Trail-blazing rowers down-under

Twenty GB Rowers are set to trail-blaze for the sport in Australia this week, starting on Friday and finishing on Sunday, when they compete as part of Team GB at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival. This will be the first time, since the event began in 2001, that British rowers have featured on the programme.

2006 World junior gold medallists Tom Lucy, Lewis Beech and Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell are amongst a squad of 20 rowers, selected by GB Rowing and announced recently by the British Olympic Association.

They will be joined in the men’s four by Mohammed Sbihi – a world junior pair finalist in 2006.

23 nations and 2,200 athletes will compete, by invitation, in the Festival of 16 sports which takes place in Sydney and was set up by the Australian Olympic Committee as part of the legacy of the 2000 Olympic Games hosted there.

“This is a great opportunity for our young rowers to experience a multi-sport environment”, explained GB Rowing’s Performance Director, David Tanner of the squad which has been based in Australia acclimatising for the past ten days.

“We welcome the chance to compete against some of the top rowing nations in the world and will relish the opportunity to build the experience of our rowers on the Olympic pathway towards 2012 and future Games”.

Sbihi is one of a new breed of rowers, discovered through physical and physiological tests at Hollyfield School in London when he was 15, as part of the lottery-funded ARA’s World Class Start programme which is now also sponsored by Siemens.   His rise to prominence at junior level has since been swift and this will be another milestone.

The GB women’s squad for the event features several athletes who were bronze medallists at the 2005 World Junior Championships in the eight.  These include:  Zoe de Toledo (the cox), Victoria Bryant, Rachael Jefferies and Stephanie McDowell.

For further information on GB Rowing please contact:  Caroline Searle on (01225) 383518 or (07831) 755351 OR [email protected]

For further information on Team GB please contact:  Graham Newsom or Louisa Huddy via (0208) 871 2677.

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GB ROWING SQUAD:
Listed from bow to stroke plus cox
(Rowing Club/Home Town in brackets after
name where known)

WOMEN

Pairs (two boats)

Stephanie McDowell (Aberdeen Uni/Edinburgh)/
Jacqui Round (Nottingham RC/St Neots)

Vicky Bryant (Oxford Brookes/Chester-Le-Street)
Rosanna Collings (Nottingham RC)

Four

Bryant/Collings/McDowell/Round

Eight

Stephanie Mottram (Marlow RC/Aylesbury)
Rachael Jefferies (CUBC/Abingdon)
Emma Steel (Durham Uni)
Collings
Bryant
Round
McDowell
Frances Fletcher (Durham Uni)
Zoe de Toledo (Oxford Brookes/London)

Single scull (2 boats)

Jefferies

Mottram

Quadruple scull

Bryant
Collings
McDowell
Round

MEN

Pairs (two boats)

Lewis Beech (Stourport BC/Stourport)
Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC/Surbiton)

Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell (Uni of London/Durham)
Tom Lucy (Oxford Brooks/Monmouth)

Four

Beech
Sbihi
Lucy
O’Donnell

Eight

Nick Fearnhead (Durham Uni/Rhosemor, Nr Mold, Flintshire)
Bob Hewitt (Scarborough/Scarborough)
Chris Boddy (Yarm School/Thornaby)
Beech
Sbihi
Reilly O’Donnell
Lucy
Martin Haymes (Oxford Brookes/Maidenhead)
Sebastian Stuart (Durham Uni/Shaftesbury)

Single Sculls (two boats)

Haymes

Hewitt

Double scull

Boddy
Fearnhead

Quadruple scull

Boddy
Hewitt
Haymes
Fearnhead

TEAM MANAGER
David Tanner

COACHES

Peter Sheppard
Tim Dorrell
Emma Hall-Craggs
Nick Strange

PHYSIO
Jenny Conway

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INFORMATION FILE

DATES

The Festival takes place from January 17-21.
Rowing events will be from January 19-21

ROWING EVENTS

Men
Single Scull (M1x)
Double Scull (M2x)
Lightweight Double Scull (LM2x)
Quadruple Scull (M4x)
Pair (M2-)
Four (M4-)
Lightweight Four (LM4-)
Eight (M8+)

Women
Single Scull (W1x)
Double Scull (W2x)
Lightweight Double Scull (LW2x)
Quadruple Scull (W4x)
Pair (W2-)
Eight (W8+)

Useful websites:

www.biro.org.uk
www.olympics.org.uk
www.olympics.com.au

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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 senior
squad biogs and past news releases available here.
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The GB Rowing Squad is supported by the National Lottery
Sports Fund as part of UK Sport’s Podium Programme.

GB Rowing News bulletins are issued by British
International Rowing.