Annabel Ritchie (born 20 July 1978) is a retired

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

from New Zealand.

Private life

Ritchie was born in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and attended

Rangi Ruru Girls' School Rangi Ruru Girls' School is a New Zealand private school, private girls' day and boarding school, boarding secondary school located in Merivale, Christchurch, Merivale, an inner suburb of Christchurch. The school is affiliated with the Presbyte ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

from 1994 to 1996. She studied at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

and graduated

LLB A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

. She lived in Queenstown where she worked as a lawyer in private practice.

Rowing career

Ritchie made the New Zealand U19 coxless four to compete at the 1996

World Rowing Junior Championships The World Rowing U19 Championships, former name World Rowing Junior Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). A rower or coxswain shall be classified as a Junior until 31 Decemb ...

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

, Scotland, where the Jude Hamilton-coached crew won a bronze medal. At the

1998 World Rowing Championships The 1998 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 9 to 18 September 1998 in Cologne, Germany. The World Rowing Championships are organized by World Rowing Federation, FISA, back then International Rowing Fede ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, Germany, she came seventh with the women's eight. At the next World Rowing Championships a year later in

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2021, St. Catharines has an area of and 136,803 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, south of Toronto ac ...

, Ontario, Canada, she came eighth with the women's eight. She attended the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, USA, and was part of the crew which won back-to-back

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) championship titles. Her

Husky Husky is a general term for a type of dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies ...

team included Athens Olympic silver medallists and Beijing and London gold medallists Mary Murray (née Whipple) and Anna Cummins (née Mickelson) (USA), and Olympians Rika Geyser (South Africa) and Nicole Borges (Canada). In 2012 to 2014, she was a rowing coach for the Wakatipu club in Queenstown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, Annabel New Zealand female rowers 1978 births Living people People from Geraldine, New Zealand People educated at Rangi Ruru Girls' School Washington Huskies women's rowers People from Queenstown, New Zealand Sportspeople from Otago 21st-century New Zealand lawyers Rowers from the Canterbury Region 21st-century New Zealand women lawyers