Big weekends in rowing - and World Champions on both islands

It’s a massive weekend in rowing – and there are World Champions from the national team in action at both the Cambridge Town Cup and at the Canterbury Championships.

Four-time World Champion Mahé Drysdale heads the entry at the Cambridge Town Cup and is sure to be a big draw card for the spectators and 1200 competitors at Karapiro this weekend.

The 750 boat entry at the Canterbury Championships at Lake Ruataniwha meanwhile includes the World Champion pair of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, the lightweight double scull World Champions Storm Uru and Peter Taylor as well as the bronze medal winning women’s pair of Rebecca Scown and Emma Feathery and the fourth placed heavy men’s double of Nathan Cohen and Matthew Trott – also the current and long-standing national champions in the category.

Heats begin at Lake Karapiro at midday on Friday, with racing commencing on Saturday at 7.30am and finals on Sunday from 7.30am. Heats at the Canterbury Championships begin at 7.30am on Saturday and finals are on Sunday from 7.30am.

Rowing New Zealand is also hoping to run – for the very first time – a live results service that will produce viewable results on the RNZ web site (www.rowingnz.com) as soon as the judges stop the clocks for each crew that crosses the line. Crystal clear photo finishes taken with the new system installed at Lake Karapiro will be published later on the site.