It was Hamish Bond's day. He beat a world-class field to win the men's premier single sculls on Saturday.
It was billed as the feature race of the New Zealand rowing championships at Lake Karapiro and it lived up to its pre-race expectations.
There were three world and Olympic champions going hammer and tongs against each other. They all wanted to win the coveted title. No quarter was given and none requested.
Bond (North End) won the 2000m race in a time of 6min 41.34sec from Mahe Drysdale (Auckland RPC, 6min 42.41sec) and Eric Murray (Waikato RPC, 6min 45.36sec).
''I was really pleased with that race today,'' Bond told the Otago Daily Times from Karapiro.
''I would put that win alongside the world championship medals I have won in the pair.
''It was the high calibre of people in the race. To win against Mahe and Eric gave me a great sense of achievement.''
Bond (28), a four-time world champion and Olympic champion in the pair, has beaten Drysdale in four races this season.
But he does not intend to usurp Drysdale's spot for the world championships.
''No,'' he said emphatically.
''That will be my last single sculls race for a while. I will get back in the pair with Eric shortly. I'm going to quit the single while I'm on top.''
He plans to stay in the pair with Murray through to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
''We have a great combination in the pair and we are both still motivated and intend to keep it going.''
Bond won two premier gold medals at the championships and now has 18 red coats.
His seventh successive win in the pairs also gave him a lot of satisfaction. Bond and his new partner, James Lassche, won the title in a time of 6min 12.42sec.
It was just 4sec slower than the world record rowed by Bond and Murray at the London Olympics in 2012.
Bond's plan in the single sculls was to go out hard from the start and put pressure on Drysdale.
''Eric went with me and we had a break on Mahe at halfway,'' Bond said.
''But Mahe was determined not to let me have it easy and came back hard over the next 500m.''
Drysdale was on Bond's tail with 300m left.
''I had to make sure I had something left and bide my time before I kicked in the last 200m,'' Bond said.
Emma Twigg (Auckland RPC) led from the start and won her sixth successive premier women's singles title by three lengths in a time of 7min 38.31sec from the Waikato RPC pair of Zoe Stevenson and Genevieve Armstrong.
Dunedin lightweight sculler Lucy Strack (North End) was fifth in 8min 01.54sec.
Waikato RPC won the men's premier eight in 5min 42.62sec from Central RPC (5min 43.50sec), with the Bond-stroked Southern RPC crew third in 5min 51.22sec.
The Southern crew included Bond's brother, Alistair, who is a member of the Otago University club.
The Boss Rooster trophy in the coxed four, which is restricted to club crews, was won by the Waikato club by a length from Picton and Avon.
The elite and under-23 New Zealand trials will be held at Lake Karapiro on March 2-6. The New Zealand crews for the world championships will be named at the end of that week.
