Young North End Rowing Club members Michael Nisbet (21) and Lucy Strack (19) have been training hard all season for the opportunity to trial for the New Zealand U23 Team.
They have spent much of their summer in Twizel on the water at Lake Ruataniwha building up their speed and endurance.
Nisbet, a building apprentice, has been coached by Dunedin coaches Royce Wilson and Fred Strachan, and Strack, a student, by Dave Hill from the Southern Regional Performance Centre.
Strack and Nisbet are members of the Southern Regional Performance Centre that provides some coaching and training assistance for them to aim for NZ selection.
Both have previously been members of the NZ U21 team. They have both been performing well at the provincial regattas in all sculling events with their focus being on singles and doubles.
At the recent Canterbury Championship regatta which was also the NZ Small Boat Regatta they achieved the qualifying standards for a NZ trial by performing well within 2% of the winners of the Open Single event.
This places them in the top few rowers in their age (and in Strack's case, weight) category and will see them up against the top young rowers in New Zealand vying for places in the squad to compete at the World U23 Champs in the Czech Republic in July.
Strack is a natural lightweight but has been competing in the open classes to build her racing performances.
In early February at the South Island Champs, she came a close second to Waihopia's Sarah Barnes in the Open Single sculls, second in the Open Double with her partner Kate French (also from Waihopai), and was in the key stroke seat in the winning Open Quad.
Her results so far this season put her amongst the top 4 lightweight scullers in New Zealand and she is now focusing on the lightweight events at the New Zealand Champs starting on February 17th.
Nisbet has been jockeying for position amongst the top South Island single scullers in the recent regattas, and at the South Island Championships was just beaten for the first time by fellow RPC member and now doubles partner John Storey and they were convincing winners of the Open Double.
Both Strack and Nisbet are prepared to postpone their work and study plans for the opportunity to represent New Zealand and move to Cambridge and Lake Karapiro for training if selected at the trials in early March.
They are seeking to follow in the footsteps of fellow club member Hamish Bond.
With the World Rowing Champs at Karapiro in 2010 and the London Olympics in 2012, the pair are hoping to be part of the next wave of Kiwi rowing successes.
