Kiwi rowers head to Europe

The only rest the Kiwi rowers appear likely to get before the London Olympics is on the plane they take to Europe tomorrow.

The elite crews qualified for the games depart in the morning, with their major buildup regatta next weekend in Lucerne.

Eric Murray, one half of the men's pair alongside Hamish Bond, says as soon as they get off the plane on Saturday morning European time, they'll be straight back into it.

"As soon as we've got the riggers and stuff on the boat and set it up how we want it, we're going to be back out there fine tuning our new equipment, that sort of thing. It just doesn't stop, you can't afford to take too much of a break. We'll just kick back into it and make sure everything's right."

Eric Murray says it dawned on them this morning they've gone down Lake Karapiro for the last time ahead of the Games and are into the final stretch.

Photo: Eric Murray and Hamish Bond (Photosport)