Florida mission for rowers
Forget Hurricane Irma. A couple of Marlborough rowers are hoping to stir up a storm of their own in Florida later this month.
Robbie Manson and Tom Murray flew out of New Zealand on Thursday, bound for Saratosa, on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
The duo are part of a powerful elite Kiwi team, hoping to stamp their mark on the 2017 world rowing championships which will be staged from September 23-October 1.
There were suggestions that the New Zealanders may be forced to delay their departure, but the venue for the champs was spared the worst of the storm and the athletes got the green light.
Both Manson and Murray admitted keeping a watchful eye on proceedings as the region was lashed by destructive winds and rain earlier this week and are grateful to leave when planned.
If the two Marlborough men had hoped to slip onto the world championship stage under the radar, their efforts over the European summer put paid to that.
Single sculler Manson set the ball rolling at the Poznan World Cup regatta, powering through the 2000m course in six minutes 30.74, three seconds faster than Mahe Drysdale’s world best time. The 27-year-old Wairau Rowing Club member did not take part on the third World Cup regatta, in Lucerne, but had done more than enough to put the world on notice.
Murray, from the Blenheim Rowing Club, had the toughest act to follow in world rowing. He and Jamie Hunter were handed the keys to the coxless pair, formerly crewed by Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, the most dominant crew on the planet.
If international rivals sensed weakness in the Kiwi ranks they were forced to think again as Hunter and Murray blitzed a world-class field in Lucerne, sending a clear message that this country’s excellence in the pair is far from over.
In Saratosa, both crews know they will now wear large targets on their backs, but the Kiwis would have it no other way.
Manson felt, before heading to Europe, that he was capable of turning in a winning effort but was reluctant to say anything until he had proven himself.
‘‘Now everyone has seen how fast I can go, so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t wanting to go there and win. That’s the goal and the expectation, and if it doesn’t happen I will be disappointed.’’
He doesn’t expect any surprises on the start line in Saratosa, with the same scullers he competed against in Europe still his main threats.
‘‘I guess some of the guys maybe didn’t go as fast as they are capable of at the World Cups . . . [Ondrej] Synek and Damir [Martin] were back a bit at Lucerne. But there won’t be anyone new that hasn’t raced this year, other than possibly developing nations.’’
Murray and Hunter also head for the States with weighty expectations.
‘‘We are pretty excited to have that target and to be the No 1 seed going in. We were relatively unknown heading into Lucerne, but now a lot of eyes will be on us and some of our rivals will base their race strategies around how we raced in Europe. It’s always a good feeling knowing people are wary of you.’’
Murray suggested he and Hunter always put ‘‘relentless expectation’’ on themselves, and their goals were clear. ‘‘After Lucerne, there is only one way this will turn out that we will be happy with.’’
Both crews have battled injury during their preparation, Manson’s rib injury particularly well-publicised.
’I’ve been back in the boat for about a week and it seems to be tracking well. Everything is looking good at this stage. [My rib injury] has recovered as fast as we could have hoped . . . I had about three weeks out of the boat so I am slowly building back up to a seminormal training load.
‘‘We have had to manage things really carefully, make sure we don’t push it too soon. I’ve been putting in the work on the bike, so my fitness is good, it’s just about getting my technique back to where it was when I was going fast in Europe, which shouldn’t take too long.’’
‘‘Obviously it hasn’t been the ideal preparation, but it never really is . . . there’s always challenges, so it’s just another one.’’
Murray and Hunter have also had a few injury issues. ‘‘Jamie and I are both pretty prone to injury,’’ said Murray. ‘‘We’ve both got pretty bad backs so through the whole campaign there has been a lot of monitoring [of our bodies] and making sure we are not being too reckless. We have done pretty well at that . . . haven’t had to take too much time out of the boat and we are still taking steps forward, even at this late stage, which is pretty exciting leading into the regatta.’’
Manson has already won a world championship medal, a bronze in 2015, but plans to improve on that in the coming weeks.
‘‘This is definitely the best chance I’ve had. I had a good chance in 2013 and last year in Rio but things didn’t go to plan. It seems the universe is throwing everything at me this time but I think I still have a pretty good chance.’’
Murray and Hunter are keen to step out of the giant shadow of their predecessors, ready to make their own destiny. ‘‘We expect a fair bit of talk and comparison . . . but we have moved past that sort of expectation. We are our own crew, we row differently, we have different strengths and weaknesses.’’
Murray has already won three world titles, with the junior eight in 2012 and the under-23 big boat in 2013 and 2014, but suggests he will be ‘‘looking pretty greedily’’ at his first elite title.
‘‘We have trained ridiculously hard, there have been times earlier in the year when I didn’t know I could be so run down and fatigued. So it’s been a really big year and we are looking forward to having it pay off,’’ he added.