Youngsters show their mettle in GB Rowing Team Trials semis

World Junior Champion Jess Leyden and Youth Olympic medallist Jack Beaumont are into the semi-finals of the open women’s and men’s single sculls at the GB Rowing Team Trials at the expense of more senior, experienced internationals.

Beaumont was involved in a tense tussle to the line with senior squad member Jonny Walton and pipped him in the final 15 strokes to take third place and qualify in a race won comfortably by Leander Club’s Charles Cousins.

Graeme Thomas, a rugby-player turned rower, who emerged, like Cousins from the GB Rowing Team Start talent identification programme was second.

Alan Campbell won his semi-final of the same event with style ahead of Peter Lambert and John Collins, leaving 2013 World bronze medallist Sam Townsend to fight a B final.

The final now presents a race to relish with a classic head-to-head potentially in store between two of the GB squad’s most colourful characters. Cousins said: “it’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be tough. Alan is very quick, Pete Lambert is very quick so it’s going to be a tough race but we all want to go out there and do the best we can. As long as I have a good race I think I’ll be happy however it goes, I just want to hook up a good race in these conditions”.

Leyden’s passage, by contrast to Beaumont, was more straightforward. She tucked into second place behind 2013 Trials winner and twice Olympic silver medallist Frances Houghton throughout her semi and held off a second-half challenge by Gloucester Olympian Beth Rodford who was third at the line.

Victoria Thornley, of Leander Club and Britain’s single sculler at the 2013 World Championships, was a clear leader in the other women’s single semi-final with Vicki Meyer-Laker and Tina Stiller of Tees RC taking second and third spots behind her.

Looking forward to the final Houghton said: “It’s going to be really close and really hard, and I’m sure everyone on the bank will find it really exciting”

Some of the tightest racing of the semi-final session came in the men’s pair event.

Olympic and World champion Alex Gregory and his World Champion crew-mate, Moe Sbihi, were clear leaders. Behind them Alan Sinclair and Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell, from the 2013 World Championships men’s four, put in a fiery performance to take second.

“That was much better than the time-trial” said Gregory. “I’m really looking forward to the final now and we will try and keep it simple. We know we can get a good performance out but we need to do it in the conditions”, he added of the strong head wind on the course.

Olympic champion Pete Reed, with Will Satch, were pressed strongly throughout by Mason Durant and Phil Congdon of Oxford Brookes and Molesey. In the final 250m the Reed-Satch combination needed all their experience and effort to hold onto third place. Reed was clearly not firing on all cylinders and was later withdrawn on medical grounds.

His place in the final will be taken by Mat Tarrant, the World U23 Champion, who was fourth in the other semi-final with Mason’s twin Scott Durant. This, too, was a well-fought race led throughout by Molesey’s George Nash and Andrew Triggs Hodge whilst Matt Gotrel and Paul Bennett were challenged strongly by James Foad and Oliver Cook behind them.

Nash said afterwards: “We’re now dialled up and tuned in and just looking forward to executing as good a race as we possibly can in the final”.

A Commonwealth of home nations contested the lightweight men’s single scull semi-final won by Northern Ireland’s Peter Chambers from his older brother Richard. Sam Scrimegour, from Scotland, was third ahead of England’s Mark Aldred and Welshman Chris Bartley. The leading trio eked out a sizeable gap on the chasers by half-way and held that margin for the second half.

Jamie Kirkwood was the stand-out racer in the second semi-final winning by five seconds from Will Fletcher. Jonno Clegg, Fletcher’s lightweight men’s four team-mate last year, looked troubled for a time mid-race by 2012 Trials winner Adam Freeman Pask but held to take the final qualifying place.

Looking ahead to the final after commenting about the “stinking headwinds” today, Clegg said: “I’m excited, it’s the first time I’ve been in the A final for a couple of years and we’ve got a really good strong squad so it’s going to be tough but it’s a real opportunity. Getting in to the A final is what you aim for and now I’m there I’m just going to go for it and see how it goes”.

Kat Copeland, from Tees RC, and Inverness’ Imogen Walsh both sculled strongly to win their respective lightweight women’s single scull semis by considerable margins.

Walsh, a 2013 World finalist in the women’s double scull came home ahead of Charlotte Taylor with Emily Craig of the University of London third. Copeland won from Eleanor Piggott and Brianna Stubbs was third.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning dominated their women’s pair semi-final to qualify and Jess Eddie and Polly Swann were similarly dominant setting up a clash to savour in the final.

“That was very straightforward but in these conditions you can’t take anything for granted so we had to concentrate hard”, said Glover. |Now we need to recover as much as we can before the final”.

The finals start at 5pm in a programme compressed into one day due to even stronger winds forecast tomorrow.

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RESULTS

OPEN

WOMEN

Pair

Semi-final 1

1. Jessica Eddie/Polly Swann (London RC/Leander Club) 8:13.69
2. Caragh McMurtry/Zoe Lee (Reading Univ BC/Imperial College BC) 8:18.34
3. Georgia Francis/Samantha Courty (Imperial College BC/Bath Univ BC) 8:29.67
4. Michelle Pearson/Katherine Douglas (Leander Club) 8:32.46
5. Karen Bennett/Pippa Burnham (Molesey BC/Exeter Univ BC) 8:46.67
6. Amber Anderson/Margery Pepper (Molesey BC/Univ West of England BC) 8:53.33

Semi-final 2

1. Helen Glover/Heather Stanning (Minerva Bath RC/Army RC) 8:07.29
2. Monica Relph/Donna Etiebet (Leander Club/Sport Imperial BC) 8:14.08
3. Ro Bradbury/Olivia Carnegie-Brown (Leander Club/Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 8:16.07
4. Michelle Vezie/Claire McKeown (Imperial College BC/Clydesdale RC) 8:43.63
5. Emily Ford/Nicole Lamb (Newcastle Univ BC) 8:52.43
6. Georgina Grandfield/Natalie Irvine (Edinburgh Univ BC/Strathclyde Park RC) 9:13.85

Single scull

Semi-final 1

1. Fran Houghton (Leander Club) 8:36.17
2. Jessica Leyden (Hollingworth Lake) 8:40.03
3. Beth Rodford (Gloucester RC) 8:42.72
4. Louisa Reeve (Leander Club) 8:51.13
5. Rachel Gamble-Flint (Leander Club) 8:56.15
6. Lucy Burgess (Northwich RC) 9:11.06

Semi-final 2

1. Victoria Thornley (Leander Club) 8:33.81
2. Victoria Meyer-Laker (Leander Club) 8:39.50
3. Tina Stiller (Tees RC) 8:44.28
4. Katie Greves (Leander Club) 8:53.83
5. Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (Gloucester Hartpury) 8:59.31
6. Rebecca Chin (Agecroft RC) 9:14.02

MEN

MEN

Pair

Semi-final 1

1. Mohamed Sbihi/Alex Gregory (Molesey BC/Leander Club) 7:11.22
2. Alan Sinclair/Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell (Leander Club/Univ of London BC) 7:14.37
3. Pete Reed/Will Satch (Leander Club) 7:16.78
4. Mason Durant/Phil Congdon (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Molesey BC) 7:19.75
5. Francis Highton/George Rossiter (Leander Club) 7:42.44
6. William Warr/Callum McBrierty (Leander Club) 7:52.10

Semi-final 2

1. George Nash/Andy Triggs Hodge (Molesey BC) 7:07.35
2. Matthew Gotrel/Paul Bennett (Leander Club/Univ of London BC) 7:09.02
3. Oliver Cook/James Foad (Univ of London BC/Molesey BC) 7:10.76
4. Matthew Tarrant/Scott Durant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 7:20.66
5. Edward Grisedale/Richard Hawkins (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 7:42.68
6. Timothy Clarke/Adam Neill (Leander Club) 7:51.04

Single Scull

Semi-final 1

1. Charles Cousins (Leander Club) 7:45.16
2. Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC) 7:52.12
3. Jack Beaumont (Leander Club) 7:53.95
4. Jonny Walton (Leander Club) 7:54.51
5. Constantine Louloudis (Oxford Univ BC) 8:17.91
6. Stewart Innes (Leander Club) 8:22.51

Semi-final 2

1. Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers School) 7:41.79
2. Peter Lambert (Leander Club) 7:47.10
3. John Collins (Leander Club) 7:49.62
4. Sam Townsend (Reading Univ BC) 7:56.90
5. Angus Groom (Leander Club) 7:58.58
6. Sholto Carnegie (Leander Club) 8:11.68

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

Single scull

Semi-final 1

1. Imogen Walsh (London RC) 8:52.40
2. Charlotte Taylor (Putney Town RC) 9:00.46
3. Emily Craig (Univ of London BC) 9:11.81
4. Francesca Rawlins (Mortlake Anglian & Alpha RC) 9:28.70
5. Gemma Hall (Newcastle Univ BC) 9:37.98
6. Nicola Spencer (Nottingham RC) 9:47.42

Semi-final 2

1. Kat Copeland (Tees RC) 8:58.92
2. Eleanor Piggott (Wallingford RC) 9.09.25
3. Brianna Stubbs (Wallingford RC) 9:18.04
4. Ellie Lewis (Agecroft RC) 9:23.21
5. Rosa Atkinson (Univ of London BC) 9:38.75
6. Lucy Cruxton (Reading Univ BC) 9:42.53

MEN

Single Scull

Semi-final 1

1. Peter Chambers (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 8:07.62
2. Richard Chambers (Leander Club) 8:09.04
3. Sam Scrimgeour (Imperial College BC) 8:13.56
4. Mark Aldred (London RC) 8:22.07
5. Chris Bartley (Leander Club) 8:25.80
6. Joel Cassells (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 8:26.11

Semi-final 2

1. Jamie Kirkwood (Leander Club) 7:59.32
2. Will Fletcher (Leander Club) 8:04.99
3. Jonathan Clegg (Leander Club) 8:07.67
4. Adam Freeman-Pask (Reading Univ BC) 8:11.30
5. Chris Boddy (Leander Club) 8:31.92
6. Matthew Bedford (Univ of London BC) 8:53.48

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REVISED EVENT TIMING

Due to Sunday’s forecast, all racing will take place today (Saturday).

The revised timetable is:

Time-trials – 09.00
Semi-finals – 12.00 – 15.00
Finals – 17.00 – 18.30

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ENTRY LIST

* denotes U23

OPEN

MEN

SINGLE

Tom Barras (Cardiff Univ BC/Staines/07/01/1994)*
Jack Beaumont (Leander Club/Maidenhead/21.11.93)
Josh Bugajski (Leander Club/Cardiff/05.10.90)
Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers School/Coleraine/09.05.83)
Sholto Carnegie (Leander Club/London/28.02.1995)*
Dan Clift (Isle of Ely RC/Torpoint/15.06.88)
John Collins (Leander Club/Twickenham/24.01.89)
Charles Cousins (Leander Club/Willingham/13.12.88)
Sebastian Devereux (Leander Club/Hillingdon/15.02.1995)*
Harry Glenister (Molesey BC/Hillingdon/02.07.1995)*
Angus Groom (Leander Club/Glasgow/16.06.92)*
Matthew Hnatiw (Oxford Brookes Univ)*
Stewart Innes (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/20.05.91)
Andrew Joel (Reading Univ BC/Slough/08.06.1995)*
Pete Lambert (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/03.12.86)
Matt Langridge (Leander Club/Northwich/20.05.83) – WITHDRAWN (MEDICAL)
Constantine Louloudis (Oxford Univ BC/London/15.09.1991)
Bill Lucas (London RC/Kingswear/13.09.87) – WITHDRAWN (MEDICAL)
Robert Massey (Cardiff Univ BC)*
Dominic Meyrick-Cole (Univ of London BC)
Nick Middleton (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/12.08.88)
Christopher Revell (Caius)
Dan Ritchie (Leander Club/Herne Bay/16.01.87) – NEW ENTRY (transferred from men’s pair after MED withdrawal of Ransley).
Barnaby Stentiford (Leander Club/Torquay/06.02.91)
Graeme Thomas (Agecroft RC/Preston/08.11.88)
Josh Tonnar (Moseley BC)
Dominic Tope (Reading Univ BC)*
Sam Townsend (Reading Univ BC/Reading/26.11.85)
Lance Tredell (Leander Club/Hale/25.10.88)
Tristan Vouilloz (Imperial Coll)*
Jonathan Walton (Leander Club/Leicester/06.10.90)
Samuel Whittaker (Cardiff Univ BC)*

PAIR

Frazier Christie (Bath Univ BC/Watchfield/11.01.93)*/ Lewis McCue (Robert Gordon Univ BC/Aberdeen/26.12.94)*
Richard Clarke (Univ of London BC)*/Alex Wilding (Univ of Bath BC/18.01.1993)
Timothy Clarke (Leander Club/07.04.91)/Adam Neill (Leander Club)
Oliver Cook (Univ of London BC – LSE/Windsor/05.06.90)/James Foad (Molesey BC/Southampton/20.03.97)
James Cook (Univ of London BC – UCL/Windsor/02.07.92)*/ Rory Bufacchi (Univ of London – UCL)
Mason Durant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Lancaster/12.02.88)/Phil Congdon (Molesey BC/East Molesey/06.06.89)
Scott Durant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Lancaster/12.02.88)/Matthew Tarrant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Shepperton/11.07.90)
Matthew Gotrel (Leander Club/Chipping Camden/01.03.89)/ Paul Bennett (Univ of London BC/Leeds/16.12.88)
Edward Grisedale (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Congleton/09.12.93)*/Timothy Grant (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Otford/02.07.93)*
Francis Highton (Leander Club/Edinburgh/10.04.91)/George Rossiter (Leander Club/Oxford/09.03.1992)*
Sybren Hoogland (Oxford Brookes Univ)* /Oliver Holt (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Chester/11.01.92)*
Callum Jones (Oxford Brookes Univ)*/Richard Hawkins (Oxford Brookes Univ)*
James Martyn Smith (Oxford Brookes Univ/Altrincham/27.07.91)/Louis Paterson (Oxford Brookes Univ)
Henry Millar (Edinburgh Univ BC)*/ Graham Ord (Edinburgh Univ BC)*
William Moorhouse (Oxford Brookes Univ)/Morgan Bolding (Oxford Brookes Univ/Leeds/13.05.1995)*
George Nash (Molesey BC/Guildford/02.10.89)/Andrew Triggs Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden/03.03.79)
Tom Ransley (Leander Club/Cambridge/16.09.85)/Dan Ritchie (Leander Club/Herne Bay/16.01.87)- WITHDRAWN – MEDICAL – RANSLEY
Peter Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth/27.07.81)/William Satch (Leander Club/Henley-on-Thames/09.06.89)
James Rudkin (Newcastle Univ/Litchborough/07.07.94)*/Thomas Ford (Newcastle Univ BC/Holmes Chapel/03.10.92)
Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC/Surbiton/27.03.88)/Alex Gregory (Leander Club/Wormington/11.03.84)
Alan Sinclair (Leander Club/Inverness/16.10.85) Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell (Univ of London BC/Durham/13.04.88)
Sam Twine (Reading Univ BC)*/Luke Moon (Molesey BC/Deal, Kent/25.03.93)*
William Warr (Leander Club/Durham/12.03.92)*/Callum McBrierty (Leander Club/Edinburgh/13.08.93)*

WOMEN

SINGLE

Katie Bartlett (Nottingham RC/Nottingham/02.02.94)*
Lucy Burgess (Northwich RC/Swindon/27.04.1994)*
Anastasia Chitty (Oxford Univ Women’s BC/London/07.12.93)*
Rachel Gamble-Flint (Leander Club/Darlington/13.09.1991)
Lucinda Gooderham (Leander Club/09.06.84) – WITHDRAWN – MEDICAL
Katie Greves (Leander Club/Oxford/02.09.82)
Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (Gloucester Hartpury)*
Frances Houghton (Leander Club/Oxford/19.09.80)
Jessica Leyden (Hollingworth Lake/Burnley/22.02.1995)
Victoria Meyer-Laker (Leander Club/Premnay/18.03.88)
Holly Nixon (Leander Club/Enniskillen/07.12.1993)* – WITHDRAWN MEDICAL
Louisa Reeve (Leander Club/London/16.05.84)
Beth Rodford (Gloucester RC/Burton-upon-Trent/28.12.1982)
Kristina Stiller (Tees RC/Yarm/23.06.87)
Victoria Thornley (Leander Club/Wrexham/30.11.87)
Yasmin Tredell (Oxford Brookes Univ/Chester/18.11.1992)
Pippa Whittaker (Leander)
Helen Wood (Imperial College BC/Maidenhead/16.03.87)

PAIR

Amber Anderson (Molesey BC)*/Margery Pepper (Univ West of England BC)*
Karen Bennett (Molesey BC/Perth/05.02.1989)/Pippa Burnham (Exeter Univ BC)
Rosamund Bradbury (Leander Club/Banstead/17.12.88)/Olivia Carnegie-Brown (Oxford
Brookes Univ BC/Oxford/28.13.91)
Stella D’Arch Smith (Agecroft RC/Uttoxeter/13.06.90)/Rebecca Chin (Agecroft RC/Salford/11.12.91)
Charlotte Drury (Durham Univ BC)*/Isabel Currie (Durham Univ BC)*
Jessica Eddie (London RC/Durham/07.10.84)/Polly Swann (Leander Club/Edinburgh/15.06.88)
Emily Ford (Newcastle Univ BC/08.11.94)*/ Nicole Lamb (Newcastle Univ BC/Hexham/20.01.93)
Georgina Francis (Sport Imperial BC)*/ Samantha Courty (Bath Univ BC)*
Holly Game (Cambridge Univ Women’s BC/Woodbridge/09.03.92)*/ Isabella Vyvyan (Cambridge Univ Women)
Helen Glover (Minerva Bath/Penzance/17.06.86)/ Heather Stanning (Army RC/Lossiemouth/26.01.1985)
Georgina Grandfield (Edinburgh Univ BC)/ Natalie Irvine (Strathclyde Univ BC)*
Lauren Kedar (Oxford Univ Women’s BC/Akrotiri/13.08.1995)*/TBC
Caragh McMurtry (Reading Univ BC/Southampton/22.08.91)/ Zoe Lee (Sport Imperial BC/Richmond/15.12.85)
Michelle Pearson (Leander Club)/ Katherine Douglas (Leander Club/Midlothian/03.08.89)
Monica Relph (Leander Club/Cambridge/15.01.88)/ Donna Etiebet (Sports Imperial BC)
Joanna Thom (Durham Univ BC)*/ Camilla Hadland (Durham Univ BC)*
Michelle Vezie (Sports Imperial BC/10.07.1989)/ Claire McKeown (Clydesdale ARC/Glasgow/16.07.90)
Claire Watkins (Cambridge Univ Women’s BC)*/ Melissa Wilson (Cambridge Univ Women’s BC)*

LIGHTWEIGHT

MEN

SINGLE

Mark Aldred (London RC/London/18.04.87)
Chris Bartley (Leander Club/Chester/02.02.84)
Matthew Bedford (Univ of London BC/Maidenhead/21.01.91)
Benjamin Board (Leander Club/West Sussex/09.03.93)*
Chris Boddy (Leander Club/Thornaby-on-Tees/16.11.87)
Kieran Brown (Edinburgh Univ BC)*
Nicholas Buckle (Leander Club/24.05.92)*
Joel Cassells (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Coleraine/15.06.1994)*
Peter Chambers (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Coleraine/14.03.90)
Richard Chambers (Leander Club/Coleraine/10.06.85)
Tom Claxton (Edinburgh Univ BC)*
Jonathan Clegg (Leander Club/Maidenhead/14.07.89)
Jamie Copus (Oxford Brookes/30.01.93)*
William Davey (Nott m & Union)*
Donald Evans (Leander Club/Aryshire/28.09.88)
William Fletcher (Leander Club/Chester-le-Street/24.12.89)
Adam Freeman-Pask (Reading Univ BC/Windsor/19.06.85)
Hugh Gallie (Agecroft)
John Hale (Isle of Ely RC/Girton/28.02.88)
Stuart Heap (Tideway Scullers/10.04.87)
Andrzej Hunt (Granta)*
Wilf Kimberley (Imperial College BC/London/15.07.92)*
Jamie Kirkwood (Leander Club/Cresswell/30.08.89)
Zak Lee-Green (Agecroft)
Iain Mandale (Isis)*
George McKirdy (Nott m & Union/Univ of Nottingham)
Samuel Mottram (Leander Club)*
George Patrick (Newcastle Univ)*
Timothy Richards (Imperial College BC/London/12.05.92)*
Sam Scrimgeour (Imperial College BC/Fofar/28.01.88)
Jack Taylor (Univ of London BC-UCL)*
Sam Tuck (Durham Univ BC)*
Charles Waite-Roberts (W. of England Univ BC/Bristol/06.11.92)

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

SINGLE

Rosa Atkinson (Univ of London BC-Kings College/16.11.92)*
Katherine Copeland (Tees RC/Ashington/1.12.1990)
Emily Craig (Univ of London BC-Courtauld/East Sussex/30.11.92)*
Lucy Cruxton (Reading Univ BC/Stoke-on-Trent/22.12.93)*
Christie Duff (Robert Gordon Univ)* – WITHDRAWN (Medical)
Charlotte Dexter (Exeter Univ BC/Roxston/06.07.1991)
Jess Elkington (Exeter Univ)*
Gemma Hall (Newcastle Univ BC/Wargrave/10.04.92)*
Ellie Lewis (Sir William Borlase/Marlow/14.04.1994)*
Yasmin Marks (Nottingham RC)*
Emma McDonald (Glasgow Univ BC)*
Suzi Perry (Univ of West of England BC)*
Georgina Phillips (Imperial Coll)
Kate Parrish (Bristol Univ BC/Bedford/20.02.92)
Eleanor Piggott (Wallingford RC/Olney/16.05.91)
Elizabeth Polgreen (Wallingford RC/19.10.88) – WITHDRAWN
Francesca Rawlins (Mortlake A&A RC/Uckfield, East Sussex/08.07.1986)
Nicola Spencer (Nottingham RC/Nottingham/04.12.1986)
Brianna Stubbs (Wallingford RC/Headington/13.07.91)
Charlotte Taylor (Putney Town RC/London/14.08.85)
Hannah Traylen (Exeter Univ)*
Ruth Walczak (Molesey BC/Rochdale/15.09.88) – WITHDRAWN – MEDICAL
Imogen Walsh (London RC/Inverness/17.01.84)

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