New Zealand's elite rowers get a chance to represent their clubs and gain some bragging rights with the start of the National Rowing Championships on Lake Karapiro today.
New Zealand is set to have its biggest ever rowing squad at this year's London Olympics and so some fringe athletes will be wanting to show their best this week.
The regatta provides a rare chance to see the likes of world champions Joseph Sullivan and Nathan Cohen, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond and Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown square off against each other in boats they are very familiar with.
Five times world champion Mahe Drysdale heads the entry for the men's single sculls, which boast an impressive list of world champions in the field.
Nowhere else in world rowing is the premier final of the men's single sculls likely to be made up entirely of current and former world champions, but it is a very realistic possibility at Karapiro.
The finals are on Saturday and Sunday.
