James Little @ NZfusion.com

Results from the 2008 New Zealand National Championships.

Crews to watch:

MENS PREMIER 1X

This is a gimme: Rob Waddell versus Mahe Drysdale, Nathan Cohen is likely to give Rob and Mahe a good run as well. Rob, Mahe and Nathan have been giving each other great competition and the rest of us some of the best rowing action in the World. Joseph Sullivan is also a very capable sculler and based on his performance in the heat and might be able to give Nathan a good race for a medal.

Since this race doesn’t count for NZ selection, it would be interesting to know how seriously Rob and Mahe have taken the build up to National Champs. Having a quick look through the program, it seems that neither Rob or Mahe are rowing any other event. Indicating that they are taking the race seriously and NZ rowing fans can expect to see a World Championship level race between Rob and Mahe.

Coverage of this race will be on Sky Sport 1 on Saturday the 23rd February 2008.

MENS PREMIER 4-

A noteworthy exclusion from the program in this event is Carl Meyer, who is replaced by Nathan Cohen in the RPC South crew. The South crew won their heat, beating the Auckland RPC crew which includes Nathan Twaddle and Rob Helstrom. The other heat was won by Waikato RPC. It would be likely that these 3 RPC crews make up the medals, with the next fastest challenge coming from the non-RPC based Nelson crew.

Coverage of this race will be on Sky Sport 1 on Friday the 22nd February 2008.

MENS PREMIER 2-

This will be another international quality race, three crews are capable of winning the event. Carl Meyer and his NZ fours partner Hamish Bond (are they still coached by Fred Strachan?) representing RPC South, have placed second in 2007 and 2006. They won their heat without any real threat from the Nelson crew.

The other half of the NZ coxless four, James Dallinger and Eric Murray rowing for the Waikato RPC, will be looking to show New Zealand that they are the real power in the NZ four, and they look like they have a boat fast enough to make this a good race. They won their heat in the reasonable time of 6:31, 4 seconds ahead of Nathan Twaddle and Rob Helstrom.

Nathan and Rob, representing Auckland RPC, are unlikely to let the NZ four guys dominate this race. Nathan still sits comfortably in the NZ pair, and Rob Helstrom has had an amazing record in this event, first winning it in 1998 with Andrew Gibbard for Horrowhenua rowing club (they also won the senior pair that season), he later won the event for Waikato rowing club and then for Wairau rowing club. Most recently winning the event with Sean O’niel, who has since left NZ rowing to row in the Irish coxless four.

Coverage of this race will be on Sky Sport 1 on Friday the 22nd February 2008.

MENS SENIOR 4-

The senior grade in New Zealand rowing is traditionally the realm of the up and coming athletes, those not quite ready to compete head to head with the likes of Carl Meyer, Hamish Bond, Nathan Cohen, etc… Looking at the results of the heat, only 7 seconds separated the field, even though they all advance to the final!

Hamilton are current title holders, but are not present in the 2008 field. Hawkes Bay look to be the crew to beat, winning the heat and placing second in 2007, though on Harrison and Smith returning from that crew. Auckland placed 4th in the event in 2007, but race with a completely new #1 crew in 2008.

Nelson are likely to show some real power in the final, but with 7 seconds covering the field in the heat, this is likely to be an exciting race.

Coverage of this race will be on Sky Sport 1 on Saturday the 23rd February 2008.

I’m planning to watch all of the events on Saturday, with coverage from 9am to 4pm on Sky 1. We’ve recently turned off Sky sport, so I’ll spend the day at the gym. I figure I’ll get in shape on the treadmill.