Rowing: Discarded Nisbet out to prove a point

North End rower Michael Nisbet has a point to prove after being given a no-confidence report card from the Southern Regional Performance Centre.

He failed to regain a place in the elite South Island squad that will train in Christchurch from December.

Nisbet (22), an apprentice carpenter, was booted out of the squad because he failed an ergometer test.

The standard set for the 2000m ergometer test was 6min 03sec and Nisbet was timed at 6min 16sec.

"They said I was too slow and had not done enough fitness training during the winter," Nisbet told the Otago Daily Times.

Nisbet had his first stint training with the Southern RPC last summer and proved his ability on the water by winning a bronze medal in the premier double sculls at the New Zealand championships at Lake Ruataniwha.

Nisbet has a record of winning at the national championships and won gold medals in the club single and double sculls when the championships was held at Ruataniwha in 2007.

Nisbet may not achieve on the ergometer but he knows how to perform on the water.

He did it again at the annual North End Club regatta on Saturday by winning two open men's events on the Taieri River at Henley.

Nisbet was part of the Royce Wilson-coached North End coxless four with Alistair Bond, Matt Adam and Curtis Bush that comfortably beat an Otago University crew.

In the open single sculls Nisbet beat Bond and Thomas Stott (Otago).

It was not just the winning margin that has marked out Nisbet as a rower of special promise but his skilful and efficient technique.

His efforts helped North End retain the Butterfield Shield for the club with the highest number of aggregate points.

When rough weather forced the regatta to be abandoned after 22 of the 30 scheduled events, North End had accumulated 79 points and was followed by Otago 20, Port United 11 and Otago University 10.

The regatta was scheduled to be held at Lake Waihola, but when the strong southerly roughed up the water the officials decided to shift the venue to the river.

Another key member of the North End winning crews was Alistair Bond (20), who was in two winning crews and was runner-up to Nisbet in the single sculls.

He is the younger brother of double world champion Hamish Bond and teamed with North End club mates Curtis Bush, Robbie Mears and Matt Smaill to beat Port United in the men's club four.

North End also hit the jackpot in the under-21 single sculls with Robbie Mears winning from club mate Scott Vandenbosch.

North End was also helped by its school crews in the women's eights with Lizzie Wallace-Gibbs's Columba College crew winning the under-18 event and Annabelle Palmer's St Hilda's combination winning the under-15 race.

The other highlight came in the women's open quadruple sculls when the star-studded Otago University women's crew of Elyse Fraser, Sarah Lindley, Anna Price and Sam Scott dominated the race from the start to beat North End.

University rowers controlled the open pair with Fraser and Lindley beating Scott and Price.