Lasagne and lucky socks help rowers to success

If Hawke's Bay rower Thomas Jenkins starts getting a little anxious during his New Zealand crew's training sessions in July, his teammates will understand.

Jenkins, who is the sole Hawke's Bay representative in the Kiwi boys' coxed four which will compete at the August junior world championships in Bulgaria, was selected for the same crew for last year's world championships in Eton, Britain, but had to withdraw because of a wrist injury which required surgery.

"I don't want to miss a second worlds ... the wrist hasn't given me any bother since the surgery," Jenkins explained.

The 18-year-old Napier Boys' High School student trialled for the crew at Lake Karapiro at the weekend along with his Hawke's Bay and NBHS crewmate Andrew Potter, who wasn't selected. Potter was in the Kiwi crew which won silver last year.

Stroke Jenkins and his crewmates, Marlborough Boys' College's Tom Murray, Michael Brake and Cameron Webster of Westlake Boys' High School and cox Sam Bosworth of Christ College were timed over 2km after the crew was named.

"We were happy with how we went. We'll be going for gold in Bulgaria ... soon it will be a case of training as hard as we can so we can go as fast as we can," Jenkins said.

In June, Jenkins will move to Karapiro, where he will train with the crew until they leave for the August 14-19 regatta in Plovdiv. While the crew is based at Karapiro, they will attend St Peter's School near Cambridge.

Before June, Jenkins will do plenty of biking and running, as well as 15 hours of training each week on the water under the guidance of his Hawke's Bay coach Don "Doc" McDonald.

"Doc has been a great coach this season ... my selection is a tribute to the work he has put in," Jenkins said.

The former nationally ranked mountain biker is also full of praise for his mother Kathy's lasagne.

"It's a tradition I stick to ... I always have lasagne the night before I head away to a regatta. I won't reveal the ingredients ... it's a secret," Jenkins quipped.

Jenkins is in rowing for the long haul and has set the 2016 Olympics in Rio as his long-term goal.

"It won't worry me if I'm in a four or an eight, I just want to get there."

He is so focused on his rowing, he has yet to decide what he will do when he leaves school this year.

"The worlds are all I'm concentrating on now ... just one step at a time."

While Jenkins was trialling for the New Zealand team, his Hawke's Bay clubmate and fellow gold medallist from last month's Maadi Cup regatta in Twizel, Hannah Bailey, was unbeaten while racing for the North Island under-18 team against their South Island counterparts at Lake Karapiro. She had three races in two events, the under-18 double and under-18 quad.

The 16-year-old Woodford House year 12 student raced with Cullinane College's Jaime O'Keefe in the double and they combined with Pukekohe High School's Ashlee Caskie and Te Kauwhata College's Brooke Donaghue in the quad.

"It was a good finish to the season," Bailey said.

The second-season rower has made rowing her priority sport. She has given cricket away but still plays netball for her school.

The under-16 single scull champion at the Maadi Cup regatta also hopes to win the under-17 title next year.

"It was nice being back in crews at the weekend ... I don't have a preference," Bailey explained.

She is rapt with the work her coaches Ross Webb and Neil Pulford have put in.

Just as Jenkins has his lucky lasagne, Bailey has a pair of lucky socks.

"They are just a pair of plain white socks. But I wear the same ones in every race ... they seem to do the trick," Bailey said with a huge grin.

Providing she keeps up the hard work and continues wearing her lucky socks, it would be no surprise to see her emulate Jenkins' feat with world championship selection in the near future.