Typically champion rowers Brooke Francis and Lucy Spoors would be at Lake Karāpiro to train long before 7:00am. But today the morning sun is well above the horizon, the temperature mild and the cicada noise is already breaking through the stillness.
Mazda ambassadors Brooke and Lucy are back from a more relaxed outing on the water, ready to sit down at a nearby café with Lucy’s son Rupert, ready to get into his morning babyccino.
Their back story is well-known in New Zealand. Elite athletes in their own right, both Brooke and Lucy took time away from rowing in 2022 while both focused on starting their respective families. Back in the boat in 2023, their partnership in the Women’s Double Sculls earned gold medals on the world stage in 2024.
Often referred to as “super mums”, Brooke and Lucy could be seen to epitomise what Mazda refer to as The Challenger Spirit, proving there is no challenge too great to overcome. While being a professional athlete requires extreme amounts of time and dedication, so does having a young family.