Rowing: Dunedin school pair reach two finals

More medals will be on the agenda for Kavanagh College pupils Zoe McBride and Hannah Duggan at Lake Karapiro today.

The Otago club members will be competing in the women's club double sculls final at the New Zealand championships.

Lake Karapiro is a happy hunting ground for the pair, who won two double sculls gold medals on the lake at the Maadi Cap regatta last year.

The pair have displayed an ability to lift their performance on the big occasion under the direction of coach John Parnell.

They qualified for the final by finishing third in the semifinal at Lake Karapiro yesterday behind crews from Hauraki Plains and Waihopai, in a time of 7min 39.41sec.

Both rowers also qualified for the final of the women's club single sculls to be held tomorrow.

The first four scullers in the semifinal heat qualified for the final. McBride was first in 8min 4.77sec and Duggan was fourth in 8min 19.75sec.

Anna McAslin (North End) was third in the other semifinal in 8min 12.95sec and also qualified for the A final.

The best Otago performance in the semifinals came from international Fiona Bourke (Otago University), who came a close second to world championship bronze medallist Emma Twigg (Auckland RPC) to qualify for the final of the women's premier single sculls.

Twigg was timed at 7min 34.10sec and Bourke at 7min 35.73sec.

Lucy Strack (North End), who finished runner-up to Twigg in last year's heavyweight final, was relegated to the B final when she finished fifth in 7min 51.57sec.

Hamish Bond, of North End, is on target for two more red coats today after he and Jade Uru comfortably won the men's premier pair semifinal in 6min 37.24sec. Bond will be defending the pair and the four.

Bond is unbeaten in both the pair and the straight four at New Zealand championships since 2007 and can be expected to add to his huge list of national titles.

In the pair, Bond will be pitted against New Zealand team-mate Eric Murray, who is paired with former Maadi Cup winner and New Zealand men's eight rower Tyson Williams.

Murray and Williams won their semifinal heat in 6min 32.91sec, 5sec faster than Bond's time.

Two Otago rowers qualified in the men's club single sculls.

Simon Smith (Dunstan) finished third in the semifinal in 7min 27.55sec and Jamie Saunders (University) qualified in the other heat when he finished runner-up in 7min 21.14sec.

In the men's club double sculls the Dunstan pair of Simon Smith and Doug Cryer qualified for the final when they finished fourth in 6min 46.54sec.

Otago University qualified two crews in the women's novice double sculls semifinals. Sophie Smith and Nicola Shanks finished second in 8min 01.11sec and Kate Stretton and Rose Taylor were fourth in 8min 21.55sec.