Click photo to enlarge
New Zealand's gold medalists Hamish Bond, right, and Eric
Murray, left, pose after the medal ceremony for the Men's
Pair final race during the Rowing World Championships in
Poznan, western Poland. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
Hamish Bond added to a golden year in Otago sport when he
joined an elite club of world rowing champions at the weekend.
Bond and Eric Murray blitzed their opponents to win the men's
coxless pairs at the world championships in Poznan, Poland.
Their effort came five months after Otago cyclist Alison
Shanks won the 3000m individual pursuit at the world cycling
championships in Pruskow, Poland.
Bond, who is based with the national squad at Lake Karapiro
but rows out of Dunedin's North End club, won four red coats
at the national championships in February.
Bond and Murray are now double world champions, having been
part of New Zealand's triumphant men's four two years ago.
They were heavily favoured going into the race and left their
competition in no doubt as they jumped out to a commanding
lead after just 500m.
"We just flew out at the start," Bond said.
"We gave it everything in that first 500 and took that
length."
The burden of expectations was not something Bond and Murray
were used to in the four.
But unbeaten going into this final, they were well aware they
were marked men.
It was clearly something that played on the mind, with a look
of relief written across their faces as they came off the
water.
"It's a weight off my shoulders," Bond said.
"I've been stressing the last few days. It was a new thing
for us going in as favourites."
The British pair of Andrew Triggs Hodge and Peter Reed were
expected to be their main threat, and that was the case as
they pursued the New Zealanders down the course.
However, they never had the boat speed as Bond and Murray
romped away to win in 6min 15.93sec, just over a second
outside the world record.
"There were times throughout the season when I was thinking,
`this better be worth it because, man, it sucks right now',"
Bond said.
"We did some really hard training with [coach] Dick [Tonks]
this year but it's all worth it now."
Bond, who was a pupil at Otago Boys High School, and Murray
now take aim at world domination in the lead-up to the 2012
London Olympics.
