The 1978 World Rowing Championships were

World Rowing Championships The World Rowing Championships is an international Rowing (sport), rowing regatta organized by International Rowing Federation, FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer ...

that were held from 30 October to 5 November at

Lake Karapiro Lake Karapiro () is an artificial reservoir lake on the Waikato River at Karapiro, south-east of Cambridge, New Zealand, Cambridge in New Zealand's North Island. The lake was formed in 1947 by the damming of the Waikato River to store water for ...

near

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, New Zealand. Twenty-eight countries were represented at the regatta. In the history of the World Rowing Championships, 1978 was the only year when the

lightweight rowing Lightweight rowing (abbreviated Lwt or Lt) is a category of Rowing (sport), rowing where limits are placed on the maximum body weight of competitors. According to the International Rowing Federation (International Rowing Federation, FISA), this we ...

championships were not held in conjunction with the open men and women event; the lightweight events had already been held in

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, Denmark, in August.

Background

was formed in 1947 through a hydroelectric project on the

Waikato River The Waikato River is the longest river in New Zealand, running for through the North Island. It rises on the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu, joining the Tongariro River system and flowing through Lake Taupō, New Zealand's largest lake. It th ...

. It was soon recognised as the best rowing venue in New Zealand, and was used for the

1950 British Empire Games The 1950 British Empire Games were the fourth staging of what is now called the Commonwealth Games. It was held in Auckland, New Zealand, between 4 and 11 February 1950, after a 12-year gap from the third edition of the games. A documentary fil ...

. World rowing championships had been held since 1962 by FISA, the

World Rowing Federation World Rowing, also known as the World Rowing Federation (officially FISA; ), is the international governing body for rowing. Its current president is Jean-Christophe Rolland who succeeded Denis Oswald at a ceremony held in Lucerne in July 2014 ...

, and in 1974 New Zealand was provisionally awarded the 1978 world event. Don Rowlands, who had won rowing medals at

British Empire and Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

in the 1950s and would later become chairman of the 1978 World Rowing Championships organising committee, had lobbied for the event to come to New Zealand; prior to 1978, the event had always been held in the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

. He found a supporter in

Thomas Keller Thomas Aloysius Keller (born October 14, 1955) is an American chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, the French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Found ...

, the president of FISA. There was also some curiosity amongst the rowing fraternity how a small island nation from the South Pacific managed to win gold medals at the

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

and

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

, in men's coxed four and men's eight, respectively. But it was not until the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

that 1978 event was confirmed, which left only two years to organise the event. The entire event was organised by volunteers; the organising committee had no people in employment. Cyril Hilliard was the secretary of the organising committee. Volunteer labour erected a grandstand; all built with scaffolding. As Rowlands was a marine engineer, he designed the starting pontoon himself and the construction was carried out by James Hill, a former Olympic rower who was a joiner by trade. Hill also built the start and finish towers. A company donated 13 kit houses, and these were used as offices. Catering for the competitors was done by the

New Zealand Army The New Zealand Army (, ) is the principal Army, land warfare force of New Zealand, a component of the New Zealand Defence Force alongside the Royal New Zealand Navy and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Formed in 1845, as the New Zealand Mil ...

. It is estimated that in total, close to 100,000 spectators attended the four days of racing. Keller called it afterwards "the greatest regatta in living memory". Former British rower

Dickie Burnell Richard Desborough Burnell (26 July 1917 – 29 January 1995) was an English Rowing (sport), rower who won a gold medal at the 1948 Olympics alongside Bert Bushnell in the sculling, double sculls. He and his father Charles Burnell, Charles are ...

, who worked at Karapiro as a correspondent for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', labelled the event "the greatest show on water". Twenty-eight countries were represented by their rowers in 140 boats, and this was the largest international sports competition that the country had organised up to that time. The event made a profit of

NZ$ The New Zealand dollar (; currency sign, sign: $; ISO 4217, code: NZD) is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcairn Islands. Within New Zeal ...

155,000, which was used to fund a rowing foundation.

Medal summary

Medallists at the 1978 World Rowing Championships were:

Men's events

In the single sculls and coxless pair boat classes, the first three boats from each heat qualified for the semi-final, and three further semi-finalists were determined via a repechage. In all other boat classes, the first from each heat qualified for the final, with the other finalists determined via a repechage.

Men's lightweight events

In the history of the World Rowing Championships, 1978 was the only year when the lightweight rowing championships were not held in conjunction with the open men and women event. The 1978 FISA Lightweight Championships were held in

, Denmark, during August.

Women's events

There were six boats nominated in the coxless pair and they went to the final without heats. In all other boat classes, the winner of each heat qualified for the final and all other finalists were determined via a repechage.

Event codes

New Zealand officials had expected their men to win three or four medals, and Rowlands stated that he expected the men's eight to win gold. In the end, the bronze won by New Zealand's eight was the host's only medal. This table does not include the lightweight events.

Medal table

The medal table excludes the lightweight events.

Finals

The Soviet Union were disqualified in the final of the women's coxed four.

Great Britain

Six men's teams and only one women's team from Great Britain competed at the championships.

References

External links

Photo of the starting tower and pontoon
taken by ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand, ...

'' {{World Rowing Championships Rowing competitions in New Zealand World Rowing Championships

International sports competitions hosted by New Zealand 1978 in New Zealand sport

Rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...