and camaraderie.” The work has included
laying 27km of wire for the buoyed course,
painting thousands of buoys and refurbishing
the adaptive start.
>
The only boat to medal for New Zealand in 1978
was the men’s eight (bronze) and David Rodger
was part of the crew. He has returned to help at
Flynn Cove.
year she is running the Schools Adopt-a-Country
programme. “By the time these Championships
come, I will have been working with schools
for 18 months,” says Crooks. “I think back to the
huge impact that 1978 had on me and it will be
interesting to see the impact on these kids.”
There is also Tony Popplewell (responsible for
technical services in 1978 and Administrative
Director in 2010). “I was in full-time employment
in another part of the country in 1978,” says
Popplewell. “On weekends I’d travel to Karapiro
for working bees.” For the 2010 World Champs
Popplewell is paid but says there is still a
volunteer element to his job. He began more
than four years ago, before the hosting bid was
even won.
Volunteers help set up the venue
on the banks of Lake Karapiro,
New Zealand, in the lead up
to the 2010 World Rowing
Championships.
“Back then, Karapiro in some ways was just another
World Champs for me. It was a bit of a surreal
atmosphere,” says Rodger. “You actually miss a
lot as an athlete; you’re just there to win. All of
my mates and my family came and that was a bit
strange because normally we were racing too far
away for friends and family to be there.”
“The [positive] attitude of the people willing to
volunteer has remained,” says Tom Mayo, CEO of
the 2010 organising committee Mayo took up
his role in 2008 and is employed professionally.
>
Ruth Tuiraviravi was 14 in 1978 and watched the
Championships from the banks of Lake Karapiro.
“We were sitting on the grass right at the
waterfront. We could hear the blades hit the water,
hear the athletes grunting, hear the international
languages.” The experience inspired Tuiraviravi
to take up rowing and she went on to represent
New Zealand. Now, in 2010, Tuiraviravi is the
Volunteer Manager.
“As soon as I heard about the Championships
coming back, I said I wanted to be involved,”
says Alison Crooks. Crooks was one of three
medal bearers in 1978 and says they just got
asked to show up and hand out medals. This
