Promising start for Great Britain at the European Rowing Championships

Great Britain will race in eight finals and two semi finals after an action packed first day of racing at the European Rowing Championships in Szeged, Hungary

A further four crews will race repechages on Friday along with two PR3 boats yet to start their campaign.

Olivia Bates joined Imogen Grant in Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x) with the new combination narrowly missing out on the one final place available. Looking ahead to the repechage on Friday, Olvia said: “The race was such fun, it was nice to get some good close racing to start off with, and we really learnt a lot from it so we can step forward as we go through. The repechage will double the amount of races we’ve had together so hopefully it’ll help our speed a little bit as we move through the competition!” Imogen agreed: “The race was fun and I think it’s a testament to the strength of the team and the strength of Liv to be able to step up at such short notice. Going through the repechage tomorrow isn’t a bad thing at all because there’s a lot more speed to come.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / British Rowing

Lauren Rowles and Gregg Stevenson won their PR2 Mixed double sculls (PR2 Mix 2x) heat 13 seconds ahead of the rest of the field, “It was good to get out for the first race of the season,” Lauren said, adding, “You never know what’s going to come at you, it’s always one of those daunting moments when you know everyone’s been working hard over the winter and you want to prove that your hard work was better than everyone else’s. I think today was a good marker for us, the work we’ve done so far has been excellent and world class as usual – we want to put that to use now, start getting into this racing season and continue to build our confidence.”

The Men’s four (M4-) of Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson led from the start and held off a sprint from France to win their heat. “That was good,” David said after the race, “It’s a step on from World Cup I in Varese and good to win the heat. We’re trying to find a bit more speed in the middle and we’re starting to find that. There are things we need to work on but overall a solid first race here. It was clear that France were going for it and it was good to be able to hold that off. Overall it’s a solid step. There’s more to do for the final on Sunday.”

Rebecca Edwards and Chloe Brew were second in the Women’s pair (W2-) after a redraw meant the first two crews would progress directly to the A Final. Rebecca said: “We did what we needed to do to get our place in the A Final and we’re looking forward to Sunday already!” Chloe added: “The best thing about Andy’s (head coach) programme is we’re ready for any scenario. Hearing about a quick lane redraw when we’re boating meant that instead of one boat progressing through to the A Final it was two – and we were ready to take that on. We did the job and are ready to attack the A Final on Sunday.”

Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw swept aside their Varese disappointment with a comfortable and convincing win in the Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x).

Lola said: “We came out of World Rowing Cup I with things to work on and had a good race today. Hannah  added:  “It was good for us today. We’ve had self belief running through this crew the whole time, but today was a real step on for our self confidence. That was the right direction of where we wanted to go today and we’re feeling good.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / British Rowing

The Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x) of Callum Dixon, Tom Barras, Matt Haywood and Graeme Thomas also won their heat in a close finish ahead of Estonia. Matt said: “It’s always tough in men’s sculling, the margins are so fine. It’s so competitive, especially here at the Europeans where there are some very good crews. I think we had a good race. There was a bit of a battle with Estonia, they came back on us quicker than we expected so we got a bit caught out. But there’s plenty to learn and to move onto the final with. We’re still a relatively new crew compared to the rest of the field and we’re still learning race on race, we’re still trying to find our rhythm, our groove and show the rest of the world what we can do.”

Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George won their Men’s pair (M2-) heat as did George Bourne in the Men’s single sculls (M1x). Both boats are through to the semi-finals on Saturday.

Benjamin Pritchard was second in the PR1 men’s single sculls (PR1 M1x) and will race a repechage on Friday. Also racing a repechage will be Becky Wilde and Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne after their third place finish in the Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) heats, and Seb Devereux and John Collins who were third in the Men’s Double sculls (M2x) heats.

It was first place for the Women’s four (W4-) of Helen Glover, Esme Booth, Sam Redgrave and Rebecca Shorten and the Men’s eight (M8+) of Sholto Carnegie, Rory Gibbs, Morgan Bolding, Jacob Dawson, Charlie Elwes, Tom Digby, James Rudkin, Tom Ford and cox Harry Brightmore. Both crews led from the start, comfortably winning their respective preliminary races.

The Women’s eight (W8+) of Heidi Long, Rowan McKellar, Holly Dunford, Eve Stewart, Lauren Irwin, Emily Ford, Hattie Taylor, Annie Campbell-Orde, and cox Henry Fieldman finished their preliminary race just a canvas behind the World Champion Romanian crew.

You can follow the European Rowing Championships across British Rowing social media channels and the World Rowing website. Racing will also be shown on BBC iPlayer and the BBC website.

Results from Day One at European Rowing Championships:

Boat	Race	Time	Result and Progression
W2- Rebecca Edwards (Leander Club) Chloe Brew (Leander Club/ Plymouth ARC)	Preliminary Race	07:13.07	→ A Final
W2x Rebecca Wilde (Leander Club/ Bath University BC) Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne (Upper Thames RC)	Heat	06:57.55	→ Repechage
LW2x Olivia Bates (Nottinghamshire County RA) Imogen Grant (Cambridge University BC)	Heat	06:57.07	→ Repechage
W8+ Heidi Long (Leander Club/ Marlow RC) Rowan McKellar (Leander Club/ Broxbourne RC) Hattie Taylor (Leander Club/ Sir William Perkins’s School) Eve Stewart (Leander Club) Holly Dunford (Molesey BC) Emily Ford (Leander Club) Lauren Irwin (Leander Club/ Durham University/Chester-le-Street ARC) Annie Campbell-Orde (Leander Club) Henry Fieldman (cox) (Leander Club)	Preliminary race	06:01.84	→ Final
W4-  Helen Glover (Marlow RC) Esme Booth (Leander Club/ Stratford upon Avon BC) Sam Redgrave (Leander Club/ Norwich RC) Rebecca Shorten (Imperial College BC)	Preliminary race	06:28.40	→ Final
W4x Lauren Henry (Leicester RC) Hannah Scott (Bann RC/ Leander Club) Lola Anderson (Leander Club/ Newcastle University BC) Georgie Brayshaw (Leander Club)	Heat	06:18.24	→ A Final
M4- Oli Wilkes (Oxford Brookes University BC) David Ambler (Oxford Brookes University BC) Matt Aldridge (Oxford Brookes University BC/ Christchurch RC) Freddie Davidson (Oxford Brookes University BC)	Heat	05:51.61	→ A Final
M4x Callum Dixon (Twickenham RC) Tom Barras (Burway RC/ Leander Club) Matt Haywood (Nottingham RC/ Burton Leander RC) Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC)	Heat	05:42.07	→ A Final
M1x  George Bourne (Leander Club)	Heat	06:55.90	→ A/B Semi-final
M2-  Ollie Wynne-Griffith (Leander Club/ Cambridge University BC) Tom George (Leander Club/ Cambridge University BC)	Heat	06:25.71	→ A/B Semi-final
M2x  John Collins (Leander Club) Seb Devereux (Leander Club)	Heat	06:19.98	→ Repechage
M8+  Sholto Carnegie (Leander Club/ Marlow RC) Rory Gibbs (Oxford Brookes University BC) Morgan Bolding (Oxford Brookes University BC) Jacob Dawson (Leander Club/ Plymouth ARC) Charlie Elwes (Leander Club) Tom Digby (Oxford Brookes University BC/ Griffen BC) James Rudkin (Newcastle University BC/ Hollowell Scullers) Tom Ford (Leander Club) Harry Brightmore (cox) (Oxford Brookes University BC)	Preliminary race	05:28.41	→ Final
PR1 M1x Benjamin Pritchard (City of Swansea RC)	Heat	09:00.16	→ Repechage
PR2 Mix2x Gregg Stevenson (Agecroft RC) Lauren Rowles (Birmingham RC)	Heat	08:12.45	→ A Final

Full results and crew lists