NZ crews breeze through

Six New Zealand boats have progressed through the opening heats of the World Rowing Championships in the United States.

The men’s lightweight single scull of Matthew Dunham, the coxless pair of Jamie Hunter and Tom Murray, and women’s lightweight double sculls Jackie Kiddle and Zoe Mcbride all won their heats.

The men’s quad and men’s single scull, Robbie Manson, both had second place finishes, while the men’s four were third.

Kiddle and Mcbride were particularly impressive with a well paced race, coming from fourth at the 500m mark to nudge into the lead over the final 500m.

They set themselves up to shadow the Romanian duo of Ionela-livia Lehaci and Gianinaelena Beleaga until the 1500m mark, and then put on the afterburners to take the heat by just over a second.

Their time of 7:05.970 was third fastest overall, with both Poland and the United States going just under their time in the third heat.

Dunham produced the fastest time of the day in the lightweight men’s single scull, clocking the course in 6:50.430.

His rapid time dragged Norwegian Kristoffer Brun to the second fastest time of the day in second place in the heat, a full two seconds slower than Dunham.

In the hot seat to replace Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, James Hunter and Tom Murray produced a good display with the second fastest time of the day in winning their heat.

They finished in 6:27.890, more than six seconds ahead of the next best Romanians in their heat, but one and a half seconds back from Croatian pair Martin Sinkovic and Valent Sinkovic in the previous heat. The two boats set a high standard in the men’s pair.

The men’s quad of Lewis Hollows, Cameron Crampton, Nathan Flannery and Giacomo Thomas were second in their heat at 5:53.450, while Robbie Manson paced himself with second in the men’s single scull in 6:56.970.

Anthony Allen, Charlie Rogerson, Cameron Webster, and Alex Kennedy safely progressed in the, third in their heat at 6:13.720.