KEY POINTS:
You can count the ways in which Storm Uru breaks the mould.
There's his name for a start, which is different but is, in fact, the least interesting thing about him.
There's the fact that he's a Southland kid who's in love with a life aquatic.
There's the
Maori boy who is beginning to excel in a sport that has traditionally been white.
There's the elite sportsman who recognises the value of education to the point where he is a year away from a double degree.
There's the ambitious youngster who decided the best way to remind himself of where he wanted to get to in life was to do the jobs he never wanted to end up in.
And there's the small fact he's the world under-23 lightweight single sculls champion, and tipped to join New Zealand's rowing superstars.
Just minutes into a conversation with Uru, now a full-time member of the New Zealand Rowing squad based at Karapiro, you have to remind yourself he is a 21-year-old. If that really is the coming of age, then Uru was a premature adult. For that we can probably thank his parents, Bill and Robbie, who left Uru in no doubt over the importance of education.
For his sculling prowess we can thank family friend Ian Hamilton whose passion for the sport Uru says is unequalled.
"He was a really enthusiastic rower and coach," Uru says. "He got me to come along and we got together four guys from James Hargest High [Invercargill] and started rowing. I definitely caught the bug. Being involved with such an enthusiastic coach meant we had a lot of fun during our school years. That set me up when I decided to go hard out later on."
The Oreti River is a long way from Karapiro on the Waikato River and it wasn't a journey Uru was sure he wanted to make. Academia has played a big part of his life and he knew if he threw everything into rowing, his university studies would suffer.
"Once I left school and went to university I had to make a choice," Uru says. "Was I going to throw myself into something or let it go? Because rowing takes up a lot of time."
It's not known for its friendly training times, either. The flattest water can be found at first light and sadistic coaches love flat water.
"I was either going to throw myself into my studies and give rowing away, or give rowing a real go, still go to university but knowing that my results would suffer a bit."
If 'suffering' is completing a Bachelor of Science (majoring in chemistry) and being a few papers short of BBS majoring in finance, then Uru has suffered.
"There's definitely been times when I wonder why I'm doing it. But when you get your grades back and you've ticked off another paper, it's definitely worth it."
"There's always been a lot of emphasis from my parents on getting a good education. They made sure from a very young age that I worked in places where I wouldn't want to work in the future. That drove me to university to get a good degree so I didn't have to go back."
Those places were the workshop floors of sheet metalcraft factories.
"I did the labouring, swept the floors, cleaned the toilets. All the dungiest jobs. They were cold places, not a lot of fun at all - and the pay was really bad."
It wasn't just a scare tactic. Uru quickly discovered that in his future he wanted to run companies, not run around for them.
"I thought it was really important if I was serious about doing that in the future that I learned from the bottom up rather than going in halfway one day without any appreciation of what the guys at the bottom do."
He's in no hurry to leave the world of sweat and grinding cartilage for business suits and attache cases yet.
"I'm living the dream," he says, "why would I want to give that up?"
THERE'S NO hiding Uru's Southland heritage when he starts r-r-rolling those 'r's. It's thir-r-rd and fr-r-ruiton and Ger-r-rmany.
There's no hiding his heritage either. Rowing is not a sport that has attracted significant Maori and Pacific Island numbers, but there is hope at Rowing New Zealand that Uru's success will increase the sport's profile in those communities.
He was Maori sportsman of the year in 2006 and describes himself as proud Ngai Tahu.
That's from his father Bill's side. Perhaps his relaxed nature comes from his mother Robbie, who is a spiritual counsellor and metaphysical teacher. They certainly created an environment to achieve. Uru's younger brother Jade is rowing at the junior Olympics in Sydney.
At 21, Uru could defend his under-23 title at Scotland this year, but then again...
"That's not my main aim," he says confidently. "I want to go to the world champs [in Munich] in August. That's my main aim. I want to make the step up."
He faces some competition. He is one of four lightweight scullers pushing those classes to heights not scaled here since Rob Hamill and Philippa Baker, more than a decade ago.
There's Duncan Grant, who won silver at the lightweight singles at Eton last year, Peter Taylor, Uru and Graeme Oberlin-Brown fighting for spots in the single and pair.
In a year they'll be fighting for the pair only as it is the one lightweight Olympic event.
Rowing New Zealand's high performance manager Andrew Matheson said they had still to qualify the boat for the Olympics. "But the times these guys are doing, they're pretty quick on the world stage." He described the lightweights as "exceptional athletes" with unbelievable power-to-weight ratios.
Uru doesn't have to look far for inspiration as every morning there are any number of world-class athletes working the ergonometer machines, pushing weights, talking rowing.
"It's a great environment. When I first got here I was working with the likes of the Evers-Swindells and Mahe Drysdale. All these big names that have performed on the world stage year after year. Seeing how they train, training with them and becoming mates with them, wow, that's huge."
It really does seem like an ego-free environment, fostered no doubt by no-frills Dick Tonks, who oversees the whole coaching operation.
"They're all such down-to-earth guys," Uru insists. "They're always willing to help you out. As an athlete you're always going through ups and downs and I know I can always turn to them for bits of advice. That's invaluable and it's what makes it such a fantastic environment."
The environment shifted camp just briefly. Last week Uru was with the summer training squad in Whakatane.
The best thing about the squad, says Uru, is that it includes one of the original James Hargest High four, Nathan Cohen, in the heavyweights.
It's a reminder of his roots, but more importantly, a reminder of how far they've come.
Somewhere down south, Ian Hamilton has a big smile on his face.
