When four veteran kayakers line up in the K4 events at the World Masters Games next week they'll be safe in the knowledge their boat is tried and tested.
Mark Stoneman, Bruce Baldwin, Graham Moore and Max Grant will be racing in the boat used by New Zealand's K4 1000m gold medal winning team at the 1984 Olympics.
"We figured if we took that up to the Masters Games that'd be the oldest boat with the oldest crew in it," Stoneman said.
Grant Bramwell, Ian Ferguson, Paul MacDonald and Alan Thompson raced the boat to gold in Los Angles but for the past 15 years it's been stored at the Whanganui Multisport Club.
"We've had it tied up in the rafters," Stoneman said.
"Ownership's a very loose word in our world of kayaking. We are the custodians of the vessel."