GB Rowing Team win 10 world cup medals, four of them gold
Heather Stanning and Helen Glover stunned the World Champions from New Zealand to win world cup gold in Lucerne and start of a flurry of British medals, including four gold, four silver and two bronzes.
The women’s pair held their nerve and shape in the final, frantic 250m showing their pedigree.
Brothers Richard and Peter Chambers, from Coleraine, also sparked serious celebration within the team after they took gold with Paul Mattick and Rob Williams in the lightweight men’s four. The siblings, 26 and 21 respectively, had never competed together before the regatta here at which Peter is substituting for the injured Chris Bartley.
Anna Watkins showed that she and Katherine Grainger are still the crew to beat in the women’s double scull, taking gold in the women’s double scull despite curtailed preparation for the event this year due to Watkins’ recent back injury.
The fourth British gold came from the men’s four of Alex Gregory, Ric Egington, Matt Langridge and Tom James. They led from the outset to take their victory.
Britain added silvers from the men’s pair, women’s quadruple scull, lightweight women’s double scull and men’s quadruple scull – the latter drawing attention as a significant step up for Stephen Rowbotham, Sam Townsend, Bill Lucas and Tom Solesbury.
Matt Wells and Marcus Bateman came through a tough race to take bronze in the men’s double scull and the women’s eight fell agonisingly short of the podium in fourth place and closing on a much-improved Dutch crew.
With thunder and lightning threatening to descend on the Rotsee from the mountains the final race of the day was whether the men’s eight final would take place before conditions became unsafe. It duly did and the GB eight came back from fifth to challenge for silver at the line before losing out by just four hundredths of a second to the Dutch.
“Each of our gold medals today had a story behind it”, said GB Rowing Team Performance Director David Tanner. “It was fantastic to see the women’s pair to kick off the regatta as they did when they are still rookies really. The women’s double, because of injury, is still a work in progress and to win was significant. The open men’s four were outstanding in dominating their field and what a sub in Peter Chambers to help the lightweight men’s four win by their biggest ever margin at this level of event. We had some great silvers to add to all of that. A good curtain raiser for the Olympic qualification regatta”.
The GB Rowing Team for the 2011 World Championships in Bled, Slovenia, from 28 August – 4 September will be announced at a press day at the national training centre at Caversham, Nr Reading, on Tuesday 19 July. This year’s World Championships double as the Olympic and Paralympic qualifying regattas. Members of the media wishing to attend this should RSVP to: [email protected]
*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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RACE REPORTS
Pre-race predictions suggested that the women’s pair final here would be a close-run thing between the 2010 World Champions, Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown of New Zealand, and Britain’s World silver medallists Helen Glover, 25, from Penzance and 26 year old Army Officer Heather Stanning from Lossiemouth.
South Africa and America also went to the start line as world cup medallists already this season and Australia were racing a world cup for the first time this season.
From the start the British crew signalled their intention to take the fight to the New Zealanders. They led at the 500m and 1000m marks and by 1500m had over two seconds over the Kiwis who were beginning to fight back. By the grandstands the New Zealanders had the overlap on the British crew and their boat speed was clearly faster.
The New Zealanders edged partially in front but the British “showed their mettle”, according to GB Performance Director David Tanner, and hauled them back to win in 7:00.66 and take a significant victory in their progress since setting out as part of the GB Rowing Team’s Start talent identification scheme which is sponsored by Siemens and backed by the lottery. The USA boats took third and fourth.
“It was hard work but it was worth it”, said Stanning of the gold medal performance. “We knew we had the speed so we just needed to get on with it”.
“We just found ourselves with a big lead”, said Glover who indicated that their early dominance had not been planned. “We’re quietly confident of our own abilities but we know we can’t take anything for granted”.
Gloucestershire’s Royal Navy Officer, Pete Reed, 30, and Yorkshireman Andrew Triggs Hodge, 32, knew today was going to be tough, given their opponents included World Champions Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, who have a significant run of victories over the British pairing in the past two years, as well as Canadian Beijing silver medallists Scott Frandsen and Dave Calder.
Oddly for the British duo they started slowly and were in well back in the field at the 500m mark. By the halfway point they had were coming back up into the pack but seemed to have left themselves a mountain as high as the surrounding scenery to climb. At 1500m gone New Zealand were storming out in front with a huge lead over Canada, Greece and GB in that order.
in the final 500m the British duo unleashed a mighty and dramatic finish to catch and overhaul the Canadians to take silver but could not dent the Kiwi lead. Gold to New Zealand in 6:21.76, silver to Reed and Hodge in 6:28.16.
“All credit to the Kiwis, that was a great performance from them”, said Hodge of the New Zealand winning time which was seriously fast. “But we can keep our heads high and will keep working”.
“I thought after the second 500m that the other crews would pay for their early pace”, said Reed. “There is more to come from us. We can pleased today because the standard of the event is very high but we need to get ahead of the Kiwis”.
2009 World Champions Magdalena Fularczyk and Julia Michalska were amongst the rivals today for Aberdeen’s Katherine Grainger, 35, and Anna Watkins, 28 from Leek in Staffordshire. The British combination, unbeaten in 2010 and reigning World Champions, also knew that Australia’s Kim Crow and Kerry Hore as well as the Ukrainians and Kiwis could pose a threat to their re-emergence on the international scene after an early season injury break for Anna Watkins.
At the start the Great Britain duo were ahead and had taken a three-quarter length lead by the halfway point over Crow and Hore. The Australians took back a quarter of a length but the British were rating lower. The positions remained the same as the crews entered the final 1500m with Ukraine in third.
That was the moment at which Grainger and Watkins put on the power to move out to a clearwater advantage. The Australians came back towards the finish but did not have enough in the tank to take the verdict which went to GB by almost exactly two seconds.
“It was good to have a really, hard and close race. We need to practise them”, said Watkins.
“We knew we would be up against it today. Lucerne is always the closest we get to World Championhips standard racing and because of Anna’s injury we didn’t get our normal preparation”, said Grainger.
“The final was a fantastic tactical race and a great experience”, she added.
The GB Rowing Team men’s four of Matt Langridge (28, from Northwich in Cheshire), Ric Egington (32, from Knutsford in Cheshire),Tom James (27, from Wrexham) and Alex Gregory (27, from Wormington in Cheshire) are unbeaten so far this season.
Today they were determined to maintain that record despite the challenge posed by a new-look German crew as well as Munich silver medallists, Greece, and a New Zealand crew who had two former World Champions on board as well as the the Americans who had raced them in the final at Henley Royal Regatta.
The TV pictures clearly showed Matt Langridge, the GB men’s four bowman, sitting ahead of the rest of the field in lane 3 against the blue-green waters of the Rotsee as the race went through 300m. By the first official timing point at 500m, the GB crew had a length over the field.
By the halfway point the quartet looked unassailable with a clearwater advantage and must have felt they had the best view in the house as the remaining crews were some way behind them but in close order with each other.
“When I visualise a race that’s the view that I’d like to see at that point”, said Egington describing how it felt.
Greece and Germany made the best attempts at catching the GB quartet along with the fast-finishing Americans in the sprint to the line but to no real impact. Victory to GB in 5:53.84 with Greece second in 5:56.35 and the USA third in 5:57.61.
“You always have that worry that people might come back at you”, added Egington. “That’s why you keep going”.
“We kept it simple, no fireworks. We just wanted to win”, said James. “I’m sure that other crews will change and the field will be very different at the Worlds later this year and as we move into Olympic year, so we won’t be big-headed after today”.
Matt Langridge: “It was a good race – the water wasn’t great so it didn’t feel very smooth but ultimately it is about who is fastest and today it was us. There is definitely more to come; we were physically a bit under par here so it was a case of getting through it and coming out on top. We had some hard races at Henley and sometime you forget that racing at this level takes it out of you no matter how easy it looks.”
Alex Gregory: “It felt really good and I’m going to make sure I enjoy today because we have a couple of days off and then it’s back to basics again. We did what we had to do today and to come out on top of such a good field puts us in a great position going into the World Championships.”
Great Britain and Canada are honours even this year in the lightweight women’s double scull with GB having beaten the 2010 World Champions at the Amsterdam Regatta but Canada having struck back here in the semi-finals to qualify as pre-race favourites for today’s final.
So Sophie Hosking, 25 from Wimbledon, and Hester Goodsell, 27 from London, who were gold medal winners in Munich at the season’s opening world cup, today sought to measure themselves once more against the Canadians whilst being aware of the potential threat from the Americans.
Canada hit the front of the field after 500m and behind them the British overtook the Americans to tuck into second place and held onto that slot despite the best intentions and a significant push from the Americans in the final quarter of the race. The British boat could not, however, make inroads into the Canadian lead and had to settle for silver with the USA third.
“Obviously it feels a bit flat not to win”, said Hosking. “We know that we have things we can improve and I’m really looking forward to getting away on training camp”.
“It’s where we are at”, said Goodsell of today’s performance. “We also know what we need to do in the next six weeks”.
The British men’s quadruple scull were Henley Royal Regatta winners, having beaten World Champions, Croatia, in the final. When Stephen Rowbotham, 29 from Winscombe in Somerset, Tom Solesbury, 30 from Henley, Bill Lucas, 23, from Kingswear in Devon, and Sam Townsend, 25, from Reading, took third place behind Croatia and a new-look German crew in yesterday’s semi-finals they were probably a tad disappointed, therefore.
Today the German boat – stroked by Tim Grohmann – took an early lead with the British boat in second in a closely-grouped following field.
A superb German push saw them take a significant lead from halfway onwards with GB still in second and New Zealand third. GB picked up the chase with Australia as the boats came past the grandstands with the British finishing strongly to win in 5:51.14.
“I felt we finally got the momentum going in the second half of the race”, said Lucas. “I didn’t know who was ahead of us I just focussed on us”.
Tom Solesbury added: “We said we wanted to keep stepping up through the regatta and we wanted to up the intensity mentally today which I think we did well. Towards the end Steve [Rowbotham] said we were in second and we managed to hold off the Aussies in the last 250m. This was a great step on for us.”
Rowbotham said: “Everything went well at Henley and I felt today that the guys had 100% trust in what I was telling them. I think we proved today that Henley wasn’t due to home advantage. We are fast and we now have six weeks to work on things for Bled”.
Townsend said: “We had a very good race at Henley but as nice as that was it is not what we train every day for and I am very happy with the race today. Mark Banks (coach) has already got plans for our training camp in Silvretta – we are within striking distance now and hopefully we can close the gap on the Germans.”
Whilst Great Britain are the reigning World Champions, it takes a brave person to predict verdicts in this fiercely-contested boat class. And Britain’s quartet here features 21 year old Peter Chambers as a substitute for the injured Chris Bartley.
Chambers, brother of bowman Richard, 26, both from Coleraine, has joined the crew – which is stroked by Rob Williams, 26, from Maidenhead and Paul Mattick, 33, from Frome – to much effect. They were emphatic semi-final winners yesterday. The opposing semi-final though was an epic in which pre-race favourites Denmark, took third behind Italy and Switzerland, so the threat today could come from all quarters.
Hardly a credit-card’s width seemed to separate five of the crews in the lightweight men’s four final today as the crews came down the first half with only South Africa in a fraction of a lead. As the wind picked up and gusted down the course the British moved up and were leading from Australia at 1500m gone by half a second.
Had they gone too soon? Australia battled back in the final 300m…and the Italians. And the Danes put on their best spurt. The men in the British four looked like they were tiring. Every stroke looked like it hurt. Richard Chambers looked around with 50m to go as if he were willing the line to come. And it did. A win for GB in 6:03.66 from Italy and Denmark.
“I had so much trust in the other guys in the boat”, said the younger Chambers sibling, Peter. “I knew they had it in them”.
“He’s awesome”, said Richard of his brother. ‘He’s a pro. He’s come into a boat that expects to challenge for gold and he’s shown he’s a senior athlete. He’s amazing”.
The two brothers had never rowed before in the same crew before the heats here in Lucerne.
Paul Mattick added: “We didn’t have a great first 250m but we soon got back on terms and once we got ahead I knew the other crews wouldn’t come through us. We actually won by a decent margin for a lightweight men’s four final.”
Rob Williams said: “I felt a bit of pressure being at stroke for the first time but I really enjoyed it. That’s the first time I’ve ever looked across at the finish of a final in our event and knew we’d won.”
Leeds’ Debbie Flood, twice an Olympic Games silver medallist is stroking the GB women’s quadruple scull here which includes Southampton’s Mel Wilson, 27, Gloucester’s Beth Rodford and Cornwall’s Annabel Vernon. They qualified directly to the final here, having won their heat.
Today they were led by Germany through the early phases of the race. Germany have a proud tradition in this boat category and were looking strong here in the heats.
At 1500m the British boat appeared to get an overlap back on their big rivals. Three of the British boat are reigning world champions and Wilson was a world cup double scull gold medallist in Munich so if anyone had the pedigree to make back the distance it was likely to be the British.
As the crews raced past the grandstands the gap was down to a canvas. But the Germans had enough in the tank to hold on and take gold. in 6:34.44 to GB’s 6:35.28.
“That was a different level to Munich”, said Annie Vernon. “We knew the Germans would be quick in the second 500m so we planned to hit them from 750m gone”.
“We had a very good race”, said Flood. “The Germans just slipped past us in the early part and we were coming back but ran out of track”.
Beth Rodford added: “We have tried to work on maintaining a more even pace and we’ve got better with every race. We were aware that we were coming back on Germany at the end”.
For Wilson the experience of racing in the quad was exciting: “It feels very fast and exciting. Our races here have been pretty close through the middle part of the race and it has been a good lesson in holding your nerve”.
Matt Wells, 32 from Hexham, and Marcus Bateman, 28 from Torquay were bronze medallists in today’s men’s double scull final. They held off a strong French challenge for that medal at the line.
Earlier the Germans took a very good lead and made the race their own from halfway despite a wickedly quick sprint to the finish from world champions Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan who took silver.
“We had a good race. We will always be disappointed with the finishing position but it’s a good platform to build on for the Worlds’, said Bateman.
“We had a good start and our idea was to hold onto it in the middle but unfortunately two other crews did it all better than us today”, said Wells. “We now know what we have to do in the next few weeks”.
With the Great Britain tally standing at four golds, four silver and a bronze from the previous finalists it was the turn of the GB women’s eight to race. They are a crew that can challenge for medals but knew that today’s task would be daunting.
The women’s eight – including 27 year old Londoners Jo Cook, 27, Louisa Reeve, 27, Alison Knowles, 29, from Bournemouth, Jess Eddie, 26, from Durham, Vicky Thornley, 23, from Wrexham, Gloucester’s Natasha Page, 26, Oxford’s Katie Solesbury, 28, Edinburgh’s Lindsey Maguire, 29, and Ealing-born science teacher Caroline O’Connor, 28 – were drawn in lane one next to Canada with the World and Olympic champions from the USA in lane 4.
Canada and the USA grappled with each other at the front of the race and the British eight was locked in a chasing battle with the Netherlands throughout the middle 1000m.
At 1500m gone, the British boat were fourth but still in contention for the podium. All credit to the much-improved Dutch combination at that stage as they put on a push to secure bronze with GB close but not quite close enough.
The British men’s eight – featuring Henley’s Alex Partridge, 30, Southampton’s James Foad, 24, Glastonbury’s Cameron Nichol, also 24, Durham’s Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell, 23, Mohamed Sbihi, 23, from Surbiton, Marlow’s Greg Searle, 39, Cambridge’s Tom Ransley, 26, Dan Ritchie, 25, from Herne Bay in Kent and cox Phelan Hill, 31, from Bedford – were in a difficult lane for today’s final and were fifth after the first 500m.
At halfway they were still in that slot with World Champions Germany in the lead and the USA a close second. Britain put in a push in the third 500m to put themselves into contention and created great excitement for the travelling British fans as they battled with the Dutch for silver before ultimately losing out by a mere four hundredths of a second
“I think we’re pleased with the race. It goes to prove that we are in a hard event and in a tough field”, said Cameron Nichol.
“Our goal is always to win gold and we didn’t achieve that here but I’m proud of the way we raced and I’m looking forward to the World Championships”, he added.
“Off the back of an indifferent weekend for us it felt like a good race today and it’s good to know that we’re still within two seconds of the Germans”, added Mo Sbihi.
In his 20 years of international racing Greg Searle has only won two Lucerne medals so he knows how difficult they are to come by. Today he said: “To win a medal here after not a brilliant regatta is good. It shows we’re still in the mix”.
Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell, sheltering from the significant electrical storm that blew down from the mountains and forced the men’s eight to wait under cover before leaving the grandstands, said: “It was a tough weekend and it didn’t quite go to plan. We have shown resilience as a crew and we don’t look back at what has happened but what is coming next to what we need to do for the Worlds and next season and the Olympic Games. I’m proud of our boat and that resilience”.
James Foad: “I knew we were in the race but had no idea of our position. From what we were doing in the boat it felt strong and rhythmical and we lifted our rate in the second part of the race to keep our speed up, which definitely paid off in the third 500 and kept us in the race. This has been an alright end to what was looking a pretty shaky regatta for us and was definitely the best of our three races here.”
Dan Ritchie: “I didn’t know where we were in the race until the last 250 and Phelan told us we were in second but the Dutch were coming back at us. Hopefully by the World Championships we’ll be able to put all the pieces together to make a pretty picture in each race.”
B FINALS
Britain also had some success in the B finals in the early morning in Lucerne. The second men’s pair of George Nash and Constantine Louloudis, still U23s, put every ounce of effort in their possession, or so it seemed, to win the B Final in style.
“They have stepped up here and I’m very pleased with them”, said David Tanner, the GB Rowing Team manager.
“I also think that Mark Hunter and Adam Freeman-Pask have worked their way through the regatta improving with every race. They have done well as a new combination”, he added.
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RESULTS
2011 SAMSUNG WORLD ROWING CUP
(results for events featuring British crews only. Full
results at www.worldrowing.com)
RESULTS
FINALS
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
1. Helen Glover/Heather Stanning (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:00.66
2. Juliette Haigh/Rebecca Scown (New Zealand) 7:01.32
3. Caroline Lind/Taylor Ritzel (USA 1) 7:06.96
4. Zsuzsanna Francia/Meghan Musnicki (USA 2) 7:12.26
5. Camelia Lupascu/Nicoleta Albu (Romania) 7:13.27
6. Naydene Smith/Lee-Ann Persse (South Africa) 7:14.37
Eight
1. USA 6:28.35
2. Canada 6:29.41
3. Netherlands 6:31.73
4. Jo Cook/Alison Knowles/Jessica Eddie/Victoria
Thornley/Natasha Page/Louisa Reeve/Katie Solesbury/
Lindsey Maguire/Caroline O’Connor(cox)
(GREAT BRITAIN) 6:33.34
5. Romania 6:37.57
6. Germany 6:38.81
Double scull
1. Anna Watkins/Katherine Grainger (GREAT BRITAIN 1) 6:54.34
2. Kerry Hore/Kim Crow (Australia) 6:55.75
3. Anastasiia Kozhenkova/Yana Dementieva (Ukraine 1) 6:58.92
4. Magdalena Fularczyk/Julia Michalska (Poland) 7:03.49
5. Lenka Antosova/Jitka Antosova (Czech Republic) 7:06.89
6. Fiona Paterson/Anna Reymer (New Zealand) 7:09.16
Quadruple scull
1. Germany 6:34.44
2. Melanie Wilson/Beth Rodford/Annabel Vernon/
Debbie Flood (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:35.28
3. New Zealand 6:37.59
4. USA 6:38.81
5. Australia 6:43.21
6. Ukraine 6:53.14
MEN
Pair
1. Eric Murray/Hamish Bond (New Zealand 1) 6:21.76
2. Pete Reed/Andrew Triggs Hodge (GREAT BRITAIN 1) 6:28.16
3. Dave Calder/Scott Frandsen (Canada 1) 6:29.47
4. Nikolaos Gkountoulas/Apostolos Gkountoulas (Greece) 6:34.13
5. Lorenzo Carboncini/Niccolo Mornati (Italy) 6:37.54
6. Adrian Juhasz/Bela Simon Jnr (Hungary) 6:44.41
Four
1. Matthew Langridge/Richard Egington/Tom James/
Alex Gregory (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:53.84
2. Greece 5:56.35
3. USA 1 5:57.61
4. Germany 1 5:57.77
5. Serbia 6:03.32
6. New Zealand 6:03.32
Eight
1. Germany 5:43.52
2. Netherlands 5:45.31
3. Alex Partridge/James Foad/ Cameron Nichol/
Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell/Mohamed Sbihi/
Gregory Searle/Tom Ransley/Daniel Ritchie/
Phelan Hill(cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:45.35
4. USA 5:45.55
5. Canada 5:49.23
6. Poland 5:51.54
Double scull
1. Nathan Cohen/Joseph Sullivan (New Zealand) 6:29.41
2. Hans Gruhne/Stephan Krueger (Germany 1) 6:30.72
3. Matthew Wells/Marcus Bateman (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:32.07
4. Cedric Berrest/Julien Bahain (France 1) 6:34.00
5. Luka Spik/Iztok Cop (Slovenia) 6:37.83
6. Allar Raja/Kaspar Taimsoo (Estonia) 6:37.87
Quadruple scull
1. Germany 5:47.48
2. Tom Solesbury/Stephen Rowbotham/Sam Townsend/
Bill Lucas (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:51.14
3. Australia 5:51.71
4. Switzerland 5:54.06
5. Croatia 5:54.47
6. New Zealand 5:56.63
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Double sculls
1. Lindsay Jennerich/Tracy Cameron (Canada) 7:01.71
2. Hester Goodsell/Sophie Hosking (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:03.81
3. Kristin Hedstrom/Julie Nichols (USA 1) 7:04.81
4. Triantafyllia Kalampoka/Christine Giazitzidou (Greece) 7:08.96
5. Alice McNamara/Hannah Every-Hall (Australia) 7:09.44
6. Laura Milani/Enrica Marasca (Italy 2) 7:14.74
MEN
Four
1. Richard Chambers/Peter Chambers/Paul Mattick/
Rob Williams (GREAT BRITAIN 1) 6:03.66
2. Italy 6:04.79
3. Denmark 6:05.28
4. Australia 6:05.28
5. Switzerland 6:06.41
6. South Africa 6:09.81
B FINALS
OPEN
MEN
Pair
1. George Nash/Constantine Louloudis (GREAT BRITAIN 2) 6:34.42
2. Maximilian Munski/Felix Drahotta (Germany 1) 6:38.50
3. Rene Bertram/Florian Eichner (Germany 2) 6:41.28
4. Nanne Sluis/Rogier Blink (Netherlands 1) 6:43.34
5. Michael Molina/Benjamin Lang (France) 6:45.88
6. Ramon Di Clemente/Lawrence Brittain (South Africa) 6:46.73
LIGHTWEIGHT
MEN
Double sculls
1. Pedro Fraga/Nuno Mendes (Portugal) 6:25.30
2. Adam Freeman-Pask/Mark Hunter (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:26.93
3. Svein Urban Ringstad/Are Strandli (Norway) 6:29.31
4. Zlatko Karaivanov/Vassil Vitanov (Bulgaria) 6:31.33
5. Michael Schmid/Raphael Jeanneret (Switzerland) 6:32.00
6. Thijs Obreno/Hannes Obreno (Belgium) 6:46.15
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GB ROWING TEAM CREW-LISTS
2011 World Cup Regatta, Lucerne
July 8-10, 2011
(listed bow to stroke plus cox)
QUARTER-FINALS
OPEN
WOMEN
Helen Glover (Minerva Bath/Penzance/17.06.86)/
Heather Stanning (Army RC/Lossiemouth/26.01.85)
Coach: Robin Williams
Eight
Jo Cook (Leander Club/Sunbury-on-Thames/22.03.84)/
Alison Knowles (Thames RC/Bournemouth/27.03.82)/
Jessica Eddie (Univ of London BC/Durham/07.10.84)/
Victoria Thornley (Leander Club/Wrexham/30.11.87)/
Natasha Page (Gloucester RC/Hartpury/30.04.85)/
Louisa Reeve (Leander Club/London/16.05.84)/
Katie Solesbury (Leander Club/Oxford/02.09.82)/
Lindsey Maguire (Wallingford RC/Edinburgh/15.01.82)/
Caroline O’Connor (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Ealing, London/25.04.83)
Coach: Nick Strange
Double scull
Anna Watkins (Leander Club/Leek, Staffs/13.02.83)/
Katherine Grainger (St. Andrew BC/Aberdeen/12.11.75)
Coach: Paul Thompson
Quadruple scull
Melanie Wilson (Imperial College BC/London/25.06.84)/
Beth Rodford (Gloucester RC/Gloucester/28.02.82)/
Annabel Vernon (Leander Club/Wadebridge/01.09.82)/
Debbie Flood (Leander Club/Guiseley/27.02.80)/
Coach: Ade Roberts
OPEN
MEN
Pair
Pete Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth, Glos/27.07.81)/
Andrew Triggs Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden, N. Yorks/03.03.79)
Coach: Jürgen Grobler
Constantine Louloudis (Isis BC/London/15.09.91)/
George Nash (Cambridge Uni BC/Guildford/02.10.89)
Four
Matthew Langridge (Leander Club /Northwich/20.05.83)/
Richard Egington (Leander Club/Knutsford/26.02.79)/
Tom James (Molesey BC/Wrexham/11.03.84)/
Alex Gregory (Leander Club /Wormington, Glos/11.03.84)
Coach: John West
Eight
Alex Partridge (Leander Club /Alton, Hants/25.01.81)/
James Foad (Molesey BC/Southampton/20.03.87)/
Cameron Nichol (Molesey BC/Glastonbury/26.06.87)/
Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell (Univ of London BC/Durham/13.04.88)/
Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC/Surbiton/27.03.88)/
Greg Searle (Molesey BC/Marlow/20.03.72)/
Tom Ransley (York City RC/Cambridge/06.09.85)/
Daniel Ritchie (Leander Club/Herne Bay/06.01.87)/
Phelan Hill (Leander Club/Bedford/21.07.79)
Spare: Tom Broadway
Double scull
Matthew Wells (Leander Club/Hexham, Northumberland/19.04.79)/
Marcus Bateman (Leander Club/Torquay/16.09.82)
Coach: Mark Earnshaw
Quadruple scull
Tom Solesbury (Leander Club/Petts Wood, Kent/23.09.80)/
Stephen Rowbotham (Leander Club/Winscombe, Somerset/11.11.81)/
Bill Lucas (London RC/Kingswear/13.09.87)/
Sam Townsend (Reading Univ BC/Reading/26.11.85)
Coach: Mark Banks
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Double scull
Hester Goodsell (Imperial College BC/London/27.06.84)/
Sophie Hosking (London RC/Wimbledon/25.01.86)
Coach: Paul Reedy
LIGHTWEIGHT
MEN
Four
Richard Chambers (Leander Club /Coleraine/10.06.85)/
Peter Chambers (Oxford Brookes Uni BC/Coleraine/14.3.90)/
Paul Mattick (Leander Club /Frome, Somerset/25.04.78)/
Rob Williams (London RC/Maidenhead/21.01.85)/
Coach: Rob Morgan
Double scull
Adam Freeman-Pask (Imperial College BC/Windsor/19.06.85)/
Mark Hunter (Leander Club /Romford, Essex/01.07.78)
Coach: Darren Whiter
SUPPORT STAFF
Performance:
Team Manager: David Tanner
Chief Coach Men: Jürgen Grobler
Chief Coach Women & Lightweights: Paul Thompson
Media/Admin/Logistics:
Assistant Team Manager (admin): Jo Bates
Sponsorship Liaison: Fran Bullock
Boatman: John Tetley
Press Officer: Caroline Searle
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TV Coverage from Lucerne
BBC TV Sport of the World Rowing Cup will be:
World Cup 3, Lucerne, Switzerland
Sunday 10 July
09.45 – 11.15 Live on the Red Button/online
12.30 – 14.30 Red Button/Online
Monday 11 July
13.00 – 14.30 Highlights package on BBC2 and online
and afterwards on the i-player
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KEY DATES FOR 2011
This important season for the nation’s top rowers
culminates in the World Championships and
Olympic qualifying regatta:
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.
Meanwhile, here are some additional dates of note for the
GB squad for the remainder of 2011:
KEY DATES FOR YOUR 2011 DIARY
JULY
19
Announcement of the GB World Championships Team
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
(this is also the Olympic test event)
28 – 4 September
WORLD ROWING CHAMPIONSHIPS, Bled, Slovenia
SEPTEMBER
16-18
European Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
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CONTACT DETAILS
For media enquiries about The GB Rowing Teams please contact:
Caroline Searle, Andy Sloan or Miranda Edwards on:
T: (01225) 443998
M: Caroline Searle (07831) 755351
M: Andy Sloan (07714) 168391
GB Rowing Team website www.gbrowingteam.org.uk – full biogs available
here.
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The GB Rowing Squad is supported by the National Lottery
