Since taking up rowing two seasons ago, Oamaru twins Caitlin and Jo Kearney - dubbed the "Evers-Swin-Kearneys" - have made a name for themselves in the sport.
The 14-year-old sisters won silver in the girls under-15 double sculls at the Maadi Cup national secondary schools regatta at Lake Karapiro last week.
They were also part of the St Kevins College girls under-15 eight, which included their cousin Georgia Tangney (14), that won gold.
This week, the twins were back down to earth - and back to school - at St Kevins, where they are in year 10.
The twins became involved through watching older brother Patrick rowing and "thought it was kind of cool".
Patrick (17) also rowed at the Maadi Cup.
The twins were delighted with their results, saying they did not know how they would go against some of their North Island counterparts, and the experience had been "awesome".
Jo said her sister was definitely the bossier of the pair.
"She tells you to go better and you just do it . . . [she says] pick it up, and you pick it up."
The twins, tired after their week in the North Island, will now have a break from rowing, concentrating instead on hockey, speech and piano, before getting back into the sport later in the year.
Asked whether those other rowing twins - Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell - were their heroes, Jo said: "I reckon [Olympian] Hamish Bond's pretty good" - before adding the Evers-Swindells were "pretty cool".
The Kearney twins receive coaching from Stew Mitchell, Owen Gould and Don Taylor.
Mitchell said the girls had been "a bit slow off the mark" in the double sculls final but had impressed everyone by rowing through the field and it was a very close finish.
They were dedicated to the sport and held in high regard in the squad, he said.
