World Rowing Champs set new record
08 Nov 2010
After eight days of intense international competition, colourful festivities and enthusiastic home-crowds, New Zealand rowing officials and Hamilton Waikato locals are the toast of the international rowing fraternity.
Along with a raft of new gold, silver and bronze medal-winners, the 2010 World Rowing Championships set a new spectator record for the event - a cumulative crowd of 66,771, with 15,000-plus spectators on the final day (7.11.2010) at Lake Karapiro.
The previous highest spectator number was 65,600 for the 2007 World Rowing Championships in Munich, Germany.
The new spectator record was the perfect end to "an unforgettable world championships", organising committee chief executive Tom Mayo said.
Outstanding event
International Rowing Federation (FISA) president Denis Oswald praised the organisers and volunteers for "an outstanding event".
"It won't take 32 years until we come back. Karapiro 2010 brought the World Championships to new standards and set a new model," Oswald said.
A key to the success of the regatta had been the 600 volunteers who guided spectators to car parks, directed them to the park-and-ride shuttle stop, sold programmes and answered queries.
Great Britain single sculler Alan Campbell, who has competed at world championships since 2003, said it was the best event he had been to during that time.
Picture perfect racing
Racing conditions were picture perfect as the medal finals got underway on the final day at Lake Karapiro.
The banks and grandstands along the course were already full of spectators when the first medal final - the lightweight women’s single sculls - rowed out of the starting blocks.
By the end of the day, Great Britain topped the points table (99), with Germany second (84), and New Zealand in third place (76).
New Zealand's own medal haul - three gold / three silver / four bronze - was another NZ rowing best-ever.
Fourteen of the 18 NZ crews qualified for the finals, and New Zealand was third on the list of gold medal winners - behind Britain (11) and Germany (9).
New Zealand’s day
But it was the men’s double sculls final that capped the day for New Zealand when Joseph Sullivan and Nathan Cohen, cheered on by the home crowd, surged past Great Britain in the final 500m.
"I'm still shaking ... I can't quite believe it. It is a dream come true," Cohen said after the race. "You train your whole life for it ... I can't quite put it into words."
"There's nothing like an elite world title," Sullivan said. "It just brings it home and being in New Zealand - couldn't ask for anything more."
World Rowing Champs - final results:
- Lightweight Women’s single sculls: Marie-Louise Draeger (Germany) gold; Louise Ayling (NZ) silver; Laura Milani (Italy) bronze.
- Lightweight Men’s single sculls: Marcello Miani (Italy) gold; Lukas Babac (Slovakia) silver; Peter Galambos (Hungary) bronze.
- Lightweight Men's eight: Germany, gold; Australia, silver; Italy, bronze.
- Women’s double sculls: Great Britain, gold; Australia, silver; Poland, bronze.
- Men’s double sculls: New Zealand, gold; Great Britain, silver; France, bronze.
- Women’s eights: United States, gold; Canada, silver; Romania, bronze.
- Men’s eights: Germany, gold; Great Britain, silver; Australia, bronze.
More information
2010 World Rowing Championships
Meet NZ's rowing elite
Cambridge - World Rowing Champs host town
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| Record crowds at the final day of the 2010 World Rowing Champs |
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| Picture perfect racing conditions on Lake Karapiro |
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