Three wins on day one for GB
With three good wins, GB Rowing got off to a good start at the World Championships – sponsored by Siemens – taking place on home water at Eton today (Sunday 20 August). It was a day where conditions were better for racing than for spectating, and GB’s crews didn’t disappoint.
With the good start slightly offset by illnesses affecting two boats, GB Rowing’s Performance Director, David Tanner had some mixed feelings at the end of the day’s racing, "With an early win by Zac Purchase in the lightweight men’s single, followed by further victories for the men’s double and the men’s four, it’s been a good day for Great Britain. Our key boats have done well and done what they needed to do, to qualify directly through to the semi-finals. I’m impressed with each of them, but of course they now have to focus on making ‘A’ finals through the races on Thursday.
"With our single and men’s pair we had some bad luck – Tom James and Alan Campbell were both ill today. Whilst they are both recovering, they certainly hadn’t recovered enough to perform today. We’re now hoping that they make sufficient progress, before their repechages on Tuesday. Our team doctor is working to get them in the best shape she can."
The conclusion to the day’s racing sent the home crowd home with a spring in their step as the reigning World Champions and Camelot sponsored men’s four produced one of their familiar trademark performances to progress to Thursday’s semi-final.
Elsewhere the women’s double scull of Annie Vernon and Anna Bebington also progressed to Thursday’s semi-final, finishing strongly behind heat winners China.
SUNDAY’S RACING IN FULL
Antonia van Deventer had the honour of being the first competitor down the course from the host nation. The race was dominated by the Spaniard, Teresa Mas De Xaxars, with van Deventer finished fourth behind the battle for semi-final places taking place just ahead of her.
Zac Purchase didn’t keep the home crowd waiting too long for their first taste of home success with victory in his lightweight single sculls heat. It was neck and neck between Purchase and Elias Pappas of Greece for the first quarter of the race, but Purchase
established a length’s lead by halfway. It stayed that way until the last 250m when Pappas mounted a charge. Purchase judged the finish to perfection, holding the Greek off on the line and taking the semi-final spot on offer to the heat winner.
Purchase explained that although the race didn’t necessarily pan out as he expected, he was ready to deal with whatever came at him, "It was good to have a testing race, but it wasn’t quite what I expected. But, when you get into situations like that, you just have to deal with them. I felt that I was always in control despite a strong finish from the Greek, but I took it up a bit in the last few strokes just to be safe."
After the World Cup series, expectations for Alan Campbell in the single scull were high. However, the Coleraine man had come into the World Championships off the back of an illness and it obviously hampered his efforts at Dorney Lake today. With the experienced German, Marcel Hacker getting off to a flying start, Campbell never mounted a serious challenge and will hope to have recovered sufficiently in time for the repechages on Tuesday.
It was a similar story for the men’s pair, with Tom James also under the weather. The pair were unable to race competitively, but needed to finish to keep the repechage route open.
The double scull of Annie Vernon and Anna Bebington were unable to hold the Chinese pairing, who managed to establish a buffer of over a length by the halfway mark. The British crew had a good second half to the race and came back hard at the Chinese in the last 250m, forcing the eventual winners to raise their rate to be assured of victory. Both boats qualified for Thursday’s semi-final.
For Anna Bebington, it was just a relief to get out racing, "Psychologically it was difficult because we’re under pressure now having had a good season in the World Cup. So just to get out there and amongst it was good for our confidence."
Vernon was similarly upbeat, "We were very focussed on what we were doing – there are a lot of things that we can improve upon and need to step up in the next round. But we had a plan and we stuck to it."
There were no problems for the double scull of Matt Wells and Stephen Rowbotham, who executed what is becoming a familiar race plan perfectly. A steady start kept them in touch with early leaders Russia. They started their move around halfway and were comfortably in front with 500m to go and were never troubled in the final stages.
Unsurprisingly, Stephen Rowbotham was happy with the way things went, "We knew that they’d come for us in the first half of the race – it was just a case of waiting for Matt to make the call for us to make the move."
The last race of the day was one that warmed the hearts of the home crowd that had braved the morning’s wet and cool conditions. GB’s Camelot sponsored World Champion four produced another trademark performance, heading a field containing something of an unknown threat from the USA four. Although the British crew will have been encouraged by their performance, they will have noted that the American crew never threw in the towel.
Steve Williams felt that the conditions had a part to play in proceedings,
"I think we raced well today. We hadn’t seen the American crew all year,so it was important for us to stamp our authority on the race. We had a good strategy and performed it pretty well – although we won’t get any style marks for the way we rowed!"
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BIG DAY OF ACTION FOR GB ROWING
The remaining GB crews kick off their World Championship regatta tomorrow (apart from the Adaptive squad who take to the water on Friday 25) with the women’s quad and both eights in action.
Naturally eyes will be drawn to the women’s quad who will open the defence of their World title while the eights will be keen to ensure that they have the opportunity to make an impact in the last session of rowing next Sunday.
The Camelot sponsored women’s quad will expect on form from the WC series the main threat in their heat to emanate from the Russians in the next lane, but the incentive of winning the race is a direct route to Sunday’s final, so they’ll be no holding back.
The eights will have to work hard after a draw which sees them both in outside lanes. The women’s eight have to win their heat in order to qualify for Sunday’s final, while the men must look to finish in the first two to progress straight to the semi-final on Friday.
The men’s line-up has changed during the year, so Monday’s heat will be a good opportunity to see the boat in race trim.
Elsewhere, there will be considerable interest among the lightweight crews. The men’s pair and women’s quad will make their debut as crews tomorrow, with the men’s pair making the step up following their excellent gold medal in under 23 World Championships and facing senior championship competition for the first time. The men and women’s lightweight doubles and men’s lightweight four will be determined to show that they’ve moved on after their promising World Cup seasons.
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=============================== =============================== WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS ETON, GREAT BRITAIN RESULTS DAY ONE (Races involving British crews only)
OPEN
WOMEN
Double Sculls
1. Qin Li/Liang Tian (China) 6:55.97
2. Annie Vernon/Anna Bebington (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:57.47
3. Jitka Antosova/Gabriela Varekova (Czech Republic) 7:04.73
4. Liene Bertasjus/Kristine Gosa (Latvia) 7:15.82
5. Yeong Eun Shin/Ok Kyung Kim (Korea) 7:19.83
Pairs
1. Nicole Zimmerman/Elke Hipler (Germany) 7:00.93
2. Juliette Haigh/Nicky Coles (New Zealand) 7:03.15
3. Megan Cooke/Anna Mickleson (USA) 7:03.15
4. Rodica Florea/Ioana Papuc (Romania) 7:11.83
5. Tatsiana Narelik/Alina Makhneva (Belarus) 7:20.46
6. Baz Moffat/Jess Eddie (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:21.94
MEN
Four
1. Steve Williams/Peter Reed/Alex Partridge/Andrew Hodge
(GREAT BRITAIN) 5:53.45
2. USA 5:55.46
3. France 5:58.58
4. Russia 6:11.03
5. Portugal 6:16.54
6. Indonesia 6:30.85
Pairs
1. Drew Ginn/Duncan Free (Australia) 6:30.82
2. Yongquiang Zhang/Xiangdang Wang (China) 6:32.64
3. Jakub Makovicka/Jan Schindler (Czech Republic) 6:38.11
4. Milan Razov/Niksa Skelin (Croatia) 6:41.12
5. Colin Smith/Tom James (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:32.63
Double Sculls
1. Matthew Wells/Stephen Rowbotham (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:20.67
2. Kostyantyn Zaitsev/Hennadii Zakharchenko (Ukraine) 6:24.03
3. Nikael Bikua-Mfantse/Alexander Kornilov (Russia) 6:27.64
4. Valery Radzevich/Pavel Shurmei (Belarus) 6:29.35
5. Peter Lejko/Pavel Lackovic (Slovakia) 6:37.52
6. Jung Wook Ham/Dal Ho Kim (Korea) 6:40.03
Single Sculls
1. Marcel Hacker (Germany) 6:50.87
2. Yoennis Hernandez-Arruez (Cuba) 6:59.46
3. Gabor Bencsik (Hungary) 7:04.88
4. Kristaps Bokums (Latvia) 7:05.74
5. Alan Campbell (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:19.58
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat 1
1. Teresa Mas De Xaxars (Spain) 7:50.65
2. Erika Bello (Italy) 7:52.19
3. Lisa Schlenker (USA) 7:53.69
4. Antonia van Deventer (GREAT BRITAIN) 8:05.95
5. Man Ka Lee (Hong Kong) 8:19.65
6. Kaarin Scanlan Morales (Colombia) 8:36.59
MEN
Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat 1
1. Zac Purchase (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:56.83
2. Elias Pappas (Greece) 6:57.62
3. Jeff Bujas (Canada) 7:13.65
4. Takehiro Kubo (Japan) 7:22.19
5. Artem Safin (Russia) 7:27.64
6. Makar Sargsyan (Armenia) 8:04.13
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FULL GB SQUAD LIST FOR ETON
AUGUST 20-27TH
Eight
Vicki Etiebet (Auriol Kensington)/Natasha Page (Reading Uni)/
Natasha Howard (Tideway Scullers)/ Carla Ashford (Thames RC)/
Beth Rodford (Thames RC)/Elise Laverick (Thames RC)/
Katie Greves (Uni of London)/Alison Knowles (Thames RC)/
Caroline O’Connor (cox) (Oxford Brookes)
Coaches: Ron Needs/Gary Stubbs
Double scull
Annie Vernon (Thames RC)/Anna Bebington (Leander)
Coach: Miles Forbes Thomas
Quadruple scull
Debbie Flood (Leander)/Sarah Winckless (Walbrook)/
Frances Houghton (Uni of London)/Katherine Grainger
(St Andrew)
Coach: Paul Thompson
Racing spares
Pair
Baz Moffat (Thames RC)/Jess Eddie (Uni of London)
MEN
Pair
Colin Smith (Oxford Uni)/Tom James (Cambridge Uni)
Coach: Rusty Williams
Four
Steve Williams (Leander)/Peter Reed
(Leander)/Alex Partridge (Leander)/Andy Hodge (Molesey)
Coach: Jurgen Grobler
Coxed four
Simon Fieldhouse (Molesey)/Marcus Bateman (Reading Uni)/
Tom Parker (OUBC)/Hugo Lee (Oxford Brookes)/Seb Pearce
(cox) (OUBC)
Coach: Richard Tinkler
Eight
Toby Garbett (Leander)/Tom Solesbury (Molesey)/Jonno Devlin
(Oxford Brookes)/Richard Egington (Leander)/Josh West (Leander)/
Kieran West (CUBC)/Matt Langridge (Leander)/Tom Stallard (Leander)
Acer Nethercott (cox) (OUBC)
Coach: Steve Gunn
Single scull
Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers)
Coach: Bill Barry
Double scull
Matthew Wells (Uni of London)/Stephen Rowbotham (Leander)
Coach: Mark Earnshaw
Men’s Reserves
James Orme (Leander)/
Alex Gregory (Reading Univ BC)
Charlie Palmer (CUBC)
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Double scull
Jane Hall (Leander)/Helen Casey (Wallingford)
Coach: Rob Dauncey
Quadruple scull
Laura Ralston (Rob Roy)/Lindsay Dick (Glasgow)/
Sophie Hosking (Durham Uni)/Hester Goodsell (Rob Roy)
Coach: John Keogh
Racing spare
Single scull
Antonia van Deventer (Leander)
MEN
Pair
Chris Bartley (Notts Uni)/Richard Chambers (Oxford Brookes)
Four
Matt Beechey (Leander)/Daniel Harte (London)/Paul Mattick
(Wallingford)/James Clarke (Durham Uni)
Coach: Mark Banks
Single scull
Zac Purchase
Coach: Darren Whiter
Double scull
James Lindsay-Fynn (London)/Mark Hunter (Leander)
Coach: Robin Williams
Quadruple scull
Tim Male (Tideway Scullers)/Alasdair Leighton-
Crawford (Tideway Scullers)/Ross Hunter (Leander)/
Dave Currie (Leander)
Coach: Rob Morgan
ADAPTIVE BOATS
Mixed legs/trunk/arms coxed four
Victoria Hansford (Guildford RC/Katie-George
Dunlevy (Royal Docks RC)/Alastair Mckean (Herne Bay ARC)/
Alan Crowther (Nottingham Boat Club)/Alan Sherman
(Thames Tradesman RC)
Coach: Chad King
Women’s arms only single scull
Helene Raynsford (Guildford RC)
Coach: Simon Goodey (Royal Docks RC)
Men’s arms only single scull
Shaun Sewell (Royal Docks RC)
Coach: Simon Goodey
Mixed trunk and arms double scull
Karen Cromie (Royal Docks BC)/James Roberts (Rebecca)
Coach: Chad King
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GB ROWING SQUADS = HOME TOWNS LIST
BRITISH ROWING SQUADS
NAME D.O.B/PLACEofBIRTH/HOMETOWN/LIVING/ROWING CLUB
Carla Ashford 13.03.79/Northallerton,
N.Yorks/Masham,N.Yorks/Brentford/Thames RC
Chris Bartley 02.02.84/Farndon, Cheshire/Nottingham/Notts Uni
Marcus Bateman 16.09.82/Bermuda/Torquay/Henley on Thames/Reading Uni
Anna Bebington 13.02.83/Leek, Staffs/Leek/Crowthorne, Berks/Leander
Matt Beechey 03.04.77/Worcester/Worcester/Henley on Thames/Leander
Nick Brodie 06.08.96/Oxford/Oxford/Oxford/OUBC
Alan Campbell 05.09.83/Coleraine/Coleraine/Mortlake/Tideway Scullers
Helen Casey 06.02.74/Stockport/Oxford/Oxford/Wallingford
Richard Chambers 10.06.85/??/??/Oxford/Oxford Brookes
James Clarke 13.12.84/London/London/Durham/Durham Uni
Karen Cromie 24.09.79/Banbridge, N.Ireland/Ballinamallard, Cty Fermanagh/??/Royal Docks BC
Alan Crowther 29.07.65/??/Derby/Derby/Nottingham BC
Dave Currie 10.01.82/Glamorgan/??/Henley/Leander
Ryan Davies 16.02.85/??/Henley on Thames/Oxford Brookes
Jonno Devlin 17.03.76/South Africa/Oxford/Putney/Oxford Brookes
Lindsay Dick 27.07.71/Strathaven/??/??Glasgow RC
Katie-George Dunlevy 26.11.81/??/Maidenhead/Maidenehead RC
Jess Eddie 07.10.84/Durham/Durham/Chiswick/Uni of London
Richard Egington 26.02.79/Knutsford/n/a/Henley on Thames/Leander
Robin Ejsmond-Frey 14.03.86/London/Hammersmith/Oxford/OUBC
Nick English 11.05.78/Coventry/Whitley Bay/Nottingham/Notts&Union
Vicki Etiebet 12.08.79/Ottowa, Canada/London/London/Auriol Kensington
Simon Fieldhouse 04.09.76/??/??/Thames Ditton/Molesey
Debbie Flood 27.02.80/Harrogate/Leeds/Henley on Thames/Leander
Toby Garbett 14.11.76/Chertsey, Sy/West Byfleet/Ascot, Berks/Leander
Hester Goodsell 27.06.84/London/London/Cambridge/Rob Roy
Katherine Grainger MBE 11.12.75/Glasgow/Aberdeen/Bisham, Bucks/St Andrew
Alex Gregory 11.03.84/??/Wormington/Reading/Reading Uni
Katie Greves 02.09.82/London/Oxford/Mortlake/Uni of London
Jane Hall 20.10.73/Kingston-upon-Thames/Surbiton/Caversham/Leander
Joanna Hammond 28.1.80/Leamington Spa/Leamington/Cambridge/Leander
Vicki Hansford 31.10.79/Lewisham/Fleet/Fleet/Guildford RC
Daniel Harte 12.12.75n/a/n/a/Putney/London
Mike Hennessy 24.12.76/London/Deptford/Chiswick/Tideway Scullers
Rob Hollis 14.02.84/Wendover/Monmouth/Cowley/Oxford Brookes
Sophie Hosking??/??/??/Durham Uni
Frances Houghton 19.09.80/Oxford/Oxford/Putney/Uni of London
Natasha Howard 03.09.80/Harare, Zimbabwe/West Runton/Chiswick/Tideway Scullers
Mark Hunter 01.07.78/Forest Gate, London/Romford/Cadmore End,Bucks/Leander
Ross Hunter 13.07.81/??/??/Cadmore End, Bucks/Leander
Tom James 03.11.84/Cardiff/Wrexham/Cambridge/CUBC
Simon Jones 08.06.78n/a/n/a/Cropwell Butler/Leander
Alison Knowles 27.03.82/Bournemouth/Bournemouth/Putney, London/Thames
Matthew Langridge 20.05.83/Northwich, Cheshire/Northwich/Henley Leander
Elise Laverick 27.07.75/Rustington, Sx/Poling, W Sx/Putney/Thames
Ian Lawson 04.03.77/Bradford/Otley, W.Yks/Henley on Thames/Leander
Hugo Lee 05.03.84/Guildford/Jeburgh/Oxford/Oxford Brookes
Alistair Leighton-Crawford ?/?/?/?/Tideway Scullers
James Lindsay-Fynn 29.09.75/Dublin/Trim, Ireland/London/London
Alastair Mckean 14.04.79/Canterbury/??/Whitstable/Herne Bay ARC
Tim Male 09.07.75/Yeovil, So/Yeovil/Chiswick/Tideway Scullers
Paul Mattick 25.04.78n/a/Oxford/Wallingford
Baz Moffat 8.4.78/Edinburgh/Bradford/Putney/Thames RC
Acer Nethercott 28.11.77/Newmarket/Harlow, Ex/Oxford/OUBC
Lorna Norris 23.12.75n/a/na/a/Mortlake/Mortlake Anglian
Caroline O’Connor 25.04.83Ealing/Ealing/Ealing/Oxford Brookes
James Orme 1.4.84/London/Colchester/Cambridge/Leander
Natasha Page 30.04.85n/a/Hartpury/Reading/Reading Uni
Charlie Palmer 25.10.78/Melbourne/Hagley,Tasmania/Cambridge/CUBC
Tom Parker 24.10.82/Hammersmith/Winchester/Oxford/OUBC
Alex Partridge 25.01.81/San Francisco/Alton, Hants/East Sheen/Leander
Seb Pearce 10.05.82/?/Bromsgrove/Oxford/OUBC
Zac Purchase 2.5.86/??/Tewkesbury/Tewkesbury/Marlow RC
Peter Reed 27.07.81/Seattle, USA/Nailsworth/Oxford/Leander
Helene Raynsford 29.12.79/Halfax, Yorks/??/Frimley/Guildford RC
Naomi Riches 15.06.83/??/??/Harrow Weald, Middlesex/??
James Roberts 11.05.86/Mons, Belgium/Swansea/Cardiff/Rebecca
Beth Rodford 28.12.82/Burton/Trent/Gloucester/Cowley/Thames
Steve Rowbotham 11.11.81n/a/Winscombe/West Molesey/Leander
Rebecca Rowe 16.5.81/Bridgend/Cardiff/Cardiff/Rebecca
Shaun Sewell 10.05.75/Forest Gate, London/Manor Park, London/London/Royal Docks RC
Alan Sherman 22.10.51/Wuppertal, Germany/??/London/Thames Tradesmen
Tom Solesbury 23.9.80/Farnborough/Petts Wood/Henley-on-Thames/Molesey
Colin Smith 03.09.83/ Harare, Zimbabwe/Henley on Thames/Oxford/OUBC
Tom Stallard 11.09.78/London/Welwyn, Herts/London/Leander
Sam Townsend 26.11.85/ Reading/Reading/Reading/Reading Uni
Andy Triggs Hodge 03.08.79/Aylesbury/Hebden, Skipton/East Molesey/Molesey
Matt Tucker 05.01.85/??/Winkfield, Nr Windsor/Oxford Brookes
Antonia van Deventer 23.7.78/?/London/Rob Roy
Annie Vernon 01.09.82n/a/Wadebridge, Cornwall/Marlow, Bucks/Thames
Matthew Wells 19.04.79/Bradford/Hexham/East Sheen/Uni of London
Josh West 25.03.77/Santa Fe, USA/Santa Fe/Oxford/Leander
Kieran West MBE 18.09.77/Kingston-upon-Thames/W. Byfleet/Mortlake CUBC
Steve Williams MBE 15.04.76/Warwick/Cheltenham/Henley/Leander
Sarah Winckless 18.10.73/Reading/Hurley, Bucks/Marlow, Bucks/Walbrook
