Four GB Rowing crews won their heats today at the season’s final world
cup in Poznan, Poland, booking three berths in Sunday’s final and one
semi-final place tomorrow.

The GB men’s four, racing for the first time here in the chosen line-up
of Tom James, Steve Williams, Peter Reed and Andy Hodge were amongst
the winners and are now in Sunday’s final.

With James and Hodge back after injuries the decision to race the Camelot-sponsored combination was finally taken yesterday.

"We could have done with another week together but it wouldn’t have
felt right to sit at home. I think the amount of work we have done has
put us in a competitive place", said Williams.

"It’s a good start", added Grobler. "It was a pressure for them to
race the world champions and world silver medallists in their heat".

Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter beat the reigning world champions in
their heat to reach the semi-finals here. The Siemens-backed
lightweight men’s double now race in tomorrow’s semi-finals.

Anna Bebington and Elise Laverick were the other GB Olympic category
boat winners today in the open double scull. And Daniel Harte and Chris
Bartley won through to the final of the lightweight men’s pair.

GB’s men’s and women’s eights and the two lightweight quadruple scull
boats open their accounts here tomorrow and GB will feature in
repechages of the men’s pair, four and lightweight women’s double scull
and men’s four as well as the final of the lightweight men’s pair and
the semi-final of the lightweight men’s double.

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE
=============================== ===============================
RACE REPORTS

Steve Williams, Olympic gold medallist in the four in 2004, described
his crew’s performance today in winning their heat in tricky water and
wind conditions in Poland as putting them in a "competitive place". He
was clearly pleased with the effort – during which the Camelot-backed
quartet of Williams, Peter Reed, Andy Hodge and Tom James took a length
out of the opposition by 600m and had enough in the tank to repel any
advances to the line – as this was the first race this season for GB’s
chosen line-up due to injuries to both James and Hodge.

Reed, too, was buoyant after the victory. "It was a big race and a good
race. I felt full of beans and Stevie (Williams) called a good race".
The win puts them through to Sunday’s final.

"But we need to be realistic", cautioned Williams. "The other heat looked as hard if not harder".

Elise Laverick and Anna Bebington were winners of their heat of the
women’s double scull by two tenths of a second from the Czech Republic
in a tight final 500m. The British duo, sponsored by Siemens, were
quick off the start and led at both the 500m and 1000m marks. In the
third 500m, the Czechs came back at them and moved through to lead at
1500m – but by just two tenths. Both boats battled bow-to-bow in that
final 500m with Laverick and Bebington holding their rhythm to take the
honours at the line and a place in Sunday’s final.

To reach that stage of the regatta Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter contest
a semi-final tomorrow after winning their heat of the lightweight men’s
double scull today in an extremely tight tussle with the world
champions from Denmark. Hunter and Purchase led from the early stages
with Germany pushing them initially before Denmark came through
strongly. The margin at the line was under a second.

GB Rowing’s lightweight men’s four, world champions last year, were
locked in a battle with France for much of their heat today and
eventually came off second best and must now race a repechage tomorrow
as only one crew qualified direct for the final.

In the latter stages of a race which GB led for some of the middle
section, it looked as if the British crew had the legs to come back at
France but they faded in the final 250m.

Robin Bourne-Taylor and Tom Solesbury put in a solid world cup debut in
this morning’s heats. They were third behind South Africa and France,
allowing the latter back through them by just two hundredths of a
second at the line. The duo are feeling their way in this event, after
the past two seasons in the eight and look as if they have more
firepower to give in tomorrow’s repechages.

Helen Casey and Hester Goodsell will also race a repechage tomorrow
after finishing third in their lightweight women’s double scull heat
which was won by Australia with Germany second. Germany went out early
but were caught by Australia.

Chris Bartley and Daniel Harte , submitted by GB as a late entry for
the regatta, were tucked in second place after the first quarter of
today’s lightweight men’s pair heat. In pouring rain they bided their
time and then pushed past the top Japanese crew at halfway. In the
finishing 250m the Japanese made a concerted effort to get back on
terms but failed. Bartely and Harte’s win puts them direct into
tomorrow’s final.

The second GB men’s four, composed of Cambridge University rowers, were
sixth in their opening heat and now face a repechage tomorrow.

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE
=============================== ===============================
RESULTS
(Races featuring GB crews only – full
results: www.worldrowing.com).

HEATS

OPEN

Double scull

Heat 1
1. Elise Laverick/Anna Bebington (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:54.60
2. Gabriela Varekova/Jitka Antosova (Czech Republic) 6:54.80
3. Tatsiana Narelik/Volha Ustsinenka (Belarus) 7:07.92
4. Adelina Cojocariu/Ana Maria Apachitei (Romania) 7:09.32
5. Janine Hanson/Krista Guloien (Canada) 7:10.91

MEN

Pair

Heat 1.
1. Ramon di Clemente/Shaun Keeling (South Africa) 6:29.63
2. Erwan Peron/Laurent Cadot (France 1) 6:34.23
3. Robin Bourne-Taylor/Tom Solesbury (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:34.25
4. Morten Nielsen/Thomas Larsen (Denmark) 6:34.40
5. Martin Veit/Jan Dehoust (Germany 2) 6:50.53
6. Dmitry Filimonov/Grigoriy Feklistov (Kazakhstan) 6:54.40

Four

Heat 1
1. Tom James/Steve Williams/Peter Reed/Andy Hodge (GREAT
BRITAIN) 5:55.06
2. Italy 5:58.69
3. Belarus 5:59.02
4. New Zealand 5:59.79
5. Egypt 6:03.14
6. Argentina 6:35.73

Heat 2
1. Germany 5:47.97
2. Czech Republic 5:47.98
3. Netherlands 5:49.35
4. Slovenia 5:50.60
5. Ireland 5:55.73
6. Tobias Garnett/Henry Pelly/Peter Marsland/Tom Ransley
(GREAT BRITAIN 2) 5:59.90

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

Double scull

Heat 1
1. Amber Halliday/Marguerite Houston (Australia) 6:57.12
2. Berit Carow/Marie-Louise Draeger (Germany) 7:00.20
3. Hester Goodsell/Helen Casey (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:03.21
4. Misaki Kumakura/Akiko Iwamoto (Japan) 7:08.00
5. Eun Yeong Ko/Jin Yoo Jin (Korea) 7:50.27

MEN

Pair
1. Chris Bartley/Daniel Harte (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:38.49
2. Yusuke Imai/Yoshinori Sato (Japan 1) 6:39.25
3. Tatsuya Mizobe/Yu Kataoka (Japan 2) 6:55.12

Four

Heat 2
1. France 5:55.38
2. Richard Chambers/James Lindsay-Fynn/Paul Mattick/
James Clarke (GREAT BRITAIN) 5;57.86
3. Poland 6:02.87
4. Netherlands 6:06.56

Double scull

Heat 2
1. Zac Purchase/Mark Hunter (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:14.16
2. Mads Rasmussen/Rasmus Quist (Denmark) 6:14.99
3. Jonatha Koch/Manuel Brehmer (Germany) 6:33.21
4. Francois Libois/Kristof Dekeyser (Belgium) 6:37.90
5. So Sau Wah/Chow Kwong Wing (Hong Kong 1) 6:421.3
6. Mohamed Garidi/Kamel Ait Daoud BUW*
*Boat under weight

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE
=============================== ===============================
GB CREW LISTS (with clubs/home towns/dates of birth)
Poznan World Cup 2008

OPEN

WOMEN

Eight (NB – new seat order)

Beth Rodford (Thames RC/Burton-on-Trent/ 28.12.82)/Carla Ashford
(Oxford Brookes BC/Northallerton/13.03.79)/Natasha Howard
(Tideway Scullers/West Runton/3.9.80)/Natasha Page (Reading Uni/
Hartpury/30.04.85)/Jess Eddie (Uni of London/Durham/07.10.84)/
Sarah Winckless (Walbrook & Royal/Henley/18.10.73)/Alison
Knowles (Thames RC/ Bournemouth/27.3.82)/Katie Greves (Leander
Club/Oxford/02.09.82)/Caroline O’Connor (Oxford Brookes/Ealing/
25.04.83) (cox)

Coach: John Keogh

Double scull

Elise Laverick (Thames RC/Poling, W.Sussex/27.07.75)/
Anna Bebington (Leander Club/Leek, Staffs/13.2.83)

Coach: Miles Forbes Thomas

MEN

Pair
Robin Bourne-Taylor (Army RC/Oxford/22.07.81)/Tom Solesbury (Molesey BC/Petts Wood, Kent/23.09.80)

Four (two boats)

Senior
Tom James (Molesey/Wrexham/11.3.84)/Steve Williams
(Leander Club/Cheltenham/15.04.76)/Peter Reed (Leander Club/
Nailsworth, Glos/27.07.81)/Andy Triggs Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden,
N.Yorks/03.03.79)

Coach: Jurgen Grobler

Under 23s (Includes clubs/schools)

Toby Garnett (CUBC/London/29.07.87)/Henry Pelly (CUBC/London/30.07.83)/ Pete Marsland (CUBC/London/06.03.85)/Tom
Ransley (CUBC/Ashford, Kent/06.09.85)

Eight:

Alex Partridge (Leander Club/Alton, Hants/25.01.81)/
Tom Stallard (Leander/Welwyn, Herts/11.09.78)/
Tom Lucy (Oxford Brookes/Monmouth/01.05.88)/
Richard Egington (Leander/Knutsford/26.02.79)/
Josh West (Leander/Santa Fe, USA/25.03.77)/
Alastair Heathcote (Army RC/London/18.8.77)/
Matt Langridge(Leander Club/Northwich/20.05.83)/
Colin Smith (Leander/Henley on Thames/23.09.83)/
Acer Nethercott (University College Oxford BC/Harlow/28.11.77)
(cox)

Spare: Tom Parker (Oxford Brookes/Winchester/24.10.82)

Coaches: Mark Banks, John West, Jonny Singfield

Coach: Mark Earnshaw

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

Double scull

Helen Casey (Wallingford RC/Oxford/06.02.74)/
Hester Goodsell (Reading Uni/Cambridge/27.06.84)

Coach: Rob Morgan

Quadruple scull

Sophie Hosking (London RC/Wimbledon/25.01.86)/Andrea Dennis
(Wallingford RC/Oxford/03.01.82)/Laura Greenhalgh (Reading
Uni/Oxford/02.09.85)/Jane Hall (Leander/Caversham/20.10.73)

MEN

Pair

Daniel Harte (London/Edinburgh/12.12.75)/Chris Bartley
(Wallingford/Chester/2.2.84)

Four

Richard Chambers (Oxford Brookes/Coleraine/10.06.85)/
James Lindsay-Fynn (London/Trim/29.09.75)/Paul Mattick
(Wallingford/Oxford/25.04.78)/James Clarke (London RC/
London/31.12.84)

Coach: Robin Williams

Double scull

Zac Purchase (Marlow RC/Tewkesbury, Glos/02.05.86)/
Mark Hunter (Leander Club/Romford, Essex/01.07.78)

Coach: Darren Whiter

Quadruple scull

Simon Jones (Leander/Henley/8.6.78))Alasdair Leighton-Crawford
(Tideway Scullers/Richmond-upon-Thames/09.12.81)/ Rob Williams
(London RC/Maidenhead/21.01.85)/Matt Beechey (Leander/Worcester/
4.3.77)