GB crews named for World Junior Championships
The next generation of the GB Rowing Team race at the World Junior Championships next week, inspired by the record successes of the senior squad at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The 29-strong squad know performances in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, from August 15-18, at the Championships for Under 18s could see them on a fast track for Rio 2016, hoping to emulate 21-year-old Kat Copeland who won rowing gold for GB at London 2012 on Saturday.
Team manager John Layng said: “They are a very mature group of rowers who have been working extremely hard on the training camp and they’re all itching to get out to Bulgaria.
In Olympic years the World Senior and Junior Championships are merged in the absence of the Olympic-class crews. So 2011 World Champion in the lightweight women’s quadruple scull, 25-year-old Kathryn Twyman from Oxford, will travel with the juniors to race in the senior lightweight women’s single in Plovdiv.
Layng revealed the lottery-funded squad had been encouraged during their training camp by the record nine rowing medals won by Team GB as thoughts turn to Rio 2016.
“Some of them have a recollection of Kat (Copeland – 2012 Olympic gold medallist in the lightweight women’s double scull) and Stan (Constantine Louloudis – 2012 Olympic bronze medallist in the men’s eight) finishing in the junior system as they were starting and can see the progression and what is possible,” he said.
“A number of them have shown they have the ability to be challenging for places for 2016.
“The fact we are all together and watching the (Olympic) racing on the TV and now training at Caversham, the senior training venue, it is awe inspiring for them to be part of such a successful international set up,” he added.
The squad includes Ed Munno from Bedford who won silver in the junior men’s eight at the 2011 World Juniors at Eton Dorney which doubled as the Olympic test event.
Jessica Leyden, Katie Bartlett and Lucy Burgess also race at their second Championships, this time with Joanna Unsworth in the junior women’s quadruple scull.
Munno’s crewmates in the junior men’s eight for 2012, Charlie Shaw and Callum Jones also raced last year, in the coxed four and four respectively. Alexander Lloyd and Robert Wickstead won silver with Munno in the 2011 eight and race together in the four this year.
“We only really know when we get there what the standard will be,” said Layng. “It’s only after the first race you know who’s who and which boats each country have put their best rowers in.”
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CREW LIST
World Rowing Junior & Senior Championships
Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 15-19 August 2012
(Club/home town)
JUNIOR WOMEN
Four
Elisha Lewis (Sir William Borlase’s Gram. School BC/Marlow)/
Anna Fairs (Tees RC/Stockton-on-Tees)/
Cecelia Mowczan (Reading RC/Reading)/
Lauren Kedar (Reading RC/Reading)
Coach: Ryan Demaine
Double Scull
Annabel Rogers (Runcorn RC/Chester)/
Emily Ford (Grange School BC/Crewe)
Coach: Julie Edwards
Quadruple Scull
Jessica Leyden (Hollingworth Lake RC/Burnley)/
Katie Bartlett (Nottingham RC/Nottingham)/
Joanna Unsworth (Henley RC/Hurley)/
Lucy Burgess (Northwich RC/Swindon)
Coach: Richard Boulton
JUNIOR MEN
Pair
Ryan Mitchell (Maidstone Invicta RC/Maidstone)/
Elliot Tarrant (Walton RC/Chertsey)
Coach: Adam Moffatt
Four
Robert Wickstead (Hampton School BC/London)/
Lewis McCue (ASRA/Inverness)/
Harry Lonergan (Royal Shrewsbury School BC/Isleworth)/
Alexander Lloyd (Hampton School BC/Hampton)
Coach: Colin Greenaway
Eight
Charles Shaw (Radley College BC/Waterlooville)/
Titus Morley (St Edwards School BC/Lambeth)/
Eduardo Munno (Bedford Modern Sch. BC/Brickhill, Bedfordshire)/
Thomas George (Radley College BC/Cheltenham)/
Callum Jones (St Edward’s School BC/Nottingham)/
Oliver Wynne-Griffith (Radley College BC/Guildford)/
Matthew Benstead (Hampton School BC/London)/
Thomas Marshall (Royal Shrewsbury School BC/Kingston)/
Edward Henshaw (cox) (Hampton School BC/Wycombe)
Coach: John Gearing
Quadruple Scull
James Rudkin (Stowe Sculling Club/Northampton)/
Thomas Barras (Burway RC/Chertsey)/
Oliver Knight (Walton RC/Chertsey)/
Sebastian Devereux (Marlow RC/Hillingdon)
Coach: Nick de Cata
LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN
Single Scull
Kathryn Twyman (Wallingford RC/Oxford)
Coach: Ben Reed
MANAGEMENT AND TEAM SUPPORT STAFF
Team Manager: John Layng
Lead Coach: Richard Boulton
Equipment Manager: Bret King
Assistant Driver: Robin Dowell
Doctor: Lucy Free
Physio: Rachel Burr
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SCHEDULE
Wednesday August 15: Heats
Thursday August 16: Heats and repechages
Friday August 17: Repechages and semi-finals
Saturday August 18: Semi-finals and finals
Sunday August 19: Finals
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