Rowing: Following in dad's footsteps

Tauranga's Zoe Stevenson (right) and double sculls partner Eve McFarlane have made a winning start to their new partnership. Photo / File

Rowing legend Herb Stevenson isn't in the least bit surprised about his daughter Zoe's success in the sport.

The double sculls world champion with Fiona Bourke, this season Zoe has teamed up with a new partner, Eve MacFarlane, and has begun the year with a win at the first major event of 2015, the World Cup regatta in Italy.

"She is very competitive - she takes after her mother there. I remember her playing touch - she was very competitive," said Stevenson senior.

Herb is well aware from his own rowing days, where he was part of two world championship winning eights in the 1980s, and from years of coaching, of what it takes to reach the top in the sport. He admits to a glow of pride in what Zoe has achieved.

"Part of that is because I know what it takes to get there. It's a lot of hard work, a lot of skill and some ability as well."

Zoe's three older brothers all rowed at school.

"She started in year 10, so that was a bit later than she could have, so by then they had all had a go, but she was the only one who continued on with it further than school."

Herb coached his daughter for a brief time before her talent was recognised and she was taken into the Rowing New Zealand development system.

Zoe will stay in Europe until the world championships in France in late August and early September where a top 15 finish will ensure Olympic qualification.

"That's a pretty good prospect and short of falling out of the boat they should do that.

"Certainly that's her intention, to qualify, but that only gives New Zealand the right to put a double in (the Olympic regatta). But she will have a foot in the door. Then she'll come back to training in October, then trials in March and it all starts again."

Going into the World Cup, the new combination was something of an unknown quantity, with the task made greater by the fact that their key rivals were fielding the same crews as last year.

As preparation, they have trained alongside Olympic and multiple-world champion Mahe Drysdale on Lake Karapiro.

In Italy, the New Zealand pair were last at the halfway point, although it was a tightly contested race from the start.

In the third 500m, Australian's Sally Kehoe and Olympia Aldersey were just half a boat length in front, with the other five crews going stroke for stroke in a line behind them. Americans Meghan O'Leary and Ellen Tomek then took charge into the final phase of the race, as the Australians faded. But Stevenson and MacFarlane stormed home to pip the US pair on the line.

After the race, Zoe said that for the last 400m they were putting in as much as they could.

"I was really impressed with us - it's our first regatta together and I felt like we didn't fall apart at all. It was just putting more in and putting more in each stroke and concentrating on getting as much boat speed as we could to give ourselves a chance."

Another Tauranga-produced rower, Curtis Rapley, was a member of the gold winning men's lightweight four in Italy with James Lassche, Alistair Bond and James Hunter.

The New Zealanders held on to half a boat length lead for gold heading for home in a time of 5:57.38. Silver went to Switzerland in 5:58.91 and France faded to bronze.

Adam Ling is the third member of the New Zealand team from the Western Bay, competing in the lightweight single scull, a non-Olympic class.