One hundred rowers form Great Britain team for 2017 EUSA Rowing Championships

One hundred rowers from 13 universities will compete for Great Britain at the European University Rowing Championships in Serbia next month

A squad of 100 student rowers from 13 different universities will form the British delegation to compete at the European Universities Rowing Championships in Subotica, Serbia, next month. The Squad will look to defend the EUSA Rowing Salver which GB Universities won in 2016.

At the 2016 EUSA Rowing Championships, Oxford Brookes won both the men’s and women’s eight – they will look to defend both titles at this year’s Championships. The university will also send a men’s pair and four (having won gold in both at BUCS Regatta), and a women’s pair and eight.

London will also send a men’s pair and a men’s eight, the eight having come second at BUCS Regatta in May of this year. In addition, they will field a men’s and women’s quad; they won gold in both at BUCS Regatta and have enjoyed much success in the women’s’ quad throughout the season.

Ellie Lewis will represent Manchester in the lightweight single scull – the category that she won silver at the recent BUCS Regatta. Ellie has previously represented Great Britain at four World Rowing U23 Championships and won silver in the lightweight double at the 2014 World University Rowing Championships.

Focusing on sculling, Reading has 17 athletes, racing in eight boats. Three of the crew that won gold in the lightweight women’s quad at the 2016 EUSA Championships will return to defend their title with Katy Ratcliffe and Anna Smart also looking to retain Reading’s gold medal in the lightweight double scull. Reading won gold in the lightweight men’s quad at the 2017 BUCS Regatta and will send two crews to contest that event at the EUSA Championships.

GB Universities have two entries in the women’s single scull, the gold and silver medallists from BUCS Regatta. Caitlin Boyland will represent Loughborough and Steph Clutterbuck will represent Bath. Both Caitlin and Steph won at the recent Henley Women’s Regatta in senior eights and senior double sculls respectively.

Nottingham will send ten athletes to the event to race in five events. They are defending champions in the women’s four with Freya George returning from last year’s crew. Nottingham’s lightweight women are looking to continue their successful season. Harriet Swindells, Imogen North, Lucy Gillbanks and Nina Giambrone won gold in the lightweight four at BUCS Regatta by eight seconds and gold in the lightweight quad by four seconds. They will race in both categories at EUSA. North and Gillbanks will also race a lightweight double, the boat in which they won silver at BUCS Regatta.

Birmingham will compete at the event for the first time in many years. Peter Purcell-Gilpin and William White will race in the men’s double scull, having won silver in the Championship event at the 2017 BUCS Regatta. Miles Taylor and Christopher Beck who won silver for Queen’s University Belfast at the BUCS Regatta will hope to repeat their success at the EUSA Regatta.

Newcastle, who have a strong EUSA tradition, is represented by crews in the men’s double scull and lightweight fours. The Newcastle athletes will be following in the steps of the likes of Tom Ford, James Rudkin and Tim Clarke, recent EUSA participants who have now graduated through to the GB men’s eight.

James Lee, who has been appointed by the universities as Team Manager said: “It is a very exciting squad to be working with. We have a mixture of athletes and coaches with previous international experience and others for whom it will be their first step on the development pathway. Many athletes who have raced at EUSA have gone on to join the national team and compete at Olympic Games. I look forward to seeing many of this year’s team work their way up the rankings.”

GB Universities Rowing Team 2017

University of Bath

W1x Steph Clutterbuck

W2x Laura Macro, Carlotta Broglia

University of Birmingham

M2x Peter Purecell-Gilpin, William White

Durham University

W2- Helena Barton, Amy Polglase

Imperial College, London

W4- Maddalena Ardissino, Elanor Disney-Hogg, Philippa England, Amy Gibson

University of London (W2x, W4x, M2-, M4x, M8+)

Catherine Ador, Lottie Bruce, Matthew Denley, Alex Fisher, Benjamin Freeman, Fionnuala Gannon, Arcie Hilder, Andrew Holm, Toby Langstone, Emma Reiser, James Richards, Rajaei Sharma, Max Townley, Kate Wagstaff, Emily Wilks

Loughborough University (W1x, W2x)

Caitlin Buoyland, Annie Campbell-Orde

University of Manchster

LW1x Ellie Lewis

Newcastle University

M2- Will New, James Robson

LM4- Ryan Ballantine, Rob Fuller, Tom Long, James Stevenson

LM4x Liam Arnot, Adam Kennedy, Alex Laws, Jack Smith

University of Nottingham (LW2x, LW4x, LW4-, W4-, LM2-)

Grace Bolton, Freya George, Adam Giambrone, Nina Giambrone, Lucy Gillbanks, Grace Lodge, Harry Nichols, Imogen North, Eleanor Russell, Harriet Swindells

University of Oxford

LM4- Rowan Arthur, Douglas Chesterton, Sooraj Mahesh, Tom Schwante

Oxford Brookes University (W2-, W8+, M2-, M4-, M8+)

W2- Zoe Taylor, Aly Vogelzang

W8+ Jess Brown, Maddy Dobson, Christie Duff, Joe Gannon, Sophia Heath, Emily Heridge, Aisling Humphries-Griffiths (cox), Grace Macdonald, Mirella McGee

M2- James Stanhope, Henry Swarbrick

M4- Tom Asteriades, Oliver Ayres, Luke Hillier, Ollie Morgan

M8+ Brendan Edwards, Rory Gibbs, Will Hall, Matthew Hnatiw, Dylan Mitchell, Gavin McWilliams (cox), Matt Newman, Ben O’Neil, Gareth Syphas

Spare: Harry Hogan

Queen’s University Belfast (M1x, LM2x)

M1x Samuel McKeown

LM2x Christopher Beck, Miles Taylor

University of Reading (W2x, W4x, LW4x, M1x, LM2x, LM4x, LM4x)

Francesca Bratt, Olly Dix, Christian Dove, Poppy Durkan, Amy Fuller, Jack Gibson, Loretta Grove, Franklin Hamilton, Oliver Irwin, Ross Jones, Robert McPherson, Victoria Norton, Katy Ratcliffe, Matthew Rogers, Lucy Ryan, Anna Smart, Simon Williamson

Management Team

James Lee – Team Manager

Matt Evans – Assistant Team Manager

Katy Young – Admin Support

Fiona Rennie – Finance Support

Karl Offord – Logistics

Mike Hughes – Driver

Coaches

Tania Griffin – Birmingham

Ian Shore – Durham

David Loveday – Imperial

Stuart Gordon – London

Dez Atkins – Loughborough

Hannah Taylor – Newcastle

Timothy Brearley – Nottingham

John McKirdy – Nottingham

David O’Sullivan – Nottingham

Rory Copus – Oxford Brookes

Mick Desmond – Queen’s Belfast

Will Rand – Reading