Kiwis think big for 2010 World Rowing Champs
12 Aug 2010
Record volunteer numbers, the biggest-ever Kiwi team and the promise of support from a huge home crowd suggest New Zealand’s second hosting of the World Rowing Championships will be as memorable as the first.
The legacy of the 1978 World Championships on Lake Karapiro continue to benefit New Zealand rowing today and the spectacle, when tens of thousands of Kiwis came out to cheer on the athletes, is still considered one of New Zealand sport’s greatest moments.
Lake Karapiro
Lake Karapiro is again gearing up to host the world championships, and in a few months’ time will be home to teams of competitors and supporters as up to 50 countries are represented on the water.
Ticket sales are steady with more than 22,000 sold by the beginning of August - three months out from the event which runs from 31 October to 7 November 2010.
Rowing New Zealand has just announced the biggest-ever team for a world championships with 55 athletes and 18 crews.
And with more than enough Kiwis queuing up to volunteer for the event, organisers say the level of support indicates New Zealand will again put on a "show stopper" to equal that of 1978.
1978 World Rowing Championships
The 1978 World Rowing Championships were described as "the greatest show on water and without doubt the most successful world rowing championships yet staged" by British Olympic oarsman and UK Sunday Times correspondent Richard Burnell.
2010 event patron Don Rowlands says the 1978 event represented a huge focused team effort, involving thousands of willing volunteers, and with simple goals that concentrated on the experience of the athletes and national teams.
"We wanted it to be an absolute show-stopper for them and history tells us we succeeded," says Rowlands.
He said that while times had changed and today the sport demanded even higher standards of professionalism, world-class infrastructure and huge array of modern facilities and services, New Zealand had again stepped up to show it would be capable of delivering a world-class event for everyone - athletes, coaches, team officials, media and spectators.
Championship volunteers
More than 750 volunteers have registered to help out during the championships and organisers have had to shut the books - no longer able to deal with any more applications.
Volunteer Manager Ruth Tuiraviravi said the response had been amazing.
"We wanted to have 650 names on the database to cover all contingencies, and in recent weeks we have been flooded with new applications.
"The calibre of the applicants and their enthusiasm for the event is fantastic," said Tuiraviravi.
New Zealand rowers
The Kiwi rowing team is a star-studded line-up spearheaded by New Zealand’s reigning world champion crews - single sculler Mahe Drysdale, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond (pair), Duncan Grant (lightweight single scull), Peter Taylor and Storm Uru (lightweight double scull), and World Cup champions Rebecca Scown and Juliette Haigh (pair).
New Zealand will have crews competing in 13 of the 14 Olympic boat classes including a men’s and women’s eight.
Rowing NZ chairman Bill Falconer, who announced the team, said there would be a huge public expectation as the rowers would be competing at a world championships on home water for the first time since 1978.
"Don’t be distracted," he told them.
Falconer said every crew had to earn its place with final selection made after a week of intensive trials in wet conditions. "Every crew selected has met our criteria of being potential A finalists," he said.
Rowing eights
Don Rowlands said he was delighted with the size of the New Zealand team and highlighted the importance of having the eights involved.
It’s the first time New Zealand rowing has fielded a men’s and women’s eight since 2007.
"It’s so important to have the eights. At one time the eight was our priority. We had possible medalists in the pair and the four but our policy decision was to concentrate on the eight. Now we have the depth for a full team," said Rowlands.
The New Zealand team is now in full training in the lead up to the event. International teams are expected to start arriving in early October, and details of participating countries will be confirmed in the next few weeks.
Background: 2010 World Rowing Champs
Lake Karapiro
The 2010 World Rowing Championships will be held on Lake Karapiro, in New Zealand’s Waikato region.
Lake Karapiro is one of several artificial lakes formed more than 60 years ago for a hydroelectricity scheme on the Waikato river, the North Island’s longest river. Waikato is the Maori word for flowing water.
The lake is regarded as New Zealand’s best rowing venue, and one of the most scenic and picturesque in the world.
Lake Karapiro was the scene of the 1978 World Rowing Championships.
Cambridge
Lake Karapiro is a short drive from the small town of Cambridge, and 24km southeast of Hamilton, the Waikato’s biggest city.
Cambridge (pop: 15,000) is on the banks of the Waikato river, and is known as "the town of trees".
Apart from being home to some of New Zealand’s top international rowers, Cambridge is known internationally for breeding thoroughbred horses. Cambridge stables have produced many champion horses in the sports of racing and show-jumping.
Hamilton
Hamilton, on the banks of the Waikato river, is the centre of New Zealand's fourth largest urban area, and is the country's seventh largest city.
In the Waikato region of the North Island, and 130km (81 miles) south of Auckland, Hamilton is the major road and rail centre in the Waikato basin.
Waikato region
The Waikato region - a local government region on the western side of the North Island - stretches from Lake Taupo and northern King Country in the south, north to the Coromandel Peninsula and the Auckland region.
The region of 25,000sq km has an estimated (2006) population of 387,700.
Within its geographical boundaries, the Waikato region includes part of 12 separate districts, the most of any New Zealand region. These regions include Taupo, Rotorua and Waitomo, Thames-Coromandel, Otorohanga, South Waikato, Matamata-Piako, Waipa, Hauraki and Hamilton city.
More information
Kiwi rowers winning form
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