New Zealand rower Emma Twigg.
Photograph: PHOTOSPORTS

The New Zealand Rowing Federation hopes that introducing inshore rowing as an Olympic sport will bring a whole new group of athletes into the sport.

The beach sprint division of beach rowing has been included in the program of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

With the Paris Olympics just wrapping up, the four-year cycle for the next games begins this weekend with New Zealand athletes taking part in the World Rowing Coastal Championships in Italy.

Rowing New Zealand General Manager of Community and Development Mark Weatherall said they hoped that with the help of Surf Life Saving New Zealand, Māori and Pasifika communities could also get on board.

“This actually creates an opportunity for rowing to reach different communities because it’s much easier for people like us to get on a coastal boat, but if we got on a flat water rowing boat we’d be overturned straight away,” Weatherall told RNZ.

“We involve Māori and Pacific communities through the coastline because it’s more accessible and cheaper than flatwater rowing.”

Shore rowing
Photograph: World Rowing

Mr Weatherall said Rowing New Zealand was working to develop a memorandum of understanding with Surf Life Saving New Zealand but were just starting to engage at a community level.

“There are things like school kids going on boats and having a great time.

“We are also working with our charity gaming partners to invest in equipment across the country.”

He acknowledged that there are two things holding them back right now: the availability of boats and buses.

“We have a lot of rowing coaches, but because it’s so new they don’t understand the ocean. This is another opportunity to work with Surf Life Saving NZ because they have great surf coaches.”

Weatherall, who has also been involved in surf lifeguarding for most of his life, believes that the inclusion of coastal rowing in the new Olympic cycle provides a great opportunity to attract new athletes.

“I know a lot of athletes in surf lifesaving who have the potential to jump on a boat and make it to the Olympics.”

Eight-time Olympic champion Lisa Carrington and sprint star Zoe Hobbs both came from surf lifesaving.

“Waka Ama and Dragon Boating are two other organisations we are looking to work with and again, their communities are different to ours.

“We know that rowing is a sport that, rightly or wrongly, has the resources and the means to appeal to a certain segment of our society and so we want to disrupt that and coastal rowing is an opportunity to achieve that.”

New Zealand has an open and under-19 team in Italy, featuring Olympic athletes such as Emma Twigg, Jackie Kiddle, Matt Dunham and Joe Sullivan.

Beach sprint rowing involves a run along the beach to the boat, a 250-meter round-trip slalom row, followed by a sprint finish on the beach.