Hosting world champs fires up rowers

Rowing bosses hope hosting the 2010 world championships will double as a perfect carrot for the present elite athletes and the gifted crop of juniors.

There is a determination to build on last year's four gold medals at the world championships in Japan, and a strong showing at the junior worlds in Brandenberg, Germany re-emphasised that there is a promising group of rowers coming through.

"For the likes of our junior team now, who are about 17 or 18, the Beijing Olympics in 2008 might be a bit close," Rowing New Zealand high performance boss Andrew Mathison said last night after Lake Karapiro had been confirmed as championship hosts in four years' time.

"But this could be a real incentive to fire them up. I believe we're in a stronger position now overall [at junior level] than in the past."

New Zealand made four finals in Germany, collecting gold through single sculler Emma Twigg and bronze from double scullers Joseph Sullivan and Daniel Kerena.

Mathison believes the overall standard of New Zealand's junior and under 23 rowers shows the sport is in robust shape below the successful top layer.

"The general level of coaching and support we're putting round the juniors is quite a bit more than before. The programme we've been working on quite hard in the last couple of years is starting to pay dividends."

But Mathison hopes the present elite squad, such as world champions, Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater and Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh in the coxless pairs, Mahe Drysdale in the single scull plus Olympic champions Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell will be on Lake Karapiro in 2010.

He sees no reason why the older rowers among the group cannot remain competitive, with increased support from Government funding agency Sparc, and spurred by the idea of competing against the world's best on home waters.

RNZ saw off a challenge from the Netherlands to bring the champs to New Zealand for only the second time, after Lake Karapiro hosted the 1978 event.

"The universality of our sport is very important," world governing body Fisa's executive director Matt Smith said yesterday.

"We aim to go outside Europe once every four years and there is a lot of confidence in the administration of rowing in New Zealand," he said.

RNZ chief executive Craig Ross was confident the bid, when presented to Fisa in Munich several weeks ago, had covered all the bases and presented a compelling argument.

No incentives were offered, unlike 1978 when European teams were guaranteed that their boats would be sold in New Zealand.

The hard part has been done; the harder part lies ahead, with work to be done both on shore and in the water, where removing weed, which is the scourge of rowers, is already under way.

RNZ want to develop a facility which will become a quality base for future generations of rowers, rather than plump for a short term option.

The championships are tentatively scheduled for mid-September 2010, with a dress rehearsal a year earlier in the shape of the youth regatta involving New Zealand and the Australian states.

RNZ are aiming for gate receipts over two days of finals of about $1.1 million, with about 10,000 weekend passes at $110 each, and an operating budget of $5.5 million.