Paris 2024 Olympics: Rowing taking a prime seat at Napier bar The Pavilion, amid hopes of a Hawke’s Bay golden hour

Napier bar The Pavilion is set to be ground zero for rowing fans on Saturday for what could be Hawke’s Bay’s biggest hour – should that be half-hour – at the Olympic Games.

The big events are Emma Twigg’s women’s single sculls semifinal at 7.30pm, and Tom Mackintosh’s men’s final, just 12 minutes later.

Hawke’s Bay Rowing Club members are among those booked, with as many as 250 people set to pack the Marine Parade sports bar for the telecast of the two finals as club members Twigg and Mackintosh try to create an even more unique New Zealand Olympic Games “golden hour” than the one created by track and field stars Peter Snell and Murray Halberg in Rome 64 years ago.

Twigg, a former Napier Girls’ High School pupil racing a Puketapu-made SL Racing boat in Paris is favoured for a successful defence of her 2021 Tokyo games title.

Another of Twigg’s boats is behind the bar at The Pavilion.

Clocking 7m 17.19s in winning the second semifinal on Thursday, she was the fastest qualifier.

The two who beat her at the recent Lucerne Regatta, Karolien Florijn, of the Netherlands, and Tara Rigney, of Australia, were more than four seconds slower in finishing first and second in the first semifinal.

Tom Mackintosh, fifth fastest qualifier for the men's single sculls final, hoping to get a second gold medal after being in the champion eight at Tokyo. His final starts on Saturday at 7.42pm. Photo / Photosport.

Mackintosh, a Lindisfarne College old boy who rowed to an eights gold medal in Tokyo and leapt into Paris calculations when third in the 2023 World Championships single sculls, did 6:44.49 for second in his semifinal, behind Simon van Dorp, of the Netherlands, and was fifth-fastest qualifier for his final.

The fastest time was the 6:35.77 of three-times and reigning world champion Oliver Zeidler.

The Pavilion has a “wall-wrap’ featuring the images of Twigg and other modern-day Hawke’s Bay sports stars, and bar owner Charley Crasborn said it’s set up as a sports bar, for all sports – not just “the traditional rugby and rugby league”.

“We’ve got 10-12 screens, and we hope it really will be like the golden hour,” he said. “We feel very honoured to have one of Emma’s boats up behind the bar.”

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 51 years of journalism experience, 40 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.