Eric Murray is a two time Olympic and eight time World Champion Rower. Eric knows there’s hard work, then there’s smarter-than-your-opposition-work. If you’re looking for someone who knows how to be the best and consistently the best, look no further!
Background
As a ‘fat’ kid growing up in Pukekohe, Eric took up rowing like many at school and continued the sport past his schooling days into the Club scene with the ambition to make it into a National team. On completing those first steps, Eric has gone on to be a member of the NZ Olympic Team at four consecutive Olympic Games.
It hasn’t been all plain sailing for Eric with a disappointment at the Beijing Olympics, after being World Champions the year before in the Men’s Four. Fortunately, this spurred him into The Kiwi Pair combination (with rowing doubles partner, Hamish Bond) which has become a history making decision. In the space of eight years, The Kiwi Pair have never lost a race, amassing an incredible 71 Consecutive race victories at 24 World Rowing events. Eric holds every conceivable record in rowing in the Men’s Pair and also is the current holder of four World Records on the indoor Rowing machine.
The journey of The Kiwi Pair hasn’t been without its up and downs - learning how to be successful and stay successful has been a key to the incredible legacy Eric and Hamish have left on the sport. There are not many people that have left a mark on the sport of Rowing as a globally recognisable combination.
In 2012 Eric was awarded a New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to Sport and Rowing and in the 2022 New Year Honours, Eric was announced to be Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) for his services to Rowing. He along with Hamish Bond have been Halberg Team of the Year winners on four occasions and taken away the Supreme Award twice.
Speaking
Eric is a good-natured ‘Kiwi Bloke’ who lays it all on the table. He speaks about staying motivated, challenging yourself and being able to differentiate when to follow and when you need to be a leader.
Learning the personal attributes that he’s used in his sport will enable you to get to the top in your chosen field. Learn how to become the best and stay the best from the man who was able to outsmart the competition.
He was very entertaining and engaging and very open. The team got a particular thrill from him bringing his gold medal along for them to hold. A nice touch. ... keep reading IAG
Eric was great to work with - he turned up on time, had his presentation ready to go and was great that he brought along a couple of his gold medals - something that a lot of us will never get the chance to hold!
Really appreciated him pitching his delivery around the brief provided and engaging with the audience in a light hearted manner.
Eric is an absolute pleasure to work with. Generous with his time, laid back style and very funny. Honest, wonderful story and adapted to what we wanted perfectly. Kia Kaha Eric!
Eric was fabulous to work with. He was easy, nothing phased him and spoke with ease and humour perfect for our event. He bought his gold medals and everyone was holding and placing them and he even stood for photos with our guests. Great feedback from our guests on how much they enjoyed his honesty and joviality.
Eric completely hit the brief and all the right notes. He was super pleasant and accommodating and a real pleasure to work with.
Eric shared a brilliant story and had the audience very engaged. Very humble and down to earth, Eric is a professional and standout speaker who would be highly recommended. A pleasure to work with and very giving of his time, the client and guests appreciated the opportunity to meet and converse with him throughout the evening.
Eric was absolutely awesome to deal with from the outset of confirming our booking. Our briefing session with Eric was really comprehensive, he listened in detail to information about the theme of our event and about our audience. He did a great job of taking us through his content and explained how this would align with our theme. Eric was adaptable when we were met with the challenge of him not being able to travel to Christchurch due to weather impacts. We appreciate that he travelled to an alternative airport in an attempt to get on an alternative flight that would have allowed him to get to Christchurch in time. When this alternative flight was also cancelled, he was happy to adapt his presentation and do this virtually for us instead. Despite joining us virtually, Eric was still extremely engaging despite not being able to see or interact directly with our audience. He tied his content back to our theme brilliantly in the end and answered all questions in depth. Despite not getting to experience Eric in person, we still feel we got a huge amount of value from his session and from the time and energy he invested in our briefing session and actual event. He was really well received by our audience who came away with learnings to implement in their day-to-day. Would love to work with Eric again and hope to get the full experience next time (in person hopefully!).
