Richard and Jack were placed fourth and third respectively in the 1903 Timaru to Christchurch road race which was over a distance of 112 miles (180 km).

Jack subsequently won, in record time, the 1903 road race between Warrnambool and Melbourne over a distance of 165 miles (266 km).

On the strength of these he challenged various leading Australian scullers for a match race but most were rejected on the grounds that he was too inexperienced.

The race was won by Arnst who subsequently challenged fellow New Zealander William Webb (rower) for the professional Single Sculls World Championship title.

The match was held on the Whanganui River (New Zealand) on 15 December 1908 and Arnst won by eight or ten lengths.

Barry was unable to arrange the expenses but then the British South Africa Company offered to stage the match in Northern Rhodesia.

Stakes and expenses were guaranteed by the company and the match was arranged to be run on the Zambezi River on 18 August 1910.

[8] The heat and the altitude affected both scullers but Arnst was the better of the two and he crossed the line in front of Barry to retain his title.

Professional sculling was immensely popular and it was estimated that one hundred thousand people turned out to see this match.

Ernest Barry wanted another tilt at the title and challenged Arnst to a race to be held on the Thames (England).

Dick Arnst wanted to defend his otherwise empty title and accepted a challenge from New Zealander Pat Hannan.

This race was sculled on the Wairau River, near Blenheim, New Zealand, on 11 June 1921 with the result confirming Arnst as World Champion for the sixth time.

The challenger was Darcy Hadfield, another New Zealander, who had been an Olympic rower and bronze medal winner, and who won the match in a fairly convincing manner.

Arnst broke part of his right scull on a piece of driftwood near the start but he later said that it had made no difference to the result of the race.

In 1934 Arnst bought a farm south of Timaru running sheep and cattle, and growing crops, in partnership with his brother Henry.