Men's Pair (M2-) - Final

First to show was South Africa before Matt Langridge and James Foad of Great Britain pulled into first. The margins were very close but Bond and Murray were last. It all changed in the second 500 as Bond and Murray ate into the small British lead with every stroke and by the middle of the race the New Zealanders were out in front and moving clean away from the field.

Goosebumps is the only way to describe this utter show of dominance from the boys from ‘down south’, Bond who began his rowing as an average school boy rower and Murray who was a self professed ‘fat kid’ at high school.

Coming into the line Bond and Murray enjoyed the appreciation of the crowd with Langridge and Foad following in second. Special mention must go to bronze medallists, Vincent Breet and Shaun Keeling of South Africa. The South Africans are back in the men’s pair and you can only expect bigger things from them in the future.

Results: NZL, GBR, RSA, ESP, GER, USA

‎
Gold – MURRAY, Eric (NZL)
We were a little low on energy levels but we rowed really well and managed to achieve.

Silver – LANGRIDGE, Matt (GBR)
The race was pretty good fun, especially now being the quickest ever British pair.

Bronze – BREET, Vincent (RSA)
It was a very short season for us. It’s an incredible achievement for us.

B-final

After medalling at the 2013 World Rowing Championships, the Netherlands came into this season with high hopes. But injury disrupted the season and today Rogier Blink and Mitchel Steenman of the Netherlands raced in the B-final. Today was not their day. Italy’s Marco Di Costanzo and Matteo Castaldo had an early lead with Turkey challenging hard. These two boats stayed ahead for the entire race swapping leads. Then rating 44 Italy got ahead in the final sprint.

Results: ITA, TUR, ARG, NED, CHI, CRO