The original indoor rowing club was run by Bob Bridge who did the training. When he left Kerikeri several of the rowers formed the Kerikeri Indoor Rowing Club Inc. After rowing for a few years in various rented places, the members decided to look into building its own premises.
Time and effort was spent finding a suitable location. Roger Barnard, Carl Robinson and Bob Malloy consulted and were put on the Kingston House Trust Committee. The Trust agreed to leasehold land at $1 pa and a monthly payment calculated at a percentage of the monthly running costs, rates, building insurance and water.
Victor Wilmar waived his architect’s fees to draw the plans. He also dealt with the resource consent, building permits and supervised the construction by Derek Nagel. Club members did a lot of the indoor painting. Malcolm Hayes donated his time to set up the TV and keep the sound system running.
In 2007 the club had sufficient funds to start construction. A roof shout was held in early 2008.
Eventually the club was able to buy the rowing machines instead of renting them. Members at that time rowed for general fitness, to train for other sports, health reasons, weight loss, or to aid in recovery from injuries. There were no competitions although for several years the machines were set up in the domain and a few members rowed the Half Marathon.
The Kerikeri Striders approached us to merge the 2 clubs into the Kerikeri Striders Multisports Club. They had the finances to complete the interior and extend the range of equipment. The club continues to be organised by a committee of volunteers.
Linda Mains