Cambridge, NZ: 2010 World Rowing Champs host

In a few weeks time the small rural town of Cambridge, a wealthy English look-alike village, hub of the New Zealand equine industry and home to the national rowing team, will welcome tens of thousands of visitors for the 2010 World Rowing Championships.

The normally quiet, tree-lined streets have been adorned with bunting, local parks and public gardens groomed, shops well stocked and extra staff hired as the town prepares to become home, business and support centre, and party central to hoards of competitors, supporters and spectators.

Support town
Cambridge is only a 10-minute drive from Lake Karapiro where the World Rowing Championships - the biggest sporting event to be held in New Zealand since the 1990 Commonwealth Games - will be staged from 31 October to 7 November.

Already famous faces are a familiar sight around town. Some of the 700 athletes from the 50 participating countries have begun to arrive in New Zealand, and teams are setting up training camps throughout the North Island.

The Canadian team will be in Wanganui, the Austrians in Mercer - south of Auckland, the Polish and Netherlands crews in Taupo, the Greeks in Tauranga, South Africans in Rotorua, and the Swiss at Mangakino in the central North Island.

Soon more than 250 media will also start arriving for an event that is likely to attract up to 90,000 spectators.

Lake Karapiro
At the Lake Karapiro site, the facility upgrade is in its final stages - about NZ$10 million has been spent on improving the 19ha Mighty River Domain which now boasts a new NZ$4.9m events centre and finishing tower named after local rowing legend Don Rowlands.

Massive marquees have sprung up housing everything from food stations to a cultural arena as the event site prepares to become a sports venue by day and entertainment hub by night.

While a number of cultural and social events will be held at the lakeside site, the town of Cambridge will provide back-up before, during and after the event for the masses of visitors who’ll be based in and around the district.

As home base for New Zealand’s national squad and year-round training ground for the country’s rowing fraternity, Cambridge is no stranger to supporting Karapiro events but the 2010 World Rowing Championships will provide the small town with its biggest logistical challenge yet.

Bed and breakfast
With a population of around 16,000, the town will need to provide something like 18,000 guest nights throughout the event. And with just six motels to its name, Cambridge is relying on bed and breakfast facilities and private homes to cope with the demand.

Many locals are moving out of their homes to make room for visitors, saying they are keen to maximise opportunities around the huge event as well as put their town on the map.

Local restaurateur Barry Levings says locals owe it to their "beautiful little town" to do their bit. Levings has taken on more staff, extended opening hours, organised extra seating and says the kitchens in his two Cambridge restaurants will say open "for as long as it takes" to look after customers during the championships.

Levings says he’s not only gearing up for the busy period while the event is on, but also for the lead up when rowers and support staff start to arrive in town.

Farm park and ride
Local famers on either side of Cambridge have donated paddocks to be used for a park-and-ride system that will transport spectators to and from the lake.

Other buses will transport people from the park-and-ride areas into Cambridge, where local retailers are looking forward to welcoming new custom.

Shops - many of which are housed in heritage buildings - will open for Sunday trading for the first time in the town's history from 17 October.

Businesses and schools have been encouraged to "adopt" participating countries, and rowing-themed displays are expected to dominate shop windows.

Destination Cambridge, Waipa District Council and the local community board have funded flags for the main streets of Cambridge and nearby Te Awamutu, and the council's parks and reserves teams have altered their usual planting schedules to ensure the public gardens are looking their best.

Local volunteers
Karapiro farmer Peter Britton, whose 84ha farm overlooks Lake Karapiro, is one of a team of volunteers from the Karapiro Rowing Club who have been working for months to ensure things run smoothly on the water during the world championships.

"There are 12 or 13 boats and 15 or 16 motors that need to be looked after, things to be repaired or built. Anything on the water needs quite a lot of maintenance," he says.

Britton and his crew, most of whom rowed in their youth, have also been painting pontoons and stringing buoys along kilometres of lane wires.

"There's a regular crowd of us, a big rowing family, who all get together and enjoy each other's company," Britton says.

Karapiro Domain upgrade
The event’s major sponsor, Mighty River Power, has also been heavily involved in improvements to the Karapiro Domain, which now features improved road access and new toilet blocks.

The company is also charged with managing the lake levels within a 30cm range in the lead-up to the contest, and then within a 20cm range when racing is on. Weed management is another key task.

"That means a lot of planning and management of the whole river," hydrogeneration manager Gavin Williamson says. "We have to have the whole river chain and lakes in sync."

Cambridge visitors
Former New Zealand rower Maree Kaati, who now manages the Cambridge Visitor Centre, says she is focusing on making sure the athletes, officials, supporters and spectators make the most of their stay.

She says the natural environment at Lake Karapiro gives it an edge.

"It's such a beautiful spot. You go to other rowing venues and they basically just have a 2km bath. You couldn't have a nicer vista to hammer home New Zealand's image."

The centre will be open longer hours during the contest, and a satellite office is being set up at the lake.

Background: Cambridge, New Zealand

Cambridge is known as ‘the town of trees and champions’ and lives up to its name, not only with its masses of well-established exotic trees adding to the English-village-like atmosphere, but also as home to many Kiwi sports champions.

The town sits in the heart of New Zealand’s main horse breeding district, and is legendary for producing famous thoroughbreds like Sir Tristram, as well as champion sire Zabeel and a host of Melbourne Cup winners.

Historic Cambridge offers a wide choice of activities from walking the heritage and boutique trails with antique and art shops set within historic buildings to a tree trail that takes in the town square and Lake Te Ko Utu.

Maungatautari, a 15-minute drive from the town centre, is a mountain sanctuary for native wildlife and now home to a number of reintroduced kiwi and their offspring as well as other rare native birds.

Cambridge has two sister city relationships - one with Bihoro in Japan which was set up in 1997, and the other with Les Quesnoy, a French town liberated by New Zealand soldiers in 1918.

More information

2010 World Rowing Championships

Flood of entries for World Rowing Champs

Maungatautari Eco Sanctuary

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