A golden day for rowing

The New Zealand men's lightweight four. Photo / Getty Images

The New Zealand rowers quite literally had a golden day in Lucerne yesterday; the Herald reports:

New Zealand's successful lightweight men's four are expecting the competition to close right up as the world championships draw near.
The quartet of James Hunter, Peter Taylor, James Lassche and Curtis Rapley won their second World Cup final of the year in Lucerne last night, part of a bumper night for the New Zealand elite rowing group.
Six golds were won from 11 A finals, others to grab wins including both single scullers, Mahe Drysdale and Emma Twigg, the unbeatable men's pair of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, lightweight single sculler Julia Edward and the women's double of Zoe Stevenson and Fiona Bourke.
New Zealand has won the World Cup crown after finishing the three regattas with 141 points, 15 clear of Britain with Australia third on 125.
At the team's last World Cup showing in Aiguebelette, France last month they claimed six medals - five gold and one bronze, preceded by five medals at the opening cup regatta in Sydney in March.

We watched Eric Murray and Hamish Bond race to yet another victory last night; has there been a more dominant New Zealand sporting team at international level? Mahe Drysdale is a machine, Emma Twigg has emerged as a superb sculler, and the other winning crews all performed very well.

For New Zealand to have won its first overall World Cup is a feather in the cap for the sport. Here's hoping this success can be carried into the upcoming World Championships in Amsterdam next month, and to the 2016 Olympics where our rowers could bring the country further delight.