best in New Zealand. Diocesan won the Levin Jubilee Cup in 2016 and 2017. Rachel put Dio rowing on the map and the culture of support and teamwork is still working well today.
Rachel was a brilliant guest speaker, reminding us of the hard work and effort that went into the club under her leadership. She recruited a team of stunning young coaches, and many of the winning squad in 2016 remain very closely connected to Diocesan. One of the two squad wins back then now competes for New Zealand. We are very proud that Kate Haines went on to represent New Zealand at the Olympics in France and she is into full training for the coming World Championships 24-30 August in Amsterdam.
The bow set in 2016 was led by Olivia Phipps who has progressed from Dio Sport Manager, to fully qualified Health and PE teacher at Dio. She is currently in training for the World Triathlon Championships in Spain and recently completed the Coast to Coast. With the Ironman in mind, she is proving that many former rowers can go on to succeed in a range of sports.
The fundraising part of the evening made a great contribution to the club raising over $40,000 to support the girls. Special thanks to Rachel, Mark and the club committee members and rowing parents whose enormous effort and contribution was outstanding. It was lovely to see past committee members, former chairs, and amazing young women come together to inspire the next generation of Dio rowers.
