Rowing: Haigh back for key regatta

Rebecca Haigh is back from injury. Photo / Rhys Palmer

For a month, crack rower Juliette Haigh was so affected by her back injury, she even had to stand up to play her beloved piano keyboard.

Now she is on the way back - and is composing a new tune for her assault on world rowing with pair oars partner Rebecca Scown.

World champions they might be, but Haigh and Scown are singing from an Olympic songsheet this year.

For someone whose sport is so dependent on rhythm and timing, Haigh has been out of sync since Christmas. She has finally recovered from the prolapsed disc in her back which kept her out of the pair boat and almost curtailed the hours on her keyboard.

"I struggled to sit down so I had to play it in a standing position. I love classical music, particularly Mozart."

Haigh declines to give her best Stevie Wonder impression but says it will please her Mum to know the lessons which took her to grade six in piano were not in vain. Unlike Rob Waddell - another rowing pianist - Haigh is not taking her keyboard on the upcoming European tour, meaning there won't be any piano concertos when the team congregates on balmy summer evenings.

There would hardly be time, anyway. Haigh's recent absence from the boat she shares with Scown means they are behind on the base training needed to defend their world championship crown, won on Lake Karapiro in November.

Haigh missed this year's trials but it made sense to retain her in the boat on pedigree.

Her CV includes three world championship medals - two golds (2005, 2010), a silver on the Olympic Dorney Lake course in 2006 and a fifth in 2007 at Munich.

There is no Olympic list of similar standing. With former partner Nicky Coles, Haigh finished sixth in Athens in 2004 - then won the world championships the following year - before coming fifth at the Beijing Olympics.

She has rehabilitated as best she can, but it has put them under pressure regarding the world championships in Slovenia in August where she and Scown are seeking to qualify the boat for the London Olympics.

"I've had back injuries before - but this was my worst," she said. "It required a full month of rest to heal. It meant just getting out of bed and not moving much over the course of the day. But it meant I re-assessed my technique. I'm sitting up straighter in the boat and looking more carefully at how I'm loading [weight onto] my back in the stroke."

Haigh's former partner Nicky Coles says such injuries put pressure on a crew - as they experienced in their five years together.

"We were both injured at different times. There is no question it makes you more vulnerable when you rely on that other person. But from here, it is definitely a two-season plan; all they need to do is qualify [for London]."

Haigh and Scown are one of New Zealand's best bets for an Olympic medal. However, they need a top eight finish in Slovenia to qualify the boat for London as contenders emerge from varying forms of hibernation and sabbatical.

The Kiwi crews prepared last weekend with a simulation World Cup regatta consisting of heats, semifinals and finals. New Zealand is dispatching its biggest contingent in preparation for Olympic qualification. Twelve out 14 possible classes will be represented - only a women's eight and lightweight men's four are missing.

The crews will be sent in two batches. Nine boats, including experienced campaigners Haigh and Scown, Eric Murray, Hamish Bond and Mahe Drysdale will contest the second World Cup in Hamburg starting June 17. The remaining three crews will attend the World Cup in Lucerne starting July 8.