January 20, 2007 News British Rowing NewsBritish Rowing EventsRowing CommunityGB Rowing TeamCompetitions and ClubsIndoor RowingPartners#YourStoriesArchive Two golds on opening day GB Rowing Team Great Britain produced a flying start to its Australian Youth Olympic Festival campaign in soaring temperatures (over 40 degrees C) in Sydney today with two golds, four silvers and a bronze. The wins came from Aylebsury’s Stephanie Mottram in the women’s single scull and through the men’s pair of Tom Lucy and Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell of Monmouth and Durham respectively.ADVERT Mottram, who trains at Marlow RC, produced a storming race, leading throughout. Lucy and Reilly O’Donnell won by clear water from their GB team-mates Lewis Beech and Mohammed Sbihi who put in a startling finishing burst to take silver. "I felt that all of the men’s crews stepped up in racing today", said Reilly O’Donnell, the GB men’s captain after racing which took place in searing temperatures. "The heat was a challenge but I felt that the coaches had prepared us well for that challenge. In my own race everything went to plan and it was great that the other GB pair took silver". "We’ve certainly had a very good day’s racing", added GB Team Manager, David Tanner, today. "It was a strong overall team performance with a medal in every event. That has given us confidence going into tomorrow’s bigger boat races". Australia, competing as individual states, tops the medals table with three golds. Britain lies in second with China third. Britain’s silvers on the opening day of racing came from Beech and Sbihi in the men’s pair, the men’s single scull and the two lightweight double scull boats. The women’s pair of Vicky Bryant and Rosanna Collings, from Chester Le Street and Nottingham, took a bronze. Maidenhead’s Martin Haymes was GB’s silver medallist in the men’s single scull. Haymes, who has made huge strides at this event, moved up through the field in the final quarter of the race but couldn’t quite catch the Chinese who won gold. Scarborough’s Bob Hewitt was eighth in the event. Britain’s lightweight women’s double of Emma Steel and Frances Fletcher, both Durham University students, were just half a second off the gold which was won by Australia. The men’s equivalent boat featuring Chris Boddy, from Thornaby, and Flintshire’s Nick Fearnhead stormed through the field in the second half of the race, moving up from fifth at the 1000m mark to take the silver. Bryant and Collings produced a similar second half performance to take their bronze in the women’s pair. GB’s Jacqui Round and Stephanie McDowall, of Nottingham and Aberdeen University, had shown early promise in this final, holding second place in the early stages but were unable to hold on and finished fifth. Britain later qualified four boats into tomorrow’s finals, three of which produced heat wins – the men’s and women’s four and the women’s quadruple scull – with the men’s quadruple scull qualifying in third place. There will also be finals tomorrow in the men’s and women’s eights and GB has a boat in each. "This is an interesting and tough competition", said Tanner today of the team event in which each athlete has to compete in three different boat classes and complete a 2000m race three times in seven hours on each day . "The Australians have produced an innovative event which is a good experience for all the athletes. They have tried something different without compromising on the quality of the event". 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. SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE =============================== =============================== DIGEST OF RESULTS (GB Crews only. Full results available through: http://www.rowingmanager. com/rm/?results=1258) Golds Women’s single scull Men’s pair Silvers Men’s pair Men’s single scull Lightweight women’s double scull Lightweight men’s double scull Bronze Women’s pair SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE =============================== =============================== GB ROWING SQUAD/AYOF: 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 SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE =============================== =============================== INFORMATION FILE DATES The Festival takes place from January 17-21. Rowing events are on January 20 and 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 SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE =============================== =============================== 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. =============================== =============================== SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE 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. ADVERT