2016 Bankstream New Zealand Rowing Championships Entries
In six days’ time 874 athletes will converge on Lake Karapiro for the 2016 Bankstream New Zealand Rowing Championships to be held between 16-20 February.
With the Rio Olympic Games just under six months away and national trials in three weeks time some exciting clashes are expected across the premier events as New Zealand’s top athletes go head to head to compete for Olympic seats.
Headline events at Lake Karapiro include the men’s and women’s premier single sculls, with 15 entrants in each. Emma Twigg has returned from her year away in top form and will want to stamp her mark on the premier single and add another national singles title to her collection. Mahe Drysdale suffered a shock defeat to John Storey at the Cambridge Town Cup and will face numerous world class scullers as he chases his ninth title in the event.
The men’s and women’s pairs will also showcase some top rowing with the women’s pairs producing some world class times at the Cambridge Town Cup last month. The women’s pair will see six entrants with the top women’s sweepers spread throughout the field and set to ensure an exciting race. A strong Southern RPC combination will be entered while Auckland RPC has entered Kelsey Bevan and Ashlee Rowe. Combinations from the Central RPC are made up of Kerri Gowler and Ruby Tew, and Rebecca Scown and Fiona Paterson.
Stroke of the silver medal winning eight at the 2015 World Rowing Championships, Rebecca Scown is looking forward to racing both the pair and the eight at the Bankstream New Zealand Rowing Championships, “The pair and eight are the two boats most critical and relevant to my Rio Olympic campaign. Nationals will be another good test to see how we all perform in different combinations and under the pressure of racing. I always place a lot of importance on racing at Nationals as it is our final opportunity to shine before trials.”
In the men’s premier pair six time world champion Hamish Bond will pair up with Southern RPC team mate and lightweight athlete James Lassche, himself a world silver medallist in the lightweight men’s four. Bond and Lassche are a tried and tested combination having won titles together in 2014 and 2015. Hamish Bond said, “It’s always good to win National titles - my main target this week is the pair, having won it eight times consecutively. The National Championships are a good test in the build up to Rio.”
Auckland RPC will also boat two premier pairs consisting of lightweight rower Peter Taylor and Stephen Jones as well as Mahe Drysdale and Isaac Grainger. Tom Murray and Jamie Hunter from the Central RPC will form another competitive combination.
This year’s Championships will boast a total of 805 crews competing in 72 events across the five-day regatta. Heats and repechages occupy the first three days of the 2016 Bankstream New Zealand Rowing Championships with finals split over Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
New Zealand’s club rowers will race across novice, club and senior events with the regatta also offering age group events including U22 and U20 grades. New Zealand’s top rowers will compete in the premier grade representing their Regional Performance Centres (RPC’s) which include Auckland, Waikato, Central and Southern RPC’s.
There are over 49 clubs or organisations entered in the Bankstream New Zealand Rowing Championships regatta including international crews: Athlete Cell and Craftsbury RC from the USA, Port Vila, Melbourne University and the Swiss High Performance Squad as well as a contingent from China.
The largest fields of the regatta can be found in the smaller boats including the men’s and women’s club single scull with 43 and 35 crews respectively, set to compete. The women’s and men’s club double will also be hugely competitive with the 30 entrants in the men’s event and 39 entries confirmed in the women’s event.
For day sheets and results from the 2016 Bankstream New Zealand Rowing Championships please see RowIT: http://www.rowit.co.nz/