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New Zealand crews learning from a perfect script
The Olympic team has given the age-group athletes a dream scenario to follow
The Men’s Eight winning in Tokyo was worthy of a movie.
The story of Lucy Spoors and Brooke Francis winning in Paris should be on the big screen too, such is the global influence of the two mums from Cambridge, New Zealand.
Unsurprisingly, their perfectly executed race plan’s had a big influence on the next tier of New Zealand rowers at the U23 and U19 World Championships in Canada.
“It's not over till you cross the finish line and lots of crews have different race profiles and it’s about learning not to be alarmed or startled by anything that happens off the start,” says coach of the Women’s U23 Four Fiona Bourke.
The crew of Alice Fahey, Madeleine Parker, Beckie Leigh and Lucy Burrell were the first New Zealand boat to race on opening day, and their comfortable win to advance to the semifinals on Thursday came from making some sharp observations from Paris.
“We asked ask them to think about some of the Olympic races from our own Kiwi team,” says Fiona. “And the women's double was a prime example, they just continued to chip away at it and had that sort of internal belief and that's what I asked them to do today.”
The New Zealand boat went through in second behind Spain at the 500m but had moved in front with clearwater by the 1000m.
“It's just coming down to that stubbornness and not being rattled by what other people are doing,” says Fiona.
Alice, Beckie and Lucy were all part of last year’s silver medal winning Coxed Four. Madeleine’s matching the output.
“She's a tough little racer,” says Fiona. “She's stubborn as all hell and someone that you want in your boat. She's just a gritty racer.”
The U23 Women's four of Alice Fahey, Madeleine Parker, Beckie Leigh and Lucy Burrell racing in their heat at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships. Photo: Art of Rowing
Dale Maher’s Men’s Four also showed they are more than competitive in what’s become the stacked class in this age-group, with teams looking to build for the Olympics and the eight looking increasingly likely to be a composite boat.
Josh Gordon, Callum Tutbury, Ed Lopas and Ben Shortt had a great hit-out against Great Britain to finish second.
GB finished in 5min 53.81sec, the New Zealand boat crossed in 5.55.73.
“GB is always going to be formidable,” says Dale. “We were with them, we stuck with them and, and we were ahead of the rest of the pack. They were really happy with it. They didn't need to absolutely smash the race plan.
The extra race will be another big learning opportunity for Josh and Callum, both rowing at this level for the first time.
“Another race in the semifinal will be really good,” says Dale. “Hopefully that's successful and when we're in the final we'll have had two races under our belt.”
The first race is “always one of those complete unknowns.”
“I never really have any expectations in the first race. I have hopes.”
Expectations come next.
The U23 Men's Four of Josh Gordon, Callum Tutbury, Ed Lopas and Ben Shortt racing in their heat at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships. Photo: Art Of Rowing
The regatta programme’s split into morning and afternoon brackets to accommodate training for the three different age groups.
The Men’s Quad (Jack Pearson, Finn Hamill, Evan Williams, Angus Kenny) kicked off the afternoon set and by then the huge Canadian flag that towers over the course was making quite a sound in the building breeze.
“The tailwind was pretty tricky to kind of cotton on and hook on to,” says coach Matt Cameron. “As a result, we were off the pace from where we know we can be.”
Their fourth place puts them into Tuesday's repechage.
“Today was probably a definite step back but the cool thing is the guys know that and are pretty clear on what we can target to get closer and back to how we've been going,” says Matt.
It was a first up experience for Jack and Angus, the Dunstan Arm athletes who had such a good New Zealand Championships.
“They loved it today,” says Matt. “There was a real cool energy. They're just keen to go again. They’re disappointed they didn't quite get the performance they wanted...but they've got their head around it really quickly.”
The U23 Men’s Quad of Jack Pearson, Finn Hamill, Evan Williams and Angus Kenny racing in their heat at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships. Photo: Art Of Rowing
It’s the same for Oscar Ruston and Mollie Nicol in the 23 Single.
Oscar had a slow start but got better and better to finish just behind Germany’s Timo Strache, last year’s bronze medallist in the boat.
“We're really happy with what he's done,” says coach Mark Stallard. “It was good for his confidence, possibly took it a wee bit easy in that first 500, but just in his rhythm and enjoying what he's doing. He's real happy.”
Oscar Ruston racing in his U23 World Rowing Championships Men's Single Sculls heat. Photo: Art Of Rowing
Mollie will be looking to build on what’s been a short introduction to racing the single. Originally picked for the pair, she’ll also go again in the repechage on Tuesday.
Hopes then expectations, one race at a time. Sometimes the script gets changed: racing is off tomorrow because of an expected weather bomb.
Mollie Nicol racing in her heat at the U23 World Rowing Championships in the women's single sculls. Photo: Art of Rowing
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and rowing coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
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- Home
- /
- International Regattas
- /
- New Zealand crews...
New Zealand crews learning from a perfect script
The Olympic team has given the age-group athletes a dream scenario to follow
The Men’s Eight winning in Tokyo was worthy of a movie.
The story of Lucy Spoors and Brooke Francis winning in Paris should be on the big screen too, such is the global influence of the two mums from Cambridge, New Zealand.
Unsurprisingly, their perfectly executed race plan’s had a big influence on the next tier of New Zealand rowers at the U23 and U19 World Championships in Canada.
“It's not over till you cross the finish line and lots of crews have different race profiles and it’s about learning not to be alarmed or startled by anything that happens off the start,” says coach of the Women’s U23 Four Fiona Bourke.
The crew of Alice Fahey, Madeleine Parker, Beckie Leigh and Lucy Burrell were the first New Zealand boat to race on opening day, and their comfortable win to advance to the semifinals on Thursday came from making some sharp observations from Paris.
“We asked ask them to think about some of the Olympic races from our own Kiwi team,” says Fiona. “And the women's double was a prime example, they just continued to chip away at it and had that sort of internal belief and that's what I asked them to do today.”
The New Zealand boat went through in second behind Spain at the 500m but had moved in front with clearwater by the 1000m.
“It's just coming down to that stubbornness and not being rattled by what other people are doing,” says Fiona.
Alice, Beckie and Lucy were all part of last year’s silver medal winning Coxed Four. Madeleine’s matching the output.
“She's a tough little racer,” says Fiona. “She's stubborn as all hell and someone that you want in your boat. She's just a gritty racer.”
The U23 Women's four of Alice Fahey, Madeleine Parker, Beckie Leigh and Lucy Burrell racing in their heat at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships. Photo: Art of Rowing
Dale Maher’s Men’s Four also showed they are more than competitive in what’s become the stacked class in this age-group, with teams looking to build for the Olympics and the eight looking increasingly likely to be a composite boat.
Josh Gordon, Callum Tutbury, Ed Lopas and Ben Shortt had a great hit-out against Great Britain to finish second.
GB finished in 5min 53.81sec, the New Zealand boat crossed in 5.55.73.
“GB is always going to be formidable,” says Dale. “We were with them, we stuck with them and, and we were ahead of the rest of the pack. They were really happy with it. They didn't need to absolutely smash the race plan.
The extra race will be another big learning opportunity for Josh and Callum, both rowing at this level for the first time.
“Another race in the semifinal will be really good,” says Dale. “Hopefully that's successful and when we're in the final we'll have had two races under our belt.”
The first race is “always one of those complete unknowns.”
“I never really have any expectations in the first race. I have hopes.”
Expectations come next.
The U23 Men's Four of Josh Gordon, Callum Tutbury, Ed Lopas and Ben Shortt racing in their heat at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships. Photo: Art Of Rowing
The regatta programme’s split into morning and afternoon brackets to accommodate training for the three different age groups.
The Men’s Quad (Jack Pearson, Finn Hamill, Evan Williams, Angus Kenny) kicked off the afternoon set and by then the huge Canadian flag that towers over the course was making quite a sound in the building breeze.
“The tailwind was pretty tricky to kind of cotton on and hook on to,” says coach Matt Cameron. “As a result, we were off the pace from where we know we can be.”
Their fourth place puts them into Tuesday's repechage.
“Today was probably a definite step back but the cool thing is the guys know that and are pretty clear on what we can target to get closer and back to how we've been going,” says Matt.
It was a first up experience for Jack and Angus, the Dunstan Arm athletes who had such a good New Zealand Championships.
“They loved it today,” says Matt. “There was a real cool energy. They're just keen to go again. They’re disappointed they didn't quite get the performance they wanted...but they've got their head around it really quickly.”
The U23 Men’s Quad of Jack Pearson, Finn Hamill, Evan Williams and Angus Kenny racing in their heat at the 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships. Photo: Art Of Rowing
It’s the same for Oscar Ruston and Mollie Nicol in the 23 Single.
Oscar had a slow start but got better and better to finish just behind Germany’s Timo Strache, last year’s bronze medallist in the boat.
“We're really happy with what he's done,” says coach Mark Stallard. “It was good for his confidence, possibly took it a wee bit easy in that first 500, but just in his rhythm and enjoying what he's doing. He's real happy.”
Oscar Ruston racing in his U23 World Rowing Championships Men's Single Sculls heat. Photo: Art Of Rowing
Mollie will be looking to build on what’s been a short introduction to racing the single. Originally picked for the pair, she’ll also go again in the repechage on Tuesday.
Hopes then expectations, one race at a time. Sometimes the script gets changed: racing is off tomorrow because of an expected weather bomb.
Mollie Nicol racing in her heat at the U23 World Rowing Championships in the women's single sculls. Photo: Art of Rowing
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and rowing coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
