Rowing: No easy strokes on glory trail

By JULIE ASH

As the sun rises, the sound of oars ploughing through the water breaks the silence at Lake Karapiro.

Gumboots and sneakers lie scattered on the dock as New Zealand's elite women's rowing crews head out for another training session under the watchful eye of coach and former Olympic rower Dick Tonks.

With the world championships in Switzerland next month, the lake near Cambridge has become a second home for the women's crews as they prepare to take on the world's best.

The women make up three of the four crews New Zealand will send to the championships, which run from August 18-26.

Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell, Paula Twining and Sonia Waddell are the women's quadruple, and the Evers-Swindell sisters also compete in the double sculls.

A women's coxless four of Rochelle Saunders, Kate Robinson, Jackie Abraham and Nicki Coles will be there, along with a men's coxless four of Rob Hellestrom, Ian Smallman, Sam Earl and Jamie Fitzgerald.

Tonks was part of the New Zealand coxless fours that won silver in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games and knows just how much work is needed to succeed.

Under his guidance, the women row six days a week, often twice a day. In each session they cover at least 20km. The morning sessions start at 7.30 and the afternoon ones at 3. Each goes for around two hours, with gym sessions in between.

The New Zealand team also have available a sports science team, which includes a doctor, physiotherapist, nutritionist and bio-mechanic.

Before the world championships, the New Zealanders will compete in the final World Cup event in Munich from this Sunday for a week.

In between the World Cup and the world championships they will train at Hazewinkel in Belgium. They opted out of competing in more World Cup events, preferring to stay at home and test themselves in local regattas.

"That is always what we planned to do," said Tonks. "Our buildup is going well, we have consistently raced alongside the World Cup events and are happy with the way things are going. But the World Cup event will give us a real indication of how we are going. If we can do well there then we can do well in Europe."

While Karapiro has been the home of the women's crews, Christchurch's Avon River is where coach Charlie Flanagan and the men's coxless four have been based. The team have 16 sessions a week, including gym sessions at Canterbury University.

A New Zealand trialist, Flanagan was part of the national champion Avon eight in 1976. It is the first year he has coached an elite crew, after two years with a junior eight.

"The basics of the sport never change. A lot of it comes down to guts and determination. You don't get anything for nothing."

He said the crew had been training together since April. "Overall it hasn't been too bad. It has been a long time coming in terms of preparation but we have a very inexperienced crew who will hopefully be the base for the next three years."

Rowing NZ chief executive Mike Stanley said the world championships were an opportunity to develop new combinations. "Our first goal is to get into the finals and then we'll just see how we go from there."