Great Britain joins Germany, USA and Austria to race SH Netz Cup 2023

September 14, 2023

A GB Men’s eight (M8+) will be taking to the water to race the 23rd Schleswig-Holstein Netz Cup on the Kiel Canal in Rendsburg, Germany from 15–17 September 2023

Getting ready for what’s hailed as ‘the toughest rowing race in the world’, the GB crew, coached by Peter Sheppard, Leander Club’s Matt Beechey and Oxford Brookes’ Henry Bailhache-Webb, consists of a strong group of U23 and senior athletes.

This includes Dan Graham and Sam Bannister, who, as part of a second GB Men’s four, narrowly missed out on the podium at World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne 2023 and Miles Beeson, who won gold in the Men’s pair at the U23 World Championships in Plovdiv and has now won U23 gold in the Men’s eight, Men’s four and Men’s pair.

All other athletes have all won medals at U23 level. Jack Prior and Matt Heywood were part of the Men’s eight and cox Will Denegri was in the Men’s coxed four, all winning U23 World gold in 2022. Douwe De Graaf was World gold medallist in 2022 in the Men’s four and in 2021 in the Men’s pair. Matt Rowe won U23 World Gold in the Men’s eight in 2019 and bronze in the Men’s four in 2021, while Pete Lancashire will be making his GB debut having won U23 World gold for Canada in 2021.

Many have just graduated from university and are looking forward to making a return to competitive racing for Great Britain.

Peter Sheppard, GB Rowing Team Head Coach for the Olympic Pathway said: “This event provides a unique opportunity for a leading group of development rowers who are in the pathway behind the successful Belgrade GB men’s sweep team, to establish their pedigree against athletes from Austria, USA and Germany who recently raced at the World Championships in Belgrade. The coaching team has been a collaborative effort from two of our leading men’s sweep High Performance Academies, Oxford Brookes University BC and Leander Club.”

Great Britain will be joined by last year’s winners, USA, as well as crews from Germany and Austria, who will compete against each other in three competitions across the weekend. The highlight is the International Eights rowing marathon, a brutal race along a mammoth 12.7km route. The rowing marathon is on Sunday afternoon and will be broadcast live here. You can find out more on the Netz Cup website.

The other competitions are the Ergo Cup, which takes place on Friday evening and gives the winners the first chance to choose the best starting position from their point of view for Sunday’s race and the Rowing Sprint Cup Int8+, which is a short sprint over 350 metres which takes place on Saturday afternoon in the dock area in Rendsburg.

UPDATE (Sunday, 17 September 2023): GB wins SH Netz Cup 2023!

After a gruelling 37 minutes 32.7 seconds on the ‘marathon’ 12.7km route of the final part of the competition, Great Britain finished 17.3 seconds ahead of the USA, with Germany third and Austria fourth.

GB Men’s Eight at Netz Cup

Jack Prior (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Matt Heywood (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Miles Beeson (Leander Club)
Douwe De Graaf (Leander Club)
Sam Bannister (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Peter Lancashire (Leander Club)
Dan Graham (Leander Club)
Matt Rowe (Oxford Brookes University BC)
Cox: Will Denegri (Oxford Brookes University BC)