Rowing: First crew gives NZ teams huge boost

Lightweight coxless pair Graham Oberlin-Brown (left) and James Lasschesay say it got tricky in the last 500m. Photo / Alan Gibson

Graham Oberlin-Brown and James Lassche were not among the more fancied of the home nation combinations at the start of the world rowing championships.

But the lightweight coxless pair yesterday gave New Zealand a rousing start to the event at Lake Karapiro, and picked up some psychological points along the way.

In the first race of the day, they defied predictions by winning their heat in emphatic fashion to move directly into Friday's final.

Te Awamutu 22-year-old Oberlin-Brown and Cantabrian Lassche, a year younger, took the lead at the halfway mark on the 2000m course from defending world champions Fabien Tilliet and Jean-Christophe Bette and were in charge from that point, crossing in 6min 33.35s, 3.13s ahead of the French pair.

It was a class performance in windy conditions against a combination who won the titles at the Bled and Lucerne regattas this year.

Smiles were hard to wipe off their faces. Both were in the coxless four which finished sixth at the world under 23 championships in Belarus in July. This was different.

"We're stepping up with the big boys now and it's great to know we can race well," Lassche said.

"We have had people coming up and [reminding us] you guys are the first race and it can have quite an influence on the team, how the first crew goes," Oberlin-Brown said.

"We just tried to stay as relaxed as we could. We were just thinking about our race and getting in the best position we can."

Making the A final was the initial target, but yesterday's race may have shifted the parameters of what they might be capable of achieving at the business end.

Oberlin-Brown dead-batted that notion. "We came into the regatta with a plan. Obviously we wanted to race well in the heat, but we want to get stronger as the regatta goes on. Hopefully come Friday we'll be in even better shape than today."

The other heat in the 11-crew event was won by the German combination of Daniel Wisgott and Lars Wichert in 6:40.11, leaving the New Zealanders surprise fastest qualifiers.

Only the two winners went directly to the final.

As for the conditions, which forced racing to be cancelled after just five completed races out of 27, the New Zealanders were relaxed.

"It wasn't too bad for the first 1000m. We've rowed races like that before.

"When it got to the last 500m it was tricky and you could tell a few people were struggling, but we were just lucky to be in a good position at that stage," Lassche said.

The only other New Zealand crew who got some action yesterday were the lightweight women's double of Lucy Strack and Julie Edward. The under 23 world silver medallists this year, they were fourth in their heat and head for a repechage.