Rowing: 'Oddballs' now the norm

The feats of Mahe Drysdale have helped push sculling to the fore. Photo / Getty Images

Back in the day, to be a sculler was to invite the sort of sideways glances normally reserved for freaks and weirdos.

Now, such is the proliferation of scullers coming through the system, it is the rowers who are feeling like a dying breed.

"If you go back to the '70s some of the old rowers would turn in their graves thinking, 'well, we can hardly make a rowing crew now, especially in the mens'," master coach Dick Tonks said last week at Lake Karapiro, where New Zealand's elite crews were named.

"There are so many scullers around. Scullers were the oddballs, a bit queer, the ones who missed out on the eight. Now they're the norm."

The reasons for the change are two-fold. There is the profile given to the double-oar disciplines, starting with Rob Waddell in 2000 and moving through to the Evers-Swindell twins and Mahe Drysdale. Perhaps more far-reaching, however, is the fact schools are pushing the discipline as more physically beneficial than sweeping an oar.

"If you go to the local regattas and see the number of schoolkids that are sculling in the quads, the doubles and even the singles, the numbers are just huge. They're starting to filter through," Tonks said.

"That's slowly coming through. They can still still row. Scullers can pick up rowing very easily so there'll be good crews in the future."

Perhaps the sculling crew under the strongest microscope will be the men's double of Matthew Trott and Nathan Cohen.

Trott lost his seat for the Olympics last year when Waddell's comeback landed him in the double rather than his preferred single. He said reuniting with Cohen was like riding a bike.

"It's been awesome, it's like we haven't had a break. One hundred metres in the boat and it all clicked."

Trott's versatility is such it probably counted against him last year and even now Tonks admitted it was a shame to lose him as a "spare".

"They've got a really good combination together. As soon as they get into the boat they click together. Trotty's a good crewman, he can fit in with anyone. It's almost a pity to lose him as a spare but he's got his own seat now, his own crew. They were fifth two years ago but they can improve."

Post-Olympic retirements have decimated the women's crews and changed the configuration of the men's crews too. After years in the four, Hamish Bond and Eric Murray has struck up an imposing combination in the pair.

"They have been doing some exceptional times this week," Tonks said. "We're looking at them medalling straight away in their first year."

Perhaps the most pressing question is whether we will see an eight compete in the world championships on home waters next year.

"It would be nice to have an eight. Everybody wants to see an eight," Tonks said. "There's no reason why we couldn't if we threw everything at it but it almost needs to be a project on its own right which we're not quite sure we can fully manage yet."

NZ squad:
Men: Mahé Drysdale (single scull); Duncan Grant (lightweight single scull); Robin Tinga (adaptive single scull); Matthew Trott, Nathan Cohen (double scull); Storm Uru, Peter Taylor (lightweight double scull); Eric Murray, Hamish Bond (pair); Todd Petherick, James Lassche, Richard Beaumont, Graham Oberlin-Brown (lightweight four).
Women: Emma Twigg (single scull); Rebecca Scown, Emma Feathery (pair); Paula Twining, Anna Reymer (double scull); Harriet Austin, Sarah Barnes, Louise Trappitt, Genevieve Armstrong (quadruple scull).