High standard at GB Rowing Team U23 Trials

April 14, 2012

Twin brothers Scott and Mason Durant featured on opposite sides in the men’s pair final – one of the tightest races of the day at the GB Rowing Team U23 Trials at Caversham, Nr Reading, today.

Honours went to Scott who, with his Oxford Brookes University crew-mate Matt Tarrant, won from Mason and Fred Gill in a time of 7:23.72.

With 16 pairs involved this was one of the toughest events across the two days of racing and the final was close until the final 250m.

“We have had a high standard of competition during this year’s Trials and I’ve been impressed with the attitude and the strength in depth shown by our young rowers. Clearly we have a promising future”, said GB Rowing Team Performance Director David Tanner for whom the event marked the start of the “Row to Rio 2016” campaign.

Many of the crews taking part yesterday and today will return for more testing and crew formation in the week ahead to shape the GB Rowing Team line-ups for this year’s World U23 Championships, in early July in Trakai, Lithuania, the World University Championships (FISU) and the European Championships in September.

The lightweight men’s single scull – won by Start* rower Zak Lee Green – also provided some relatively close racing. Lee Green, from Cardiff but studying dentistry at Manchester University, fought all the way down the course with Stuart Heap of London Rowing Club before winning in 8:04.43.

With strong headwinds providing challenging conditions many other fields in today’s finals were more spread out.

Graeme Thomas, a talented rugby player turned rower and also from the Siemens and lottery-backed Start programme, continued his good run of form this season by winning the open weight men’s single scull in a time of 7:46.63.

Thomas was a finalist last month in the senior GB Rowing Team Senior Trials on the Olympic course at Eton-Dorney. Today he was in the racing pack at halfway before emerging strongly to win over Jack Beaumont, son of former GB international Peter Beaumont.

Beaumont, from Sir William Borlase School. is in his first year our of the juniors. The B final in this event was won by Jamie Kirkwood.

Kirkwood raced in the World U23 GB lightweight four last year but raced as an open-weight today after a winter affected by illness.

Molesey BC’s Ruth Walczak dominated the lightweight women’s single scull from Lottie Burgess of Wallingford RC to win in a time of 9:11.35.

Tina Stiller, a former GB world cup senior squad member and World U23 team member, continues her return to the sport after a back injury and won today’s open weight single scull in 8:53.33 from Georgie Hazell of Reading University.

Yasmin Tredell and Olivia Oakes were probably expected to show well in the women’s pair final today but were involved in a traffic accident en route to the training centre. Badly shaken but largely unhurt, the decision was taken to withdraw them from racing in an event which was won by Leonora Kennedy and Zoe Lee of Imperial College.

*The GB Rowing Team’s talent identification and development programme involving schools, clubs and Universities.

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RESULTS

FINALS

OPEN

WOMEN

Pair

1. Leonora Kennedy/Zoe Lee (Imperial College) 8:21.44
2. Karen Bennett/Amelda Gare (Molesey BC/Uni of Bath) 8:37.14
3. Iona Riley/Claire McKeown (Aberdeen RC/Clydesdale) 8:43.09
4. Lizzie Cottrell/Kiara Weaver (Imperial College) 8:46.64
5. Fiona Bassett/Laura Wheeler (Nottingham RC) 8:57.77

Single scull

1. Tina Stiller (Leander) 8:53.33
2. Georgie Hazell (Reading Uni) 8:59.19
3. Pippa Whittaker (Nottingham RC) 9:00.16
4. Gabrielle Rodriguez (Uni of Bath) 9:03.40
5. Jo Wratten (Tees RC) 9:20.18
6. Christina Heemskerk (Wallingford RC) 9:30.10

OPEN

MEN

Pair

1. Matt Tarrant/Scott Durant (Oxford Brookes) 7:23.72
2. Mason Durant/Fred Gill (Oxford Brookes/Molesey) 7:26.13
3. Oliver Cook/Erlan Hazine (Uni of London) 7:27.83
4. Blake Friedman/Pete Robinson (Molesey BC) 7:30.89
5. Cameron MacRitchie/James Edwards (Leander) 7:32.86
6. Richie Steele/Phil Congdon (Molesey BC) 7:33.16

Single scull

1. Graeme Thomas (Agecroft) 7:46.63
2. Jack Beaumont (Sir William Borlase) 7:59.50
3. John Collings (Leander) 7:59.93
4. Jonny Walton (Loughborough Uni) 8:01.80
5. Angus Groom (Durham Uni) 8:09.64
6. Alan Sinclair (Leander) 8:19.93

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

Single scull

1. Ruth Walczak (Molesey BC) 8:42.50
2. Lottie Burgess (Wallingford BC) 8:53.61
3. Ellie Piggott (Wallingford BC) 9:06. 73
4. Caroline Greves (Wallingford BC) 9:13.15
5. Elizabeth Polgreen (Isle of Ely RC) 9:18.55
6. Nicola Spencer (Nottingham RC) 9:46.02

MEN

Single scull

1. Zak Lee-Green (Agecroft) 8:04.43
2. Staurt Heap (London RC) 8:07.26
3. Ben Rowe (Imperial College) 8:17.02
4. Jamie Coombes (Hereford RC) 8:19.33
5. Wilf Kimberley (Imperial College) 8:23.50
6. Matt Bedford (Uni of London) 8:24.43

B Finals

OPEN

MEN

Pair

1. Oliver Staite/Lance Tredell (Oxford Brookes) 7:31.05
2. Oliver Holt/Sean Dixon (Leander) 7:33.02
3. Alistair Hudson/Jonny Rankin (Imperial College) 7:43.35
4. Jamie Cook/Dominic Meyrick-Cole (Uni of London) 7:48.86
5. Matt Gotrel/Tim Grant (Loughborough Uni/Maidstone) 7:56.18
6. Joseph John/Paul Bennett (Uni of London) 8:04.88

Single scull

1. Jamie Kirkwood (Imperial College) 8:14.40
2. Adam James (St Peter’s York) 8:16.07
3. Matt Tatlock (Reading Uni/Molesey BC) 8:19.33
4. Ben Hicks (Isle of Ely RC) 8:23.27
5. James Fox (Uni of London) 8:23.82

LIGHTWEIGHT

MEN

Single scull

1. Alex Robertson (Leander) 8:11.89
2. Kieran Brown (Edinburgh Uni) 8:13.72
3. Tim Richards (Imperial College) 8:17.28
4. David Lambourn (Leander) 8:19.67
5. John Hale (Granta) 8:24.80
6. Rupert Price (CULRC) 8:26.04

Semi-finals

OPEN

WOMEN

Single scull

Semi-final 1

1. Tina Stiller (Leander) 9:32.50
2. Jo Wratten (Tees RC) 9:36.04
3. Gabrielle Rodriguez (Uni of Bath) 9:36.80
4. Rebecca Chin (Agecroft) 9:37.49

Semi-final 2

1. Pippa Whittaker (Nottingham RC) 8:58.93
2. Georgie Hazell (Reading Uni) 9:12.94
3. Christina Heemskerk (Wallingford RC) 9:22.54
4. Francesca Sanjana (Mortlake Anglian and Alpha) 9:44.54

MEN

Pair

Semi-final 1

1. Mason Durant/Gill Fred (Oxford Brookes/Molesey) 7:21.65
2. Matt Tarrant/Scott Durant (Oxford Brookes) 7:23.17
3. Richie Steele/Phil Congdon (Molesey) 7:28.63
4. Oliver Staite/Lance Tredell (Oxford Brookes) 7:37.47
5. Jamie Cook/Dominic Meyrick-Cole (Uni of London) 7:43.14
6. Matt Gotrel/Tim Grant (Loughborough Uni/Maidstone) 7:46.85

Semi-final 2

1. Oliver Cook/Erlan Hazine (Uni of London) 7:27.93
2. Friedman Blake/Pete Robinson (Molesey BC) 7:29.36
3. Cameron Macritchie/James Edwards (Leander) 7:32.26
4. Oliver Holt/Sean Dixon (Leander) 7:37.55
5. Alistair Hudson/Jonny Rankin (Imperial College) 7:42.34
6. Joseph John/Paul Bennett (Uni of London) 7:50.61

Single scull

Semi-final 1

1. Jonny Walton (Loughborough Uni) 8:16.93
2. Angus Groom (Durham Uni) 8:18.93
3. Jack Beaumont (Sir William Borlase) 8:23.20
4. James Fox (Uni of London) 8:28.64
5. Matt Tatlock (Reading Uni/Molesey BC) 8:40.96

Semi-final 2

1. Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC) 8:11.33
2. John Collins (Leander) 8:13.68
3. Alan Sinclair (Leander) 8:17.41
4. Jamie Kirkwood (Imperial College) 8:20.89
5. Adam Janes (St Peter’s York) 8:30.34
6. Ben Hicks (Isle of Ely) 8:32.80

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

Single scull

Semi-final 1

1. Ruth Walczak (Molesey BC) 9:12.46
2. Ellie Piggott (Wallingford RC) 9:24.23
3. Elizabeth Polgreen (Isle of Ely) 9:26.25
4. Rebecca Humphreys (London RC) 9:34.52
5. Emily Craig (Uni of London) 9:44.52

Semi-final 2

1. Lottie Burgess (Wallingford RC) 9:29.41
2. Caroline Greves (Wallingford RC) 9:38.94
3. Nicola Spencer (Nottingham RC) 9:46.01
4. Helen Van Kempen (Uni of London) 10.04.52

MEN

Single scull

Semi-final 1

1. David Loveday (London RC) 8:28.12
2. James Sanders (TSS) 8:28.42
3. James Scott (Herriot Watt Uni) 8:30.03
4. Craig Turner (Loughborough Uni) 8:34.19
5. Lewis Sloan (Leander) 8:36.35
6. Nick Kernick (CULRC) 8:48.36

Semi-final 2

1. Gavin Murty (Glasgow RC) 8:20.39
2. Stuart Sykes (Nottingham RC) 8:24.04
3. Gareth Brown (Imperial College) 8:28.21
4. George Caines (Nottingham RC) 8:31.62
5. Dave Jones (Leander) 8:59.98

Semi-final 3

1. Zak Lee-Green (Agecroft) 8:11.02
2. Jamie Coombes (Hereford RC) 8:15.58
3. Ben Rowe (Imperial College) 8:17.53 4. Alex Robertson (Leander) 8:18.64
5. David Lambourn (Leander) 8:21.12
6. John Hale (Granta) 8:21.44

Semi-final 4

1.Stuart Heap (London RC) 8:07.77
2.Matt Bedford (Uni of London) 8:09.09
3.Wilf Kimberley (Imperial College) 8:09.66
4.Tim Richards (Imperial College) 8:13.19
5.Kieran Brown (Edinburgh Uni) 8:17.46
6.Rupert Price (CULRC) 8:25.46

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CONTACT DETAILS

For media enquiries about this event before Monday 16 April, please contact:

Caroline Searle [email protected]

On Monday 16 April, please contact:

Andy Sloan [email protected]

GB Rowing Team website, including full rower biogs: www.gbrowingteam.org.uk

and Twitter: @gbrowingteam

Pictures available for media editorial use via: [email protected]

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