Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times / Sport

Rowing: Bay club bolsters Kiwi squad

Peter White
By Peter White
Sports writer·Bay of Plenty Times·
11 Mar, 2013 09:46 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

There is a strong Tauranga Rowing Club presence in the New Zealand rowing squad named to contest the first World Cup regatta in Sydney on March 22.

Zoe Stevenson (women's double scull), Genevieve Armstrong (women's quad),

Curtis Rapley (men's lightweight coxless four) and Adam Ling (men's under-23 lightweight single) all honed their skills during long hours of early morning training on the Tauranga Harbour.

Rapley's selection was a poignant moment for the former Bethlehem College student, who went through a traumatic time after his lightweight four crew finished third in a pre-Olympic regatta last year and missed out on qualifying for London by 1.5sec.

He admits it was hard to take and even talking about it now is emotional for him.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But his mental strength and work ethic got him through it.

"Oh man, it took probably a couple of months to deal with that," said Rapley.

"I was really gutted. It is so hard when you put your heart and soul into something and then you come so close. We did our best last year and there were a couple of crews faster than us that day.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We learned some pretty tough lessons and some days you have to accept other crews may be faster."

Despite the disappointment there was never a moment when Rapley thought of giving rowing away.

"There was no way that was going to happen. It probably has motivated me a bit more.

"I was watching my mates on the TV competing and winning at the Olympics, and I just really wanted to be there amongst it."

Discover more

Rowing: Selection fires up Olympic dream

08 May 06:13 PM

Rapley lives fulltime at the world class high performance base at Lake Karapiro but he has not forgotten where he started.

"It is cool for us living over here to have come from kind of a small club like Tauranga Rowing and we all support each other.

"I have been at the club since 2008 and began my rowing when I was at Bethlehem College. During my whole schooling, and after I left school for a year or two, I had the same coach Duncan by de Ley.

"He still coaches anyone at the club who wants to learn to row and I definitely would not have been able to do it without Duncan - that's for sure."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Bay of Plenty Times

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses

Bay of Plenty Times

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

Bay of Plenty Times

Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses
Bay of Plenty Times

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses

The new facility will include a new building plus 14 asphalt and nine cushioned courts.

14 Jul 07:00 PM
Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought
Bay of Plenty Times

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

14 Jul 05:17 AM
Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes
Bay of Plenty Times

Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes

14 Jul 04:28 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP