The final world rowing cup series regatta for this international season was held at Lucerne and New Zealand rowing crews concluded the event with an outstanding medal haul earning eleven medals ? six gold, three silver and two bronze.
The women?s lightweight single scull, women?s lightweight double scull, men?s lightweight four, men?s single scull, men?s pair, women?s double won gold, the women?s pair, women?s eight and men?s quad earned silver and the men?s lightweight single scull and men?s eight bagged bronze.
Out of New Zealand?s 21 crews that raced on the Rotsee course 15 featured in the A finals and 12 of those were in Olympic boat classes. The results in Lucerne set the New Zealand squad up in a great position for the world rowing championship regatta which are just seven weeks away.
In 2014 for the first time New Zealand won the best rowing nation in the world title after finishing up first on the world cup series standings. New Zealand was able to reclaim this crown in 2015 after competing with distinction at the world cup series. The New Zealand team only competed at the final two world cup regattas and at Varese, Italy last month where they claimed six medals ? four gold, one silver and one bronze. New Zealand won the 2015 World Rowing Cup series trophy with 117 points, Germany was second with 115 points and Great Britain third with 107 points.
The 2015 Lucerne results have seen the New Zealand team better their Lucerne 2014 world rowing cup medal total which stood at a total of nine medals ? six gold, one silver and two bronze.
South Africa took to the front of the women?s lightweight double out of the starting blocks. Julia Edward and Sophie MacKenzie were bidding their time and were pushing up on the South Africans and by the halfway point they were just .15 seconds behind. The race remained close but the New Zealanders snuck through the final quarter with their bow in front and continued to pour on power to accelerate away from the South Africans. New Zealand won gold in a time of 6:55.06; silver went to South Africa in 6:56.60, and bronze to USA.
Edward was delighted with their race ?We stuck to everything we planned to do. We wanted to have an efficient first 500 metres and get in a good zone to set the platform for the rest of the race.?
It was another fast and furious men?s lightweight four final in Lucerne. The French and Italians were the early race leaders through the first 500m mark, the crews from New Zealand, Denmark and Switzerland were all slotted in behind them. New Zealand dug deep to pull into the front at the 1000m point and continued to lay down effort to increase the margin between them and the other crews. New Zealand forced a high pace in the third 500m of the 2000m race. The crew stroked by Curtis Rapley held off a late charge from the crew from Switzerland pushing the stroke rate up to 42 strokes per minute to bolt home in a winning time of 5:54.98. Switzerland were second in 5:55.75, bronze was claimed by Denmark.
Stroke Curtis Rapley was encouraged by the gold medal performance ?It was fantastic, we really attacked from the first stroke. We were really resilient as the boys kept coming hard at us, but we stayed on our rhythm. Everyone?s getting quicker so we have to keep making gains in our boat.?
Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale loomed as the one to beat in the men?s single scull as he took the lead early at 300m gone. Drysdale continued to move away from the other finalists to take control of the race and with such a dominating display he won gold in 6:47.38. Minor medals were being contested by the scullers from Lithuania Mindaugas Griskonis, Czech Republic?s Ondrej Synek and Great Britain?s Alan Campbell. Griskonis nabbed the silver, and Campbell?s efforts got him the bronze.
Drysdale surprised by his dominating result said ?I couldn?t quite believe it to be honest. I looked around at 500 metres and I was in front and was feeling good and thought today was my day. It was nice to be able to row away from the field in the second half and just watch everyone come at you and no-one put up too much of a battle. It?s a real confidence booster going into the world champs when you have a win like that.?
Hamish Bond and Eric Murray were clear winners in the men?s pair completing the 2000m course in a time of 6:24.49. Bond and Murray started slowly going through the first quarter in fifth position. South Africa led out early but faded quickly, Serbia then took charge but the relaxed Bond and Murray powered through to seize the front at halfway. Once they were in control they continued to increase the gap on the field before the British made a late charge to the line in an attempt to haul in the kiwis. New Zealand held on finishing for gold over three seconds ahead of the silver medallists from Great Britain and bronze medallists Serbia.
Murray was glad to get his first 2015 international competition under his belt ?This was our first race back against other pair combinations. Today we put down a good race and showed our speed through the middle and got away from the rest of the field and let them battle it out. We had a good rhythm and a good race, so it?s a good marker for our first competition back since the 2014 world champs.?
Zoe Stevenson and Eve Macfarlane were a boat length down at the first 500m timing point in last place but over the middle portion of the women?s double race they made their move. Stevenson and Macfarlane were on the hunt closing in on the race leaders from Belarus and Australia and were pushing into medal contention into the final 500m sprint. With just 250m to go the kiwis were edging into silver position, the Australians were beginning to weaken and the New Zealanders orchestrated a perfect race to steal the gold out of the grasp of their trans-tasman rivals in a time of 6:53.90, Australia were over the line for silver in 6:54.62 and Belarus rounded out the podium for bronze.
Stevenson said the slow start was not part of the plan but was pleased with the end result ?We wanted to give everyone a good go at the start, but we let them row away and we settled too much. We tried to claw it back and put a bit more into every stroke as we knew we were running out of metres.?
In the final of the women?s pair Great Britain led away out of the start and were able to push out to a full boat length advantage at the 500m marker with New Zealand comfortably in second. Helen Glover and Heather Stanning from Great Britain weren?t able to inch any further in front at the halfway point or at the three quarter marker, but Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast ramped it up going into the final sprint but were unable to topple the reigning Olympic and world champions who grabbed gold in 6:57.59. New Zealand had a few dirty final strokes to finish with silver in a time of 7:00.24; Denmark claimed bronze a further seven seconds back.
Prendergast was stoked with the silver ?We achieved what we wanted to achieve but we definitely have some places we can find more boat speed, so we have something to build on and find a few more seconds here or there for world champs.?
A pioneering performance was put in by the silver medal winning New Zealand women?s eight. Never before has a New Zealand women?s eight won a world rowing cup medal. Canada held onto gold in 6:07.77 after digging deep to hold off the fast finishing crews from New Zealand and Great Britain. The kiwis sprinted strongly for silver in 6:09.11, while Great Britain was just over a second back for the bronze.
Gen Behrent was ecstatic with the eight?s result ?We wanted to row the best we could in this campaign and this result dangles a massive carrot in front of us for the coming weeks and we know we want to go faster.?
The New Zealand men?s quad was right up with the early leaders from Germany and Russia showing tremendous determination to be up in medal contention. The crew stroked by Jade Uru combined with crewmates George Bridgewater, John Storey and Karl Manson were laying the pressure on the German crew right through to the finish line lifting the stroke rate into the early 40s. Germany held onto gold in 5:43.89, New Zealand snatched the silver in 5:45.50 and Estonia was home for bronze.
Uru gave an insight into how the crew was feeling in the final ?We were quite relaxed after our good performance in the heats. We just tried to build on it and make it one step better in the final. Each 500 metres we got that much extra boat speed and were more comfortable in the race. At the end of the day we all want to win but we wanted to execute a good race plan.?
To finish the regatta off the New Zealand men?s eights persistent effort paid off. No crew was dropped in the first quarter of the race, and the British crew pulled out ahead, but the German?s weren?t letting up, and the New Zealanders were keen to keep their boat up with the big players. Out the front the race for gold saw it neck and neck between Germany and Great Britain. Great Britain were just able to hold onto gold by a bowball in 5:33.95. New Zealand clinched bronze in 5:36.74 a bowball in front of the Netherlands.
The men?s eight coach Noel Donaldson was impressed with his crew and said ?The fact they are young guys, the men?s eight is a pretty tough event and to get on the podium is a great effort. There were a few major crews missing from this regatta but this will give them a lot of confidence over the coming weeks leading up to the world championships.?
The New Zealand women?s quad was screaming down the outside lane to stay in touch with the race leaders from Germany through the middle portion of the race. Erin-Monique O?Brien, Lucy Spoors, Georgia Perry and Sarah Gray were coming home strongly but a powerful sprint from the Netherlands saw them pushed out of the running for medals. Gold went to Germany in 6:22.73, Silver to Australia in 6:23.98 and bronze to the Dutch crew in 6:24.25. New Zealand was edged out in a time of 6:25.22.
Also in the outside lane Fiona Bourke didn?t surrender putting in a commendable fight in the women?s single scull to finish in fifth in a time of 7:36.34. Australian Kim Crow held a healthy lead from the 500m mark and continued to push ahead to claim gold in a convincing 7:21.58, Czech Republic?s Mirka Knapkova grabbed silver in 7:28.99, while bronze went to USA?s Genevra Stone.
The Croatian double popped out of the start quickly to take the race lead. Chris Harris and Robbie Manson mounted a challenge to take on the front runners in the men?s double through the halfway point after sitting in fifth position in the early stages. However a moment of poor technique saw them catch a crab which dashed their medal chances. Croatia took gold, Germany silver and Australia the bronze. Harris and Manson finished at the back of the field in sixth.
In the B finals Hayden Cohen and Peter Taylor finished third (9th overall) in the men?s lightweight double. The men?s four of Anthony Allen, Alex Bardoul, Bobby Kells and Finn Howard were fourth (ranking 10th overall).
The New Zealand rowing team will now prepare for the World Rowing Championships which are being held next month in Aiguebelette, France. The 2015 World Rowing Championships begin on the 31 August and conclude on 6 September. The world championships also double as the major qualifying regatta for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games and this is where New Zealand aims to qualify all 14 Olympic boat classes for Rio.