Wanganui rowers make national team

NATIONAL HONOURS: Kerri Gowler has been named in the New Zealand rowing team for the women's pair at this year's world champs. PHOTO/FILE

Several Wanganui rowers have been named in the largest ever New Zealand rowing team to head to this year's world champs.

Last year's under-23 world champion and Wanganui Sports Awards supreme award winner Kerri Gowler has been named in the women's pair with Grace Prendergast. Gowler will also row for the women's eight.

This year's world championship is the first chance to gain New Zealand boat allocations for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Union Boat Club member and olympic medallist Rebecca Scown was named in the women's eight while Aramoho-Wanganui's Chris Harris got the nod for the men's double sculls. Aramoho-Wanganui's Jackie Gowler was named in the women's coxless four for the under-23 world champs.

Rowing New Zealand high performance director Alan Cotter was confident of the team's chances of qualifying all 14 boats for the 2016 Rio Olympics. "There are still a lot of tough training miles to be made on Lake Karapiro but the signs are there," he said. "We are confident that we will meet our high performance target of six medals at the world championships and qualify all boats for 2016. We are optimistic the dream of fielding 14 boats in Rio will become a reality."