That is something Bryce Abernethy knows all too well. The 22-year-old heads into this weekend’s Otago championships at Lake Ruataniwha as one of the favourites, coming off a full winter’s training. One of a record 1169 entrants in the event, Abernethy is among the biggest names at this year’s regatta, thanks to that hard work.
"Everyday’s a battle [through the winter]," the 22-year-old former Taieri College pupil said.
"There’s not a day goes by that you wake up on one of those days, when it’s negative-something degrees and you’ve got to cycle eight or 10km to training in the freezing, and you don’t think ‘why am I doing this? This sucks’.
"But when you look back you never remember that. You remember how good you went or how bad you went, you remember the good stuff."
There has been plenty of that good stuff lately, as Abernethy recently returned from the Netherlands, where he rowed at his second world championships with the New Zealand under-23 team. While coming home with a disappointing result, he said it was an amazing regatta. Both senior and junior crews were present.
Being in the national squad meant that he spent much of the winter training at Lake Karapiro and the summer in Christchurch with the Southern RPC club.
"It’s crazy training up there [Lake Karapiro]. I kind of went into it last year expecting it was going to be like a light switch effect. Like you’re there and all of a sudden you’re good at rowing.
"But the reason you’re so good up there is that it’s so competitive. Every session, everyday it’s so competitive. You can really see why everyone does so well. It was crazy. It was such hard work, but I’d definitely do it again."
Abernethy had achieved highly from that work, notably picking up two gold medals at this year’s national championships. Despite rowing with Southern RPC crews, he still represented the Otago Rowing Club and his points from the regatta counted towards the club’s total. He returned to train on the Otago Harbour whenever he could.
"Dunedin’s great for training, just because you can row for so long in one direction without having to turn around.
"It’s not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Yeah, it gets windy, but every place gets affected by the wind and let’s be honest, there’s no place better than Dunedin."
Abernethy competed in the lightweight crews at the national and international level, although there was no lightweight category at events below that. This weekend he is entered in the open singles, doubles and quadruple sculls, competing under the Southern RPC name, but still wearing his Otago colours.
"I love [rowing for Otago]. My dad and his dad both rowed for Otago as well. Even this weekend, the row suit I’m racing in is my Dad’s one. He raced in it and he gave it to me when I started rowing, so I’ll have the oldest row suit on the course but it will be all good."
The regatta begins today and concludes tomorrow afternoon.
