Third assessment gives next generation of GB rowers chance to impress
With Rio firmly on the horizon for the core group of Olympic squad rowers, the next wave will be looking to impress at the third GB Rowing Team assessment of the season.
Chris Lawrie stroked the men's quad to a historic gold at the 2015 World Junior Championships
With Rio firmly on the horizon for the core group of Olympic squad rowers, the next wave will be looking to impress at the third GB Rowing Team assessment of the season.
This weekend’s event in Boston, Lincolnshire, could offer the opportunity to those seeking to gain an invitation to the Olympic trials next month as well as those looking to represent their country on the global stage at the World U23 Championships this summer.
For others in action on the River Witham the goal could be to secure a place at the senior World Championships in the International Classes.
The latter is taking place in a combined event at Rotterdam, The Netherlands, from August 21-28, with the World U23s.
Among those looking to make their mark during Saturday’s 5k time-trial on the River Witham are a number of medallists at U23 and Junior level from 2015.
Chris Lawrie (Molesey BC) stroked the men’s quadruple scull to a historic gold medal at last year’s World Junior Championships in Rio. He will contest the men’s single in Boston, along with Dave Bell, Frazier Christie and George Stewart who all recorded top-ten finishes at the first 5k assessment in November.
In the men’s sweep section, Lewis McCue (Robert Gordon University BC) – a silver-medallist in the men’s four at the World U23s – teams up in the pair with James Rudkin (Newcastle University BC).
Phil Congdon, a 2014 European Championships bronze-medallist with the senior men’s eight, partners Leander Club colleague Timothy Clarke and former GB lightweight rower Chris Boddy is paired with Adam Neill.
Six medallists from the World U23s are among a 50-strong field in the women’s single. Beth Bryan (Tees RC) has won silver and bronze with the women’s eight in the past three years, while GB Rowing Team Start graduate Sam Courty (Reading RC) and Emily Ford (Newcastle University BC) were in the women’s four that won bronze in Plovdiv, Bulgaria last summer.
Nicole Lamb (Newcastle Univ), Katie Bartlett (Nottingham RC) and Annie Withers (Oxford Brookes Uni) were all in the women’s eight that won U23 bronze last year.
Among those contesting the lightweight men’s single scull in Boston is Steven Parsonage (Durham University BC), a graduate of the GB Rowing Team Start Centre in Norwich. He won silver with the lightweight men’s quad at last year’s World U23s and went on to make his senior debut aged 19 at the World Championships in Aiguebelette the following month.
Three members of the lightweight men’s four that won World U23 bronze in 2015 – Ali Douglass (Molesey BC), Ed Fisher and Jonny Jackson (both Leander) – will also be in action.
Ones to watch in the lightweight women’s single include Maddie Arlett (Edinburgh University BC) and Ellie Lewis (Agecroft RC/Manchester University). They were both part of the lightweight women’s quad that finished just outside the medals at the World U23s.
