More sparkle from the men’s four

The British world champion men’s four won their heat by over two lengths this morning in Munich at the season’s opening  world cup and, according to GB Rowing’s PerformanceDirector David Tanner,  "have lost nothing of their sparkle from last year"

The win put the Camelot-sponsored quartet through to tomorrow’s semi-finals along with a further four British boats who qualified in first or second place during the morning’s session.

Amongst the heat winners were Annie Vernon and Anna Bebington – a young duo who have shown early-season promise and were racing together here for the first time.  The men’s lightweight four were also winners of an exciting heat by just one hundredth of a second.

Two British boats raced raced direct into Saturday’s finals by winning their heats: the women’s eight and the lighweight men’s pair.

The women’s eight particularly impressed, coming from behind to take Australia on the line.

The event continues this afternoon with repechages and quarter-finals.

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RACE REPORTS

Laura Ralston, from the Rob Roy Club, opened up the first world cup of the season for Great Britain by qualifying in second place in her heat of the lightweight women’s single scull to take her into the quarter-finals.

For the first time FISA, rowing’s world governing body, has implemented a new progression system for events with more than 25 entries here.  Boats progress to quarter-finals from the heats and from their to two semi-finals.

Mark Hunter, glad to be back in racing mode after a winter plagued by injury, followed up  with a well-paced race to take second place in his lightweight single scull heat and move through to tomorrow’s semi-final.

Nick English and Dave Currie always looked  comfortable in winning their heat of the  lightweight men’s pair  and were, thus, the first British crew to book a place in Saturday’s finals in 6:44.85.

Single scull senior debutant Alan Campbell blasted out of the start gate in his heat and left 2005 world bronze medallist Ondrej Synek in his wake. The Czech then caught a crab, leaving Campbell unthreatened throughout. His win put him through to this afternoon’s quarter-finals.

Both British women’s pairs – who will be doubling up here in the eight – won quarter final places.

Simon Fieldhouse and Marcus Bateman were not so lucky. They were fourth in a tough heat of the men’s pair and now face a repechage later today.

There were no signs of first-race nerves from Anna Bebington and Annie Vernon in the women’s double scull.  In their first competitive outing this season the duo, both graduates of the lottery-backed World Class Start programme, led almost from the outset.

They kept the rate high for the first 250 metres and dropped back into a smooth rhythm once they had established their lead over the Belarussians and Czechs.

Steve Rowbotham and Matt Wells in the men’s double scull, were not to be outdone. They held off a consistent challenge from the  Estonians to win. Their victory, though, in such a depth of field was only enough to take them into the quarter finals this afternoon.

In the men’s four, Steve Williams, Peter Reed, Alex Partridge and Andy Hodge were ahead before the race had even reached the 100m flag.  They piled on the speed mercilessly in the early part of the race. Only Croatia kept in contact for the first 500m before dropping back into the pack to leave the British a win by over two lengths.

Helen Casey and Jane Hall fell victim to a boat-stopping crab in the choppy and windy conditions here in Munich. The incident, early in the race, damaged their rigging and forced them to crawl home. They will have the opportunity to make repairs but will now contest a repechage this evening.

The lightweight men’s four booked their semi-final place in exciting style.  They held off a blistering Italian finish to take first place – only just, though. Both crews were split by just 0.01 seconds at the line.

The British women’s eight were delighted with their hard fought heat win to put them straight through to the final on Saturday – not least because many of the  athletes involved are doubling up on races in the women’s pair here.

Britain came from behind in the early part of the race to overhaul the Germans and then attacked the Australian lead in the final 500m.  Stroked by Olympic bronze medallist Elise Laverick, they timed the approach to the line perfectly taking the lead with just 50m to go.

Britain led for the early part of their men’s  eight heat heat, too, before dropping back behind the Germans and the Dutch.  In the final 500m it looked as if the British might counter-attack successfully but could not quite catch the fast-finishing home crew whilst keeping their bow ahead of the Dutch to finish second. Now they must race a repechage tomorrow.

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RESULTS

25-27 MAY, 2006
(Crews bow to stroke – plus cox. GB results
only. Full results available on www.worldrowing.com)

OPEN

WOMEN

Pairs

Heat 1
1.  Emily Martin/Sarah Heard (Australia)  7:20.30
2.  Heather Mandoli/Romina Stefancic (Canada 2)  7:23.84
3.  Natasha Howard/Natasha Page (GREAT BRITAIN 2) 7:25.66
4. Zhang Yanan/Yu Chengxi (China 1)  7:26.31
5. Claudia Wurzel/Cleonice Renzetti 7:48.62

Heat 2
1. Megan Cooke/Anna Mickelson (USA 1)7:20.55
2. Katie Greves/Elise Laverick (GREAT BRITAIN 1)  7:25.01
3. Yang Yan/Wu Wanlu (China 3)  7:37.41
4.  Im Eun Soon/Min Su Hyoun (Korea 2)  8:02.45

Eight
Heat 1
1.  Baz Moffat/Jess Eddie/Vicki Etiebet/Carla Ashford/
     Natasha Howard/Natasha Page/Katie Greves/Elise
     Laverick/Caroline O’Connor (GREAT BRITAIN)  6:19.72
2. Australia 6:20.57
3.  Germany 2 6:26.84
4.  Germany 1 6:35.33

Double scull

1.  Annie Vernon/Anna Bebington (GREAT BRITAIN)  7:00.83
2.  Volha Berazniova/Yuliya Bichyk (Belarus)  7:02.61
3. Jitka Antosova/Gabriela Varekova (Czech Republic)  7:05.56
4.  Xi Aihua/Feng Guixin (China 2)  7:13.15
5. Sten Sanna/Minna Nieminen (Finland)  7:13.73

MEN

Pair
Heat 2
1.  Ramon di Clemente/Donovan Cech (South Africa) 6:39.13
2.  Philipp Stueer/Bernd Heidicker (Germany 1)  6:43.29
3.  Alexandre Soares Altair/Allan Bitencourt (Brazil)  6:45.28
4.  Simon Fieldhouse/Marcus Bateman (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:47.91
5.  Sean Casey/Sean O’Neill (Ireland) 6:49.39

Four
Heat 2
1.  Steve Williams/Peter Reed/Alex Partridge/Andy Hodge
     (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:01.29
2.  Croatia 1  6:07.80
3.  Australia 6:10.27
4.  Russia 6:10.84
5.  Korea 6:32.84

Eight
Heat 1
1.  Germany 5:35.82
2.  Tom Stallard/Toby Garbett/Tom Solesbury/Jonno Devlin/
     Hugo Lee/Josh West/Kieran West/Matt Langridge/Acer
     Nethercott (GREAT BRITAIN)  5:38.40
3.  Netherlands 5:39.73
4.  China 5:43.55
5.  Romania 5:47.00

Single scull

Heat 4
1.  Alan Campbell (GREAT BRITAIN)  7:02.47
2. Ondrej Synek (Czech Republic)  7:19.00
3. Peter Lejko (Slovakia 1) 7:22.08
4. Tommi Sahila (Finland 2)  7:24.78
5.  Shin Eun Chul (Korea)  7:34.94

Double scull
1.  Matthew Wells/Stephen Rowbotham (GREAT BRITAIN)
    6:26.26
2.  Tonu Endrekson/Andrei Jaemsae (Estonia 1)  6:28.45
3.  Stefan Massanz/Markus Kuffner (Germany 3) 6:29.52
4.  Erik Brec/Davorin Sindler (Croatia)  6:31.18

LIGHTWEIGHTS

WOMEN

Single scull
Heat 5
1.  Fabiane Albrecht (Switzerland)  7:52.29
2.  Laura Ralston (GREAT BRITAIN)  7:55.64
3.  Mar Bosch Surroca (Spain 2)  8:01.92
4.  Antonina Iagovitina (Moldova)  8:04.35

Double scull
Heat 3
1. Chrysi Bitkitzi/AlexandraTsiavou (Greece) 7:09.06
2.  Sine Christiansen/Juliane Rasmussen (Denmark 1)  7:15.19
3.  Lena Karlsson/Sara Karlsson (Sweden)  7:25.89
4. Ana Malasana Calvo/Esmeralda Maceiras Santos (Spain)
     7:39.77
5.  Jane Hall/Helen Casey (GREAT BRITAIN)  8:58.83

MEN

Pair
1.  Nick English/Dave Currie (GREAT BRITAIN)  6:44.85
2.  Jochen & Martin Kuehner (Germany 2)  6:52.27
3.  Jose Sobral Jr/Thiago Gomes (Brazil)  6:54.88
4.  Luigi Scala/Franco Sancassani (Italy)  6:57.56

Four
Heat 4
1.  Matt Beechey/Daniel Harte/Paul Mattick/James Clarke
     (GREAT BRITAIN)  6:05.48
2.  Italy 1 6:05.49
3.  Denmark 1 6:14.39
4.  Poland 2 6:19.58
5.  Switzerland 2 6:20.42

Single scull
Heat 2
1.  Vasileios Polymeros (Greece 2) 7:03.56
2.  Mark Hunter (GREAT BRITAIN)  7:09.39
3.  Juan Guimerans Zunzunegui (Spain 1)  7:17.88
4.  Nikola Tomic (Croatia)  7;19.11
5.  Mark Gerban (Palestine)  7:29.02

Double scull
Heat 1
1. Tim Male/James Lindsay-Fynn (GREAT BRITAIN)  6:33.83
2. Elias Pappas/Dimitrios Mougios (Greece 1)6:34.93
3. Ahmet Yumrukaya/Cem Yilmaz (Turkey)  6:40.17
4. Ioannis Kourkourikis/Liolios Athansios (Greece 2)  6:41.08
5.  Kai Anspach/Christoph Schregel (Germany 3)  6:42.84
6.  Xie Jun/Liang Youxiang (China)  6:51.28

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GB ROWING SQUADS = HOME TOWNS LIST

BRITISH ROWING SQUADS

NAME            D.O.B/PLACEofBIRTH/HOMETOWN/LIVING/ROWING CLUB

Carla Ashford        13.3.79/Northallerton, N.Yorks/Masham, N.Yorks/Brentford/
Marcus Bateman    16.9.82/Bermuda/Torquay/Henley on Thames/Reading Uni
Anna Bebington    13.2.83/Leek, Staffs/Leek/Crowthorne, Berks/Leander
Matt Beechey        3.4.77/Worcester/Worcester/Henley on Thames/Leander
Nick Brodie        6.8.96/Oxford    /Oxford/Oxford/OUBC
Alan Campbell        5.9.83/Coleraine/Coleraine/Mortlake/Tideway Scullers
Helen Casey        6.2.74/Stockport/Oxford/Oxford/Wallingford
Jonno Devlin        17.3.76/South Africa/Oxford/Putney/Oxford Brookes
Jess Eddie        7.10.84/Durham/Durham/Chiswick/Uni of London
Richard Egington    26.2.79/Knutsford/n/a/Henley on Thames/Leander
Robin Ejsmond-Frey    14.3.86/London/Hammersmith/Oxford/OUBC
Nick English        11.5.78/Coventry/Whitley Bay/Nottingham/Notts&Union
Simon Fieldhouse    4.9.76    n/a/n/a/Thames Ditton, Sy/Molesey
Debbie Flood        27.2.80/Harrogate/Leeds/Henley on Thames/Leander
Toby Garbett        14.11.76/Chertsey, Sy/West Byfleet/Ascot, Berks/Leander
Katherine Grainger    11.12.75/Glasgow/Aberdeen/Bisham, Bucks/St Andrew
Alex Gregory        11.3.84n/a/Wormington/Reading/Reading Uni
Katie Greves        2.9.82/London/Oxford/Mortlake/Uni of London
Joanna Hammond    28.1.80/Leamington Spa/Leamington/Cambridge/Leander
Daniel Harte        12.12.75n/a/n/a/Putney/London
Mike Hennessy        24.12.76/London/Deptford/Chiswick/Tideway Scullers
Rob Hollis        14.2.84/Wendover/Monmouth/Cowley/Oxford Brookes
Naomi Hoogesteger    22.5.81n/a/Wells/Spennymoor/Durham Uni
Frances Houghton    19.9.80/Oxford/Oxford/Putney/Uni of London
Natasha Howard    3.9.80/Harare, Zimbabwe/West Runton/Chiswick/Tideway Scullers
Tom James        3.11.84/Cardiff/Wrexham/Cambridge/CUBC
Simon Jones        8.6.78n/a/n/a/Cropwell Butler/Leander    
Matthew Langridge    20.5.83/Northwich, Cheshire/Northwich/Henley on Thames/Leander
Elise Laverick        27.7.75/Rustington, Sx/Poling, W Sx/Putney/Thames
Ian Lawson        4.3.77/Bradford/Otley, W.Yks/Henley on Thames/Leander
Hugo Lee        5.3.84/Guildford/Jeburgh, Scottish Border/Oxford/Oxford Brookes
James Lindsay-Fynn    29.9.75/Dublin/Trim, Ireland/London/London
Rachel Loveridge    7.5.80/Swindon/Hayling Island/Putney/Thames
Tim Male        9.7.75/Yeovil, So/Yeovil/Chiswick/Tideway Scullers
Paul Mattick        25.4.78n/a/Oxford/Wallingford
Acer Nethercott    28.11.77/Newmarket/Harlow, Ex/Oxford/OUBC
Lorna Norris        23.12.75n/a/na/a/Mortlake/Mortlake Anglian
Caroline O’Connor    25.4.83Ealing/Ealing/Ealing/Oxford Brookes    
Natasha Page        30.4.85n/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        25.1.81/San Francisco/Alton, Hants/East Sheen/Leander    
Peter Reed        27.7.81/Seattle, USA/Nailsworth/Oxford/Leander
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
Phil Simmons        6.2.75/Wimbledon/Thames Ditton/Thames Ditton/Molesey
Colin Smith        3.9.83/ Harare, Zimbabwe/Henley on Thames/Oxford/OUBC
Tom Stallard        11.9.78/London/Welwyn, Herts/London/Leander
James Stephenson    4.4.77/n/aChipstead/Thames Ditton    /Molesey
Florence Temple    11.3.79/Harlow/Northampton/Putney/Thames
Sam Townsend    n/a/ Reading/Reading/Reading/Reading Uni
Andrew Triggs Hodge    3.8.79/Aylesbury/Hebden, Skipton/East Molesey/Molesey
Annie Vernon        1.9.82n/a/Wadebridge, Cornwall/Marlow, Bucks/Thames
Matthew Wells        19.4.79/Bradford/Hexham, Northumberland/East Sheen/Uni of London
Josh West        25.3.77/Santa Fe, USA/Santa Fe/Oxford/Leander
Kieran West MBE    18.9.77/Kingston-upon-Thames/W. Byfleet/Mortlake/CUBC
Steve Williams        15.4.76/Warwick/Cheltenham/Henley/Leander
Sarah Winckless    18.10.73/Reading/Hurley, Bucks/Marlow, Bucks/Walbrook

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CONTACT DETAILS
For media enquiries about British Rowing please contact:

Caroline Searle

T:  (01225) 383518
M:  (07831) 755351

e:  [email protected]

GB Rowing website www.biro.org.uk – full biogs available
here.

International Rowing returned to GB for the World Cup in May
2005 and will be back once more for the 2006 World
Rowing Championships – both at Eton.

You’ll be kept up to date by GB Rowing News.
Official website www.wrc2006.com

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