RowingRelated

The Kiwi Pair racing to the line, Cambridge Town Cup (Screen capture) It has been a minute, but we're back. And there's much to catch up on, not least of which are the goings on at the Cambridge Town Cup in New Zealand, where a host of Olympians and Olympic hopefuls from arguably the world's strongest rowing federation locked horns over the weekend.

Results from H1 of the M2x (via  @SinkovicBros ) The second World Rowing Cup of the season is underway in Varese, Italy, and there are a couple international athletes who are winning both on and off the water. After the racing today, which saw both Mahe Drysdale and the Sinkovic Brothers progress to the A/B semifinals, three of the world's best scullers took to Twitter, with Drysdale challenging Martin and Valent Sinkovic to come race in the single. And the results? Fantastic.

This week's video comes to us from Christchurch, New Zealand, where Canterbury Rowing Club (est. 1861) is preparing for the New Zealand Rowing Championships, to be held this week at Lake Ruataniwha. The video offers a mix of on-the-water training, land workouts, and the kind of general faffing about necessary at all good rowing clubs. Along with Canterbury Rowing Club, the best of the best will be competing this week, including Mahé Drysdale , Robbie Manson , and Hamish Bond —the trio who finished first, second, and third (separated by 0.6 seconds) at the North Island Club Championships, featured in our VOTW last week . This year, Bond will be racing in the M1x, M2-, M4-, and M8+ (for a look back at the final of the 2014 championships, which Bond won by roughly half a length over Drysdale, watch the video here ). Keep tabs on the results from Lake Ruataniwha here: http://www.rowit.co.nz/regattas/nzcc2015 And coming up this week, our interview with Beijing bronze medalist an...

This week's video comes to us from New Zealand, where the North Island Club Championships took place at Lake Karapiro over the weekend. The regatta saw what is currently the best overall team in the world go head to head in small boats, and the results were suitably outstanding, with perhaps the ultimate nail-biter finish in the men's premier single, shown above. Heading into the final few meters, reigning Olympic champion Mahé Drysdale just barely holds off a furious charge from two other Olympians— Robbie Manson and Hamish Bond . As they cross the line, less than 0.6 seconds separates the first three athletes, with Drysdale avenging his loss to Bond at last year's North Island Champs , and Manson making good on early season promise in 2015. When all was said and done, Mahé took gold in a time of 6:58.46, Manson silver in 6:58.79, and Bond bronze in 6:59.01. The other half of the Kiwi Pair, Eric Murray , finished sixth in the A Final. Another notable result was Kerri...

This week, we're throwing it back to the Olympic Games in Athens, and the final of the men's coxless four. In a regatta that was filled to the brim with excellent racing, this might have been the best of the lot. It features a shocking number of the most successful rowing athletes in international racing history, including Matthew Pinsent , James Cracknell , and Jake Wetzel , and the finish has to be seen to be believed—in the end, the victory for Team GB earned Pinsent his fourth Olympic gold medal, securing his place in the pantheon of world rowing. While the above video includes commentary from each of the rowers in the British four, and helps set the stage for a dramatic final, the below offers look at the race in its entirety. Take a closer look at that New Zealand men's four—does anyone look familiar? Mahé Drysdale is sitting in the two seat, and the boat is stroked by Eric Murray . Mind = blown, right? Have an ideal candidate for #TBT for #FBF next week? Sho...

This week's video comes to us from Down Under, and features highlights from the 2012 Australian Boat Race—an event that eerily resembled the proceedings in 2014, with Sydney taking top honors on the men's side, while the MUWBC women prevailed for the fifth time in five tries. The race featured a number of Australian national team athletes, and while the Melbourne men managed to wrench the trophy from their Sydney counterparts in 2013, this year Fergus Pragnell and company reclaimed the cup on home water. You can read a summary of the racing , which saw SUBC top MUBC by 12 seconds, and MUWBC defeat SUWBC by a very convincing 33 seconds, on the official site of the Australian Boat Race.

This week's Friday edition video comes to us from New Zealand , where the Kiwi sporting world recently celebrated the best of the best at the 51st Westpac Halberg Awards . The video follows the career of 2006 Halberg Award-winner (and four-time Sportsman of the Year) Mahé Drysdale , from beginnings and first world titles in the single, through difficulties in Beijing (where Drysdale battled illness, still managing to make the podium), to his Olympic champion year in 2012. Following their performance in London, the joint winners of the 2012 Halberg Award were Hamish Bond and Eric Murray , and the above trio have continued to reach for the loftiest heights on and off the water. While sculling success is nothing new to Murray, it's been Bond who has excelled in the single this year, racking up four straight victories over both Drysdale and Murray at the Christmas regatta, the Cambridge Town Cup, the North Island championships, and the national championships—the latter a close ...

This weekend marked the second showdown between 2012 Olympic champions Mahé Drysdale , Eric Murray , and Hamish Bond in the men's single, and once again Hamish Bond emerged victorious. The finish order this time saw Bond cross first ahead of Drysdale, with Robbie Manson edging Murray into fourth place. While Drysdale took some time following the Games in London to make his decision regarding the long road to Rio, Bond and Murray were back at it, and as fast as ever (or faster, even) throughout the 2013 season. And, that desire to perform to the best of their abilities regardless of the race or time of year continues to produce results for the Kiwi Pair.

Australia's Kim Crow might just be the best athlete in women's rowing, coming off an Olympiad with two trips to the podium, and now adding another Australian national title in the women's open single to her outstanding rowing resume. Fittingly, Part 9 (above) of Mike Nicholson's newest film, ' School for Sculling ,' is dedicated to Crow, who entered the racing in Sydney battling some physical issues that have kept her away from her regular training and racing regime, but who still got it done against a very talented field (including U.S. double Olympic champion Elle Logan , who finished just under three seconds back of Crow in second place). The racing at the first World Rowing Cup of 2013 kicks off on Friday morning at 8am Sydney local time, and the strongest squads are likely to be very familiar from the 2012 Olympic Games, with a great deal of the international talent focused on the women's side. Team GB will be looking to get the Road to Rio sta...

December 2012 issue of Rowing Magazine With midsummer approaching Down Under, a wave of retirements in the international rowing community has already drastically changed the landscape for the 2013 season, with the most recent announcement coming from Rowing Australia: four-time Olympic medalist Drew Ginn has decided to trade in his oar for a megaphone , and will be taking on a new role as joint head coach of the Aussie national team, alongside long-time coach Chris O'Brien . Not long ago, Kiwi Olympic bronze medalist Juliette Haigh announced her retirement from international rowing, as did Kiwi Matthew Trott , and it appears that Mahé Drysdale may be on the verge of calling it quits as well, after winning his first Olympic gold medal in London. Here in the U.S., Luke McGee and Bryan Volpenhein will be the new duo in charge of the U.S. men's team, as we've already discussed , while the DRV (Deutscher Ruderverband) will have to move on without the architect of their...

There he is again! Eric Murray is having an epic offseason following an even better season (and before what could be his best season yet), jumping into the men's single and edging reigning world champion Mahé Drysdale by roughly three feet to take bragging rights for winter training on Lake Karapiro. The footage comes from the North Island Club Championships, courtesy of johnrothery's YouTube Channel . While we're sure Murray enjoyed this, we're pretty certain that he'll be sticking to the pair–a crew that has been so dominant that we are seeing a reshuffling of the GB Rowing squad's priorities in the build-up to 2012 (as is discussed in today's Rowing News eNewsletter ). And don't forget to check out an interview with Eric Murray regarding his recent 60-minute performance in the current issue of Rowing News magazine! Want to suggest the next 'Video of the Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, send us your sugge...

This week's video comes to us thanks to FISA's coverage of the first ever Golden Blades Regatta in St. Petersburg, Russia. The races were held in the heart of the city, and were 250m in length -- a very short sprint, which made the most of the event's prime location and viewing potential. The event was loaded with international talent, including a German men's eight (possibly their U23s?) and a women's eight from Canada, along with some big names in the men's 1x ( Mahe Drysdale , Luka Spik ) and women's 1x ( Frida Svensson , Mirka Knapkova ). The video includes interviews with several of the athletes as well as nice shots of the venue and the racing. This year marked the first running of the event, which FISA would like to become an annual regatta in St. Petersburg. For more, visit the official website of World Rowing . Note for FeedBurner subscribers: Click the title of the article to view the video on our website. This is Henley week, so upcoming is...

The first international gold medal for the US in 2011 comes from the duo of Kristin Hedstrom and Julie Nichols, who fought off a strong push from the Germans to take the race in Hamburg over the weekend. The commentary from the race video was, well, amusing, but ultimately complimentary of the US crew that finished third in Munich behind two crews from Great Britain. In the men's single, Ken Jurkowski battled his way onto the podium in Hamburg, throwing down a furious sprint and taking the bronze medal despite crossing into the final 500m in fifth place. The race video was largely an extended cut of Mahe Drysdale rowing by himself in first place, though the commentators did notice Jurkowski as he crossed the line in third, and acknowledged his performance (which has sealed up his place on the US National Team for the 2011 Senior World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia). Want to suggest the next 'Video of the Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot]...

The recent article from the RowingRelated Ed. Staff entitled, 'Winter Workouts: Why do Rowers Fear the Erg?' is garnering attention from the worldwide rowing community, and now, several Olympians have weighed in on the subject. The article, posted as a 'Guest Blog' to the Rowperfect UK site (thanks to Rebecca Caroe and Mohit Gianchandani), now has comments from British Olympian Pauline Bird, multiple-time World Champion and Olympic bronze medalist single sculler Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand, and former lightweight World Champion Frans Göbel of The Netherlands. All of this points to the fact that it is indeed a divisive issue among rowers, though the consensus seems to be that thoughtful use of the ergometer is a necessary aspect of training. Thanks very much to Rebecca and Mohit for spreading the word about this article, and we look forward to seeing how the debate develops! For more updates check out the RowingRelated Twitter feed (@rowingrelated).