Southland teenager Shakira Mirfin is in the New Zealand women's under-21 rowing team, but her former coach believes she could go further and become an Olympian.
Mirfin teamed up with Sarah Stewart, Eilish McLeod and Elizabeth Reid to claim silver in the senior quad earlier on Saturday. Stewart and Mirfin were also third in the Senior double to provide a trifecta of medals for Mirfin. After winning the intermediate single two seasons ago, Reid ably moved up a level with a silver medal in the women’s Club single. Invercargill Rowing Club’s novice women backed up the progression system in the club, with Stacey Dennison, Laura Dennis, Maddison Booth and Caitlin Te Tai taking silver in the women’s novice coxed quad, and Dennison and Dennis a bronze in the novice double ahead of Te Tai and Booth in fourth.
“We’re out there [rowing] because we love it,” van Dam said. The four women raced together in the 1980s but disbanded in 1989 for various reasons. Thirty years passed before they reunited to resume competing in 2019. The Invercargill Rowing Club, at which van Dam is club captain, achieved good results at the South Island Championships.
Steve McArthur
Invercargill Rowing Club members Ciccone Tweedie, front, and Roisin Laphen at the South Island Championships in Twizel recently. The club had 21 rowers competing over 25 events. They made 23 finals and returned home with 11 medals – two gold, five silver and four bronze. In addition to Kristen Froude’s two gold medals, other highlights for the club included Shakira Mirfin’s silver medal in the women’s premier singles and the novice quad combination of Laura Dennis, Stacey Dennison, Maddison Booth and Caitlin Te Tai landing a silver.