Rowing: Conflict makes Karapiro auditor withdraw

Arthur Klap. Photo / Greg Bowker

The man appointed to lead the review of the 2010 World Championships has red-carded himself after learning he would be auditing his own work.

Big events organiser Arthur Klap was approached by Sparc to review the Karapiro event, which lost $2.3 million under the stewardship of Tom Mayo.

In an ironic twist, on the week Klap - who was instrumental in bringing events such as the world mountain biking and mountain running champs to New Zealand - stepped aside, Mayo was announced as the man appointed to run the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Auckland next year.

Klap agreed to leading the review when he thought it would cover just the running of the event itself.

"Once the terms of reference for the review had been confirmed, Arthur alerted us to the fact that the review would involve some of the early work he had done on the original Rowing New Zealand bid for the event," Sparc chief executive Peter Miskimmin said.

"Arthur has raised the concern that this could lead to a perceived conflict of interest and ... has made the decision to step back from leading the review. We respect the stance Arthur has taken."

The review will focus on why an event perceived as a "can't-miss" due to New Zealand's rowing pedigree and projections of full stands lining the lake for finals weekend, left the sport so badly in hock to the banks.

Brendon O'Connor will replace Klap. O'Connor has been commercial and marketing director at the New Zealand Rugby Union and chief executive of North Harbour Stadium.