Rowing: One finish line for all at worlds

Tom Mayo. Photo / Dean Purcell

For the first time, the adaptive rowers will finish their world championship races at the same finish line as their able-bodied teammates at Lake Karapiro in November.

A specially constructed starting pontoon will be in place at the 1000m mark - halfway down the usual length of the course - for the adaptive, or disabled, rowers who race over the shorter distance.

Since adaptive athletes have been included in the world championships, they've raced from the 2000m mark and finished at 1000m, out of sight of the grandstands at the finish line.

This time they will finish in front of the 10,000-seat main grandstand.

"We have worked very hard to make this happen," said world championship chief executive Tom Mayo.

"We were determined to ensure that the adaptive athletes would be cheered home by the crowds and not competing in a vacuum way down the lake."

The adaptive start has been made from the old start pontoon built for the 1978 world championships, the only other time the event has been staged in New Zealand, also at Lake Karapiro.

"It is a logistical challenge to get the new start into place during the racing day," Mayo said, pointing out that on some days they will have less than an hour to get the pontoon in place.

Use of the adaptive start is subject to final approval from international rowing federation Fisa.

There will be five boat classes for adaptive athletes, with New Zealand represented by Danny McBride in the ASM1x class, a single scull with a fixed seat.

* Britain has selected 19 crews and 61 athletes for the world championships. New Zealand is fielding 55 athletes in 18 crews.

The British squad includes five Olympic champions and nine other Olympic medallists and is rated among the strongest it has put together.

At the last World Cup regatta in Lucerne in July, Britain won 11 medals over the 14 Olympic disciplines and will arrive as overall World Cup winners for the year.

New Zealand and Germany, with four golds apiece, were the most successful nations at last year's worlds in Poland, while Britain managed one gold, four silver and one bronze.

Most interest centred on the selections of Andy Triggs-Hodge and Peter Reed in the coxless pair, having been beaten by New Zealand's Eric Murray and Hamish Bond for the last two years.

They have been given another opportunity to prove themselves.

"I think we've got a very, very big race ahead of us. It's a big ask at the world championships to turn over a crew that's beaten us so many times but I'm very positive about it," Reed said.

New Zealand's world champion lightweight double scull, Storm Uru and Peter Taylor, have a battle on their hands against Beijing Olympic champions Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter.