The New Zealand national rowing championships at the weekend saw a major upset when Mahe Drysdale, long the fastest sculler in the country was beaten by Nathan Cohen in the single scull race. Interestingly the third spot was won by lightweight, Peter Taylor who also won the Lightweight 1x event over Duncan Grant. Drysdale placed third in the double sculls competition with Peter Taylor while West End clubmate Bradley Jowitt who raced for Samoa at the recent world champs joined forces with visiting Belgian sculler, Tim Maeyens to come fourth. Full results here and here.
The New Zealand single sculls title has not been held by many people in recent years, before Mahe, the long time winner was Rob Waddell who overthrew Richard Newey (one year title holder) and before him Eric Verdonk who won 7 singles titles in a row.
Bankside chatter noticed that he was several kilos heavier than at the Worlds in November and speculation surrounding his back injury and arthritis scare was active.
Several top athletes were injured including Juliette Haigh and Storm Uru .
Related articles
- Drysdale loses single sculls title to Cohen (3news.co.nz)
