Rowing: Oarsome effort to entice fans

Organisers of next year's world rowing championships hope the shores of Lake Karapiro will lined with up to 20,000 spectators each day. Photo / Getty Images

The Rugby World Cup is already taking centre stage but, a year before that, New Zealand will host a huge world rowing championships on Lake Karapiro.

If the 1978 archive footage is anything to go by, when New Zealand last hosted a rowing world championships, the country's in for a grand time when next year's edition starts on October 31.

The pictures may be grainy, but you can't disguise a Lake Karapiro embankment crammed with a stubbie-clad, flannel-hatted throng going bananas.

There's even a fuzzy-brown kiwi mascot in a black singlet getting passed around like an early ancestor to Mr Blobby.

The key man charged with delivering a similar spectacle is the 32 year-old chief executive of Karapiro 2010, Tom Mayo.

He is on the final stop of the "rowbox" marketing campaign in Boston this weekend at the Head of the Charles regatta, featuring the likes of Mahe Drysdale, Nathan Cohen and Emma Twigg.

The rowbox is an interactive shipping container which has promoted the championships at the venues of Munich, Lucerne, Poznan, Racice and Henley where the sport has featured this year.

Mayo's recipe for knowing what works at major international sporting events is simple.

He was an English 1500m runner at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Mix that with a three-year term as chief operations officer for Triathlon New Zealand and throw in a sports management degree from Britain's Loughborough University.

He says the marketing plan to showcase the event and lure fans has resulted in 5000 database-etched names.

"I don't think we can convert, for example, a Formula One fan to rowing. We need people with discretionary income who already go to big regattas," says Mayo.

"It's been the visual impact of Mums and Dads thinking New Zealand's actually coming to them, doing something a bit wacky.

"I've come to realise rowing's not the sort of sport a family goes into lightly, because it's expensive and takes up a lot of time. It's not like going down the road to kick a ball around."

The organising committee is planning on 80,000 people attending over the eight days, with a 20,000 maximum per day. Up to 10,000 are expected to be overseas visitors.

Another key stakeholder is Waipa District mayor Alan Livingston. The 57-year-old is eight years into a job where he wants to give further credence to the district's "Home of Champions"mantra.

"This will provide a legacy for the next 30 years, much like the last time it was here. The council's put in $12 million for the upgrade [of Lake Karapiro], it's a huge commitment from our ratepayers, but we believe we've got a national obligation to do it - $4.2 million has also been invested in the high performance centre."

With such budgets being bandied about, a keen eye has been focused on infrastructure and logistics.

The revamped Rowing New Zealand headquarters and roading developments are complete. The previous office and training centre has since been demolished and will be replaced by a community events centre overlooking the finish line. That will house media facilities and an athletes' cafe during the championships once it's completed in May. Permission has also been granted for a park-and-ride service five minutes north and south of the venue. Then, on the water, the weed-eating machine is in action along with a programme of preventive spraying.

Sponsorship budgets also need to be dove-tailed in, especially when you're often competing against, rather than complementing the Rugby World Cup, the following year.

"We're 50 per cent there, but the economy's been horrendous for us. The major funding comes from sponsorship then Trust and Government grants, followed by ticketing. Ticketing starts on October 23," says Mayo.

One fear was that bigger teams would replicate New Zealand's elite-based principle of sending smaller groups to the other side of the world to cut costs.

However, in many cases it looks like this will be counter-balanced by incentivised Government funding in pursuit of Olympic medals. That makes it worthwhile for top teams to test and trial as many athletes as they can on the international stage.

"We've got 700 people booked from six teams so far. That includes 100-plus contingents from the United States, Great Britain and Germany. They've paid their deposits and are regularly coming back to do reconnaissance.

"The 'hand to mouth' fundraisers will be the biggest test, we're talking to them, but the true gauge will be in June/July when we're asking them to write a cheque," says Mayo.

Technology is receiving careful attention to cater for the likes of internet broadband, crowd cellphone use, GPS on boats and Sky TV.

From an athlete's perspective, Olympic pair bronze medallist Nathan Twaddle has been to enough regattas to know what makes them go away smiling almost as much as a medal.

"You want to get to the lake in quick time. There's nothing worse than sitting on a bus for an hour, or discovering you've got more athletes than seats. At the course there needs to be somewhere dry to wait, plenty of rowing machines and access to decent food. Athletes do get picky on their food.

"Also important is how the officials run the regatta. It's tough managing 1500 people on a 2km stretch of water, but volunteers and organisers can get over-zealous. Your first impression is always the attitude of the people."

Mayor Livingston agrees: "The community needs to build an expectation to ensure visitors have the best possible experience as a pre-cursor to the Rugby World Cup. It'll be the ideal blueprint for volunteers, immigration and tourism."

But for now the plan is firmly short-term for chief executive Mayo.

"I'll be making the most of it in Boston, because once I touch back down I'll barely see the sun again for a year."