Nash and Satch prove they are “ring ready”
George Nash and Will Satch proved they have shaken off any rust that might have gathered on their 2012 Olympic bronze partnership by winning their men’s pair semi-final at today’s GB Rowing Team Trials at Caverham, nr Reading.
The duo, reunited for this event, held off Olympic men’s four Champion and four-times Boat Race winner Pete Reed and Constantine Louloudis respectively to take the win with Chris Boddy and Matt Rossiter nipping in to grab third slot.
Olympic Champion Alex Gregory and World Champion Moe Sbihi won the opposing semi, from Matt Gotrel and Paul Bennett with Scott Durant and Matt Tarrant in third.
The scene is now set for a thrilling final in an event which will feature nine reigning men’s World Champions with a further two World Champions in the B final.
“That shows the strength in depth in this squad”, said Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing Team Performance Director. “We have seen some absolute class from Nash and Satch this morning and some good speed from Reed and Louloudis who have only had about five days together to prepare and I’m sure there is more to come from them. With so many World Champions in the final I’m sure it’s going to be a pretty tasty affair”.
Angus Groom continues to be the eye-catching men’s sculling package at the Trials which are designed to give the coaches and performance staff the opportunity to see how their charges perform under the stress of competition before crews are selected for the European Championships next month.
Groom, a world U23 medallist last year, won his semi-final with some style, more than two seconds ahead of Leander’s John Collins. Graeme Thomas, the rugby player turned rower who has enjoyed a swift rise to World senior medal status via the GB Rowing Team’s Start programme, was third – a good result for him following recent illness.
Thomas explained: “I’ve had a pretty tough winter so I am really happy to make the A final. That was the main goal. My coaches have been really good and not put too much pressure on but obviously I was in the top boat last year, the quad, and I want to get back in this year – and justify my place with the results. Getting in the A final is a step in the right direction.
“That’s the first competitive racing I’ve had since the World Championships last year, so obviously there were a few cobwebs and I perhaps showed that when I went off a bit too hard at the start. Lesson learned for the final”.
Charles Cousins, from Cambridgeshire, remains the favourite to win the open single scull title this afternoon. He took victory by nearly four seconds over his fellow World quadruple scull silver medallist Peter Lambert, from Maidenhead, in the other semi. Northwich’s Matt Langridge, World men’s pair silver medallist, who had been due to race in a pair this weekend with James Foad, switched to the single at the last minute and pulled off a great performance to make the final edging out Jack Beaumont and Sam Townsend in fourth and fifth.
“I haven’t seen Matt Langridge so feisty in the single for a very long time and that’s good to see”. said Tanner.
Katherine Grainger continues to prove her comeback is really on track as she won her semi-final of the open women’s single scull ahead of former World Junior Champion Jess Leyden and Olympian Mel Wilson who is coming back to full competition having just finished her medical studies.
Leyden said afterwards: “That was a really good race, close all the way through. I’m really excited to reach the final, it’s my first year in the squad and I’ve had a really good year. It’s awesome to race against Katherine but all of the girls are just so experienced. Just being around them and racing them means I am learning more and more. I’ll just race my own race in the final and see where it puts me”.
Vicky Thornley led the second semi-final home with Frances Houghton, returning from a long lay-off, and Tina Stiller in second and third. Like Grainger, Thornley got out into a controlling position and never relinquished the lead.
Kat Copeland, as expected, won her lightweight single scull semi-final. The Tees RC sculler had a comfortable lead going past the mid-point boathouses and eased on from there to take the win almost eight seconds ahead of 2013 World single scull bronze medallist Ruth Walczak. Ellie Piggott, a former World U23 medallist, was third.
London RC’s Imogen Walsh, a world cup winner last year whose winter training has been disrupted somewhat by illness, won the second semi-final ahead of Charlotte Taylor of Putney Town RC. Emily Craig was third.
Walsh said: I’m really happy with that, especially given that my winter was pretty dreadful really. I missed a lot of training through illness. Everyone wants to be the winner but in the context of my winter, I am really pleased with my results so far.
Some topsy-turvy results in yesterday’s time trials – if the form book were taken into consideration – were reversed yesterday as Coleraine’s Olympic silver winning Chambers brothers, Richard and Peter, were first and second respectively in their semi-final with Jonno Clegg third. The one-two-three in this race meant that Olympic silver medalist Chris Bartley and last year’s World lightweight men’s four medallist Mark Aldred were consigned to the B final.
Will Fletcher came out top in the opposing semi-final ahead of last year’s Trials winner Jamie Kirkwood and Zak Lee Green, like Thomas a Start graduate via Agecroft RC, proved his continuing growth by taking third spot ahead of Scotland’s Sam Scrimgeour. Emerging U23s Sam Mottram and Joel Cassells were fourth and sixth in their respective semis.
“In the lightweight men’s semis it as good to see both Will Fletcher and Peter Chambers come through after a pretty torrid winter form them”, said Tanner.
Lee Green said: I’m very pleased. Last year I had a bit of a debacle here and ended up in the C final, so just to make the A final is a bit of a relief. You have to take every race as it comes – last year I really messed up the time trial, so that was a focus for me this time and I managed to come second in quite tough conditions. I approached the semi-final in the same way. I was a bit far behind first and second but there is all to play for in the final”.
Olympic Champions Helen Glover and Heather Stanning continued their unruffled, despite today’s nippy headwind conditions, progress to the final with an eight second win over squad pairing Ro Bradbury and Olivia Carnegie Brown. Rebecca Chin and Lucinda Gooderham took third place.
Katie Greves and Zoe Lee were winners of the second semi-final with Jee Eddie and Louisa Reeve in second and Karen Bennett and Katherine Douglas taking third spot.
The finals of the 2015 GB Rowing Team Senior and U23 Trials take place this afternoon starting at 14.10. Great Britain’s team for the 2015 European Championships will be announced on May 13th.
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RESULTS
SEMI-FINALS
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
Semi-final 1
1 Helen Glover/Heather Stanning (Minerva Bath RC/Army RC) 8:12.45
2 Rosamund Bradbury/ Olivia Carnegie-Brown (Leander Club/Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 8:20.65
3 Lucinda Gooderham/Rebecca Chin (Leander Club/Agecroft RC) 8:27.06
4 Annie Withers/Susie Dear (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 8:30.91
5 Emily Ford/Sam Courty (Newcastle Univ BC/ Bath Univ BC) 8:34.31
6 Melissa Wilson/Holly Hill (Cambridge Univ Women’s BC) 8:42.03
Semi-final 2
1 Katie Greves/Zoe Lee (Leander Club/Imperial College BC) 8:04.34
2 Jessica Eddie/Louisa Reeve (London RC/Leander Club) 8:08.73
3 Karen Bennett/Katherine Douglas (Leander Club) 8:25.16
4 Emily Ashford/Emily Carmichael (Leander Club) 8:31.47
5 Aimee Jonckers/Helen Roberts (Molesey BC) 8:34.25
6 Alessandra French/Maja Donaldson (Univ of London BC) 8:43.60
Single Scull
Semi-final 1
1 Katherine Grainger (St Andrew BC) 8:33.44
2 Jessica Leyden (Leander Club) 8:34.25
3 Melanie Wilson (Imperial College BC) 8:37.00
4 Holly Nixon (Leander Club) 8:39.31
5 Beth Rodford (Gloucester RC) 8:53.75
6 Donna Etiebet (Imperial College BC) 9:11.68
Semi-final 2
1 Victoria Thornley (Leander Club) 8:33.60
2 Frances Houghton (Univ of London Tyrian Club) 8:36.66
3 Kristina Stiller (Tees RC) 8:38.48
4 Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (Reading Univ BC) 8:41.23
5 Laura Wheeler (Nottingham RC) 8:55.95
6 Pippa Whittaker (Leander Club) 8:58.57
MEN
Pair
Semi-final 1
1 George Nash/Will Satch (Molesey BC/Leander Club) 7:17.84
2 Pete Reed/Constantine Louloudis (Leander Club/Oxford Univ BC) 7:20.62
3 Chris Boddy/Matt Rossiter (Leander Club) 7:28.71
4 Richard Clarke/Lewis McCue (Univ of London BC/Robert Gordon Univ BC) 7:34.68
5 Barnaby Stentiford/Sam Arnot (Leander Club) 7:36.03
6 Timothy Grant/Karl Hudspith (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 7:46.47
Semi-final 2
1 Alex Gregory/Mohamed Sbihi (Leander Club/Molesey BC) 7:10.38
2 Matthew Gotrel/Paul Bennett (Leander Club/Univ of London BC) 7:10.89
3 Scott Durant/Matthew Tarrant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 7:11.47
4 Alan Sinclair/Nathan Reilly-O’Donnell (Leander Club/Univ of London BC) 7:11.75
5 Oliver Cook/Tom George (Univ of London BC/ Leander Club) 7:27.74
6 Callum McBrierty/Tom Ransley (Leander Club) 7:33.11
Single Scull
Semi-final 1
1 Angus Groom (Leander Club) 7:41.22
2 John Collins (Leander Club) 7:43.66
3 Graeme Thomas (Agecroft) 7:45.27
4 Jonathan Walton (Leander Club) 7:45.87
5 Stewart Innes (Leander Club) 7:57.82
6 Daniel Clift (Isle of Ely RC) 8:12.45
Semi-final 2
1 Charles Cousins (Reading Univ BC) 7:40.07
2 Peter Lambert (Leander Club) 7:44.24
3 Matthew Langridge (Leander Club)
4 Jack Beaumont (Leander Club) 7:45.76
5 Sam Townsend (Reading Univ BC) 7:52.36
6 Nick Middleton (Leander Club) 8:29.45
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Single Scull
Semi-final 1
1. Kat Copeland (Tees RC) 8:48.34
2. Ruth Walczak (Molesey BC) 8:56.65
3. Eleanor Piggott (Wallingford RC) 9:03.77
4. Gemma Hall (Wallingford RC) 9:07.97
5. Brianna Stubbs (Wallingford RC) 9:08.91
6. Flo Pickles* ( Gloucester Hartpury) 9:25.75
Semi-final 2
1. Imogen Walsh (London RC) 8;50.36
2. Charlotte Taylor (Putney Town RC) 8:58.65
3. Emily Craig (Univ of London BC) 9:05.35
4. Emma McDonald (Glasgow Univ BC) 9:11.89
5. Lucy Crouton (Reading Univ BC) 9:16.64
6. Maddie Arlett (Edinburgh Univ BC) 9:30.18
MEN
Single Scull
Semi-final 1
1 Richard Chambers (Leander Club) 8:04.40
2 Peter Chambers (Oxford Brookes Univ) 8:07.00
3 Jonathan Clegg (Leander Club) 8:10.41
4 Samuel Mottram (Leander Club) 8:14.67
5 Mark Aldred (London RC) 8:27.39
6 Chris Bartley (Leander Club) 8:33.56
Semi-final 2
1 William Fletcher (Leander Club) 7:59.15
2 Jamie Kirkwood (Leander Club) 8:03.18
3 Zak Lee-Green (Agecroft) 8:11.23
4 Sam Scrimgeour (Imperial College BC) 8:23.48
5 John Hale (Imperial College BC) 8:26.32
6 Joel Cassells (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 8:27.84
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