Rowing champ’s long battle to get back in the boat

After 18 months of frustration, hard work and perseverance, Marlborough oarsman Tom Murray is back in black and set to take on the world again.

Tom, a gold medallist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is part of the New Zealand elite men’s coxless four who will contest the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia from September 3-10.

His long-awaited return to the top level of his sport has been a long time coming, especially in light of his sensational effort with the NZ men’s eight in Japan.

After the big boat’s Olympic success in July 2021, Tom had decided to switch lanes, setting his sights on a seat in the NZ single scull.

Then, in February last year, the 2021 Marlborough Sportsperson of the Year contracted COVID.

After initially feeling pleased at the timing of his expected one-week isolation, he soon realised all was not well.

“It was a good time when I caught it, in terms of being able to bounce back before trials and stuff, but it never bloody left,” recalled Tom from the Kiwi camp in Italy, where they are preparing for the worlds.

Lack of energy and motivation, combined with a general lethargy, added up to what is described as ‘long COVID’, a body blow both mentally and physically for anyone, let alone a world class athlete.

Although he was still not 100 percent recovered from illness, Tom suggesting “it is definitely a lot better than it was, but my workload still needs to be managed”.

When he was struggling with the viral illness, Tom said the lack of available knowledge on the subject was an issue.

“The biggest problem was that there was not that much information out there. There weren’t too many studies done on long COVID at the time. When you injure yourself, you have a rough timeline until you are back in the boat … with COVID I was seeing no progress for so long I began to wonder if I was doing more damage by trying to push through it.

“It was really frustrating not knowing I was doing the right or wrong thing. Without science to guide me it was really trial and error.

“[Long COVID] was not something you could really test for either … the vagueness, the brain fog, the fatigue … it got to the point where, if I couldn’t have trialled this year, I was going to take another year off.”

However, a good turnaround in progress after Christmas 2022, being able to row most days, offered hope and Tom pushed on with his decision to try for the single seat.

He competed without success at the NZ champs in March, then trialled against Tom Macintosh, a former crewmate in the eight, for the coveted seat in the single.

“He absolutely destroyed me,” said Tom, “he didn’t even have to try - so that was enough at the time to say ‘I’m flagging the single’.”

So, it was back to trialling for the sweep crews, where Tom immediately felt more at home.

“I was a little upset with how natural sweep rowing felt than sculling because I was pretty determined to do a bit of sculling, looking for a new challenge,” he said.

“But I was never that comfortable and getting back into a sweep boat it felt like I had never left.”

Fortunately, the NZ selectors were keen to run with a new-look four and Tom was placed alongside his Tokyo Olympic eight crewmate Matt Macdonald, plus US-based athletes Ollie Maclean and Logan Ullrich in something of an experimental crew.

New and untested they may have been, but they made an immediate impression on the international stage, finishing just four seconds behind winners Great Britain as they bagged bronze at World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne.

Tom has high hopes for the untried combination, feeling they should be challenging for a medal in Serbia.

“We had only been together for two weeks in Lucerne. I had been on half training and two of the guys are from the American system so we don’t row quite the same …  and Matt has been ploughing along since Tokyo so has this incredible base fitness behind him, which I have lost by having to take that year really slowly.

“So, we have four different motors in the boat – almost four different styles of rowing … so it’s been an interesting old time trying to marry everything together.”

Whatever happens in Belgrade, the Blenheim club member is just glad to be back doing what he loves.

“Rowing is such a hard sport when you are enjoying it, so when you aren’t enjoying it, it is really hard.

“[Getting back] has been frustrating beyond explanation, but I have found ways to stay motivated and the enjoyment is back,” he added.