Canterbury Olympians David Schaper and Toni Dunlop made history at the national rowing championships on Lake Ruataniwha at the weekend when they became the first rowers to win all four sweep-oar events in two regattas.
They first achieved the feat two years ago, also at the national championships at Ruataniwha.
This year
they won the premier eights race over defending champions Waikato by just over a length; the coxed fours and New Zealand's oldest sporting trophy, the Boss Rooster, also off Waikato by a shade over two lengths; the coxless pairs from Horowhenua's young pair of Rob Hellstrom and Andrew Gibbard by nearly three lengths, and retained the coxless fours title which they won on Lake Karapiro last year.
In completing their second clean-sweep, Schaper and Dunlop ripped away world champion single sculler Rob Waddell's hopes of winning six titles at one national regatta, something he still aims to do.
But he still managed to bag three - the single sculls for the fifth year on the trot, the double sculls with Michael Gilbert for the third year in a row and the quadruple sculls with Gilbert, Rob Hamill and James Nilsson, also for the fifth straight year.
Waddell had to wait almost two hours before he raced in his first race on Saturday, the double sculls, because the wind chopped up the lake, making it dangerous to row.
"We just about sank before the start of the double sculls," he said.
"I have never protested before a race, but I put my hand up because we had water pouring in.
"Our boat is lower than some others and if the race wasn't delayed and the regatta postponed we would have been swimming for it.
"I am happy to defend the sculling titles because they are the important ones to me.
"The bigger the boat you are in the more it gets out of your hands."
It is just the third time Waikato have lost the eights in the last 22 years, each time losing to Avon.
"I really wanted to win the rowing events but the opposition is getting better," Waddell said.
"We gave as much as we could in the eight - I take my hat off to Avon," Waddell said.
Waddell's wife, Sonia, did not have a bad regatta either, convincingly winning the single sculls title for the third year from Canterbury's Caroline Evers-Swindell and Union Wanganui's Rose Wallace.
West End's Alison Storey, who missed gold on Friday after clipping a lane buoy and tipping out, finished a brave fifth.
Sonia Waddell picked up another gold when she combined with Rochelle Saunders, Maree Kaati and Justine Brennan to retain the quad sculls title, while she picked up a silver in both the double sculls and coxless fours.
Waddell's Cambridge club did not defend the women's eight which, before this regatta, they had won four of the last five years.
Star, of Wellington, took advantage, upsetting Canterbury and Union Wanganui in the premier event which saw the boats no more than a length apart for the 2000m distance.
The pace never relented as Star stormed to the lead and kept it, giving them their first eights title.
The championships will also be remembered for the re-emergence of the Otago Rowing Club, which finished second in the Centennial Scull, after they had their most successful regatta for more than 20 years. - NZPA
Canterbury Olympians David Schaper and Toni Dunlop made history at the national rowing championships on Lake Ruataniwha at the weekend when they became the first rowers to win all four sweep-oar events in two regattas.
They first achieved the feat two years ago, also at the national championships at Ruataniwha.
This year
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