Rowing: Murray and Bond impress in coxed pair

Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, unbeaten for six years in their specialist coxless pair event, impressed in the coxed pair. Photo / AP

Four more New Zealand crews moved to the next stage of their classes on the second day of the world rowing championships in Amsterdam early today.

The one exception was the well-regarded women's double of Fiona Bourke and Zoe Stephenson, who finished second in their heat and have to go to a repechage on Wednesday.

The day's activities followed eight crews who progressed on the opening day.
Men's pair Eric Murray and Hamish Bond won their heat in the coxed pair in 7min 05.600s, about seven seconds clear of the Dutch and Argentine crews who finished second and third.

The pair, unbeaten for six years in their specialist coxless pair event, are rowing the alternative discipline for a different challenge and have cox Caleb Shepherd in the boat.
They moved straight into the final of the 12-nation event.

There was a strong performance from brothers Karl and Robbie Manson in the double scull, where they won their heat in 6:20.770 to move into their semifinal. They crossed 3s ahead of Lithuania in the second fastest time overall from the heats, behind the strong Germany combination of Stephane Krueger and Hans Gruhne.

The women's four of Kerri Gowler, Grace Prendergast, Kelsey Bevan and Kayla Pratt won their heat in 6:46.420 to go directly into the final.

They beat France by 15s but in the other heat, the United States produced a slightly faster time, with China second and marginally slower than New Zealand, the times suggest a three-horse final.

The lightweight men's four of James Hunter, Peter Taylor, James Lassche and Curtis Rapley were second in their heat in 6:17.960, 2s slower than Austria, but enough to move into the semifinals.

Bourke and Stephenson finished second in their heat, recording 7:03.300, two and a half seconds slower than China's Weiwei Zhu and Yuwei Wang, with Germany third.

New Zealand crews will race again on Wednesday with that repechage and the men's lightweight double scull, men's and women's single sculls racing in quarter finals.