ROWING: Polished rehearsal for youth Olympians

SHANE HURNDELL
Julia Trautvetter and Julia Edward's smiles were almost as big as the blisters on their hands after the Hawke's Bay Rowing Club's annual New Year's regatta ended at Clive on Saturday.
The host club duo, who with Jason Kitchin will provide the Bay connection in the Kiwi rowing contingent at this month's Youth Olympics in Sydney, had every right to be smiling.
They won the open women's double title, Trautvetter won her under-19 single title and their Youth Olympic quad and eight crews finished second to New Zealand elite crews.
``We couldn't have asked for more in our final rehearsal for the Youth Olympics,' said Trautvetter who was responsible for enticing Rotorua's Edward to the Bay club this summer.
And the blisters?
Edward, 17, pointed out they are the result of a busy schedule in recent weeks. They had been in camp with the rest of the Youth Olympic squad since December 28 at Lake Karapiro before arriving in the Bay on New Year's Day to prepare for Saturday's regatta.
Yesterday was their only rest day before returning to Lake Karapiro today to continue their training in the buildup to their January 11 departure to Sydney.
``The blisters reflect just part of the many sacrifices we make,' said Trautvetter who is a fourth year rower.
``We train up to three times a day and for anything from 90 minutes to two hours each session depending on how well we do. There was no partying on New Year's Eve either ... we played tennis at one of our coach's places,' said Trautvetter.
The pair hope these sacrifices will result in medals in Sydney. They are grateful for the funding they have received from the Infinity Foundation and Endeavour Community Trust as part of their buildup to Sydney.
``The plan now is to secure a long-term sponsorship deal so we can work towards the London Olympics,' said Trautvetter.
She will start a Bachelor of Science course at Waikato University upon her return from Sydney. Edward has been accepted for a physical education course at Otago University but said if she and Trautvetter secure New Zealand under-23 trials and sponorship she will opt for a similar course at Waikato so she and Trautvetter can spend more time training together.
This pair and Kitchin, 18, will be big assets for Hawke's Bay at national events later this summer. Kitchin, who will also study at Waikato University, will be in Kiwi pair, four and eight crews in Sydney.
He has set the 2010 world champs at Lake Karapiro and a future Olympic Games as his long-term goals.
Hawke's Bay won the top club trophy for the third consecutive year and also took out the $1000 sprint shoot out for the third consecutive year. The shootout involved women's and men's single races, a mixed double race, a mixed quad race and a mixed eight race.
Hawke's Bay had secured the money before losing the mixed eight race to Horowhenua. However the hosts can be considered to be lucky to have won the mixed quad race as everyone apart from the three judges thought Horowhenua had taken it out.
There was no protest from Horowhenua. The main purpose of this festive event, the country's oldest rowing regatta, is to showcase the sport and prepare competitors for more important upcoming regattas.
In the case of Trautvetter, Kitchin and Edward it has certainly done that.
Seven clubs were represented and Hawke's Bay secured more than half of the points up for grabs. Aramaho of Wanganui were second, Horowhenua third and Gisborne fourth.
As expected Hawke's Bay's two-time world champion and Olympic Games representative Emma Twigg oosed class in each event she tackled and took out the open women's single.
Fellow New Zealand representatives Storm Uru and Peter Taylor won the open double.
A Hawke's Bay crew of cox Sarah Alexander, Isobel Ayers, Ellen Hunt, Lauren Stone and Lisa Kitchin won the Len Harrison Cup women's novice coxed four race. Their clubmate Michael Harrison won the open single scull title as well as the men's single segment of the shootout.
Harrison's brother Richard and Adam Tripp won the open pair title while their clubmate Maia Solomon won the second division open single scull title. Members of the Bay's boys under-19 squad won the club eight, club four and club quad titles while the Bay's novice eight boys crew was also triumphant.
A Canadian duo of Colleen Mowat and Christina Fuller, who are spending the summer with the Bay club, took out the women's club double.