Munich first chance to see 2009 NZ elite team in action
The 2009 New Zealand elite rowing team makes its first international appearance of the season this coming weekend in Munich, and hopes are high for a strong performance at the second of FISA's three round World Cup series that leads up to the World Championships in Poznan.
More than 550 athletes from 37 nations have entered the second stage of the 2009 Rowing World Cup series which will take place from 19-21 June on the 1972 Olympic regatta course.
Munich will attract some of the hard hitters of the rowing world. Germany is entered en mass and hoping to start the new Olympic cycle with a clean slate following a disappointing Beijing Olympics. In front of their home crowd and with a new head coach Hartmut Buschbacher, the German team are likely to get a good start to their London 2012 campaign. China is using the power of numbers. They have brought a huge group of provincial teams which displays their best provincial rowers along with known international athletes. The team includes 36 athletes entered in the eights alone.
Many of rowing's top single scullers have decided to put their solo ways to one side and join the team. Belgium's Tim Maeyens is set to row the double as is Switzerland's best single sculler, Andre Vonarburg. Nathan Cohen and Matthew Trott go for New Zealand. Germany's top single sculler, Marcel Hacker of Germany is trying something he hasn't done for the last decade, race in a quad. Slovenia's top two scullers, Iztok Cop and Luka Spik are also joining bigger boats. They are racing against each other in competing quads. Olympic Champion in the women's single, Rumyana Neykova has gone back to the double that she rowed in four years ago. New Zealand's single scullers will once again be Mahe Drysdale (heavyweight), Duncan Grant (lightweight) and Emma Twigg. Pete Taylor and Storm Uru are out once again in the lightweight double, hoping to build on the promise of 2008 - when they showed flashes of brilliance.
Bond and Murray should go well in the pair, and it will also be interesting to see how new combinations Twining and Reymer (double scull) and Scown and Feathery (pair) fair in their first international races together. And don't forget the new lightweight four and women's quad. Winning in their first World Cup is a big ask, but both crews will be very keen to show they have the raw pace needed at international level.
After Great Britain's runaway success at the first Rowing World Cup last month, the team is back, pretty much the same, and undoubtedly with a whole load of winner's confidence. But the stakes are higher in Munich and the turnout bigger, giving the British a whole new set of challenges. Several crews from Russia will also participate in Munich despite the late reception of their entry. This makes 37 member federations participating.
Team:
Men
Single Scull
Lightweight Single Scull - Duncan Grant (World Champion 2007, 2008)
Double Scull
Lightweight Double Scull - Storm Uru, Peter Taylor
Coxless Pair
Lightweight four
Oberlin-Brown
Women
Single Scull
Coxless Pair
Double Scull
Quadruple Scull
Armstrong