Talented young rowers tour New Zealand

21 May 2009

The next generation of talented young Australian Institute of Sport rowers embarked on a six-day tour of New Zealand this week.

A squad of 27 rowers are taking part in the National Talent Identification and Development (NTID) program’s week-long tour of New Zealand. The squad includes four crews: a men and women’s quad, a men’s eight and a women’s coxless four.

All of the rowers have been identified as having high performance potential and the NTID tour will give them the opportunity to gain valuable international competition experience.

As part of the tour, the NTID squad will be completing in a 5km time trial, and in a high performance regatta competition against the New Zealand junior squad at Lake Karapiro in Hamilton.

The NTID program is a unique Australian Institute of Sport initiative that uses cutting-edge sports science to identify young athletes with characteristics associated with high performance and help prepare them for participation in domestic, national and international competition.

Rowing Australia’s Elite Development Manager Peter Shakespear says the crews will benefit greatly from the tour.

‘The four crews have been training really well and all have the potential to compete for Australia in junior, under-23 and senior A teams in the future. The tour will provide valuable experience which will be crucial in their development as elite rowers,’ said Shakespear.