The New Zealand rowers finished on top of the medal table at the under-23 world championships in Italy yesterday morning, thanks to a little help from rowers with Otago links.
Former Kavanagh College pupil Zoe McBride teamed up with Sophie MacKenzie in the lightweight double and took winning form in to the final overnight on Sunday (New Zealand time), after moving through their heat and semifinal unbeaten.
McBride and MacKenzie led through the first 500m of the final and slowly moved away from their rivals to win by four seconds over Romania.
Their gold was one of two on the day for New Zealand.
The men's eight backed up their world championship win from last year by downing the United States and Australia in a time of 5min 28.82sec.
The two golds from day two of finals were added to the four medals - including one gold - won on day one.
Oamaru rower Johanna Kearney and her team-mates in the women's four claimed the silver medal in their event after putting in a surging sprint over the closing stages.
The gold medal on day one went the way of the much-heralded women's pair of Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast, who lived up to their reputation with a massive 13sec win over the United States.
