Pair heavyweights of lightweight double sculling
Jackie Kiddle has a vivid recollection of a photo taken at a Maadi Cup regatta a few years ago.
There she was on the start line of a single scull final, just along a lane or t wo was Zoe McBride. They didn’t know each other, one from Wellington Girls’ College, the other a Kavanagh College student from the deep south in Dunedin.
From a passing glance across the water has grown one of New Zealand’s more accomplished and promising rowing combinations, who are hinting at becoming a formidable pairing in the world of lightweight double sculling.
There are a couple of ways of looking at successful combinations in sport. They get on well off the water and it translates on to it into a cohesive operation; or the athletes aren’t necessarily bosom buddies by any stretch, but are able to make the mix work when they get down to business.
Kiddle and McBride are good friends; they’re also highly competi- tive and seriously driven. The result has been success at age group and now senior level, with victory at the World Cup regatta in Lucerne in July. Their routes into the sport differ. “Rowing wasn’t big at Kavanagh when I started. There was only one other girl there,” McBride recalled.
“I do remember watching the Olympics in 2008 and [ double Olympic champions] Mahe Drysdale and the t wins [ Georgina Earl and Caroline Meyer] were pretty inspiring.
“Where I lived we drove past the harbour and the rowers were out every day. I was always quite sporty. A newsletter came around the school, I signed up and went from there.” Kiddle owes a debt to her father. “He identified pretty early I was a pretty determined and hard- working individual, and that was [ a quality] that could be attributed to rowing. I was at a stage where I wanted to try everything.” The pair made their mark early. There was under- 23 world champs gold two years ago, and McBride won the non- Olympic lightweight single at the senior worlds that year too; McBride, long touted a gifted individual in the making, won world gold with Sophie Mackenzie in 2014.
McBride won the world single sculling title in Rotterdam last year, at the champs for non- Olympic events; Kiddle won the lightweight single at the Poznan World Cup in June while McBride was recovering from tendinitis.
No wonder rowing officials are warming to the prospects for the women.
“We’re definitely different people. We’re friends but we’re also not attached at the hip so we do our own thing as well which i s healthy,” McBride, 22 at the end of this month, said.
“We complement each other, want the same goals and we’re very open with each other. That’s something we built very early on, having trust and being able to talk about things to make the boat go faster.”
Kiddle, at 23, and in the stroke seat, i s studying for a Bachelor of Science at Waikato University, majoring in animal behaviour; McBride is studying part time for a business degree through Massey, and both acknowledge the importance of something to take them away from the daily grind of rowing.
The lightweight category means both women must have an average weight of 57kg; neither can reach 60kg.
Kiddle shares McBride’s view that having Tokyo rattling round in the back of their minds is a good thing, rather than shutting everything out bar what they are chasing this year.
“I’m of the opinion that having Tokyo there as a driver is really important. I’m prepared to throw the next three years at it.
“The nature of New Zealand rowing is the younger ones are always trying to push up. We are going to have to keep fighting to hold our seats. That’s a positive, having people pushing you. It’s always at the back of our minds is that our seats are not safe.”
Gary Hay, overseeing the women’s programme this year, has coached McBride for the past three years and rates her highly. The teaming with Kiddle means an Olympic pathway for the pair, something not available in the single seat.
“They operate very well together, know each others strengths and weaknesses and communicate a lot round how they’re feeling. That goes a long way to making a successful combination.”
They train alongside the women’s coxless pair of Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast, who won both World Cup their regattas this year.
“That’s added a huge lift in performance individually and as a combination. You can’t go and buy that level of intensity you have day in day out, and if they go on to be successful, both crews will own a large part of that success to each other.”