Purchase and Hunter win semi-final
Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase came through a tough challenge to win their semi-final of the lightweight men’s double scull today at the season’s final world cup in Poland, underlining their continuing potential to be Olympic medallists in August.
The Siemens-sponsored duo held off a challenge from the Greeks Mougious and Polymeros who pipped Purchase and Hunter to silver at the world championships last year.
"That was a good scalp to have", said Purchase afterwards. "We were in control of what we were doing".
The lightweight men’s four – repechage winners today – and the lightweight women’s double scull are also through to the finals after racing today.
GB Rowing will now contest seven Olympic class finals tomorrow with the Camelot-backed men’s four being a focus of attention now that Tom James and Andy Hodge are fit once more and who joined Peter Reed and Steve Williams in winning their heat impressively here yesterday. The women’s double scull of Elise Laverick and Anna Bebington continue to improve after an early season disrupted by both illness and injury.
GB also has three crews in non-Olympic class finals today with results to follow.
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RACE REPORTS
All three Olympic class lightweight GB boats are through to tomorrow’s finals. Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter won their semi-final in a fine race where the Greek double were their main challengers right to the very end. The British boat took the lead in the first half, were bested by the Greeks in the third 500m but came back to take control in the final race to the line.
"We felt we were holding a confident and efficient speed throughout the race and we were in control of what we were doing", said Purchase of the result.
GB Rowing’s Siemens-backed world champion lightweight men’s four were also winners and are through to the finals. In their repechage they were early leaders but were challenged by Italy who pushed hard to get ahead by the halfway stage. Britain responded and took control in the final 500m, sustaining their early race pressure.
The lightweight women’s double scull of Hester Goodsell and Helen Casey showed good form in the early part of their race – contested like all this afternoon’s races in a strong tailwind – before being challenged by Greece. The Greek duo were ahead at the 500m, with GB battling back to take the lead at 1000m and 1500m. Yet in the final 500m the GB duo could not hold onto that lead, losing out by just over a second to take second in 6:57.15.
Robin Bourne-Taylor and Tom Solesbury looked crestfallen at their third place in the men’s pair repechage here today, ruling them out of tomorrow’s final. Yet this is a combination which may just needs more time in the boat together to flourish. They have only come together latterly and today looked capable of challenging the no.1 German pair of Lehmann and Drahotta but ultimately lost out to them by just over a second and a half to take third in a race won by France who led throughout.
The second British men’s four were also in action today. This club-based crew put in an excellent performance They were third in their repechage on the coat-tails of the reigning world champions from New Zealand in a race won by the Czech Republic.
The men’s and women’s eights, lightweight men’s and women’s quadruple scull boats were all involved in races for lanes in the morning’s sessions. These races are designed to seed the finals with the winning crew getting the more favoured lane in the final and so on.
The GB men’s eight were race winners in 5:25.77 ahead of Germany. Their female counterparts came back from a slow start to take third place. GB’s lightweight women’s quad were early race leaders before dropping back into second place behind Poland whilst the men chased the early race leaders France along with Italy and ended up taking third place.
Both lightweight quadruple sculls and the lightweight men’s pair will race finals later today whilst the men’s and women’s eights will contest their finals tomorrow.
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RESULTS
(Races featuring GB crews only – full
results: www.worldrowing.com).
SEMI-FINALS
LIGHTWEIGHT
MEN
Double scull
Semi-final 1
1. Zac Purchase/Mark Hunter (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:13.76
2. Dimitrios Mougios/Vasileios Polymeros (Greece) 6:14.26
3. Zsolt Hirling/Tamas Varga (Hungary 1) 6:16.28
4. Jonathan Koch/Manuel Brehmer (Germany) 6:17.85
5. Dominik Sigl (Austria) 6:24.13
6. Kazushige Ura/Daisaku Takeda (Japan) 6:31.71
REPECHAGES
MEN
Pair
Repechage 2
1. Germain Chardin/Dorian Mortelette (France 2) 6:29.59
2. Tom Lehmann/Felix Drahotta (Germany 1) 6:32.12
3. Robin Bourne-Taylor/Tom Solesbury (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:33.69
4. Martin Veit/Jan Dehoust (Germany 2) 6:47.07
5. Mostafa Zeidan/Bashir Attia (Egypt) 6:51.88
Four
Repechage 2
1. Czech Republic 5:56.13
2. New Zealand 5:57.64
3 Tobias Garnett/Henry Pelly/Peter Marsland/Tom Ransley
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6:00.31
4. Belarus 6:02.20
5. Ireland 6:03.51
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Double scull
Repechage 2
1. Chrysi Biskitzi/Alexandra Tsiavou (Greece) 6:56.05
2. Hester Goodsell/Helen Casey (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:57.15
3. Misaki Kumakura/Akiko Iwamoto (Japan) 6:59.29
MEN
Four
1. Richard Chambers/James Lindsay-Fynn/Paul Mattick/
James Clarke (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:55.27
2. Denmark 5:56.01
3. Italy 2 5:57.77
RACES FOR LANES
OPEN
WOMEN
Eight
1. Romania 6:05.73
2. Canada 6:08.38
3. Beth Rodford/Carla Ashford/Natasha Howard/Natasha Page/
Jess Eddie/Sarah Winckless/Alison Knowles/Katie Greves
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6:08.53
4. Germany 6:17.09
MEN
Eight
1. Alex Partridge/Tom Stallard/Tom Lucy/Richard Egington/
Josh West/Alastair Heathcote/Matthew Langridge/Colin
Smith/Acer Nethercott (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:25.77
2. Germany 5:27.84
3. Poland 5:48.37
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Quadruple scull
1. Poland 6;36.59
2. Sophie Hosking/Andrea Dennis/Laura Greenhalgh/Jane Hall
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6:40.78
3. Germany 2 6:52.34
4. Czech Republic 6:55.00
5. Germany 1 6:56.52
MEN
Quadruple scull
1. France 5;54.49
2. Italy 6:11.53
3. Simon Jones/Alasdair Leighton-Crawford/Rob Williams/Matt
Beechey (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:21.98
4. Germany 6:24.46
5. Azerbaijan 6:37.65
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GB CREW LISTS (with clubs/home towns/dates of birth)
Poznan World Cup 2008
OPEN
WOMEN
Eight (NB – new seat order)
Beth Rodford (Thames RC/Burton-on-Trent/ 28.12.82)/Carla Ashford
(Oxford Brookes BC/Northallerton/13.03.79)/Natasha Howard
(Tideway Scullers/West Runton/3.9.80)/Natasha Page (Reading Uni/
Hartpury/30.04.85)/Jess Eddie (Uni of London/Durham/07.10.84)/
Sarah Winckless (Walbrook & Royal/Henley/18.10.73)/Alison
Knowles (Thames RC/ Bournemouth/27.3.82)/Katie Greves (Leander
Club/Oxford/02.09.82)/Caroline O’Connor (Oxford Brookes/Ealing/
25.04.83) (cox)
Coach: John Keogh
Double scull
Elise Laverick (Thames RC/Poling, W.Sussex/27.07.75)/
Anna Bebington (Leander Club/Leek, Staffs/13.2.83)
Coach: Miles Forbes Thomas
MEN
Pair
Robin Bourne-Taylor (Army RC/Oxford/22.07.81)/Tom Solesbury (Molesey BC/Petts Wood, Kent/23.09.80)
Four (two boats)
Senior
Tom James (Molesey/Wrexham/11.3.84)/Steve Williams
(Leander Club/Cheltenham/15.04.76)/Peter Reed (Leander Club/
Nailsworth, Glos/27.07.81)/Andy Triggs Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden,
N.Yorks/03.03.79)
Coach: Jurgen Grobler
Under 23s (Includes clubs/schools)
Toby Garnett (CUBC/London/29.07.87)/Henry Pelly (CUBC/London/30.07.83)/ Pete Marsland (CUBC/London/06.03.85)/Tom
Ransley (CUBC/Ashford, Kent/06.09.85)
Eight:
Alex Partridge (Leander Club/Alton, Hants/25.01.81)/
Tom Stallard (Leander/Welwyn, Herts/11.09.78)/
Tom Lucy (Oxford Brookes/Monmouth/01.05.88)/
Richard Egington (Leander/Knutsford/26.02.79)/
Josh West (Leander/Santa Fe, USA/25.03.77)/
Alastair Heathcote (Army RC/London/18.8.77)/
Matt Langridge(Leander Club/Northwich/20.05.83)/
Colin Smith (Leander/Henley on Thames/23.09.83)/
Acer Nethercott (University College Oxford BC/Harlow/28.11.77)
(cox)
Spare: Tom Parker (Oxford Brookes/Winchester/24.10.82)
Coaches: Mark Banks, John West, Jonny Singfield
Coach: Mark Earnshaw
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Double scull
Helen Casey (Wallingford RC/Oxford/06.02.74)/
Hester Goodsell (Reading Uni/Cambridge/27.06.84)
Coach: Rob Morgan
Quadruple scull
Sophie Hosking (London RC/Wimbledon/25.01.86)/Andrea Dennis (Wallingford RC/Oxford/03.01.82)/Laura Greenhalgh (Reading Uni/Oxford/02.09.85)/Jane Hall (Leander/Caversham/20.10.73)
MEN
Pair
Daniel Harte (London/Edinburgh/12.12.75)/Chris Bartley
(Wallingford/Chester/2.2.84)
Four
Richard Chambers (Oxford Brookes/Coleraine/10.06.85)/
James Lindsay-Fynn (London/Trim/29.09.75)/Paul Mattick
(Wallingford/Oxford/25.04.78)/James Clarke (London RC/
London/31.12.84)
Coach: Robin Williams
Double scull
Zac Purchase (Marlow RC/Tewkesbury, Glos/02.05.86)/
Mark Hunter (Leander Club/Romford, Essex/01.07.78)
Coach: Darren Whiter
Quadruple scull
Simon Jones (Leander/Henley/8.6.78))Alasdair Leighton-Crawford
(Tideway Scullers/Richmond-upon-Thames/09.12.81)/ Rob Williams
(London RC/Maidenhead/21.01.85)/Matt Beechey (Leander/Worcester/
4.3.77)
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CONTACT DETAILS
For media enquiries about GB Rowing please contact:
Caroline Searle
T: (01225) 443998
M: (07831) 755351
GB Rowing website www.gbrowing.org.uk – full biogs available
here.
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