GB crews progress at European Championships
The GB Rowing Team signed off the first day’s racing at the European Rowing Championships in Italy with one crew reaching the ‘A’ finals and three other GB crews qualifying for semi-finals.
All nine of the GB development crews which travelled to Lake Varese were in action at the competition which the lottery-funded GB Rowing Team traditionally uses to ‘blood’ young and upcoming rowers against experienced crews from other nations – with many of this year’s crews having raced at London 2012.
The lightweight women’s double – featuring 2011 lightweight quad World Champion Imogen Walsh – joined the women’s eight in Sunday’s ‘A’ finals and the men’s single and quadruple sculls and men’s lightweight double scull all progressed to the semis.
The women’s and men’s pairs, men’s eight and lightweight men’s four will race in the repechages on Saturday while the women’s eight finished fifth in their preliminary race for lanes.
“All our crews have put in good first day performances against strong opposition,” said Pete Sheppard, Team Manager and Lead Coach of the GB squad for the Championships. “All those crews racing tomorrow will need to make another step up reach Sunday’s A finals.”
In the heats of the women’s and men’s pairs only the winner qualified directly for the final with the remainder racing in repechages on Saturday.
Caragh McMurtry from Southampton and Oxford’s Olivia Carnegie-Brown put in a solid performance to start the day for GB in the women’s pair, finishing second to Romania.
A photo finish followed in the men’s pair as World U23 Champions Kieren Emery from Newcastle and Shepperton’s Matthew Tarrant came from a length and a half down on leaders Spain to finish just 0.15 seconds from snatching automatic qualification for the final.
The lottery-funded team then got its first crew into the ‘A’ finals on Sunday with Imogen Walsh from London Rowing Club and Molesey Boat Club’s Ruth Walczak coming home second in the lightweight women’s double scull behind Italy with clear water back to Belarus in third.
Chris Boddy from Stockton on Tees and Michael Mottram from Stoke Mandeville led early on in their heat of the lightweight men’s double scull before first Greece – featuring a London 2012 finalist and World U23 Champion – came through them at halfway.
The Polish crew – from their senior lightweight quad – just won the race to the line for the second automatic spot in the semi-finals by three tenths of a second. But the GB crew went on to finish second in the repechage this afternoon behind Bulgaria to secure their place in the semi-finals.
The lightweight men’s four will also race in the repechages on Saturday after finishing second to Italy.
Dan Ritchie, 2010 and 2011 World silver medallist in the GB men’s eight made a return to international action following injury earlier in the year. Ritchie, from Herne Bay in Kent, raced in the men’s quadruple scull with fellow Leander Club rowers Nicholas Middleton and John Collins and Loughborough student Jonathan Walton.
The GB quad enjoyed a tussle all the way to the line with Poland, eventually earning the third qualifying spot for the semi-final by half a second. Slovenia won the heat with the Ukraine in second place.
Preston’s Graeme Thomas, part of the Siemens-sponsored START talent ID and development programme at Agecroft Rowing Club in Manchester, finished second in the men’s single scull to reach the semi-finals along with winner and reigning European Champion from Lithuania.
The GB men’s eight finished third in their heat behind Poland – who had seven rowers from their London 2012 crew – and Italy.
On Saturday racing starts at 8am BST. Go to www. worldrowing.com for the full start list.
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RESULTS
European Rowing Championships, Varese, Italy
September 14-16, 2012
(GB crews only – for full results go to www.worldrowing.com)
HEATS
WOMEN
Pair (1 to A final, remainder to repechage)
1. Camelia LUPASCU, Nicoleta ALBU (Romania) 7:10.21
2. Caragh MCMURTRY, Olivia CARNEGIE-BROWN (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:18.14
3. Tetiana STEKOLSCHYKOVA, Viktoriia VYKHRIST (Ukraine) 7:24.08
4. Martina STILLEROVA, Katerina KOPECKA (Czech Rep) 7:32.19
Eight (Preliminary race for lanes – All to A final)
1. Romania 5:59.83
2. Ukraine 6:11.01
3. Belarus 6:12.40
4. Italy 6:13.23
5. Leonora KENNEDY, Claire MCKEOWN, Monica RELPH, Victoria MEYER-LAKER, Yasmin TREDELL, Zoe LEE, Caragh MCMURTRY, Olivia CARNEGIE-BROWN, Zoe DE TOLEDO (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:13.78
6. Russia 6:14.19
MEN
Single (Top 2 to semi-final, remainder to repechage)
1. Mindaugas GRISKONIS (Lithuania) 6:52.17
2. Graeme THOMAS (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:54.03
3. Michal PLOCEK (Czech Rep) 6:54.23
4. Janis TIMOFEJEVS (Latvia) 7:19.28
5. Andre REDR (Slovakia) 7:29.37
6. Sverri NIELSEN (Denmark) 7:29.75
Pair (1 to A final, remainder to repechage)
1. Alexander SIGURBJONSSON BENET, Pau VELA MAGGI (Spain) 6:33.54
2. Kieren EMERY, Matthew TARRANT (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:33.69
3. Domonkos SZELL, Bela SIMON JR (Hungary) 6:53.64
4. Sergei BABAYEV, Roman VESELKIN (Russia) 6:56.17
5. Wojciech GUTORSKI, Jaroslaw GODEK (Poland) 6:57.36
Quadruple scull (Top 3 to semi-final, remainder to repechage)
1. Slovenia 5:46.24
2. Ukraine 5:48.89
3. Daniel RITCHIE, Nicholas MIDDLETON, Jonathan WALTON, John COLLINS (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:51.01
4. Poland 5:51.46
5. Denmark 5:59.52
Eight (1 to A final, remainder to repechage)
1. Poland 5:30.06
2. Italy 5:32.03
3. Mason DURANT, Peter ROBINSON, Thomas CLARK, Lance TREDELL, Oliver COOK, Fred GILL, Matthew GOTREL, Scott DURANT, Henry FIELDMAN (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:32.09
4. Czech Republic 5:41.48
LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN
Double scull (Top 2 to A final, remainder to repechage)
1. Laura MILANI, Elisabetta SANCASSANI (Italy) 6:57.88
2. Ruth WALCZAK, Imogen WALSH (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:02.26
3. Alena KRYVASHEYENKA, Irina LIASKOVA (Belarus) 7:14.84
4. Olga ARKADOVA, Natalia VARFOLOMEEVA (Russia) 7:19.26
5. Sharon COHEN, Chen OSHRI (Israel) 7:44.96
LIGHTWEIGHT MEN
Double scull (Top 2 to semi-final, remainder to repechage)
1. Panagiotis MAGDANIS, Spyridon GIANNAROS (Greece) 6:23.70
2. Artur MIKOLAJCZEWSKI, Milosz JANKOWSKI (Poland) 6:24.20
3. Chris BODDY, Michael MOTTRAM (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:24.51
4. Christian NIELSEN, Jens NIELSEN (Denmark) 6:41.92
5. Rajko HRVAT, Matevz MALESIC (Slovenia) 7:03.61
Four (1 to A final, remainder to repechage)
1. Italy 5:56.95
2. Sam SCRIMGEOUR, Adam FREEMAN-PASK, William FLETCHER, Jonathan CLEGG (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:01.85
3. Poland 6:20.31
4. Ukraine 6:21.43
REPECHAGE
LIGHTWEIGHT MEN
Double scull (1-3 to semi-final, 4… to C final)
1. Zlatko KARAIVANOV, Vassil VITANOV (Bulgaria) 6:25.83
2. Chris BODDY, Michael MOTTRAM (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:26.97
3. Richard VANCO, Lukas BABAC (Slovakia) 6:28.98
4. Rajko HRVAT, Matevz MALESIC (Slovenia) 6:30.21
5. Daniel MATYASOVSZKI, Bence POZSAR (Hungary) 6:36.17
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CREW LIST
European Rowing Championships, Varese, Italy
September 14-16, 2012
(GB crews only – for full entry list go to www.worldrowing.com)
OPENWEIGHT WOMEN
Eight
Leonora Kennedy/Sport Imperial BC/London/12.01.1987)/
Claire McKeown (Clydesdale ARC/Glasgow/16.07.1990)/
Monica Relph (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/15.01.1988)/
Victoria Meyer-Laker (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/18.03.1988)/
Yasmin Tredell (Oxford Brookes University BC/Evesham/18.11.1992)/
Zoe Lee (Sport Imperial BC/London/15.12.1985)/
Caragh McMurtry (Reading University BC/Southampton/22.08.1991)/
Olivia Carnegie-Brown (Oxford Brookes University BC/Goring Heath/28.03.1991)/
Zoe de Toledo (Cox) (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/17.07.1987)
Coaches: Nick Strange & Don McLachlan
Pair
Caragh McMurtry (Reading University BC/Southampton/22.08.1991)/
Olivia Carnegie-Brown/Oxford Brookes University BC/Goring Heath/28.03.1991)
Coach: Nick Strange
OPENWEIGHT MEN
Pair
Kieren Emery (Leander Club/Newcastle-upon-Tyne/01.06.1990)/
Matthew Tarrant (Oxford Brookes University BC/Shepperton/11.07.1990)
Coaches: Paul Stannard.& Christian Felkel
Eight
Mason Durant (Oxford Brookes University BC/Lancaster/12.02.1988)/
Peter Robinson (Molesey BC/Salisbury/01.10.1985)/
Thomas Clark (Leander Club/Worcester/28.01.1989)/
Lance Tredell (Oxford Brookes University BC/Oxford/25.08.1988)
Matt Gotrel (Nottingham RC/Moreton-in-Marsh/01.03.1989)/
Scott Durant (Oxford Brookes University BC/Lancaster/12.02.1988)/
Oliver Cook (University of London BC/Windsor/05.06.1990)/
Fred Gill (Molesey BC/Shrewsbury/09.01.1986)/
Henry Fieldman (cox) (Imperial College BC/London/25.11.1988)
Coaches: Paul Stannard & Christian Felkel
Single Scull
Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC/Preston/08.11.1988)
Coach: Hamish Burrell
Quadruple Scull
Daniel Ritchie (Leander Club/Herne Bay/06.01.1987)/
Nicholas Middleton (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/12.08.1988)/
Jonathan Walton (Loughborough Students RC/Leicester/06.10.1990)/
John Collins (Leander Club/Caversham/24.01.1989)
Coach: Miles Forbes-Thomas
LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN
Double Scull
Ruth Walczak (Molesey BC/East Molesey/15.09.1988)/
Imogen Walsh (London RC/Putney/17.01.1984)
Coach: Phil Bourguignon
LIGHTWEIGHT MEN
Double Scull
Chris Boddy (Leander Club/Stockton-on-Tees/16.11.1987)/
Michael Mottram (Leander Club/Stoke Mandeville/08.06.1990)
Coach: Rob Morgan
Four
Sam Scrimgeour (Imperial College BC/London/28.01.1988)/
Adam Freeman-Pask (Imperial College BC/Windsor/19.06.1985)/
William Fletcher (Durham University BC/Chester le Street/24.12.1989)/
Jonathan Clegg (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/14.07.1989)
Coach: Peter Sheppard
Spare
Jamie Kirkwood (Imperial College BC/Northumberland/30.08.1989)
MANAGEMENT AND SUPPORT STAFF
Performance
Team Manager & Lead Coach: Peter Sheppard
Assistant Team Manager: James Lee
Resources Manager & Driver: Maurice Hayes
Driver: Ian Shore
Medical & Sports Science
Doctor: Guy Evans
Physio: Katherine Vials
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SCHEDULE
European Rowing Championships, Varese, Italy
September 14-16, 2012
(For full race schedule and daily start lists go to www.worldrowing.com)
Friday 14 September: Heats and repechages
Saturday 15 September: Repechages, Semi-finals and C/D Finals
Sunday 16 September: A/B Finals
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CONTACT DETAILS
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Andy Sloan, Caroline Searle or Miranda Edwards on:
T: (01225) 443998
M: ANDY (07714) 168391
GB Rowing Team website www.gbrowingteam.org.uk – full biogs available
here.
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