Zoe McBride (born 27 September 1995) is a former New Zealand
rower.[2] She is a double world champion in the women's lightweight single scull. She is only the second New Zealand rower to win a double national championship in both the lightweight and premier single sculls.
Early life and education
McBride was born in 1995 in Nelson, where she attended St Joseph's School.[3] She and her family moved to
Dunedin when she was 13,[3] where her father Dene McBride works at Port Otago Ltd.[4] She attended
Kavanagh College from where she graduated in 2013, and spent two months attending
St Peter's School in
Cambridge in order to train at
Lake Karapiro.[5] She lives in Cambridge and is a part-time student at
Massey University.[3]
Rowing
McBride took up rowing in 2009.[6] She was an outstanding competitor in the
Maadi Cup, the annual New Zealand secondary schools rowing regatta, where she won three gold medals each in 2011 and 2012, and four gold medals in 2013.[5] McBride first represented New Zealand at the
World Rowing Junior Championships in
2012 in
Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where she gained a bronze medal with the
quadruple sculls (with Nathalie Hill,
Ruby Tew, and
Hannah Osborne).[7] She trained at Lake Karapiro and then represented New Zealand at the World Rowing Junior Championships in
2013 in
Trakai, Lithuania.[8] She competed in the junior women's quad scull and the team came fifth in the final.[9] She represented New Zealand at the World Rowing U23 Championships in
2014 in
Varese, Italy, in the lightweight double sculls with
Sophie MacKenzie, where they won gold.[10]
For the 2014 year, McBride was a finalist in the
Halberg Awards in the 'Emerging Talent Award' category.[11]
At the second regatta of the 2015
World Rowing Cup held in Varese, McBride broke
Constanța Burcică's 1994 world best time by over 3.5 seconds in the semi-final of the lightweight single scull.[12] McBride won the final, beating Brazil's
Fabiana Beltrame.[13] At the World Rowing U23 Championships in
2015 in
Plovdiv, Bulgaria, she won the U23 lightweight double scull with
Jackie Kiddle, setting a new world best time.[14] McBride won a gold medal at the
2015 World Rowing Championships in the lightweight single scull[15] and repeated the feat at the
2016 World Rowing Championships.[16] She is a member of the Nelson Rowing Club.[3]
At the 2017 New Zealand rowing nationals at
Lake Ruataniwha, she became national champion in both the lightweight and premier open single sculls. She is the second New Zealand rower to achieve this feat, with the previous double taken by
Philippa Baker in the 1987–88 season.[17] At the
2017 World Rowing Championships in
Sarasota, Florida, she won a silver medal in the lightweight double sculls partnered with Jackie Kiddle.[18] At the
2018 World Rowing Championships in
Plovdiv, Bulgaria, McBride and Kiddle came sixth in the lightweight double sculls.[19]
In March 2021, McBride announced her retirement.[20] McBride later revealed she had been struggling with
relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S) while trying to keep under the 57 kg (126 lb) lightweight standard.[21]