Wins for Mahé Drysdale (single scull), Duncan Grant (lightweight single), Rebecca Scown and Emma Feathery (women's pair) and Eric Murray and Hamish Bond (men's pair), Storm Uru and Peter Taylor (lightweight double scull), second place finishes for Nathan Cohen and Matthew Trott and Emma Twigg and a third for the new women's quad scull capped a stunning start to the 2009 international rowing season for New Zealand's elite team at the World Cup regatta in Munich.
Rebecca Scown and Emma Feathery - in their first international final together in the women's pair - set the ball rolling with a fantastic and aggressive row. The girls took the lead by the 300 metre mark, carving out a one second lead on the number one British pair. Rating higher than the entire field throughout, they took a three quarter boat length lead at 800 metres and by half way were just short of a boat length ahead. One length up at 1500 metres and still with more boat speed than the rest of the field, Scown increased the rate to 38 strokes per minute. The Chinese crew responded at pushed their own rate up into the forties - enough for them to close the gap dramatically on the New Zealanders. A photo finish revealed the young Kiwis took their debut victory by just a tenth of a second.
Next up were the new men's pair of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond. They qualified directly to the final by beating the British and set off intending to do exactly the same in the final against what is the top British boat. The Dutch took the early lead but the Kiwi pair blasted through to take a two second lead after a blistering first 500 metres. The stunning burn continued through to half way where they had a five second lead on the rest. Still five seconds up at 1500 metres, Great Britain's Triggs-Hodge and Reed saw the danger and upped their own rate to 42 strokes a minute. Bond and Murray are probably two of the toughest competitors in the sport however and they responded by digging deep and maintaining their length and boat speed. A one length victory was a stunning international debut for the new combination.
A start like that was going to be difficult to follow but Matthew Trott and Nathan Cohen took it on and produced another great row in the men's double scull. They and the German crew of Stefan Krueger Eric Knittel settled into a frenetic race long battle, with the rest of the field only a few feet behind. In a blanket finish in a race which saw several lead changes, the Germans came home fractionally ahead of the Kiwis - with the British bronze medal crew from the Olympic Games of Wells and Rowbotham into fourth place.
On to the single sculls and Emma Twigg continued the form taking the lead through the first 500 metres of the final of the women's event ahead of a field that included Mirka Knapkova and Katherine Grainger, past masters of winning international sculling medals. At the 1,000 metre mark Knapkova and Twigg had a clear lead on the field, with the Czech Republic athlete marginally ahead. Twigg dropped to about a length behind at 1,500 metres as Knapkova used all of her experience to stretch her lead. At the line Emma took a comfortable second place, ahead of Russian Julia Levina.
In a field which included the top three from the Olympic Games as well as the other top scullers of this generation, Mahé Drysdale got his international season underway with a dominant victory.
As expected, fast starting Alan Campbell from Great Britain took the early lead, but it was Drysdale who slotted in behind - demonstrating a change to his usual slow start at this stage of the season. Through the halfway mark and Mahé began to turn up the heat, pressuring Campbell and taking the lead through the 1,200 metre mark. He continued to build this lead and in this race at least, none of the other world's best scullers had any answer. He had clear water on Campbell by 1,500 metres and cruised home to take the win.
Storm Uru and Pete Taylor followed the pattern set down by their team mates with another fast start in the lightweight double scull, moving to a one length lead by the 500 metre mark. The crew - both former world champions in Under-23 - then proved they are one of the crews to be feared in this Olympic class boat by pushing out to a four second lead with 1,000 metres gone. The crew maintained their clear water margin through the 1,500 metre mark - controlling the race in impressive fashion against a field that included lightweight great Elia Luini for Italy. They crossed the line comfortable and elated winners.
New Zealand's new women's quad of Harriet Austin, Sarah Barnes, Louise Trappitt, Genevieve Armstrong had finished a decent third in Friday's exhibition race and made a decent start to be fourth through the first 500 metres in the six boat A final. Germany had already left the field for dead and with the British crew a safe second, the Kiwi crew was left to fight over third with three Chinese crews. Through the 1,500 metre mark they were just a few tenths down, but the new crew delivered an effective push which moved them through into third - where they remained as they crossed the line.
New Zealand's other crews also performed creditably. Adaptive single sculler Robin Tinga finished fourth on his international debut, while the women's double scull of Paula Twining and Anna Reymer finished seventh, winning the B final. The lightweight four finished ninth overall in a competitive field that included the Olympic champions.
NZ Team
Men
- Single Scull 1st: Mahé Drysdale (World Champion 2005, 2006, 2007)
- Lightweight Single Scull 1st: Duncan Grant (World Champion 2007, 2008)
- Adaptive Single Scull 4th: Robin Tinga
- Double Scull 2nd: Matthew Trott, Nathan Cohen
- Lightweight Double Scull 1st: Storm Uru, Peter Taylor
- Coxless Pair 1st: Eric Murray, Hamish Bond
- Lightweight four 9th: Todd Petherick, James Lassche, Richard Beaumont, Graham Oberlin-Brown
Women
- Single Scull 2nd: Emma Twigg
- Coxless Pair 1st: Rebecca Scown, Emma Feathery
- Double Scull 7th: Paula Twining, Anna Reymer
- Quadruple Scull 3rd: Harriet Austin, Sarah Barnes, Louise Trappitt, Genevieve Armstrong
