Leander Club lead the way at first GB Rowing Team Winter Assessment
249 rowers aimed to impress at the weekend’s GB Rowing Team 1st Winter Assessment hosted by Boston Rowing Club, Lincolnshire.
Tom Barras, pictured here at the Worlds, headed a Leander 1-2-3 at Boston this weekend. Copyright: Intersport Images
It was a cracking weekend for Leander Club at the first GB Rowing Team Winter Assessment in Boston, Lincolnshire.
With returning Olympians exempt, Leander took four of the top six spots in the open men’s pair – which was won by Matt Rossiter and Jacob Dawson in a time of 17:30.31 – as well as a share of third place with World Champion Callum McBrierty teaming up with James Rudkin of Newcastle University BC.
Leander’s men also took a one-two-three in the open men’s single scull with Tom Barras, Nick Middleton and Frazier Christie in that order. Holly Nixon added the open women’s single scull title, too.
The Henley-on-Thames club has a high performance programme and while some rowers may have been developed initially elsewhere, they are nurtured towards the GB Rowing Team squad at Leander.
Wallingford RC, meanwhile, took the top two spots in the lightweight women’s single scull through Gemma Hall and Eleanor Piggott with Emily Craig, of the University of London, coming home third.
The Oxfordshire club is renowned for producing a string of top female lightweights. Piggott is a former world U23 champion as well as reigning world champion in the lightweight women’s quadruple scull whilst Hall was GB’s chosen lightweight single sculler at the 2016 World Championships in Rotterdam.
Cambridge University Women’s BC also had a good weekend with Lucy Pike and Rachel Elwood winning the women’s pair as well as producing top 10 finishers in both the lightweight and openweight women’s singles.
Zak Lee Green won the lightweight men’s single scull from his GB squad opposite numbers Charles Waite-Roberts and Sam Mottram. Lee-Green, a qualified dentist, is a product of the GB Rowing Team Start programme at Agecroft RC.
The weekend’s assessment began with a 2km ergo test on the Saturday followed by a 5km on-water time-trial on the River Witham at Boston, Lincolnshire on Sunday.
Nearly 250 rowers took part across the six disciplines: open and lightweight men’s and women’s single sculls and open men’s and women’s pairs.
OPEN MEN
Pair (top 10 finishers)
1. Matt Rossiter/Jacob Dawson (Leander Club) 17:30.31
2. George Rossiter/Barnaby Stentiford (Leander Club) 17.35.55
3. Callum McBrierty/James Rudkin (Leander Club/Newcastle Univ BC) 17:37.67
4. Thomas Jeffery/Edward Gleadowe (Leander Club) 17:40.65
5. Sam Arnot/Sam Twine (Leander Club) 17:41.70
6. Alastair Douglass/George Stewart (Molesey BC) 17:41.89
7. Joshua Bugajski/William Warr (Oxford Univ BC/Isis) 17:46.92
8. Jorgen Tveit/Oliver Cook (Oxford Univ BC/Isis) 17:55.63
9. Matthew Aldridge/Rory Gibbs (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 17:56.28
10. Adam Neill/Cameron Buchan (Leander Club) 17:56.74
Single (top 10 finishers)
1. Tom Barras (Leander Club) 18:20.66
2. Nick Middleton (Leander Club) 18:43.17
3. Frazier Christie (Leander Club) 18:52.64
4. Tristan Vouilloz (Imperial Coll BC) 18:54.61
5. Jack Burns (Clydesdale ARC) 18:57.84
6. Thomas Ford (Leander Club) 18:59.14
7. Josh Armstrong (Edinburgh Univ BC) 19:00.83
8. Cameron Harrison (Tees RC) 19:06.28
9. Joel Andrew (Leander Club) 19:08.56
10. James Scott (Leander Club) 19:18.49
OPEN WOMEN
Pair
1. Lucy Pike/Rachel Elwood (Cambridge Univ Women’s BC) 20:17.51
2. Jenny Stevenson/India Somerside (Edinburgh Univ BC) 20:24.63
3. Harriet Roddy/Natasha Harris-White (Newcastle Univ BC) 20:34.41
4. Oonagh Cousins/Thea Zabell (Cambridge Univ Women’s BC) 20:38.99
5. Grace MacDonald/Sophia Heath (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 20:40.94
Single (top 10 finishers)
1. Holly Nixon (Leander Club) 19:45.66
2. Georgia Francis (Imperial Coll BC) 20:06.39
3. Bethany Bryan (Leander Club) 20:08.74
4. Melissa Wilson (Cambridge Univ Women’s BC) 20:17.52
5. Katy Wilkinson-Feller (Tideway Scullers Sch) 20:21.41
6. Lucy Burgess (Leander Club) 20:21.85
7. Holly Hill (Cambridge Uni Women’s BC) 20:22.69
8. Emily Carmichael (Leander Club) 20:23.15
9. Lucy Glover (Warrington RC) 20:24.91
10. Alice White (Cambridge Univ Women’s BC) 20:26.40
LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN
Single scull (top 10 finishers)
1. Gemma Hall (Wallingford RC) 20:00.36
2. Eleanor Piggott (Wallingford RC) 20:02.01
3. Emily Craig (Univ of London BC) 20:16.45
4. Brianna Stubbs (Wallingford RC) 20:23.55
5. Ellie Lewis (Agecroft RC/Manchester Univ BC) 20:33.19
6. Imogen Grant (Cambridge Univ Women’s BC) 20:34.72
7. Maddie Arlett (Edinburgh Univ BC) 20:55.85
8. Alex Rankin (Edinburgh Univ BC) 20:55.85
9. Flo Pickles (Oxford Univ Women’s BC) 21:03.03
10. Bryony Lawrence (Gloucester Hartpury) 21:04.36
MEN
Single scull (top 10 finishers)
1. Zak Lee-Green (Agecroft RC) 18:41.94
2. Charles Waite-Roberts (Leander Club) 18:44.02
3. Samuel Mottram (Leander Club) 18:51.12
4. Jamie Copus (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 18:56.73
5. Matthew Curtis (Edinburgh Univ BC) 18:59.85
6. Sam Tuck (Molesey BC) 19:0046.
7. Joel Cassells (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 19:00.88
8. Gavin Horsbrough (Edinburgh Univ BC) 19:03.62
9. Edward Fisher (Leander Club) 19:06.60
10. Dominic Jackson (Molesey BC) 19:10.58
