When Cohen brothers Nathan and Hayden get in a boat, they are usually hunting blue cod on family fishing expeditions near Stewart Island.
This week, they combined to chase red coats, the blazers bestowed upon race winners at the rowing national championships on Lake Ruataniwha, near Twizel.
Hayden Cohen is on the verge of following his Olympic champion brother into the international ranks. This week, they rowed competitively in a skiff - the Southern RPC (regional performance centre) quadruple sculls crew with Nathan Flannery and Fergus Fauvel - for the first time and won their final by powering away from the Auckland and Central RPCs in the final 500m.
The regatta determines who gets selected for national trials. A New Zealand squad is due to be named early next month for the first 2013 World Cup regatta in Sydney, from March 22-24.
At 21, Hayden is exactly six years younger than Nathan - they share the same January 2 birthday with sister Nicola in between - but he has earned his own accolades. Hayden combined with Flannery to win the under-23 world championship double sculls title in Lithuania last year, pipping Germany by 1.37s. Just over a fortnight later, he (and dedicated parents Robyn and Phil) travelled to the Olympics to see Nathan and crewmate Joseph Sullivan row to victory. The performance was voted New Zealand's best sporting moment of 2012. Hayden Cohen says going to the Olympics motivated him to follow the same career path as his brother: "It was really cool to watch. It wasn't so much just that race that has spurred me on but the overall New Zealand success. It makes you want to be in Rio in 2016."
