Help Jessica Walkinshaw Represent New Zealand at the World u19 Rowing Championships

Hi, my name is Jess Walkinshaw. I’m a 17 year old year 13 student, and I’ve been selected to represent New Zealand at the World under 19 Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. I've been rowing for 4 years now, and absolutely love it. A year ago I set my sights on representing New Zealand at the under 19 World Rowing Championships.

One of my rowing friends and I began training for this goal in May 2025. Each week involved three on water rowing sessions and another six to eight training sessions .

All of this work began to pay off withselection in the Auckland squad to row at the Queensland School Champs. My pairs crew won that. We also got really good results in the NZ Rowing Championships, winning gold, silver and bronze medals against much older and more experienced crews. Finally in April, after a lot of hard work and many hours training, I was selected as part of the girls’ coxless four crew to go to the u19 World Championships.

Being selected is only the beginning. My crew and I are now training twice a day. We have a six-week training camp in June, then we leave for Bulgaria for the u19 World Champs which finish on 9 August 2026.

Attending the camp and the u19 World Champs costs $20,000 per athlete and we have to raise the money ourselves.

If you’re able to help with this. I would be really grateful. It’s a huge honour to represent New Zealand, but it’s also financially challenging. Every small amount you can spare would really help