Olympic and Paralympic qualifying season has begun

Lake Karapiro in New Zealand, early last month, was the scene for the GB Rowing Team’s best world championships performance yet – a performance which merited a shortlisted place in the annual Sportswriters’ Association poll of journalists behind the winning European Ryder Cup team.

For Performance Director David Tanner, chief coaches Jurgen Grobler and Paul Thompson –  and all the rowers and coaches in the GB squad –  Karapiro also marked the beginning of “the Olympic qualifying season”.  With some habitually strong nations not showing top form in New Zealand they know the going will continue to be tough in the lead into the qualifying for London 2012.

This season culminates in the  World Championships and Olympic and Paralympic qualifying regatta in:

BLED, SLOVENIA, FROM AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

Britain will seek to qualify boats into as many Olympic and Paralympic classes as possible here rather than through the last-chance final qualifying regatta in Lucerne from May 20-23, 2012.

The process of selection for the GB squad in 2011 continues at the end of this year, after October’s edition, with the second long-distance trial at Boston, Lincs, on Saturday 18 December.  World Championships team members are exempt from this.

Full squad assessment therefore begins again –  at Eton-Dorney (the Olympic venue) – in both February (12 and 13) and for the GB Rowing Team Senior Trials in April (16 and 17).

KEY DATES IN THE GB ROWING TEAM DIARY FOR 2011

JANUARY

20-23

All the top coaches in the world gather for the FISA
(World Rowing Federation) Coaches’ Conference in London.

JANUARY

29
GB Rowing Team Dinner (and Awards Ceremony)

FEBRUARY

12-13
3rd GB Rowing Team Winter Assessment, Dorney Lake, Eton

(first time that the full squad will be involved alongside those
who have progressed from earlier assessments)

MARCH

19
Women’s Head of the River Race, London

(Some GB female rowers will return to their clubs to race in this)

APRIL

2
Head of the River Race

(Some GB male rowers will return to their clubs to race in this)

16-17
GB Rowing Team Senior Trials, Dorney Lake, Eton

(Time trials and side-by-side racing to help coaches decide
who will be in which boats for the first world cup of the 2011 season)

MAY

27-29
Rowing World Cup 1, Munich Germany

JUNE

17-19
Rowing World Cup II, Hamburg, Germany

Henley Women’s Regatta

29- July 3
Henley Royal Regatta

JULY

8-10
Rowing World Cup III, Lucerne, Switzlerand

14
Announcement of the World Championships Team (Provisional)

21-24
World Rowing U23 Championships, Amsterdam, Netherlands

29-31
Coupe de la Jeunesse, Linz, Austria

AUGUST

4-7
World Rowing Junior Championships, Dorney Lake, Eton

28 – 4 September

WORLD ROWING CHAMPIONSHIPS, Bled, Slovenia

SEPTEMBER

16-18
European Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

SIEMENS is the high performance partner of the GB Rowing Team (as such they sponsor all the Olympic and Paralympic Class boats in the senior squad and add value to the GB Rowing Teams’ Start and High Performance Programme in Clubs Schemes)

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CONTACT DETAILS
For media enquiries about The GB Rowing Teams please contact:

Caroline Searle

T:  (01225) 443998
M:  (07831) 755351

e:  [email protected]