Some surprise results at GB Rowing Team Trials
In blustery conditions there were some surprise results at the GB Rowing Team Senior and U23 Trials this morning in Reading.
Angus Groom, World U23 bronze medallist, made a step into a bigger league today by posting the fastest time in the open men’s single scull time trial.
Sam Mottram – a World U23 B finalist last year – was top in the lightweight men’s single, while George Nash and Will Satch, the 2012 Olympic men’s pair bronze medallists, were reunited and took top honours in the men’s pair above reigning champions Alex Gregory and Mohamed Sbihi.
Four-times Olympic medallist Katherine Grainger also marked a significant moment in her comeback to top racing with a win by just over a second from event favourite Victoria Thornley in the women’s single.
Perhaps more predictably Olympic Champion Kat Copeland was dominant in the lightweight women’s single scull whilst Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, also 2012 winners, were streaks ahead in the women’s pair.
There are still semi-finals and finals to come tomorrow at the annual event which helps crystallise minds before crew formation and then selection for the European Championships coming up in May in Poland. GB’s team for the Europeans will be announced on May 13th.
Conditions are not predicted to be as gusty as today with more consistent wind, moving the organisers to switch the semi-finals into tomorrow morning rather than today.
Today, Groom – who learnt to row at Walton RC and Durham University – and his U23 double scull bronze counterpart Jack Beaumont split some of the national squad’s 2014 top guns in their sculling trial.
Charles Cousins, from Cambridge who was a Trials winner last year and part of the GB Rowing Team’s World Silver medal men’s quad, was second in 7:26.58 to Groom’s 7:24.72 whilst Jonny Walton and John Collins, last year’s senior men’s double scull combination, were fourth and fifth in an event where only one of two of the top ten were not representing Leander Club.
Collins said: “That was very tricky. Obviously the conditions are pretty horrible out there but it is a good test of skill and it’s the kind of challenge we all have to rise to. Going on the forecast, it seems like a good idea to move the semis to tomorrow. It could be unfair to do side-by-side racing in these conditions”.
Kristina Stiller, from Yarm in North Yorks and a 2014 European finalist in the women’s quad, put in a strong performance behind Grainger and Thornley to take third place in 8:09.30 to Grainger’s winning time of 8:05.24.
Mel Wilson, fresh from finishing her medical studies only last month, was fifth and said: “I have been studying this year and only finished my exams two weeks ago, so my preparation for the last fortnight has been amazing! I’ve finished my course now and can officially call myself a doctor.
“I’ve obviously had a year of split priorities, so these Trials are a bit of a stepping stone for me. I feel like this weekend is the start of my Rio preparations.”
Katie Greves and Zoe Lee were second to Stanning and Glover in the women’s pair and afterwards Lee said: ”It was pretty rough in the second 1000m and pretty gusty before that but we were pleased that we executed the technical things we wanted to do. We just need to work on making it ‘racey’ tomorrow”.
In the lightweight women’s single, Tees RC’s Copeland was over 10 seconds ahead of the opposition which was led by Charlotte Taylor of Putney Town RC with Imogen Walsh under a second behind her in third, setting the scene for some potentially tight semi-final racing. Ellie Piggott and Ruth Walczak were fourth and fifth.
Reigning Champions Gregory and Sbihi were quickest to the halfway point in the men’s pair but Nash and Satch came through strongly in the second part to win in 6:46.34. With 11 reigning World Champion rowers finishing in the top 10 pairs today, this is one of the strongest fields at this year’s event.
Scott Durant and world men’s eight champion Matt Tarrant put in a good performance to take third in 6:49.13.
Nash said: “That was a bit different to our training camp out in Portugal. There was a bit of a headwind, which is a bit frustrating but you just have to deal with it and calm everything down – the looser we are, the faster we are. I’m kind of happy with the performance but it wasn’t flat conditions so we know there is more to come”.
The lightweight men’s single scull form book was not only over-turned by Mottram but also by Zak Lee Green, a dentist from Cardiff who came through the GB Rowing Team’s Start talent development programme at Agecroft RC. He was second in 7:41. 50.
Jamie Kirkwood, last year’s champion who was 11th today, said: “I had knee surgery in November but have come back pretty strongly from that. I’m hoping to show what my last few months of training have been like tomorrow.”
Olympic silver medallist Richard Chambers, tipped to win here, squeezed into 12th place to give himself a second chance through the semi-finals. His brother Peter, also a 2012 silver medallist, was fourth and John Hale from Imperial BC was third.
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RESULTS
* = eligible for U23s
TIME TRIALS (1900m)
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
1. Helen Glover/Heather Stanning (Minerva Bath/Army RC)
7:25.19
2. Katie Greves/Zoe Lee (Leander Club/Imperial College BC)
7:33.17
3. Jess Eddie/Louisa Reeve (London RC/Leander Club) 7:37.26
4. Rosamund Bradbury/Olivia Carnegie Brown (Leander Club/
Oxford Brookes) 7:49.13
5. Lucinda Gooderham/Rebecca Chin (Leander Club/Agecroft)
7:51.04
6. Karen Bennett/Katherine Douglas (Leander Club) 7:51.52
7. Emily Ashford/Emily Carmichael (Leander Club) 8:03.00
8. Melissa Wilson/Holly Hill* (Cambridge Univ/Isle of Ely RC)
8:04.33
9. Emily Ford*/Sam Courty* (Newcastle Univ BC/Bath Univ
BC) 8:06.30
10. Aimee Jonckers/Helen Roberts (Molesey BC) 8:15.18
11. Alessandra French*/Maja Donaldson* (Univ of London BC)
8:15.19
12. Anne Withers*/Susannah Dear* (Oxford Brookes Univ BC)
8:20.74
13. Heidi Long*/Rebecca Edwards* (Molesey BC/Queens Univ
Ladies BC) 8:34.19
Single scull
1. Katherine Grainger (St Andrew BC) 8:05.24
2. Victoria Thornley (Leander Club) 8:06.36
3. Kristina Stiller (Tees RC) 8:09.30
4. Jessica Leyden* (Leander Club) 8:11.72
5. Melanie Wilson (Imperial College BC) 8:13.13
6. Frances Houghton (Univ of London Tyrian Club 8:15.42
7. Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne* (Reading Univ BC/Reading RC)
8:17.79
8. Beth Rodford (Gloucester RC) 8:18.76
9. Holly Nixon* (Leander Club) 8:21.42
10. Laura Wheeler (Nottingham RC) 8:28.74
11. Pippa Whittaker (Leander Club) 8:28.74
12. Donna Etiebet (Imperial College BC) 8:34.09
13. Gabby Rodriguez (Molesey BC) 8:35.82
14. Georgina Grandfield (Agecroft) 8:38.28
15. Josephine Wratten (Tees RC) 8:40.75
16. Sara Parfett (Imperial College) 8:44.15
17. Bethany Bryan* (Rees RC) 8:53.54
18. Rebecca Girling (Cardiff Univ BC) 9:00.06
OPEN
MEN
Pair
1. George Nash/Will Satch (Molesey BC/Leander Club) 6:46.34
2. Alex Gregory/Mohamed Sbihi (Leander Club/Molesey BC)
6:48.75
3. Scott Durant/Mat Tarrant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 6:49.13
4. Chris Boddy/Matt Rossiter (Leander Club) 6:52.41
5. Pete Reed/Constantine Louloudis (Leander Club/Oxford
Univ BC) 6:54.40
6. Alan Sinclair/Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell (Leander Club/Oxford Brookes Univ BC)
6:55.42
7. Matt Gotrel/Paul Bennett (Leander Club/Univ of London) 6:56.17
8. Barnaby Stentiford/Sam Arnot (Leander Club) 6:57.69
9. Richard Clarke*/Lewis McCue* (Univ of London/Robert Gordon Univ) 6:57.85
10. Callum McBrierty/Tom Ransley (Leander Club) 7:02.76
11. Oliver Cook/Tom George* (Univ of London/Leander Club) 7:02.76
12. Timothy Grant*/Karl Hudspith (Oxford Brookes Univ BC)
7:03.30
13. Thomas Ford/Timonty Clarke (Newcastle Univ BC) 7:03.56
14. William Warr/George Rossiter (Cambridge Univ/Leander Club) 7:04.40
15. Oliver Knight*/James Rudkin* (Newcastle Univ BC) 7:05.39
16. Andrew Joel*/Harry Leask* (Leander Club) 7:09.58
17. Henry Millar*/Rufus Scholefield* (Edinburgh Univ BC) 7:15.09
18. Rory Gibbs*/Morgan Bolding* (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 7:22.14
19. Henry Swarbrick*/William Hall* (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 7:22.14
20. Sybren Hoogland*/Richard Hawkins* (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 7:23.56
21. Michael Glover*/Matthew Aldridge* (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 7:23.90
22. Oliver Hines*/Tristan Vouilloz* (Imperial College BC) 7:25.01
22. Richard Hume*/James Stanhope* (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 7:25.01
24. Felix Newman*/Piers Kasas* (Cambridge Univ BC) 7:27.39
Single scull
1. Angus Groom (Leander Club) 7:24.72
2. Charles Cousins (Leander Club) 7:26.58
3. Jack Beaumont* (Leander Club) 7:28.78
3. Jonathan Walton (Leander Club) 7:29.35
4. John Collins (Leander Club) 7:32.66
5. Matt Langridge (Leander Club) 7:33.18
6. Peter Lambert (Leander Club) 7:35.88
8. Stewart Innes (Leander Club) 7:35.88
8. Graeme Thomas (Agecroft) 7:35.88
10. Sam Townsend (Reading Univ BC) 7:36.56
11. Nick Middleton (Leander Club) 7:46.07
12. Daniel Clift (Isle of Ely RC) 7:46.44
13. Tom Barras* (Cardiff Univ BC) 7:53.72
14. Michael Lawrence* (Quintin BC) 7:54.01
15. Frazier Christie* (Bath Univ BC) 7:56.10
16. Alexander Bain* (Newcastle Univ) 7:58.33
17. Alexander Haynes* (Sir W Borlase’s Grammar School)
8:00.19
18. George Stewart* (Molesey BC) 8:03.39
19. Andy Brown* (Tees RC) 8:06.13
20. Sam Twine* (Reading Univ BC) 8:14.93
21. Alex Wilding* (Bath Univ) 8:17.71
22. Dominic Tope* (Reading Univ) 8:22.77
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Single scull
1. Kat Copeland (Tees RC) 8:06.09
2. Charlotte Taylor (Putney Town RC) 8:17.45
3. Imogen Walsh (London RC) 8:18.28
4. Eleanor Piggott (Wallingford RC) 8:23.13
5. Ruth Walczak (Molesey BC) 8:25.84
6. Emily Craig (Uni of London BC) 8:31.72
7. Lucy Cruxton* (Reading Univ BC) 8;37.15
8. Brianna Stubbs (Wallingford RC) 8:40.01
9. Gemma Hall (Wallingford RC) 8:44.23
10. Emma McDonald* (Glasgow Univ BC) 8:44.83
11. Maddie Arlett* (Edinburgh Univ BC) 8;45.53
12. Flo Pickles* (Gloucester Hartpury) 8:49.31
13. Amelia Carlton* (Durham Univ BC) 8:50.30
14. Katherine Denham* (Durham Univ BC) 8:54.04
15. Hannah Traylen* (Exeter Univ BC) 8:58.91
16. Jade Wright* (Univ of London BC/UCL) 9:06.25
LIGHTWEIGHT
MEN
Single scull
1. Samuel Mottram* (Leander Club) 7:38.60
2. Zak Lee Green (Agecroft) 7:41.50
3. John Hale (Imperial College BC) 7:42.93
4. Peter Chambers (Oxford Brookes Univ) 7:43.78
5. Mark Aldred (London RC) 7:44.11
6. Joel Cassells (Oxford Brookes Univ)* 7:44.38
7. Sam Scrimgeour (Imperial College Univ BC) 7:45.13
8. Chris Bartley (Leander Club) 7:45.23
9. Jonathan Clegg (Leander Club) 7:45.23
10. William Fletcher (Leander Club) 7:46.76
11. Jamie Kirkwood (Leander Club) 7:47.08
12. Richard Chambers (Leander Club) 7:50.33
13. Charles Waite-Roberts (Leander Club) 7:51.62
14. Timothy Richards (Imperial College BC) 7:51.93
15. Benjamin Reeves* (Oxford Brookes Univ) 7:53.24
16. Myles Holbrough* (Imperial College BC) 7:54.74
17. Matthew Bedford (Univ of London BC) 7:56.96
18. Edward Fisher* (Leander Club) 7:58.18
19. Alastair Douglass* (Molesey BC) 7:58.51
20. Hugh Gallie (Agecroft) 7:59.48
21. George McKirdy (Imperial College BC) 8:00.80
22. Jonathan Jackson (Leander Club) 8:01.80
23. Christopher Goldsack (Univ of London BC) 8:03.74
24. Gregor Maxwell* (Edinburgh Univ BC) 8:09.35
25. Wilf Kimberley (Imperial College BC) 8:09.35
26. Andrew Dowty* (Leander Club) 8:12.83
27. Kieran Brown* (Edinburgh Univ BC) 8:20.02
28. Callum Gathercole* (Molesey BC) 8:25.38
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