8 Nov 2010

NZ ends rowing champs with record medal haul

6:39 am on 8 November 2010

New Zealand has ended the World Rowing Championships on Lake Karapiro with its biggest haul ever winning a total of 10 medals.

It took away three gold, three silver and four bronze.

New Zealand's double scullers Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan won gold on Sunday ending the nine day regatta on a high note before a capacity crowd and what were probably the best conditions of the whole event.

Cohen and Sullivan picked up their stroke rate to finish half a boat length ahead of Britain in second place. France were third.

Cohen says it is a dream come true.

New Zealand's Louise Ayling won a silver medal in the lightweight women's single sculls.

Germany's Marie-Louise Draeger won by several boat-lengths while Ayling was pushed hard for second in a tight race.

The young New Zealand men's eight finished fifth in the final race of the day, which was won by Germany.

The USA took the women's eight.

Great Britain and Germany topped the medal haul with five golds each.

A total of nearly 67,000 people attended the eight day event, making it the biggest crowd ever at a world rowing championship.