19 Crews now through to finals
"We’ve had an excellent two days of semi-finals and it’s great to have nine Olympic and four Paralympic boats qualified for Beijing", said David Tanner today at the world championships in Munich today on a day when a further five British crews qualified for the weekend’s finals to join the fourteen already through.
Today’s qualifiers were the Siemens-backed lightweight men’s four, who won their semi-final with some style, and double scull as well as the men’s eight, sponsored by Siemens, from the Olympic classes alongside the lightweight men’s pair in the International classes.
Karen Cromie and James Roberts booked a British qualifying slot for the Beijing Paralympic Games today. The Siemens-backed duo finished second in the B final – thus finishing in the top eight.
"It will only get tougher and tougher from here", said Tanner of the two finals days.
Tomorrow’s finals feature the Camelot-backed men’s four who are already double world champions and seeking a hat-trick here from a tough field. Alan Campbell races in the Siemens-sponsored single scull.
Meanwhile Stephen Rowbotham and Matt Wells will feature in the men’s double scull. Colin Smith and Matt Langridge will race in the men’s pair and Elise Laverick and Anna Bebington are contenders in the women’s double scull – all Olympic class boats and all backed by Siemens.
Andrea Dennis will race in the international class lightweight women’s single final in her debut season for Great Britain.
Britain has finalists in three of the four Paralympic boat classes – including the eye-catching Tom Aggar in the men’s single and the two defending champions of Helene Raynsford in the women’s single and the mixed adaptive coxed four.
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RACE REPORTS
The British lightweight men’s four put in a text-book performance today in the semi-finals of the World Championships in Munich to finish first in a time of 6:00.13 and qualify for Sunday’s final.
Small wonder that Richard Chambers, in the bow seat of the Siemens-backed boat, could not resist the temptation to raise his arms aloft in triumph after the quartet had crosed the line. This was a race in which Egypt, on the opposite side of the course to the grandstands, made the early running. The British tracked them alongside before emerging to take the lead in the second half of the race and, importantly, to hold onto it as the pack sprinted for the finish.
Italy were second and China third. Afterwards Chambers said: "There was a feeling of relief when we crossed the line. Before the race I was quite nervous with Olympic qualifying riding on the result. We also wanted to go out and send a message to the others that we were confident and that they could come and fight us but that we were better".
There was also a sense of relief mixed with triumph as the British men’s eight finished second in their semi-final to reach Sunday’s final and, with it, qualify for Beijing next year.
In the crucial second 500m of the race the Siemens-backed British combination – coxed by Acer Nethercott, stroked by Alastair Heathcote and featuring Tom James once more in the bow seat as a substitute for a poorly Tom Parker – kept calm as they kept in touch with race leaders, Canada and Germany. Generating pace and fluidity, they proceeded to apply pressure in the second half to haul themselves past Germany and take second, just two seconds behind Canada.
Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase did all that was expected of them in the first three-quarters of their semi-final of the lightweight men’s double scull. They eased out of the pack and into the lead at the 750m mark and stayed there to cover any moves until the race moved into its final fling. That’s where things became interesting as, in the melee, the Siemens-sponsored duo were caught by the Japanese on the stand side and the Italians on their left and finished third in 6:21.40. They still move into Sunday’s final but will now race in an outside lane.
"We took it on really well in the middle of the race and tried to get out of trouble", said Hunter afterwards. "The trouble was that everyone clung on and it was man on man at the end"
Helen Casey and Hester Goodsell knew that their semi here in Munich today would be tough and that’s how it turned out. The Siemens-backed duo were still in touch at the half-way point but China, Greece and Germany were setting a hot pace in the lead. By the 1500m point the gap became too big to bridge and the British combination battled to the line but were sixth in a time of 7:07.07. Their Beijing hopes are still alive, though. They will need to finish in the top two places in Sunday’s B final to qualify.
Matt Beechey and Daniel Harte put a great end to their long wait to race this week after appearing in the opening day’s heats. They won their repechage in an exciting finish by just 11 hundredths of a second from France. The British crew were third at 500m, second at 1000m and moved through to win at the end.
Karen Cromie and James Roberts were in action in a B final of the adaptive, or Paralympic, mixed double scull with Beijing quota places open to the top two finishers.
From halfway it was clear that Beijing beckoned as the British duo, Siemens-backed, challenged the Chinese leaders all the way to the line and were second by around half a length.
By finishing third in today’s C Final the British men’s quadruple scull finished fifteenth overall.
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RACING TIMETABLE
Racing in Munich from now on takes place
as follows (full timetable
at www.worldrowing.com):
1 and 2 September
FINALS
(Full details: www.worldrowing.com and click on media
center before selecting events).
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RESULTS – Day six/31 August
(races featuring GB crews only. Full results:
www.worldrowing.com)
SEMI-FINALS
OPEN
MEN
Eight
1. Canada 5:30.88
2. Tom James/Tom Stallard/Tom Lucy/Tom Solesbury/
Josh West/Richard Egington/Robin Bourne-Taylor/
Alastair Heathcote/Acer Nethercott (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN)
5:32.62
3. Germany 5:33.05
4. China 5:34.66
5. Switzerland 5:41.52
6. Belarus 5:48.50
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Double scull
1. Dongziang Xu/Haixia Chen (China) 7:01.61
2. Chrysi Biskitzi/Alexandra Tsiavou (Greece) 7:01.74
3. Berit Carow/Marie-Louise Draeger (Germany) 7:02.95
4. Erika Bello/Laura Milani (Italy) 7:05.28
5. Wendy Tripician/Jana Heere (USA) 7:05.98
6. Helen Casey/Hester Goodsell (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:07.07
MEN
Four
1. Richard Chambers/James Lindsay-Fynn/Paul Mattick/
James Clarke (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:00.13
2. Italy 6:01.11
3. China 6:01.19
4. Australia 6:02.09
5. Egypt 6:04.77
6. Ireland 6:05.37
Double scull
1. Kazushigo Ura/Daisaku Takeda (Japan) 6:20.76
2. Marcello Miani/Ella Luini (Italy) 6:20.79
3. Zac Purchase/Mark Hunter (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:21.40
4. Guolin Zhang/Jie Sun (China) 6:22.06
5. Joerg Lehnigk/Manuel Brehmer (Germany) 6:22.28
6. Juliusz Madecki/Sebastian Sageder (Austria) 6:44.29
REPECHAGES
LIGHTWEIGHT
MEN
Pair
1. Matt Beechey/Daniel Harte (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:40.29
2. Vincent Faucheux/Guillaume Raineau (France) 6:40.40
3. Tatsuya Mizobe/Yu Kataoka (Japan) 6:41.99
4. Rutger Bruil/Tim Heijbrock (Netherlands) 6:46.17
5. Javier Nieto Gonzalez/Juan Luis Fernandez Tomas (Spain) 6:46.45
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GB CREWS FOR THE 2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
(Munich, August 26 – September 2, 2007)
(NB – listed from bow to stroke as on the day
of the selection announcement – with
athlete name followed by club, home town
and date of birth in brackets. NB some seat order
changes have taken place – see above results each
day).
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
Beth Rodford (Thames RC/Burton-on-Trent/ 28.12.82)/
Natasha Page (Reading Uni/Hartpury/30.4.85)
Coach: John Keogh
Four
Georgina Menheneott (Mortlake, Anglian & Alpha RC/North Bradley,
Wilts/18.12.79)/Rebecca Rowe (Rebecca/Bridgend/16.5.81)/
Vicki Etiebet (Auriol Kensington/Ottowa, Canada/12.2.79)/
Vicky Myers (Leander/Cheshire/31.3.81)
Coach: Nathan Williams
Eight
Carla Ashford (Thames RC/Northallerton/13.3.79)/Baz Moffat
(Thames RC/Bradford/8.4.78)/Alice Freeman (Wallingford RC/Oxford/
6.9.78)/Louisa Reeve (Leander/London/16.05.84)/Natasha Howard (Tideway Scullers/West Runton/3.9.80)/Alison Knowles (Thames RC/
Bournemouth/27.3.82)/Katie Greves (Uni of London/Oxford/2.9.82)
Jess Eddie (Uni of London/Durham/7.10.84)/Caroline O’Connor
(Oxford Brookes/Ealing/25.4.83) (cox)
Coaches: John Keogh
Double scull
Elise Laverick (Thames RC/Poling, W.Sussex/27.7.75)/
Anna Bebington (Leander Club/Leek, Staffs/13.2.83)
Coach: Miles Forbes Thomas
Quadruple scull
Annie Vernon (Thames RC/Wadebridge/1.9.82)/Debbie Flood
(Leander Club/Leeds/27.2.80)/Fran Houghton
(Uni of London/Oxford/19.9.80)/Katherine Grainger
(St Andrews BC/Aberdeen/12.11.75)
Coach: Paul Thompson
MEN
Pair
Colin Smith (Leander/Henley on Thames/23.9.83)/
Matt Langridge(Leander Club/Northwich/20.5.83)/
Coach: Jurgen Grobler
Four
Steve Williams (Leander Club/Cheltenham/15.4.76)/Peter
Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth, Glos/27.7.81)/Alex Partridge
(Leander Club/Alton, Hants/25.1.81)/Andy Triggs Hodge
(Molesey BC/Hebden, N.Yorks/3.3.79)
Coach: Jurgen Grobler
Coxed four
Oli Moore (Imperial/Burford)/James Orme (Leander Club/
Colchester/1.4.84)/Marcus Bateman (Leander Club/Torquay/
16.9.82)/Tom James (CUBC/Wrexham/11.3.84)/Phelan Hill (London
RC/London/21.7.79) – cox
Coach: Richard Tinkler
Eight
Tom Parker (OUBC/Winchester/24.10.82)/Tom Stallard
(Leander/Welwyn, Herts/11.9.78)/Tom Lucy (Oxford Brookes/
Monmouth/1.5.88)/Tom Solesbury (Molesey BC/Petts Wood, Kent/23.9.80)/Josh West (Leander/Santa Fe/25.3.77)/Richard Egington (Leander/Knutsford/26.2.79)/Robin Bourne-Taylor (Army RC/Oxford/22.7.81)
/Alastair Heathcote (Army RC/London/18.8.77)/Acer Nethercott (OUBC/Harlow/28.11.77) (cox)
Coaches: Mark Banks, John West
Single Scull
Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers/Coleraine/9.5.83)
Coach: Bill Barry
Double Scull
Matt Wells (Leander Club/Hexham, Northumberland/19.4.79)/
Stephen Rowbotham (Leander Club/Winscombe, Somerset/11.11.81)
Coach: Mark Earnshaw
Quadruple scull
Simon Fieldhouse (Molesey/Thames Ditton/4.9.76)/Sam Townsend
(Reading Uni/Reading/26.11.85)/Alex Gregory (Reading Uni/
Wormington/11.3.84)/Ian Lawson (Leander/Otley, W.Yorks/4.3.77)
Coach: Steve Gunn
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Single scull
Andrea Dennis (Wallingford RC/Oxford/03.01.82)
Coach: Rob Dauncey
Double scull
Helen Casey (Wallingford RC/Oxford/6.2.74)/
Hester Goodsell (Rob Roy/Cambridge/27.6.84)
Coach: Robin Williams
Quadruple scull
Sophie Hosking (Durham Uni/Wimbledon/25.01.86)Laura Greenhalgh (Rob Roy/Oxford/2.9.85)/Mathilde Pauls (Imperial College BC/Berlin & Putney/26.09.83)/ Jane Hall (Leander/Caversham/20.10.73),
Coach: Rob Dauncey
MEN
Pair
Matt Beechey (Leander/Worcester/3.4.77)/Daniel
Harte (London/Edinburgh/12.12.75)
Coach: Paul Reedy
Four
Richard Chambers (Oxford Brookes/Coleraine/10.6.85)/
James Lindsay-Fynn (London/Trim/29.9.75)/Paul Mattick
(Wallingford/Oxford/25.4.78)/James Clarke (London RC/
London/13.12.84)
Coach: Robin Williams
Single scull
Alasdair Leighton-Crawford (Tideway Scullers/Richmond-upon-Thames/
09.12.81) – racing spare.
Double scull
Zac Purchase (Marlow RC/Tewkesbury, Glos/2.5.86)/
Mark Hunter (Leander Club/Romford, Essex/1.7.78)
Coach: Darren Whiter
Quadruple scull
Simon Jones (Leander/Henley/8.6.78)Rob Williams (London
RC/Maidenhead/21.1.85)//Chris Bartley (Wallingford/Chester/
2.2.84)/Dave Currie (Leander/Bridgend/10.1.82)
Coach: Rob Morgan
ADAPTIVE CREWS
WOMEN
Single scull
Helene Raynsford (Guildford RC/Frimley/29.12.79)
Coach: Chad King
MEN
Single scull
Tom Aggar (Royal Docks/Barnet, London/24.5.84)
Coach: Chad King
MIXED
Mixed adaptive coxed four
Naomi Riches (Marlow RC/Harrow Weald/15.6.83)/
Alastair Mckean (Herne Bay ARC/Whitstable/14.4.79)/
Alan Crowther (Nottingham BC/Derby/29.7.65)/
Vicki Hansford (Guildford RC/Lewisham/31.10.79)/
Alan Sherman (cox)
Coach: Chad King
Double scull
Karen Cromie (Royal Docks BC/Ballinamalllard, Co.Fermanagh/
24.9.79)/James Roberts (Swansea/11.5.86)
Coach: Chad King
SPARES
Olivia Whitlam (Agecroft RC/Warrington/16.9.85)
Tom Wilkinson (Leander/Henley/4.7.85)
Charles Burkitt (Leander/Reading/28.4.86)
Bill Lucas (Reading Uni/Dartmouth/13.9.87)
Atlanta St John (Reading Uni/North Leigh, Oxon/13.1.87)
TEAM MANAGEMENT AND SUPPORT
Team Manager: David Tanner
Assistant Team Manager: Maggie Netto
Doctor: Ali Sanders
Chief Coach Men: Jurgen Grobler
Chief Coach Women and Lightweights: Paul Thompson
Logistics Manager: Maurice Hayes
Adaptive boats coordinator: Louise Kingsley
Lead Physio: Mark Edgar
Physios: Pam Gardiner, Gill Edmondson, Mike Chisholm
Physiologist: Al Smith
Pyschologist: Chris Shambrook
Nutritionist: Wendy Martinson
Sponsorship Liaison Manager: Fran Bullock
Drivers: Phil Tinsley, John Brockway
Press Officer: Caroline Searle
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OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC QUALIFYING DETAILS
Each nation competing in Munich will be seeking to
qualify for Olympic Games’ quota places, available for
each event. It is important to remember, though, that
it is the "boats" that qualify in Munich and at the later
regattas (see below). In Britain’s case the individual "rowers’
names" will not be put to the places in each boat
until late June, 2008.
Events (with quota places available in Munich)
MEN
Single scull (11) – qualified (30/08/07)
Pair (11) – qualified (30/08/07)
Double scull (11) – qualified (30/08/07)
Four (11) – qualified (30/08/07)
Quadruple scull (11) – will seek to qualify in June 2008
Eight (7) – qualified (31/08/07)
WOMEN
Single scull (9)
Pair (8)
Double scull (8) – qualified (30/08/07)
Quadruple scull (7) – GB qualified (27/08/07)
Eight (5)
LIGHTWEIGHT MEN
Double scull (11) – qualified (31/08/07)
Four (11) – qualified (31/08/07)
LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN
Double scull (8)
If British boats do not gain a quota place in any given
event in Munich, there will be one further chance
via the final qualifying regatta in June of 2008 in
Lucerne, Switzerland where a small number of
further quota places will be available but for which
the competition will be fierce.
ADAPTIVE BOAT CLASSES
Each adaptive boat class has eight spaces
available in Munich for Beijing 2008. For those
who do not qualify in Munich there will be a
second-chances at the world cup from
9-11 May, 2007.
Women’s arms only single scull – qualified 28/08/07
Men’s arms only single scull – qualified 30/08/07
Mixed coxed four – qualified 30/08/07
Mixed double scull – qualified 31/08/07
