Mahe Drysdale now knows the training anguish he needs to endure to get within striking distance of a medal at the world rowing championships next month in S Korea.

Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale has been beaten in the quarter-finals of the men's single sculls at rowing's Henley Royal Regatta.

Memories will be prodded and tales may grow in the retelling when a notable anniversary is celebrated at the Auckland Rowing Club tomorrow.

With four gold medals and a silver at the season's second World Cup regatta.

It's a proud moment for any parent when their child represents New Zealand in sports - but having two kids do it on the same night calls for a double celebration.

Making cabinets and mentoring rowers may seem strange bedfellows but for Rowing New Zealand's head sculling coach, they are symbiotic.

They have gone unbeaten for four years, capped it with the Olympic gold in London and are about to get back on the World Cup circuit next week.

No one there will easily forget New Zealand scullers Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan's sizzling sprint to gold at last year's London Olympics.

World and Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale is the exception rather than the rule in that he progressed on to the world stage without coming through the school system.

Rowing New Zealand are looking to beef up their women's programme and have master coach Dick Tonks overseeing the group this year.

New Zealand's 41-strong rowing team made a solid start to the first world cup rowing regatta of the year in perfect conditions in Penrith, New South Wales, yesterday.

Rowing powerhouses Hamilton Boys' High School and St Margaret's College of Christchurch have the chance to win a prestigious double at the Maadi Cup regatta today.

One women's crew spot is likely to garner more attention than any other as Rowing New Zealand embarks on its 2013 campaign.

Olympic champion Joseph Sullivan could still be rowing at this year's world championships in South Korea in August.

Olympic gold medallist Joseph Sullivan is the shock omission from the New Zealand rowing squad for the World Cup in Sydney from March 22-24.

When Cohen brothers Nathan and Hayden get in a boat, they are usually hunting blue cod on family fishing expeditions near Stewart Island.