Robbie Manson has kept his nose in front in the race to fill New Zealand's international single sculls seat.
He saw off a strong field including two-time defending Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale in the final of the North Island club championships at Lake Karapiro yesterday.
Drysdale was fifth, in 6m53.24s, nearly 14s behind Manson. The gap was about the same when the pair last squared off six weeks ago on the same water at the Christmas Regatta.
Manson, 28, represented NZ last year while Drysdale took a year off after his Olympic triumph in Rio.
The pair's duel at the national championships in two weeks will be critical, as will the national trials to follow, but 39-year-old Drysdale has plenty of ground to make up.
Manson impressed as he headed off Matthew Dunham and Chris Harris. Ireland's Paul O'Donovan, the reigning lightweight single sculls world champion, was sixth.
Injury scuppered Manson's hopes at last year's world champs but before that, he set a world's best time at a World Cup event.
NZ squad members dominated in the women's single sculls. Hannah Osborne won gold, Brooke Donoghue silver and Zoe McBride bronze.
