Rowers from universities around the country enjoyed some fantastic racing against the Australians in 2011’s University Rowing Trans Tasman Test Series. A strong squad of 27 student rowers were selected in April after the Aon NZ Universities Rowing Champs from universities in Otago, Lincoln, Victoria, Auckland and Waikato.
These athletes made up a Men’s Heavyweight Eight, Men’s Lightweight Coxless Four, two Women’s Heavyweight Coxed Fours, and a Women’s Lightweight Coxless Quad. On June 23rd the athletes travelled to their respective training centres at Lake Karapiro, Wairau Rowing Club and Otago University Rowing Club.
July 3rd arrived quickly and the squad flew out to participate in the first ever Trans Tasman Test Series held in Adelaide. Rowing SA and Adelaide University Rowing Club organised the event holding the 2km and 5km at West Lakes and Murray Bridge respectively.
No amount of windy conditions could deter the New Zealand lightweight crews from setting the benchmark against the Australians on day one with wins from the women’s quad and men’s four. The quad found themselves two lengths up off the start line and maintained the lead for a final time margin of 27 seconds.
Day two proved a much better day for the Kiwi crews with the 2nd Women’s Coxed Four laying down a significant win over the Aussie’s and the lightweight crews continuing to dominate their categories. The lightweight men’s four suffered an equipment fault with 600 metres to go when the gate came loose but managed to maintain their lead over the Aussie’s. The Men’s Eight was an epic battle all the way down the course with the Aussies moving out to a length then the kiwis pulling them back in to a canvas on three occasions, with 200m to go the kiwi crew could no longer attack and rolled over the line 2 lengths down absolutely exhausted and gutted.
With a well earned rest between the 2k and 5k races, day three proved the decider for only one race – the women’s fours. Under Test Series rules a women’s eight should be raced; Australia had been unable to field a women’s eight thus the decision was made to field coxed four’s. The scoring was agreed as 3 points for 1st place, 2 points for 2nd place and 1 point for 3rd place, and the outcome of the women’s coxed fours would be removed from the overall total. By day two the scoring stood as NZ2 – 5 points, Aus 4 points and NZ1 3 points. With strong currents and a wide bend to steer in the first 1000m while maintaining the lanes the NZ crews did well to keep their boats in touch with the Aussies. NZ1 dominated the race in the with excellent lines by coxswain Aynsley Moore butwith only 800 metres to go suffered a devastating blow when injury affected bow’s performance with the result that Aussie and NZ2 were able to row through them. Aussie made the most of this advantage and established a lead that NZ2 were not able to narrow down. With Aussie winning the final fours race the points were tied between Aussie and NZ2 with 7 points. The agreement before racing was the margins would count if the points were tied and with NZ2’s huge win over Aussie by 30 seconds in the 2nd race – NZ2 won the gold.
The Heavyweight men’s crew although suffering two defeats on day one and two but narrowing the margin each time fought a valiant race on day three. The Aussies held a slight lead into the first corner with the aussies pushing there blades into Kiwi water and the umpire doing nothing about it until the aussies clearly had an advantage. Kiwi coxswain Simon Breen held a perfect line in the better water and slower current, while the aussie coxswain made a dash for the favoured finish line side, with 500m to go the kiwi crew moved in front and looked like they would hold on for the win, but lost by only a canvas on an angled line!
New Zealand took the medals in both the lightweight categories and the Australians in the heavyweight men’s eight; the overall total came to New Zealand 19points and the Australian team 17 points meaning New Zealand yet again took the Trans Tasman Test Series Trophy. New Zealand has now held this trophy for the past five years – something the Aussies are very aware of.
University Rowing NZ would like to thank the team Manager Charlotte Piele, and coach’s Malcolm McIntyre, Glen Sinclair, Dave Williamson and Matt Simons for their time and dedication.
If you would like more information about university rowing contact University Rowing NZ President Glen Sinclair – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
