Rowing: Fit Hamill ditched by team-mate

New Zealand rower Rob Hamill's quest to start the transatlantic rowing challenge was dashed by his team-mate just hours before last night's start.

After a race against time to recover from a broken hand suffered 10 days ago, Hamill was confident he was fit enough to tackle the demands of the 4667km trek across the Atlantic to Barbados. But he was overruled by his partner in the two-man boat, Steve Westlake.

"I've done a series of rowing tests so far - four and two-hour rows and my hand's come up very well," Hamill said hours before the start from Tenerife, in the Canary Islands.

But Westlake was not convinced.

"Even though I've done these tests that wasn't enough to change Steve's impression of my ability to do the job, so he wasn't prepared to row with me."

Hamill, who won the race by a huge margin with the late Phil Stubbs in 1997, was left with the options of rowing alone or finding another partner. Neither prospect appealed.

Westlake opted to row with Matt Goodman, who flew from New Zealand several days ago as an alternative when Hamill injured his hand after intervening in a domestic dispute in Tenerife.

Hamill said he was still "100 per cent behind the guys".

- NZPA