Rowing: Old hand helps drive quad squad

John Storey, Paul Gerritsen, Nathan Twaddle and Matthew Trott are ready to do battle at the World Cup regatta in Munich. Photo / Christine Cornege

There's a story about Sir Steve Redgrave, Britain's greatest rower.

Upon winning his fourth Olympic gold medal at Atlanta in 1996, Redgrave was quoted as telling anyone who saw him stepping into another boat to "shoot me".

Not long after Redgrave was indeed back on the water, oar in hand, no bullet wound in sight. The result was a remarkable fifth gold in Sydney four years later in the coxless four.

Nathan Twaddle, the seniority equivalent of Redgrave within the New Zealand elite setup, had a similar experience after winning the bronze medal in the coxless pair with George Bridgewater at Beijing two years ago.

"I was thinking Beijing would be it," Twaddle admitted.

"It probably took two to three months to realise that I actually still have a bit of a passion here and a feeling of wanting to be back in a boat.

"People I've talked to who have retired don't even want to look at a boat. You ask Caroline and Georgina [double Olympic champions Meyer and Earl respectively, nee Evers-Swindell]. They wouldn't be caught dead out on the water now."

When Twaddle decided to return, his old coxless pair seat was gone, and Hamish Bond and Eric Murray have gone gangbusters since coming together in that boat, winning the world title last year, and with the first World Cup regatta at Bled under their belt are off to a flying start this season.

So Twaddle turned to sculling, which took him back to his days at Whakatane High School. It meant a fresh challenge, and also switching from a two-seater to four.

The technical aspects presented the stiffest task, moving from one oar to two.

"It's amazing that what looks like such a simple movement can have so many intricacies," Twaddle said.

"If I was doing sweep oar in a pair I'd be struggling to hold my motivation, but having a good challenge is definitely keeping my attention.

"All the guys in the boat get on pretty well and in some respects the advantage of a four is rather than just one guy to bounce off you've got three. If it's going right, the feeling that builds in a group can take you to another level a little easier than a small boat."

Twaddle is in the quad for this weekend's World Cup regatta at Munich, along with Matthew Trott, John Storey and Paul Gerritsen. He's known as 'Pops', for obvious reasons. He turns 34 in August.

"Mahe [Drysdale] was pretty keen to get me back because he didn't like being the oldest in the squad," Twaddle quipped.

He now has 9-month-old William to provide a fresh perspective on life, which he appreciates. If he ever suffered from rowing tunnel vision syndrome, that's gone now.

Twaddle, world champion with Bridgewater in 2005, hasn't returned just for laughs. The world championships at Lake Karapiro are in sight, but he wants to show he means business.

"I definitely came back with results in mind. I didn't come back to make up the numbers, but because I saw a chance to get back on the podium and reproduce the feelings I'd had with George."

Twaddle rates his teammates highly. Trott, dumped out of the double scull in favour of Joseph Sullivan this year, has a point to prove to the selectors, while Storey is rated an exciting prospect and Gerritsen provides the grunt.

The quad began their European campaign late last night in the heats at the Munich World Cup. Then there's the high calibre cup regatta at Lucerne on July 9-11 which will go a long way to determining whether they will be on the start line at the world championships at the end of October.

A second set of national trials are on the horizon after the European campaign.

Twaddle, as befitting a seasoned campaigner, with his share of ups and downs to draw on, seems unfazed.

"Every crew is up for discussion. Results from the World Cups will play a part in how much trialling will be required.

"Fear can be a wonderful motivator. It can be a bit nasty to live with day by day, but it can add speed to a boat too."

* New Zealand will have 12 crews in action in Munich.

In the men, there are two coxless fours, a coxless pair, a double scull, a quad, two single sculls, and a lightweight single and double scull.

The women are represented by a single sculler, coxless pair and a quad.