Watch NZH Local Focus: Rowing under-23s off to world champs

The countdown is on for 20-year-old Courtney Rennie.

Next Sunday, on the 9th of July she's one of the nine crews and 29 athletes off to the Under 23 World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

For Ms Rennie it's her first major international campaign.

"I'm really excited by the opportunity but very nervous of the competition because I don't have any idea of what to expect from the competition and just being in a completely different hemisphere. So it's going to be very different racing where it's 30 degrees versus, sometimes, minus one. But yeah it will be good," Ms Rennie says.

The 20-year-olds coach, Bruce Jones, says cold starts are no deterrent for all rowers who venture out onto Lake Karapiro twice a day, to build up the necessary speed and endurance.

"We're out here most days. They have Sundays off, and another afternoon, and Saturday afternoon off. So they get two fulls days off. But not completely - you get two half days and a full Sunday off," he says.

Mr Jones also trains lightweight single sculler Ben van Dalen who has an added difficulty having undergone forearm surgery last week.

The 21-year old must maintain the strenuous training, but has to give his arms time to recover as well. That means he's staying of the water and concentrating on the rest of his body until his arms recover. The surgery may have come a bit too close to the competition but it was necesary.

"You could say it's close, but I mean I would rather go overseas and race properly rather than just going overseas and just competing. You don't really have anyone backing you up in a single, let's be honest it's you by yourself. So I mean if I want to race to my full potential I did have to have it done," Mr van Dalen says.

The surgery was the same that Mahe Drysdale had in December 2015 and is caused by repetitive movement.

"The build up of muscle in my arms has got to a stage where the sheath just can't accommodate it."

The operation was only minor and Mr van Dalen says it only took about quarter of an hour per arm last weekend on Wednesday.

"They slit both the sheaths in both my forearms so it just allows the muscle to have room and not be compressed while I'm rowing," Mr van Dalen says.

In the long term, both Courtney Rennie and Ben van Dalen have their sights firmly set on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, as does their coach Bruce Jones.

"It's about the athletes, getting the young ones to a medal , and that's what we're in the sport for. That's why we do it, it's not about us," Mr Jones says.

The first stop is Bulgaria, where all rowers must do well in competitions before taking the next step on the road to Tokyo.

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