Rowing: Kiwi pair a class above British rivals

The number is 14 and rising, but Eric Murray insists he's not keeping count.

"I don't keep a tally," he said from Lucerne yesterday.

The World Cup win by Murray and Hamish Bond over British rivals Peter Reed and Andy Triggs-Hodge in yesterday's regatta at Lucerne was their 14th in succession against those opponents.

The New Zealanders are unbeaten since coming together in the two-seater at the start of the 2009 season, and yesterday they were among four gold medal crews on the Rotsee course.

Their dominance of the class is absolute and while Reed and Triggs-Hodge are their closest rivals, despite repeatedly talking up their chances, they have yet to come up with a solution to pegging back the blond Kiwis.

"In any sport there's always rivalry there, but basically we don't like talking it up too much," bowman Murray said. "We like to let the racing do the talking, we keep our heads down and work hard.

"If they want to say in the media that 'we think we can get them this time' then we're going to use that as motivation."

The pair clocked 6min 21.76s in winning late on Sunday night, with the Britons more than six seconds back in second and Canada in third.

Murray confirmed that streeting the field was an "awesome" feeling for the world champions, and vindication for the work they have put into their training programme.

He said the pair made small technical adjustments from last year but emphasised the value of logging up the kilometres.

"There's pretty much no way we can train any harder than we are," he said. "We just have to find ways to make it more efficient, and that's pretty much what rowing is about. The crews that are winning are rowing the most efficiently."

Reed paid tribute to the Kiwis: "They are setting a new standard."

Of the other three gold medal performances, defending world champions Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan turned in a sizzling final quarter to mow down German rivals.

The New Zealanders were third at the 1500m mark before roaring home in 6:29.41, pipping Hans Gruhne and Stephan Krueger by 1 seconds.

Emma Twigg won the women's singles, getting to an early lead, benefitting from a lane which was less affected by the breeze, and hanging on. The world championship bronze medallist last year, it represented a solid step up for Twigg.

Lightweight double Storm Uru and Peter Taylor won their A final by more than two seconds.

The world championships are in Bled, Slovenia, starting on August 28. Before that, the New Zealand crews split in two, some heading for Hazewinkel, Belgium, others back to Gravelines, northern France, where the squad prepared for Lucerne.

Of most concern will be the poor return from the men's eight, who were fifth in the B final, and 11th overall.

They will need to find another gear and smartly if they are to qualify for the London Olympics next year. They need to be in the top seven at Bled to accomplish that.

WORLD CUP HAUL

Gold: Eric Murray/Hamish Bond (coxless pair), Nathan Cohen/Joseph Sullivan (double scull), Emma Twigg (single scull), Storm Uru/Peter Taylor (lightweight double scull)

Silver: Mahe Drysdale (single scull), Juliette Haigh/Rebecca Scown (coxless pair)

Bronze: Duncan Grant (lightweight single scull), women's quad.