Fedor Konyukhov aims to become the first person to row the Southern Ocean and around Cape Horn, eventually completing a 27,000-kilometre solo circumnavigation of the world. Continue reading

Bravo to St Bede's College Rector, Justin Boyle, for standing firm on the school's code of conduct. Breaching airport security, by illegally taking a ride on a luggage carousel into the secure area is no trifling matter.

The two roguish rowers who did so at Auckland Airport on Friday, should count themselves lucky that the police and Aviation Security let them off with a stern warning.

But as ambassadors of the school, competing in an elite sporting regatta, their feckless actions blatantly breached the school's code of conduct, which they and their parents willingly signed up to.

Sidelining these carousel clowns from the Maadi Cup was the only credible option for Justin Boyle. In his 13 years as rector of St Bede's his firm but fair leadership style has been his unwavering trademark.

Highly-respected for his zero-tolerance approach on bullying and drugs, Boyle has insisted that the school community plays by the rules, and those who fall foul of the rules face clear consequences.

His decision to axe the carousel riders from the school's Maadi Cup rowing team is entirely consistent with the school's values, and more-importantly, fully in accordance with the code of conduct.

After last year's shameful hijinks in Tekapo by a bunch of school rowers, it's all the more galling that rogue rowers have generated embarrassing newspaper headlines for St Bede's, again.

But if this was a script from the Dumb and Dumber playbook, it's the parents of the two banned rowers who I believe have really defied all bounds of common sense.

Tromping off to the High Court to seek an urgent injunction, in a bid to get their boys back in the row boats stinks to high heaven of elitist self-entitlement. Where's the dignity? The decency? The self-respect? Continue reading

• Mike Yardley is a former Newstalk ZB host, a regular Fairfax columnist and former St Bede's pupil.

"Rowing is the perfect metaphor for life," says Father Vladimir Feltzmann, 73, who was one of the Catholic Church of England and Wales' roaming chaplains for the London Olympics and a former competition rower. "You see the past; you can't see the future. The only person who sees the future is the cox. Christ is the cox. You row backwards into the future so the past is in front of you and the future is behind you. Because you are rowing backwards you need to have great faith."

Feltzmann, who likes to be known as Father Vlad, is one of 13 British Catholic priests to have been assigned a role at the London Games. During the games most of these priests were based out of the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London, where the majority of the venues were situated. They also celebrated daily Mass at the Athletes' Village. Several hundred thousand people came into the park each day and the priests were on hand for a variety of reasons, from giving information on Catholic churches in London to administering Last Rites.

An estimated 4.5 million visitors arrived in London during the games, and many of them, especially from overseas, were Roman Catholic. Feltzmann roamed among the Central London transport hubs near to the events. After nearly 50 years a priest, Father Vlad has an eye for a situation that may require his pastoral intervention.

"Near each venue there are people involved in security, accommodation, public relations, food supplies and ticket collection. Then there are all the people who arrive for the event. If only 1 per cent of these people suffer bereavement back home, that could be thousands of people who will need help and support-it might be for confession or people who want to pour their hearts out because they are hurting. It will just be a question of walking up and saying, 'Hello, I'm Fr Vlad. If you have a problem here's my card.' I will show them where the local church is or I can show them where their nearest ethnic chaplaincy is." Continue reading

Image: Stuff