The mother of rowers Lucy and Phoebe Spoors has revealed she had to run from one daughter’s medal ceremony to see her other daughter’s race.
Virginia Spoors told RNZ she was in a "bit of a panic" as she sprinted to find a place to watch.
Lucy Spoors, along with Brooke Francis, won gold in the women’s double sculls.
But the moment the medal ceremony was over, the women’s coxless four race began. And that included Phoebe Spoors and team-mates Jackie Gowler, Kerri Williams and Davina Waddy. They went on to win bronze.
It was a magic hour or so for New Zealand rowing. The coxless four of Logan Ullrich, Ollie Maclean, Tom Murray and Matt Macdonald nabbed a silver medal.
"We were in a massive grandstand, halfway up next to a German group, Americans in front and Dutch behind. We got talking."
When Lucy won gold the family jumped up and headed to see the medal ceremony.
"Everyone told us ‘don’t worry, we will look after your bags’.
"But after the ceremony we realised Phoebe’s race was about to start. So we dashed back to try to get in but couldn’t," she said.
"It was a bit of a panic. We watched Phoebe’s race from down in front.
"It was exciting and I don’t know if I would normally run as fast as we did."
She could not be prouder of both girls, she said.
"The way we feel, a bronze medal feels the same as a gold medal. It was a medal, and just to know that they’ve had the race of their lives and done as good as they could ... We were super happy for them," she said.
She moved last year to Cambridge from the family home in Christchurch to help support Lucy and her new son Rupert, and Phoebe. Her husband would make the shift later this year.
She, like other families, was just doing what any family would do to support their children to do their best, she said.
