Wed, Jun 2, 2021 3:53 PM

Tokyo-bound Tom has “unfinished business”

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Peter Jones

Marlborough oarsman Tom Murray’s growing desire to take care of “unfinished business” is unshaken by COVID’s grip on the sporting world.

The 27-year-old, out of the Blenheim Rowing Club, was part of the New Zealand eight who jetted off to Europe in early May and raced at the 2021 World Rowing Final Olympic Qualifying regatta in Lucerne. Victory in the final booked them a ticket to the Tokyo Games, which are scheduled to begin on July 23.

Detailed preparation for an Olympic regatta is obviously key but, for the moment, Tom is forced to cool his heels away from the water, locked down with the rest of the team in a Christchurch quarantine facility.

The rowers are due to be released on Thursday, following final COVID tests, and will head for Karapiro and a solid block of training before heading to Japan in early July.

While obviously keen to get back into full training, Tom was, as usual, philosophical about the situation.

“We have been given plenty of exercise to do … Christ’s College have been kind enough to lend us a few ergs so I have one on the balcony that I can train on. We only have four or five weeks after lockdown and then we are back on the plane so we can’t afford to skip any training at this point.”

Tom was a member of the NZ eight that competed at the Rio Olympics, the first time in 30 years Kiwis had contested the blue riband class. They finished sixth in the A final, leaving Tom with a feeling of “unfinished business” to attend to at this year’s Games.

After Rio, Tom opted to concentrate his energies on the pair, the seats having recently been vacated by multiple world and Olympic champions Hamish Bond and Eric Murray.

He first teamed with Jamie Hunter, winning a world championship bronze in 2017, then paired up with Michael Brake, the duo winning silver at the 2019 worlds and qualifying the Kiwi pair for Tokyo.

However, his desire to be part of a successful NZ eight saw him, and Michael, return to the big boat crew as they set about qualifying in Lucerne.

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The NZ eight who qualified for the Olympics in in Lucerne. Tom is on the left in the bottom row. Photo Rowing NZ

Given his success in the pair, Tom admitted it was a tough call to make.

“There was definitely a relationship to the pair, but to be a part of the eight again was always something I had considered … then the extra challenge of having to qualify and getting to another Olympics in the eight I guess pushed me over the edge in the end.

“Hamish [Bond] has been talking about fully stacking the eight for a long time … since he returned to the scene probably.

“It always seemed exciting … then once Michael and I had qualified the pair and the eight had narrowly missed out, from then on it was in the back of my mind that it would be really cool to get the eight qualified again and we ended up going for it and it has worked out.”

The trip to Lucerne, while onerous and governed by strict COVID protocols, gave the Kiwi crew a rare taste of international competition.

“We have spent two years training with very little international racing, so we all thoroughly enjoyed being able to start up on an international course, against international crews and have it out … it was a long time coming and just our second race together.”

Although the Kiwi eight have obviously been restricted in their preparation, they are fortunate to have top-notch opposition on their back door in the shape of the world champion NZ women’s eight.

“We pit ourselves against the women’s eight, which we know is a world class crew, and we compare our times to a percentage of the world record, the prognostic … if we are close to that percentage, we know we are trucking really well.”

As a seasoned international oarsman, Tom is well placed to evaluate the new-look Kiwi eight’s progress.

“It’s a very exciting boat when you get the nine guys all on the same page, on the same day. We have got the experience of Hamish, sitting in the middle, and we have got young guns up the front who just bleed enthusiasm. Shaun Kirkham has been in there since the very beginning … to see guys like him super excited has a flow-on effect. It feels like we are tracking well, although there are still some small gains we can make before we hop on the plane.”

Although rumours of possible Games cancellation are still floating about, Tom says the rowers had adopted a full-steam-ahead mentality.

“That’s the mindset we have had to have since [the Games] were first delayed. If you spend all that time second-guessing whether they are going to go ahead or not, being in that limbo-land, it’s just not helpful.

“The latest official word we heard was that the organisers were confident [the Games] would go ahead, so that’s where we are.

“Tokyo will be quite different from Rio in so many ways. There will be no international spectators and we won’t be able to stay there and cheer the other Kiwis on - but if that’s the price we have to pay to attend the Games than that’s something we are all prepared to do.”

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