Great Britain four to race in Poznan

GB Rowing’s men’s four will race at the season’s final world cup in
Poznan, Poland, from June 20-22. The Camelot-backed boat has been
entered in its Munich line-up of Tom Lucy, Steve Williams, Peter Reed
and Andy Triggs Hodge – the latter having recovered from the injury
which forced him to miss the Lucerne world cup ten days ago.

Tom James, originally selected in the bow seat for the season, is back on the water training and is making a strong recovery.

"Tom James is doing well. He’s almost there but we need to be careful
and take each day at a time. Beijing is our ultimate aim", said GB
Performance Director, David Tanner, of the event in which GB were world
champions in 2005 and 2006.

As gold medallists in Lucerne 10 days ago the lightweight men’s double
of Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase, sponsored by Siemens, are strong
contenders once more in Poznan. They may face the 2007 world silver
medallists, Greece, as well as the world champion Danes who suffered
illness in Lucerne and the strong New Zealanders.

Steve Rowbotham and Matthew Wells will be seeking to "find a few more
gears" in Poznan and their post-event training in order to challenge
crews like New Zealanders Rob Waddell and Nathan Cohen who took gold
ahead of them in Lucerne and will be a threat in Beijing.

However, Alan Campbell will be unable to race in Poznan. A gold
medallist in Munich and fourth-placed in Lucerne, the Coleraine single
sculler has since suffered an infection from which he is still
recovering.

GB’s world champion lightweight men’s four did not have the best of
times at the Lucerne World Cup. They were disappointed with their fifth
place. They go to Poznan seeking to re-establish confidence in a field
where the margins between victory and defeat are very small.

Meanwhile, GB’s lead women’s boat – the quadruple scull – go to Poznan
on the back of defeat to the Chinese and the USA in Lucerne.

Coach Paul Thompson was bullish recently when he said: "We now know
what we need to do and we know we can make improvements before
Beijing".

Anna Bebington and Elise Laverick will once more race in the women’s
double and will be looking to transfer training speed into race
success. They were bronze medallists at last year’s world championships
but Bebington has been hampered since the New Year by a virus and is
coming back to full fitness. So the crew, according to coach Miles
Forbes Thomas, are looking for improvements rather than targetting
medals.

GB’s women’s eight has been shuffled slightly by the transfer of Sarah
Winckless into the boat. The former women’s quadruple scull world
champion and 2004 Athens Olympic bronze medallist has moved across from
the single scull to replace Alice Freeman. Winckless should bring some
additional power to the combination.

Meanwhile the men’s eight and pair are still undergoing further
assessment and the line-ups for these two boats are not yet finalised.
A selection will be made from ten athletes plus Acer Nethercott, the
cox.

Helen Casey and Hester Goodsell are the chosen combination in the
lightweight women’s double scull for Poznan. This is a boat category in
which a number of combinations have been tested at world cup level this
season.

In the non-Olympic classes, GB Rowing will race a lightweight women’s and men’s quadruple scull.

Finally,a development four has also been entered from Cambridge
University’s programme – three are trying for GB European Championships
selection this season as part of GB Rowing’s Olympic development
pathway and have shown promising form in trials and on the domestic
circuit.

***********************************************************************
*CAMELOT is the lead sponsor of GB Rowing
(as such they currently sponsor the men’s four and the women’s
quadruple scull)

*SIEMENS is the high performance partner of the GB Rowing Team
(as such they currently sponsor the men’s and women’s single and
double sculls, pair and eight as well as the lightweight men’s and
women’s double sculls, the lightweight men’s four and all the
adaptive boats)

*GB Rowing is LOTTERY FUNDED through UK Sport

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GB CREW LISTS (with clubs/home towns/dates of birth)
Poznan World Cup 2008

OPEN

WOMEN

Eight

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

Quadruple scull

Annie Vernon (Marlow RC/Wadebridge/01.09.82)/Debbie Flood
(Leander Club/Leeds/27.02.80)/Frances Houghton
(Tyrian Club (Uni of London)/Oxford/19.09.80)/Katherine
Grainger (St Andrew BC/Aberdeen/12.11.75)

Coach: Paul Thompson

MEN

Four (two boats)

Senior
Tom Lucy (Oxford Brookes/Monmouth/01.05.88) /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)

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)

Coach: Jurgen Grobler

Eight and pair from the following 10 athletes plus cox:

Colin Smith (Leander/Henley on Thames/23.09.83)
Robin Bourne-Taylor (Army RC/Oxford/22.07.81)/
Tom Solesbury (Molesey BC/Petts Wood, Kent/23.09.80)/
Tom Parker (Oxford Brookes/Winchester/24.10.82)
Tom Stallard (Leander/Welwyn, Herts/11.09.78)/
Matt Langridge(Leander Club/Northwich/20.05.83)/
Josh West (Leander/Santa Fe, USA/25.03.77)/
Richard Egington (Leander/Knutsford/26.02.79)/
Alex Partridge (Leander Club/Alton, Hants/25.01.81)/
Alastair Heathcote (Army RC/London/18.8.77)/

Acer Nethercott (University College Oxford BC/Harlow/28.11.77)
(cox)

Coaches: Mark Banks, John West, Jonny Singfield

Double Scull

Matt Wells (Leander Club/Hexham, Northumberland/19.04.79)/
Stephen Rowbotham (Leander Club/Winscombe, Somerset/11.11.81)

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

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

Single scull

Adam Freeman-Pask (Imperial/Windsor/19.06.85)

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)