Rowers take to the hard grind

By JULIE ASH

When Olympic rower Greg Searle needed a little advice on whether he should join the GBR Challenge, he phoned one of his mates - a guy in New Zealand by the name of Rob Waddell.

Waddell, the former world and Olympic champion oarsman-turned-grinder with Team New Zealand, convinced 30-year-old Searle to sign up.

"He said it was all good fun and he was capable of doing the job and enjoying doing the job," said Searle.

"He said the physiology he has and the strengths he has would be similar to the strengths I have and are good for yachting."

So Searle took Waddell's advice and is now lining up with GBR in their first assault on the America's Cup in 15 years.

A member of the British rowing team for the past 10 years, Searle won gold in the coxed pair in the 1992 Olympics and bronze in the coxless four in the 1996 Games. He also has five world championship medals to his name.

Searle got into rowing through his history teacher Martin Cross.

"He went to the Olympics in 1984 when I was 12 and won a gold medal in coxed four. He was rowing with Steve Redgrave.

"I remember my teacher coming back to school and showing us his gold medal. Me, as a little impressionable 12-year-old, thought this looks quite cool.

"A few years later in 1991, I was rowing with my brother and my history teacher."

Searle has competed against Waddell since 1996. They pair actually swapped coaches a few years back.

"Harry Mahon [the celebrated New Zealand coach], who used to coach Rob, came to England in 1997 and started coaching me, and my coach from Britain, Steve Gunn, came to New Zealand and started coaching New Zealand," Searle laughed.

"I raced in the single against Rob in 1997 and 1998 before I realised I should go and do something else. He is a great Kiwi competitor.

"It did surprise me a bit he went to yachting. But he is a bit younger than me and he might have ambitions to row again. Whereas for me I have done the rowing thing for 10 years."

While Waddell has bulked up considerably, Searle has maintained more or less the same body shape.

"I have put on five to 10kg probably and my body shape hasn't really changed that much. I guess it is because no one has told me that is the thing to do."

Searle's involvement with GBR Challenge came after discussions with sailor Ian Walker (now GBR's skipper), whom he meet through Britain's Olympic programme.

"He asked me if I was interested and did I know any other rowers who might be interested in getting involved.

"Before I let the other rowers know, I had a sail first," he quipped.

Searle officially started as a grinder with the syndicate in June last year.

"There aren't a lot of people who have been grinders in Britain as we haven't done the cup for 15 years. There was a window there for me to come into, whereas the team is quite strong in terms of helmsmen, bowmen and trimmers - there are plenty of people who have been doing those jobs for years but just not on cup boats."

He said the training was similar to that for rowing.

"With rowing it is pushing and pulling with your legs and back, while grinding is turning stuff around with your upper body.

" If you have the right sort of muscles along with a good heart and lungs, then you are set up to be good in grinding, in my limited experience."

While the training may be similar - the game is certainly different. The secrecy surrounding cup boats is a far cry from rowing, where all the boats are stacked on the same rack.

"You put your boat six inches away from someone else's and they lie there overnight. In between session you just go and pick yours up. You could quite easily pick up someone else's and take it for a row.

"In rowing I am responsible for what I do, and that it is pivotal on whether I succeed or not. Here I am a grinder standing in the middle of the boat. I could have a good day and we could lose and I could have a bad day and we could win."

nzherald.co.nz/americascup