TE AWAMUTU NEWS | 1
THURSDAY OCTOBER 27, 2022
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OCTOBER 27, 2022
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Rowing for Clive By Benjamin Wilson
Rowing legend Clive Steenson will be remembered at Lake Karāpiro when the Te Awamutu Rowing Club’s annual regatta is held on Saturday. “Without his tenacity and enthusiasm, I don’t think we would be here today,” said club treasurer Shane Swinerd. Steenson’s contribution to the club helped it become the best in New Zealand in 1981, when it won the Centennial Oar. He started rowing for the club in 1966 and “never left”. He rowed until 1981 when he started coaching that same year, was the club captain for 11 years, and president for five. He coached Luka Ellery, Graham Oberlin-Brown, and Hannah Osborne, who would go on to win silver at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. Clive was coaching for the club just months before he died in May last year, from an asbestos related cancer at age 74. “Nothing was ever going to stop him from going out there unless somebody turned the lights off,
and that is pretty much what happened… He coached right up until he couldn’t,” said Shane. The club expects around 600 athletes from Waikato, Auckland and Northland to participate in the regatta. In honour of Clive, the regatta is now called the Clive Steenson Memorial Regatta, and was supposed to be held last year but was postponed due to Covid. It is the first regatta of the rowing season and is known as a friendly introduction to competitive rowing for novices. “He just thrived on numbers, he just thrived on seeing people on the water, seeing them improving,” said Shane. “That is one of the things that he believed in, that you give people opportunities, that you give people chances,” said club captain Tony Edmondson.
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Tony Edmondson, Ray Ormsby, Shane Swinerd, and Ann Edmondson remember Clive’s rowing achievements. Photo: Benjamin Wilson
Chair for Clare By Mary Anne Gill
Four-term Pirongia councillor Clare St Pierre has been rewarded for her strategic thinking and keen intellect by being appointed Waipā District Council’s Service Delivery committee chair. She takes over from Grahame Webber who retired at the last elections. Mayor Susan O’Regan made the announcement this week in what for some was a surprise but those who know the former banker well, know her skills have not been well utilised. St Pierre was born in the district and grew up on a Te Rore dairy farm. She is a mother of six who volunteers for environmental projects, especially around Pirongia where she lives with husband Tony. She graduated from Massey University in 2012 as a Massey Scholar and her post-graduate studies included business research methods, advanced environmental management, cross-sector collaborative case studies for environmental protection, and business and sustainability. St Pierre has championed the Pirongia Cycleway project and wants more commitment to Climate Change initiatives. • See: Susan and Liz roadshow, page 5.
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