Team New Zealand might have missed a trick.
Hamish Bond and Eric Murray lightheartedly suggested a spot in the innovative cycling grinding stations on board the team’s 50-foot catamaran would not be too bad.
Sadly, it might be the only way the pair end up in the same boat again.
They strung together 69 consecutive wins during a remarkable eight-year unbeaten run in the men’s coxless pair.
They won back-to-back Olympic gold medals and combined to win eight world championship gold medals — six of them in their favoured event.
But following their success in Rio last year, they opted to take a break. Bond has used his time off the water to launch a cycling career and Murray has been recovering from knee surgery but is ready to get back on the water. Their careers seem to be on different trajectories, but neither man is prepared to concede it is over just yet.
They were in Dunedin yesterday to speak at the Otago Medical Research Foundation’s annual dinner "A Night to Remember" and told the Otago Daily Times they were uncertain whether they would resume their successful partnership.
"I guess officially we are looking at a year off and I’ve probably gone further down the rabbit hole with cycling than I perhaps initially intended,’’ Bond said.
"But at the moment I’m keen to investigate how far I can go with that and if it is plausible to be successful at the highest stage.
"It has been a change. I guess I was in high performance rowing for 11 years."
Murray nodded. He has been in the New Zealand Rowing programme since 2002 and admits it can make a rower a bit stale.
"The last few years have been difficult. We’ve always been pushing ourselves but we’ve been our own worse enemy with trying to find motivation."
What kept the pair going when it was all feeling like a grind was that wonderful unbeaten record. But victory in Rio was an opportunity to "reassess".
"I think we are both sitting here thinking do we want to go back? Do we want to try to continue that on or are we better to park it and try different things?
"I thought personally it was going to be a pretty easy decision to make but part of me really wants to get back into rowing and I’m doing that at the moment," Murray said.
"And part of me has enjoyed not being in that structured environment which I’ve been in since 2002.
"It is up in the air. We are just taking this time to see where things lie."
The 34-year-old plans to get into a single boat next week and resume training. Bond (31) will continue with his impressive fledgling cycling career. He claimed third place on the arduous Coronet Peak stage on the Tour of Southland in November to announce his arrival as a serious bike rider.
Last month he finished third in the time trial at the national championships in Napier.
"I guess I’m still in that honeymoon period where you are making progress and it is still fresh and challenging.
"I’ve sort of been meeting or exceeding a lot of my own or other people’s expectations. But it is probably when you miss one of those targets or fail at an event when your perseverance is tested. It is all easy when things are going well."
Bond’s next challenge on the bike is at the Oceania Road Cycling Championships in Canberra next month.
Murray, meanwhile, is not convinced he can get any better at his age. If he does have a future in rowing, it is probably in a much bigger boat.He suggested if New Zealand put a strong eight together, that might suit him.
"If we have a really good eight this year then sweet, let’s go’. And that would be what everyone would want to do.
"The good thing at the moment is there is a whole lot of people with similar ability. There is a group of young guys that have come through that under-23 system that are 24 or 25 now and they are fizzing after going to the Olympics, so it would be really great to be among that environment."
