Rowing: Flying start but best still to come

Double scullers Robbie Manson, above, and Chris Harris return after recovering from injury problems. Photo / Christine Cornege

It's a start, but expect things to ramp up for New Zealand's rowers when they arrive in Lucerne for the final World Cup regatta of the season next month.

The New Zealanders collected six medals at the Varese regatta in Italy early yesterday, including four gold, and that was without the golden bankers, men's pair Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, who are unbeaten in the past six years.

There will be changes for Lucerne.

Murray and Bond make their first appearance of the year, having skipped Varese; double scullers Robbie Manson and Chris Harris return, after recovering from injury problems; and the women's eight, impressive in finishing fifth in their A final, will be bolstered by Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler, who are set for a busy weekend.

They finished third in the coxless pair final in Italy, which they will contest as well as the eight in Lucerne.

Overriding all else is Olympic qualification for Rio next year. The key regatta is the world championships in Aiguebelette, France, at the end of August. That will colour much of what happened in Varese, and also in Lucerne.

For example, New Zealand's quad of Jade Uru, John Storey, George Bridgewater and Karl Manson finished third in the B final yesterday, that is ninth overall.

It may be an ordinary result on paper, but at the worlds, the top eight finishers will qualify for Rio. So a counter argument would have it that they are already very close.

Or the men's four of Finn Howard, Alex Bardoul, Bobby Kells and Anthony Allen, who were fifth in their B final in Varese, leaving them 11th overall. The magic number for Rio in their event? Top 11.

Room for improvement? Absolutely, but with getting the boat to Rio the primary objective, they are in the frame.

The four winners in Varese were Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale in the single scull, new double sculling combination Zoe Stevenson and Eve Marfarlane, who stormed home in the final 500m in impressive style; the men's lightweight four of James Hunter, Alistair Bond, James Lassche and Curtis Rapley, another new quartet, with Bond in for veteran Peter Taylor this season; and lightweight single sculler Zoe McBride.

Hers is a non-Olympic event, but McBride, a New Zealand Herald Future Star in Sport, set a world best time in her semifinal of 7min 24.460s, then won the final by a margin of seven seconds.

This weekend, the rowers under coach Dick Tonks will contest the Holland Beker regatta in Rotterdam - single sculler Bourke, who was second in her C final in Varese; Drysdale, and Stevenson and Macfarlane. Drysdale will then chase his fifth Diamond Challenge Sculls at the Henley Royal Regatta before going to Lucerne.

Golden haul
•Four golds among a haul of six medals represents a solid start to international campaign.
•The next World Cup regatta is at Lucerne from July 10-12.
•The world championships are in Aiguebelette, France, in August and represent the only Olympic qualifying regatta of the year.