World Champs

It's a little funny watching international rowing at a place you know well, and remembering your own close races as two crews fight it out for a world championship gold. But it's nice too, particularly when there's a good atmosphere and the whole crowd is willing their crew on to victory.

Such was the World Championships at Karapiro.

I drove up from Wellington on Wednesday, leaving at about 9.30am after picking up my friend Kylee's rowing machine from another friend and somehow jamming it into my car. The drive was okay, although by the end I was pretty tired. Although I've driven the road to Cambridge from Wellington a number of times I've never had to do the whole thing myself. The mountains were pretty with snow and the weather was good, but nevertheless I was glad to find my hostel/motel in Cambridge. I went to Kylee's for dinner with the erg, caught up with her and other rowing friends, and finally crashed with great relief!

There had been a rumour that racing was starting early on Thursday so I got there in plenty of time – two hours beforehand, in the end! It was interesting watching the crews practice though and we got to see replays from the previous day. Racing eventually kicked off with semi-finals and proved to be of high quality. NZ's Mahé Drysdale gave everyone a heart attack by having issues with his official boat stickers before his semi, and then stopping the race a few strokes in. He was lucky the judges didn't disqualify him.

After lunch it was time for the adaptive finals and the first sign of the strong Kiwi support, for their single sculler Danny McBride. GB got its first medals – a gold for Tom Aggar, in a superlative display, and a silver for the LTA mixed coxed four just on the line. The loveliest moment of the day was when one of the guys in the Italian intellectually disabled four grabbed one of his crewmates; bunches of flowers, took his own and ran over to give them to the Italian girls cheering their silver medal. It was adorable.

I woke on Friday to rain which was continuing as I went to the course. Kylee got me into the grandstand for the morning session using her grandparents' tickets (there were loads of spare seats anyway) and I escaped the rain. By lunchtime the sun was out with a vengeance but the wind was also rising and there were more than a few mutters about the lanes being unfair as racing continued. Two more golds for GB, with dominant displays from the lightweight men's double and the women's quad, but disappointment for the lightweight women's double who never managed to get into the race, and the men's four who led before being rowed down by crews in perhaps more favoured lanes. They ended up fourth after a storming finish from the Kiwis.

In the evening I went to a dinner for Wellington Rowing Club at the Cambridge Raceway, where we always stayed for regattas and where a few people are staying this week.

On Saturday I missed the D/C/B finals at the rowing in favour of doing the Hobbiton movie set tour as it's really close. I had to sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to tell anyone about the tour as there's a risk of being sued, but suffice to say it was very good. Hobbiton being rebuilt for The Hobbit looks lovely. I got to stand under the Party Tree and look up at Bag End and really imagine being in the Shire. There's a lovely coincidence about the farm they chose – it's just off Buckland Road. The road wasn't named after Tolkien's Buckland (home of the Brandybucks) but after a Mr Buckland who settled the area over a century ago. How's that for coincidence?

The tour ended with a sheep shearing demonstration, which I wasn't expecting to enjoy but did. It was quick and efficient. The shearer hauled out a gigantic wether (young male sheep), which surprisingly didn't fidget too much, and sheared it. Then he let out three lambs and let people bottle-feed them, which was a cute end to the tour.

Back at the lake it was heaving. I couldn't find anyone I knew, until after I'd had a pie for lunch and found a spare spot on the grass I discovered I was sitting next to someone I did know from Wellington. The wind had turned tail and was much more even than yesterday. The racing proved to be spectacularly good, apart perhaps from the pointless coxed pair event that kicked off the finals. The GB lightweight women's quad failed to show but the other four British crews in finals all medalled – the men's lightweight four holding off an exceptionally close field to win gold, Hodgy and Reed leading Murray and Bond all the way only to lose the gold in the last few strokes, the women's pair rowing a blinder to win silver, and Alan Campbell winning a solid bronze. The atmosphere when the Kiwi crews were racing was extraordinary. My little voice screaming for GB probably got a bit lost. But I had fun. It was nice to see the Kiwi rowers being treated like celebrities, just as the GB four was at Eton; girls screaming for Mahé and the pair and teenagers anxiously waiting for autographs.

On Sunday the crowds came back. I got there for the frankly slightly pointless C and B finals (Singapore versus Peru in the lightweight men's singles, woohoo) but the A finals were again superb. The Kiwis got off to a good start with a silver in the lightweight women's singles, then the British women's double won gold in commanding style. The men looked like they were going to emulate the women before the Kiwi double just stormed through in the last 400m; I've never seen a finish like it and the crowd went completely mad. The eights finished things off – the British women just finishing out of the medals while the men left things a bit late to catch up a superb German crew but did win silver.

I stayed for the closing ceremony, which involved prime minister John Key appearing to give the British team the team trophy (yay) and was followed by a Maori ceremony involving four waka (war canoes) and a mass haka.

In the evening it was back to Kylee's for another barbeque and then farewell to my Wellington friends. This morning I set off early for the drive to Paihia. I stopped in Auckland hoping to see the Soren Larsen come in from her voyaging, but no ship – turns out she's up here in Opua, for some reason, although moored out in the harbour so I haven't bothered trying to go and say hello because I only realised when I was out for a lovely run along the coast and by the time I'd have got there it would have been dinnertime. I might see if she's still there tomorrow. Otherwise I'm going to try and catch her in Auckland, before going home.

Paihia is wonderfully quiet and I'm in a lovely hostel. Had fish and chips for dinner. Mmm. Tomorrow I'm planning to go to Waitangi, which is just a couple of kilometres walk. Wednesday I might go for a walk, or possibly hire a kayak, or even both. I'll see how I go.