The Maadi Cup is still the biggest New Zealand secondary schools sporting event with 2108 pupils and 125 schools registered at Lake Ruataniwha this past week - but retaining athletes beyond college remains a challenge for Rowing New Zealand.
Around 45-50 athletes will be named today to trial after Easter at Lake Karapiro.
New Zealand will send quadruple sculls crews, a men's coxed four and a women's coxless four to the world junior championships at Hamburg in August.
RNZ high performance director Alan Cotter knows they are competing against more lucrative professional sports like rugby and scouts offering scholarships to American universities.
"We can't offer too many incentives when we recruit, otherwise they might come for the wrong reasons. We need the right attitude - which means making a commitment. It generally takes about seven years to become a fully-fledged elite athlete."
