Video Of The Week: As close as it gets at the North Island Club Championships in New Zealand



This week's video comes to us from New Zealand, where the North Island Club Championships took place at Lake Karapiro over the weekend. The regatta saw what is currently the best overall team in the world go head to head in small boats, and the results were suitably outstanding, with perhaps the ultimate nail-biter finish in the men's premier single, shown above. Heading into the final few meters, reigning Olympic champion Mahé Drysdale just barely holds off a furious charge from two other Olympians—Robbie Manson and Hamish Bond. As they cross the line, less than 0.6 seconds separates the first three athletes, with Drysdale avenging his loss to Bond at last year's North Island Champs, and Manson making good on early season promise in 2015. When all was said and done, Mahé took gold in a time of 6:58.46, Manson silver in 6:58.79, and Bond bronze in 6:59.01. The other half of the Kiwi Pair, Eric Murray, finished sixth in the A Final.

Another notable result was Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast's victory in the women's premier pair, with the 2014 U23 and senior world gold medalists (the latter in the W4- in Amsterdam) edging senior team rivals Rebecca Scown (2012 Olympic bronze medalist) and Genevieve Behrent by roughly four seconds, with Kayla Pratt and Holly Greensdale taking bronze in the event. You can view complete results fro the North Island Club Championships here.

More on Rowing NZ to come here on RR, as we chat with Beijing bronze medalist George Bridgewater, who finished 7th overall in the men's premier single, about his Olympic success and the road back to the national team after pursuing a career through the last Olympic cycle.

Have a submission for 'Video Of The Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, send us your suggestions via Twitter, or get in touch via our Facebook or Google+ pages.

-RR

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