Good to win but much to do says Triggs Hodge
Olympic Champion Andrew Triggs Hodge stroked the GB Rowing Team men’s eight to victory on the final day of the Essen International but underlined that GB has a “lot to do” before the World Cup at Eton Dorney from June 21-23.
“It was nice to get the win and perhaps that compensated a little for yesterday”, said Triggs Hodge.
Hodge and his Olympic men’s four champion crew-mates Alex Gregory and Peter Reed, rowing in Essen with Mohamed Sbihi, were beaten by Germany in a tight men’s four final yesterday.
Today, in strong headwinds and lumpy conditions, the quartet raced in an eight that also featured Olympic or World medallists Tom Ransley, Daniel Ritchie, Will Satch and cox Phelan Hill as well as newcomer Matt Gotrel.
They sat behind early leaders France before taking the lead a third of the way through.
Great Britain moved out to two thirds of a length by 1250m gone with Germany chasing. France surged back into contention in the final quarter to overhaul the Germans and press the British boat hard and Poland came through to take third, leaving the two German boats in fourth and fifth.
Germany, Olympic Champions in the men’s eight, has been using this regatta to test its rowers in different combinations. “So we can’t read too much into the results here but for us it has been a good learning experience”, said GB Rowing Team Performance Director Sir David Tanner.
Hodge added: “That was alright today and gives a good end to the weekend. The conditions here are a big challenge and we have not had much time together as a crew so to win in those circumstances was pleasing. But the bottom line is we have a lot of work to do, to get back to our training base at Caversham and work hard”.
Graeme Thomas and Peter Lambert should be pleased with their performance in the men’s double scull today. They got out early, a sensible tactic in the conditions, and dominated the race from the front to win in 7:30.00.
Like Thomas and Lambert, the men’s four today featured three newcomers to the squad in 2013, racing with the 2011 World men’s eight silver medallist Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell. They won their final in similar fashion in 6:48.66 from Croatia.
GB withdrew Matthew Langridge and Sam Townsend from the regatta overnight for medical reasons so Jonathan Walton stepped into the line-up which also featured Bill Lucas, Alan Campbell and Charles Cousins.
They took a creditable fifth place behind the Croatian 2012 silver medallists who won from the two German entries and then Poland.
Tom Clark and Ollie Cook were fifth after qualifying for today’s final of the men’s pair – a decent quality race which was won by yesterday’s winners from the Netherlands.
“Overall we have had a better day today”, said Tanner. “It’s been really refreshing to come to a regatta like this and to be in different boats and have a challenge. It’s been right for this time in the season”.
For full biogs visit: www.gbrowingteam.org.uk
For club, home towns & dates of birth – see entry list below
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RESULTS
(Events featuring some GB Rowing Team crews only. Full results :www.errv.com)
OPEN
MEN
Pair
!. Rogier Bink/Mitchel Steenman (Netherlands) 7:51.05
2. Lucas Tramer/Simon Niepmann (Switzerland) 7:59.14
3. Kay Tuckbrodt/Alexander Eyler (Germany) 8:00.54
4. Wojciech Gutorski/Jaroslaw Godeck (Poland) 8:05.13
5. Oliver Cook/Tom Clark (GREAT BRITAIN) 8:09.29
6. Vitomir Cavrij/Niksa Skelin (Croatia) 8:11.30
7. Julien Montet/Romain Delachaume (France) 8:12.79
8. Bendeguz Vangsura/Peter Csanyi (Hungary) 8:58.91
Four
1. Alan Sinclair/Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell/Scott Durant/Matthew Tarrant (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:48.66
2. Croatia 6:50.04
3. Serbia 6:53.78
4. France 6:54.69
5. Poland 7:21.09
Eight
1. Tom Ransley/Dan Ritchie/Matthew Gotrel/Will Satch/Alex Gregory/Mohamed Sbihi/Pete Reed/Andrew Triggs Hodge/Phelan Hill (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:05.66
2. France 6:06.75
3. Poland 6:07.60
4. Germany 6:09.95
5. Germany 6:14.89
Double Scull
1. Peter Lambert/Graeme Thomas (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:30.00
2. Tyco & Vincent Muda (Netherlands) 7:34.89
3. Ales Zupan/Jure Grace (Slovenia) 7:36.55
4. Hans Gruhne/Hagen Rothe (Germany) 7:37.78
5. Petr Ourednicek/Petr Vitasek (Czech Republic) 7:37.81
6. Jakub Houska/Petr Buzrle (Czech Republic) 7:39.01
Quadruple Scull
1. Croatia 6:14.31
2. Germany 6:16.68
3. Germany 6:17.88
4. Poland 6:20,.87
5. Jonathan Walton/Bill Lucas/Charles Cousins/Alan Campbell (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:20.87
6. Switzerland 6:22.38
7. France 6:28.52
8. Slovenia 6:31.83
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ENTRIES
GB Rowing Team
Essen 2013 – 11 and 12 May
(Name/club/hometown/date of birth)
Sunday
OPEN
MEN
Pair
Ollie Cook (Uni of London BC/Windsor/05.06.90)/
Tom Clark (Leander Club/Worcester/28.01.89)
Four
Alan Sinclair (Leander Club/Inverness/16.10.85)
Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell (Uni of London BC/Durham/13.04.88)/
Scott Durant/ (Oxford Brookes Uni BC/Lancaster/12.02.88)/
Matthew Tarrant (Oxford Brookes Uni BC/Shepperton/11.07.90)
Eight
Matthew Gotrel (Leander Club/Chipping Camden/01.03.89)/
Daniel Ritchie Leander Club/Herne Bay/16.01.87)/
Tom Ransley Leander Club/Cambridge/16.09.85)/
Will Satch (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/09.06.89) /
Alex Gregory (Leander Club/Wormington/11.03.84)/
Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC/Surbiton/27.03.88)/
Pete Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth/27.07.81)/
Andrew Triggs Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden/03.03.79)/
Phelan Hill (cox)
Double scull
Peter Lambert (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/03.12.86)/Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC/Preston/08.11.88)
Quadruple scull
Jonathan Walton (Leander Club/Leicester/06.10.90)/
Bill Lucas (London RC/Kingswear/13.09.87)/
Charles Cousins (Leander Club/Willingham/13.12.88)/
Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers School/Coleraine/09.05.83)
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