Austin's joy at making NZ team | Manawatu-Wanganui Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Manawatu-Wanganui

Harriet Austin's up-and-down rowing season has a golden lining - making the New Zealand World Championship team for the Lake Karapiro event.

Austin and her coxless four crewmates Genevieve Behrent (Southern RPC, Waihopai RC), Robyn Munro (Central RPC, Nelson RC), and Laura Fischer (Waikato RPC, Rotorua RC)  had never rowed together before a final time-trial last Friday morning, just a few hours before the 55-strong New Zealand team was named.

With every effort being made to promote the younger rowers with a view to international experience for future years, the four were put together and clearly succeeded in meeting their target time.

Her year has been topsy-turvy, an injury eventually leading to her being in the unexpected situation of racing a World Cup as a single sculler.

She went away with the New Zealand team for the European and World Cups campaign as a member of the quad with Paula Twining, Emma Feathery and Louise Trappit, but suffered a rib stress fracture and Fi Paterson was sent over to cover her spot and also race the single as No2 to Emma Twigg.

"It was good that they kept me on, because they weren't really sure how long it was going to take to come right," said Austin.

"And with Fi coming over they were going to have a spare single sculler there anyway.

"So when they kept her in [the quad] it was easy to keep me in the single as well."

And so when Twigg became ill, Austin found herself racing the single at the Lucerne World Cup and did so well it  did her World Championship hopes no harm.

A couple of weeks earlier she had the disappointment of missing out on the Royal Henley Regatta because of that regatta's "traditional" rules.

"I was hoping to race Henley, but with the change [Twigg to her] it was too late for a name change - entries had to be sent in by post.

"We weren't sure if I could be racing by then.

"So it went to the Lucerne World Cup, and if Emma had been there they would have entered two singles. So I would have raced anyway and it was the first time I have raced the single internationally and I'd only been back in the boat for two weeks."

All she was hoping for was "a good race," but what she achieved was to push highly-rated Brit Debbie Flood right to the line, and beat a World U23 single silver medallist by 5 seconds.

 In the New Zealand trials, the key women were placed in the New Zealand pairs and double and the younger squad members placed in a quad and a coxless four.

"The first time we came together was on the final day of the trials when we had our time-trial. That was the first time we had been raced as a four.

"The crew is a bit of a mixture. I've been sculling for the last two years, one of the girls [Genevieve Behrent, NZ U23 silver-winning eight at worlds] was named in a sweep crew earlier this year so the rest of the girls are scullers.

"Laura Fischer was in the NZ U23 quad and Robyn Munro was sculling reserve for the U23 team.

"So it's a young crew."

The women's four is a non-Olympic class, so Austin says the opposition is  difficult to gauge.

Meanwhile, sister Esther and her quad have been having an unfortunate time with illness at the World Juniors.

But two Austins making national rowing squads in the  same year is certainly something the local family can be proud of.