The Otago club double sculls of Gretchen Brownstein and Renee Perrie brought a bottle of red wine to the New Zealand championships at Lake Ruataniwha.
But the bottle will not be opened until tonight, when they should have the glow of two gold medals around their necks.
When they came to the national regatta the pair were confident of winning the women's club double sculls, which is taking place today.
They gained the bonus yesterday by winning the gold medal in the women's senior double sculls in a closely fought race with West End.
The Otago crew won in a time of 7min 45.35sec and beat the Auckland combination of Jennie Tiers and Hana McEwan by 0.85sec.
"It was the dessert for us," Perrie said. "We will crack open the wine and celebrate after the club double tomorrow. It's awesome to do this for the club that has been so supportive for us."
This is the second year they have rowed together.
At the national championships at Lake Karapiro last year they finished fourth in the club double sculls and sixth in the senior event.
Brownstein (29), a PhD student in botany at the University of Otago, started rowing in Seattle, US, eight years ago.
Perrie (23), a science graduate from the University of Otago, started rowing at Otago Girls High School.
This was her third gold medal at a national championships.
She was in the winning Maadi Cup crew in 2004 and a year later won the under-19 double sculls with the North End club and was second in the under-21 event.
The 5.30am starts on Otago Harbour and another session in the evening on the Taieri River at Henley have brought results.
It was a tight battle with West End and it was only after Otago made a move with 750m left that the pair got the edge and they held on during an intense finish to win narrowly.
"The adrenaline kicked in for us over the last 250m," Perrie said.
North End's Sonya MacDonald (30), an Oamaru bank officer, ended her rowing career on a high note by sprinting over the last 250m to win a silver medal in the women's club single sculls.
"I can now retire in style," MacDonald said. Rebecca Harrison (Hawkes Bay) won the race in 8min 13.06sec, MacDonald was timed at 8min 14.70sec and Rachael O'Connell (North End) was third in 8min 14.87sec.
O'Connell (22), the daughter of North Otago farmer Ray O'Connell, the Otago rugby prop in the 1980s, started rowing at St Kevins College.
Otago rowers won six medals on the first day of the championships - two gold, one silver and three bronze.
There was a delay of three hours because of rough conditions on the lake. These worsened and the regatta was called off for the day at 5.15pm.
Eight races failed to start; these will be held from 7.30am today.
