The GB Rowing Team is set to enter the fray at the World Rowing Championships

August 22, 2009

The GB Rowing Team, sponsored by Siemens and backed by funding from the National Lottery, is finalising its preparations for the World Rowing Championships which start in Poznan this Sunday (tomorrow, 23rd August), having arrived in Poland from training bases in the UK and Europe.

With some leading rowers taking a break in 2009 and others testing themselves in different boat classes, the squad has still enjoyed medal success in the year’s world cups.

The men’s four and lightweight women’s double scull have both emerged onto the podium as new-look 2009 crews and Alan Campbell has underlined his medal potential in the single by winning world cup gold and silver in the two world cups in which he competed – although world champion Mahe Drysdale will be amongst his "ones to watch for" in Poland.[img_assist|nid=3356|title=Alan Campbell during pre-worlds training in Poznan|desc=Picture: Peter Spurrier|link=none|align=left|width=499|height=389]

Anna Bebington and Annie Vernon competing in a re-run of their 2006 double scull partnership have also enjoyed some solid performances.

In Poznan, the GB Rowing Team is likely to face strong opposition from the Germans, New Zealanders and Australians, in particular, but also potentially from Canada, France, Italy and others.

GB Rowing’s Performance Director, David Tanner said: "This has been a season of experimentation for some of our leading rowers. We have also initiated some younger rowers into the tough challenge of rowing at senior world level.

"Equally we have seen the emergence of more than 15 talented prospects from our talent identification and development systems through the World Class Start and High Performance Programme in Clubs, both of which have also benefited from Siemens and lottery funding.

"This has not been an easy season but I believe that it is laying a good basis for our Olympic campaign".

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE
=============================== ===============================
RACING TIMETABLE IN POZNAN
Events featuring GB crews
Times given are Polish time (one hour ahead of the UK).

L=Lightweight
M= Men
W=Women
-=Coxless
+= With cox
x=Sculling boat

(nb – subject to change. For up-to-date information
please see www.worldrowing.com).

SUNDAY 23 AUGUST

Heats: 09.30 – 13.45

LM1x, W2-, M2-, W2x, M2X, M4-, W1X, M1X

MONDAY 24 AUGUST

Heats: 09.30 – 14.30

LW4X, LW2X, LM2X, LM4-, W4X, M4X, W8+, M8+
ASM1X, TA2X, LTA4+

TUESDAY 25 AUGUST

Repechages: 09.30 – 13.45

LM1, W2-, M2-, W2X, M2X, M4-, W1X, M1X
ASM1X, TA2X, LTA4+

WEDNESDAY 26 AUGUST

Repechages: 09.30 – 11.50

LW4X, LW2X, LM2X, LM4-, W4X, M4X, W8+, M8+

THURSDAY 27 AUGUST

Semi-finals: 10.55 – 15.20

W2-, M2-, W2X, M2X, M4-, W1X, M1X
ASM1X, TA2X, LTA4+

FRIDAY 28 AUGUST

Semi-finals: 13.30 – 15.20
LM2-, LM1X, LW2X, LM2X, LM4-, M4X

B finals: 11.25 – 12.15
ASM1X, TA2X, LTA4+

SATURDAY 29 AUGUST

Finals: 10.00 – 13.10

W2-, M2-, W2X, M2X, M4-, W1X, M1X
ASM1X, TA2X, LTA4+

B Finals: 14.30 – 16.30

LM2-, LM1X, W2-, M2-, W2X, M2X, M4-, W1X, M1X, LW4X, LW2X, LM2X, LM4-, W4X, M4X, W8+, M8+

SUNDAY 30 AUGUST

Finals: 09.30 – 13.10

LM2-, LW4X, LM1X, LW2X, LM2X, LM4-, W4X, M4X, W8+, M8+

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE
=============================== ===============================
SECTION BY SECTION PREVIEW

MEN

Men’s chief coach Jurgen Grobler has continued with Andrew Triggs Hodge and Pete Reed in the men’s pair and they will face a difficult task if they are to beat the New Zealanders who have defeated them four times already this season.

"We know that the New Zealanders have been quicker than us so far this season. But we haven’t hidden away, we’re not afraid of the challenge", said Reed. The British duo, both Olympic gold medallists in the men’s four in Beijing, are emerging from a pleasing set of training camps.

The British men’s four of Alex Partridge, Ric Egington, Alex Gregory and Matt Langridge, has been in good form throughout the world cup season and will be a crew to watch in Poznan after a win at the final world cup in Lucerne.

The men’s eight line-up has been finalised throughout the training camps since Lucerne and the feature of this boat in 2009 has been its youth with some new rowers emerging in an exciting project.

Alan Campbell will be a strong medal contender in the men’s single scull after world cup gold and silver earlier this season. He will be looking to put the drama of the Olympic Games year, in which he required knee surgery after contracting an infection, behind him. Mahe Drysdale, the world champion, and Olaf Tufte, Olympic champion, will be amongst the opposition.

Matt Wells and Stephen Rowbotham, bronze medallists in Beijing, were ruled out of Lucerne after qualifying for the final by illness. They should be in the main fray in Poland in what can be one of the most competitive boat classes on the circuit.

Brendan Crean joins the men’s quadruple scull because illness has sidelined Bill Lucas. Crean will race alongside the established scullers in this boat who are Marcus Bateman, Charles Cousins and Sam Townsend at stroke. The quartet, with Lucas on board, had previously attracted attention for some good performance on the world cup circuit.

WOMEN

Katherine Grainger, coached by Paul Thompson, chief coach for women and lightweights, has been competing this season in a single scull.

Grainger, three times an Olympic silver medallist in crew boats, chose to race this boat class after winning the GB trials in April and has enjoyed the new challenge but appreciates that a medal in Poznan may be hard to come by.[img_assist|nid=3355|title=Katherine Grainger in conversation with Paul Thompson on the eve of Poznan racing|desc=Picture: Peter Spurrier|link=none|align=left|width=480|height=449]

Anna Bebington and Annabel Vernon, in the women’s double scull, have been in the medal zone throughout the year and will seek to build on those performances in Poznan and be competitive at the back end of the week.

Olivia Whitlam and Louisa Reeve, virtually unknown as a pair a year ago, have since reached the Olympic final and picked up world cup medals in both the eight and the pair so far this season. In Poznan they are concentrating on the pair alone.

The GB women’s eight, like its men’s counterpart, features some new, young rowers as GB Rowing builds its Olympic strategy. Michelle Vezie was recently added to the crew, in place of the injured Alice Freeman.

They compete alongside more experienced rowers like Jess Eddie and Natasha Page and seasoned cox, Caroline O’Connor.

Great Britain has been developing a new women’s quadruple scull this season. Sarah Cowburn, a former world junior single scull finalist, and Ro Bradbury are still U23s and have stepped up to the senior challenge with one world cup medal already this year. They join Katie Greves and Beth Rodford who have made the switch from sweep (single oar each) to sculling (two oars each) this year. Germany could dominate this boat class, given their 2009 performances to date.

OLYMPIC CLASS LIGHTWEIGHTS

Britain’s lightweight men’s squad has had a new look and feel this season while the lightweight women Sophie Hosking and Hester Goodsell have been grabbing the headlines.

They stormed into the field to win GB’s first female lightweight world cup gold in Munich and went on to win again in Lucerne, taking the overall world cup title with the victory. The duo, hope to continue to make history in Poznan, although other nations – not yet seen this year – will enter the fray there.

Beijing Olympic gold medallists Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter have been absent from the men’s squad – the former because of a virus and the latter because of a break from racing to take up a coaching post in California. Both intend to return to the GB fold next season.

Paul Mattick and Rob Williams have stepped into Hunter and Purchase’s double scull shoes and acquitted themselves well even if a world cup medal has eluded them so far. The time spent together at training camps over the late summer will have assisted their development.[img_assist|nid=3354|title=Paul Mattick (left) and Rob Williams (right) training on the Poznan course|desc=Picture: Peter Spurrier|link=none|align=right|width=503|height=283]

And the GB lightweight men’s four has been totally fresh to the world cup scene. Stroked by Bob Hewitt and featuring Stephen Feeney, Chris Boddy and Chris Bartley, the quartet have been world cup finalists at each round. Hewitt and Boddy are both still U23s and products of GB Rowing’s talent scheme.

INTERNATIONAL CLASS BOATS

In International Classes – the non-Olympic boat categories offered at the World Championships – GB is set to race a lightweight women’s quadruple scull with the experienced Jane Hall on board as well as GB trials finalists Laura Greenhalgh and Andrea Dennis and newcomer Stephanie Cullen.

Adam Freeman-Pask, winner of world cup medals already this season, will race the lightweight single scull once more after contesting the event in 2008.

Oli Mahony and Ross Hunter, brother of Olympic gold medallist Mark Hunter, will race the ilghtweight men’s pair.

ADAPTIVES (Paralympic boat classes)

Great Britain also fields a strong adaptive squad in Poznan in three of the four Paralympic classes.

This squad has had a superb start to the season winning three golds in Munich at the world cup.

Tom Aggar, Paralympic champion in the men’s arms and shoulders single scull (AS1x), leads this squad. He has already won world cup gold in Munich this season and took victory in the Varese International regatta. He is unbeaten so far in 2009.

"In Paralympic-class racing, though, you never know who might be new on the scene", said Aggar. "All I’ve been concentrating on in training has been to work on my own strengths and skills and see what Poznan brings".

Newcomer Sam Scowen is named in the trunk and arms double scull (TAMix2x) with Beijing Olympian James Roberts. This is a boat class in which GB has made significant progress since the Paralympic Games.

Helene Raynsford, Paralympic champion in the women’s arms-only single scull, will be absent from Poznan due to illness.

GB has also named a mixed adaptive coxed four (LTAMix4+) which is unchanged from the crew that won gold at the Munich World Cup but which includes two newcomers since Beijing – Dave Smith and James Roe.

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE
=============================== ===============================
CREW LISTS
2009 World Rowing Championships, Poznan, Poland.
AUGUST , 2009
(Listed as bow to stroke plus cox unless otherwise indicated)

OPEN

WOMEN

Pair

Olivia Whitlam (Agecroft/Warrington/16.09.85)/Louisa Reeve (Leander
Club/London/16.05.84)

Coach: Miles Forbes-Thomas

Eight

Jo Cook (Leander Club/Nottingham/22.03.84)/
Melanie Wilson (Molesey BC/London/25.6.84)/
Michelle Vezie (Molesey BC/London/30.11.87)/
Lindsey Maguire (Wallingford RC/Edinburgh/15.01.82)/
Jess Eddie (Uni of London BC/Durham/07.10.84)/
Tina Stiller (Nottingham RC/Yarm/23.06.87)/
Alison Knowles (Thames RC/Bournemouth/27.03.82)/
Natasha Page (Reading Uni BC/Hartpury/30.04.85)/

Caroline O’Connor (Oxford Brookes Uni BC/Ealing/25.04.83) (cox)

Coach: Miles Forbes-Thomas

Single scull

Katherine Grainger (St Andrew BC/Aberdeen/12.11.75)

Coach: Paul Thompson

Double scull

Anna Bebington (Leander Club/Leek, Staffs/13.02.83)/Annabel Vernon
(Marlow RC/Wadebridge/01.09.82)

Coach: Paul Thompson

Quadruple scull

Rosamund Bradbury (Westminster School BC/Banstead/17.12.88)/
Beth Rodford (Gloucester RC/Burton-on-Trent/ 28.12.82)/
Sarah Cowburn (Durham Uni BC/Redditch/01.02.89)/
Katie Greves (Leander Club/Oxford/02.09.82)/

Coach: Ade Roberts

MEN

Pair

Pete Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth, Glos/27.07.81)/Andy Triggs Hodge
(Molesey BC/Hebden, N.Yorks/03.03.79)

Coach: Jurgen Grobler

Four

Alex Partridge (Leander Club/Alton, Hants/25.01.81)/Richard
Egington (Leander Club/Knutsford/26.02.79)/Alex Gregory (Reading
Uni BC/Wormington/11.03.84)/Matt Langridge(Leander Club/Northwich/20.05.83)

Coach: Mark Banks

Eight

Tom Broadway (Leander Club/Newport Pagnell/21.08.82)/
Tom Burton (Leander Club/Barton-le-Clay, Beds/24.05.80)/
James Orme (Leander Club/Colchester/01.04.84)/
Tom Solesbury (Isis BC/Petts Wood, Kent/23.09.80)/
Tom Wilkinson (Leander Club/Reading/04.07.85)/
Dan Ritchie (Reading Uni BC/Herne Bay/06.01.87)/
Tom Ransley (Cambridge University BC/ Ashford, Kent/06.09.85)/
James Clarke (London RC/London/31.12.84)/
Phelan Hill (cox) (Leander Club/Bedford/21.07.79)

Coach: Christian Felkel/John West

Single scull

Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers/Coleraine/09.05.83)

Coach: Bill Barry

Double scull

Matt Wells (Leander Club/Hexham, Northumberland/19.04.79)/
Stephen Rowbotham (Leander Club/Winscombe, Somerset/11.11.81)

Coach: Mark Earnshaw

Quadruple Scull

Brendan Crean (Agecroft/Manchester/07.02.85)
Marcus Bateman (Leander Club/Torquay/16.09.82)/
Charles Cousins (Reading Uni BC/Cambridge/13.12.88)/
Sam Townsend (Reading Uni BC/Reading/26.11.85)

Coach: Mark Earnshaw

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

Double scull

Hester Goodsell (Reading Uni BC/Cambridge/27.06.84)/
Sophie Hosking (London RC/Wimbledon/25.01.86

Coach: Paul Reedy

Quadruple Scull

Stephanie Cullen (London RC/Putney, London/27.11.80)Laura Greenhalgh (London RC/Oxford/02.09.85)//Andrea Dennis (London RC/Oxford/03.01.82)/Jane Hall (Leander Club/Caversham/20.10.73)

Coach: Don McLachlan

Racing Spare

Single Scull
Elaine Johnstone (Tideway Scullers)

MEN

Pair

Ross Hunter (Leander Club/Romford, Essex/13.07.81)/
Oliver Mahony (London RC/London/21.10.83)

Coach: Steve Trapmore

Four

Chris Bartley (Leander Club/Chester/02.02.84)/
Chris Boddy (Tees RC/Stockton-on-Tees/16.11.87)/
Stephen Feeney (London RC/Coleraine/12.05.85)/
Bob Hewitt (Tees RC/Scarborough/27.04.87)/

Coach: Robin Williams

Single scull

Adam Freeman-Pask (Imperial College BC/Windsor/19.06.85)

Coach: Steve Trapmore

Double scull

Rob Williams (London RC/Maidenhead/21.01.85)/Paul Mattick
(Leander Club/Frome, Somerset/25.04.78)

Coach: Darren Whiter

ADAPTIVE (Paralympic classes)

Men’s Arms-only Single Scull

Tom Aggar (Royal Docks RC/Barnet, London/24.05.84)

Coach: Tom Dyson

Trunk and Arms Double Scull

James Roberts (City of Swansea RC/Prestatyn/11.05.86)/
Samantha Scowen (Dorney BC/Wokingham/29.10.87)

Coach: Tom Dyson

Mixed Adaptive Coxed Four

Vicki Hansford (Uni of Surrey BC/Farnborough/31.10.79)/
James Roe (Stratford-upon-Avon BC//Stratford-upon-Avon/
28.03.88)/Dave Smith (Reading Uni BC/Aviemore/21.04.78) /Naomi
Riches (Leander/Harrow, London 15.06.83)/Rhiannon Jones
(Reading Uni BC/Hereford/16.09.87) (cox)

Coach: Stuart Whitelaw

RESERVES

Men’s sweep

Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell (Uni of London/Durham/13.04.88)
Peter Marsland (Cambridge Uni BC/Hampton, Mx/06.03.85)

Women’s sweep

Reserve: Jacqui Round (Nottingham RC/St Neots/01.07.87)

===============================
Management and Support Staff:

Performance Support Team:

David Tanner, Performance Director and Team Manager
Jurgen Grobler, Chief Coach (Men)
Paul Thompson, Chief Coach (Women & Lightweights)

Medical and Science Support:

Dr Ann Redgrave, Doctor
Mark Edgar, Physiotherapist
Karen Burn, Physiotherapist
Lilly Devine, Physiotherapist
Dr Chris Shambrook, Psychologist
Mark Homer, Physiologist
Wendy Martinson, Nutritionist

Adaptive Team Staff:

Louise Kingsley, Selector
Tom Dyson, Lead coach
Dr Lucy Free, Doctor
Chris Price, Physiotherapist

Logistics and Office Support:

Rachel Simon, Assistant Team Manager
Maurice Hayes, Resources Manager
Judi Read, Logistics Coordinator
Fran Bullock, Sponsorship Liaison
John Tetley, Boatman
John Brockway, Driver
Caroline Searle, Press Officer