Proud Kiwis

A rather large factor in Laura and my decision about accommodation in Amsterdam was if the Bosbaan would be easy to reach as the Rowing World Champs was had brought us to Amsterdam in the first place. The place we finally chose, according to information on the website and Google Maps, did seem only a short forest-bike ride away. On our first day, however, Laura and I headed off for Amsterdam city as we only had tickets for the last 4 days of rowing. However, what we didn’t realise was that the rowing was on the way to the city, and thus when after about 15 minutes of biking the trees suddenly opened up only a few meters from the big World Rowing arch it was a total surprise. Of the best kind! Though I had of course been very excited to go, suddenly seeing the entrance and even being able to hear muffled commentary from the lake I suddenly realised that yes, I was really here. In Amsterdam! To watch the Rowing World Champs. That I would once again see New Zealand’s amazing rowing athletes and be able to cheer them on just as  proudly and loudly as I had four years ago when the Champs were held at Lake Karapiro, New Zealand.

Our forest bike to the Bosbaan

The Bosbaan

Finally the day came that we could actually go, we rushed over on our bikes tickets safely stowed in our pockets ready and waiting. Once tickets were scanned we walked out the door, along the wood-chip path past various tents selling sporty rowy things and (not going to lie) stopped briefly to buy an HUGE, mouth-wateringly amazing chocolate chip cookie… I do believe that it is ok to indulge at times! As we entered the general admission I was at first actually unsure if it WAS the general admission area. Along the back were all the VIP lounges, as well as café and food tents. In front of these was a large bar surrounded by bar tables and stools until finally in front of that were more, lower tables, chairs and benches on the lakes edge. For our 60 euro for 4 days tickets I was expecting some wet, muddy grass to sit on and was incredibly and pleasantly surprised by how fancy our area was. Another thing we noticed straight away on arriving in the GA area were the two large promo posters that had the faces of the rowers cut out to make one of those stick-your-head-in-and-take-a-photo things, and before long we had taken several dozen photos before we got a little audience and felt too embarrassed to continue!

 

Laura posing in the double poster

Laura posing in the single (mens!) poster

My way to calm and collected pose smile

After exploring the immediate area of the GA we headed down towards the signposted “PICNIC” area which turned out to be a little walk to about the 500m mark where a whole bunch of international food caravans were set out in a semicircle around another central bar, with picnic tables on the water’s edge. Though we always ended up bring our own lunch, all the food looked mouth wateringly good and had we had not been such stingy broke-youths-travelling I am sure we would have indulged in that too!

 

The PICNIC area

 Now that I have set the scene I do believe it is time to get into the actual rowing! And boy, was it amazing. New Zealand is best known of course for the All Blacks and thus it is rugby that people think is our one and only sporting strong point. However, I would just like to point out that in fact New Zealand is pretty damn amazing at rowing too! Just to give a brief overview, of the 11 New Zealand crews that raced, 9 medalled (6 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze) leading to New Zealand coming out at the TOP of the medal table! Yes, in our little country of 4.2 million people, New Zealand managed to produce rowers and crews that beat, time and time again, the rest of the world! And to be there, cheering them on was an absolute privilege. You see, last time we were cheering on our elite rowers at World Champs was in New Zealand, and thus the majority of the supporters were also Kiwis. But in Amsterdam we were definitely outnumbered, but in a way, that is what made it so special. When our crews would come down the lake, kicking off their famous sprints that seem to always win them their medals and Laura and I began our deafening cries of “GOOOOOOOO NEW ZEEEEEEEEAAAALAND!” frantically waving our flag we would always recieve numerous looks from by standers who would first seem confused, then (though I may be imagining it) slightly jealous that it was our country that had just left theirs in our wake, before a final “congratulations!” which of course we received graciously even though it was not us dying after winning a 2000m race against other world renowned crews.

 

Photo with the AMAZING Emma Twig -- we cheered loudly for her as per her request!

The women's pair

The women's lightweight double

Being creative with the NZ blades

As the days went on and New Zealand continued to win more medals and Hamish Bond and Eric Murray continued to annihilate their opponents and break world records in their new “we wanted a challenge” coxed pair event, Laura and I got more and more looks and comments on the country we are both so proud of. After the pair's for mentioned new world record we got a congratulations from a Dutch woman and when we left that day and were asked how our day was, our simple answer of “We are New Zealand” was enough to get heads turning, smiles and “Well it must have been an amazing day then!” On the final day we even managed to get some British supporters cheering on New Zealand (when Great Britain was not racing of course) and Laura and I even offered our heart-felt congratulations to them when their Lightweight Men’s Four came in third place (just over one second behind our Kiwi boys in second). Even after I had left the rowing the amazingness of our Kiwi team did not go unmentioned. While standing in the Starbucks line at the airport I was asked, “So how did you go?” At first I was, of course, really rather confused but then I remembered I was wearing my new World Rowing hoodie, and so I answered “Well, I’m from New Zealand so…” Again this was a sufficient answer to get a warm “Congratulations!” and “It’s an incredible team” and “You know I’ve been told to send our rowers there for some training!”

 

Hamish, Eric and Caleb in the coxed pair

 

Hamish, Eric and Caleb in the coxed pair

Hamish and Eric - the famous pair



Hamish and Eric on the podium



Watching the New Zealand rowers fly down the course brought back so many memories of my high school rowing making me feel all warm and fuzzy and nostalgic, and after bumping into my last season’s mentor, an old coach, and various members of the New Zealand team I was almost ready to ask them to pack me into their suitcase and take me back home so I could start rowing again! It was truly an absolutely amazing experience and I loved every moment of it. If there is one certainty I know is that if you start rowing it becomes a part of you that will remain with you for the rest of your life.