GB crews into finals at World U23 Rowing Championships

The GB Rowing Team has five crews through to the finals of the World U23 Championships in Lithuania after another solid day’s racing in Trakai.

British crews recorded a hat-trick of impressive wins to progress from the repechages this morning before two more GB boats reached the finals this afternoon.

The GB Rowing Team’s men’s double scull and lightweight men’s double scull won their last-chance races to progress to the semi-finals as did the men’s eight who reached the final of their event.

The GB men’s four then produced a stunning finish to beat New Zealand to victory on the line by 0.17 seconds in their semi-final after the lightweight men’s pair finished second in their semi to earn a place in Saturday’s finals on Lake Galve.

The GB women’s eight were also in action in a fiercely contested race for lanes ahead of their final on Sunday, finishing third behind the USA and fractions of a second off Germany in second.

The Lottery-funded team now has crews in the final of the women’s pair and eight, men’s four and eight and lightweight men’s pair with a number of semi-finals still to be contested tomorrow in other events.

“All the crews have performed as we hoped today,” said chief coach of the GB U23 squad, Peter Sheppard. “It was a good, solid day.”

Team manager Steve Gunn warned yesterday that today’s semis would be a better test of crews’ speed and the GB men’s four stepped up to the plate, rowing through New Zealand in the closing metres to win their semi-final.

Andrew Holmes 2009 World Junior Champion from Lochwinnoch, Newcastle University rower George Rossiter, Shrewsbury’s Patrick Lapage and Michael Evans from Ramsbury led the field at 500m before settling into second behind the Kiwi four with Spain a close third.

In the final 500m it became a two-horse race for first and the Brits stroked their bow ball into the narrowest of leads just in time for the finish line.

University of London rower Matt Bedford from Maidenhead and Imperial College rower Wilf Kimberley had a good start in their semi of the lightweight men’s pair and followed the French leaders home to finish a safe second ahead of the Czech Republic who also progress.

The wins for Britain’s men’s openweight and lightweight double sculls in the repechages started the day well for GB after both narrowly missed out on direct qualification in yesterday’s heats.

Jonathan Walton, who rows for Loughborough Students, and Jack Beaumont from Maidenhead led the openweight race from start to finish and showed their composure by holding off the chasing pack of Korea, Denmark and Greece – with the first two also progressing to the semi-finals.

START rower Zak Lee-Green and his crew-mate Jamie Coombes repeated the feat in the lightweight men’s double repechage, edging clear of the field to lead from halfway and win with a comfortable margin from Denmark in second and third-placed Ukraine.

Lee-Green, from Cardiff, came through the Siemens-sponsored talent ID and development programme at Agecroft Rowing Club while studying dentistry in Manchester. He finished seventh in the lightweight quad at the 2011 World U23s while Coombes, from Hereford, was eighth in the lightweight double last year.

The GB men’s eight also had to race the repechage after finishing third in their heat yesterday but qualified for the final with a controlled performance in Trakai this morning.

The crew of last year’s World Junior silver medallist Cameron MacRitchie, James Edwards, Samuel Arnot, Adam Janes, Ertan Hazine, the Cook brothers Oliver and James, Alexander Davidson and cox Max Gander, led from start to finish and held off a late charge from the Spanish in second.

The women’s eight, including 2010 World Junior gold medallists Yasmin Tredell from the START programme in Evesham and Fiona Gammond from Bicester, finished third ahead of Holland and Belarus in an exciting race for lanes on Lake Galve, won by the USA.

The British crew led early on and finished just two-tenths of a second off second-placed Germany.

On Saturday the GB Rowing Team will contest finals in the lightweight men’s pair (2:49pm UK time), women’s pair (3:02pm UK time) and men’s four (3:41pm UK time).

ENDS

Race timetables can be downloaded from www.worldrowing.com
For action photos or head shots please email: [email protected]
For biographies please go to the GB Rowing Team website: www.gbrowingteam.org.uk

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RESULTS – Semi-finals

MEN

Four (1-3 to Final A, 4-6 to Final B)

1. Andrew Holmes/George Rossiter/Patrick Lapage/Michael Evans (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:11.74
2. New Zealand 6:11.91
3. Spain 6:13.24
4. Czech Republic 6:15.91
5. Norway 6:20.12
6. Croatia 6:21.19

LIGHTWEIGHT MEN

Pair (1-3 to Final A, 4-6 to Final B)

1. Augustin Mouterde/Edouard Jonville (France) 6:57.44
2. Matthew Bedford/Wilfred Kimberley (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:00.39
3. Jan Hajek/Matous Lorenc (Czech Republic) 7:05.02
4. Juan Nadal/Juan Zanghi (Argentina) 7:08.19
5. Guillaume Sommer/Nikolas Blumenthal (Switzerland) 7:08.49
6. Dzmitry Hetsevich/Yauheni Kryvashei (Belarus) 7:11.99

RESULTS – Repechages

MEN

Double scull (1-3 to semis, 4-6 to Final C)

1. Jonathan Walton/Jack Beaumont (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:43.58
2. Hwigwan Kim/Do-Sub Choi (Korea) 6:44.77
3. Toger Rasmussen/Mark Hartsteen (Denmark) 6:45.06
4. Alexandros Louloudis/Alexandros Dafnis (Greece) 6:46.60
5. Tiago Ribeiro Braga/Fabio Moreira (Brazil) 6:52.51
6. Andrii Davydenko/Grygorii Kriachko (Ukraine) 7:17.22

Eight (1-2 to Final A, 3-6 to Final B)

1. Cameron MacRitchie/James Edwards/Samuel Arnot/Adam Janes/Oliver Cook/Ertan Hazine/James Cook/Alexander Davidson/Maximilian Gander (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:49.66
2. Spain 5:50.50
3. Belarus 5:51.45
4. Romania 5:58.79
5. Russia 6:02.14
6. Lithuania 6:04.46

LIGHTWEIGHT MEN

Double scull (1-2 to semis A/B, 3-6 semis C/D)

1. Zak Lee-Green/James Coombes (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:50.42
2. Emil Espensen/Dan Rasmussen (Denmark) 6:54.35
3. Ruslan Momot/Ievgenii Gliyevyi (Ukraine) 6:58.08
4. Alexei Ivanov/Nicolai Astrup Wiik (Norway) 7:03.15
5. Scott Donaldson/James Buchanan (South Africa) 7:05.38
6. Joris Medeisis/Edmundas Sameto (Lithuania) 7:16.33

RESULT – Race for lanes

Women’s eight

1. USA 6:28.46
2. Germany 6:33.41
3. Iona Riley/Rebecca Chin/Josephine Wratten/Amelda Gare/Yasmin Tredell/Claire McKeown/Fiona Gammond/Olivia Oakes/Charlotte Jackson (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:33.61
4. Holland 6:36.37
5. Belarus 6:49.70

Start list available on www.worldrowing.com

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GB ROWING TEAM CREW-LIST (Name/Club/Home town/Date of birth)
2012 World U23 Rowing Championships, Trakai, Lithuania
July 11-15, 2012
(Listed bow to stroke)

WOMEN

Eight

Iona Riley (Aberdeen BC/Aberdeen/17.04.1992)/
Rebecca Chin (Agecroft RC/Conwy/11.12.1991)/
Josephine Wratten (Tees RC/Yarm/23.03.1992)/
Amelda Gare (Bath University BC/Richmond/07.11.1990)/
Yasmin Tredell (Oxford Brookes University BC/Evesham/18.11.1992)/
Claire McKeown (Clydesdale ARC/ Glasgow/16.07.1990)/
Fiona Gammond (Headington School Oxford BC/Bicester/19.10.1992)/
Olivia Oakes (Agecroft RC/Warrington/21.04.1990)/
Charlotte Jackson (cox) (Durham University BC/West Byfleet/27.01.1991)
Coach: James Harris

Pair

Caragh McMurtry (Reading University BC/Southampton/22.08.1991)/
Olivia Carnegie-Brown (Oxford Brookes University BC/Goring Heath/28.03.1991)
Coach: Peter Sheppard

Single scull

Rachel Gamble-Flint (Leander Club/Darlington/13.09.1991)
Coach: Jane Hall

MEN

Pair

Kieren Emery (Leander Club/Newcastle-upon-Tyne/01.06.1990)/
Matthew Tarrant (Oxford Brookes University BC/Shepperton/11.07.1990)
Coach: Henry Bailhache-Webb

Four

Andrew Holmes (Castle Semple RC/Lochwinnoch/04.10.1991)/
George Rossiter (Newcastle University BC/Newbury/09.03.1992)/
Patrick Lapage (Leander Club/Shrewsbury/16.07.1990)/
Michael Evans (Leander Club/Ramsbury/23.08.1990)
Coach: Paul Stannard

Eight

Cameron MacRitchie (Leander Club/Oxford/16.05.1993)/
James Edwards (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/26.09.1991)/
Samuel Arnot (Newcastle University BC/Newcastle-upon-Tyne/09.07.1991)/
Adam Janes (St Peter’s School BC/York/19.12.1993)/
Oliver Cook (University of London BC/Windsor/05.06.1990)/
Ertan Hazine (University of London BC/Maidenhead/01.08.1991)/
James Cook (University of London BC/Windsor/02.07.1992)/
Alexander Davidson (Isis BC & Oxford University BC/Weybridge/08.06.1990/
Maximilian Gander (cox) (University of London BC/Oxford/26.01.1990)
Coach: Chris Collerton

Double Scull

Jonathan Walton (Loughborough Students RC/Leicester/06.10.1990)/
Jack Beaumont (Sir William Borlase’s BC/Maidenhead/21.11.1993)
Coach: Howard Marsh

Quadruple Scull

Samual Knight (University of London BC/Addlestone/25.09.1992)/
Joshua Bugajski (Cardiff University RC/Cardiff/05.10.1990)/
Edward Couldwell (Loughborough Students RC/Loughborough/13.08/1991)/
Angus Groom (Durham University BC/Wanborough/16.06.1992)
Coach: Phil Gray

LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN

Double Scull

Eleanor Piggott (Wallingford RC/Olney/16.05.1991)/
Charlotte Burgess (Wallingford RC/Swineshead/25.06.1990)
Coach: Ben Reed

LIGHTWEIGHT MEN

Pair

Matthew Bedford (University of London BC/Maidenhead/21.01.1991)/
Wilfred Kimberley (Imperial College BC/London/15.07.1992)
Coach: Brian Young

Single Scull

Michael Mottram (Leander Club/Stoke Mandeville/08.06.1990)
Coach: Rob Dauncey

Double Scull

Zak Lee-Green (Agecroft RC/Cardiff/05.02.1991)/
James Coombes/Hereford RC/Hereford/22.06.1990)
Coach: Hamish Burrell

Quadruple Scull

Kieran Brown (Edinburgh University BC/Glasgow/21.03.1993)/
Rupert Price (Cambridge University Lightweight RC/Kingston-upon-Thames/11.09.1990)/
Alexander Robertson (Leander Club/Bedford/29.03.1992)/
Timothy Richards (Imperial College BC/London/12.05.1992)
Coach: Sean Leyland

MANAGEMENT AND SUPPORT STAFF

Team manager: Steve Gunn
Chief coach: Peter Sheppard
Equipment manager: Andy Knee-Robinson

MEDICAL & SPORTS SCIENCE

Doctor: Guy Evans
Physio: Abbie Turner & Katherine Vials

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PROVISIONAL U23 WRC SCHEDULE
(for full timetable go to www.worldrowing.com)

Heats – Wednesday, July 11
Heats & Repechages – Thursday, July 12
Repechages, Quarter-finals and Semi-finals – Friday, July 13
Semi-finals and Finals A, B, C, D, E – Saturday, July 14
Finals A and B – Sunday, July 15

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MORE INFORMATION

For a full timetable and results go to the FISA website: www.worldrowing.com
For more information on the GB Rowing Team go to: www.gbrowingteam.org.uk

The GB Rowing Team’s U23 crews are funded by the National Lottery

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KEY DATES FOR 2012

JULY

11-15
World Rowing U23 Championships, Trakai, Lithuania

July 24 – August 5
OLYMPIC GAMES REGATTA, Eton/Dorney

AUGUST

12-19
World Rowing Senior and Junior Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

August 25 – September 3
PARALYMPIC GAMES REGATTA, Eton/Dorney

SEPTEMBER

12-16
European Rowing Championships, Varese, Italy

OCTOBER

1

Start of training for the 2013 season for senior members of the GB Rowing Team

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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 (07831) 755351
M: ANDY (07714) 168391

e: [email protected]

GB Rowing Team website www.gbrowingteam.org.uk – full biogs available here.

Follow us on facebook: www.facebook.com/gbrowingteam
Follow us on twitter @gbrowingteam: www.twitter.com/gbrowingteam
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The GB Rowing Squad is supported by the National Lottery
Sports Fund as part of UK Sport’s Podium Programme.

GB Rowing Team News bulletins are issued by the GB Rowing Team office