Two crews from the Whangarei Rowing Club were among gold medal winners at the New Zealand Rowing Championships held at Lake Karapiro.
Whangarei crews made it through to eight A finals and four B finals, and the club had 14 rowers at the championships spread across 17 boats in 15 events. The winning crews were Madi Brooke and Sarah White in the novice women's double sculls, and Tim Pearce and Steele Olsen, who dominated the novice men's double sculls.
Whangarei Club rowers who also made it on to the podium for bronze medals were Ashton Lovall and Stewart Widger (men's senior coxless pair) and Shannon Cox and Tyler Nicholas (women's premier lightweight double sculls).
The championships are regarded as the pinnacle of the domestic rowing season, with 854 of New Zealand's top athletes representing 50 competing organisations, both nationally and internationally, over five days.
Among the rowers competing for national honours were Olympic triallists and crews keen to show their form before heading to the "last chance" regatta in Lucerne in May.