Wilson, Campbell, Craig and Lee Green win in Boston

November 16, 2014

Alan Campbell, the Olympic single scull bronze medallist in 2012, dominated today’s 5km GB Rowing Team Assessment in Boston, Lincs to win the open men’s single scull event in a time of 17:03.23.

Melanie Wilson won the equivalent women’s contest in 19:10.60 to edge Katherine Grainger, Great Britain’s most successful female Olympic rower, into second place on her comeback to the sport after a two-year gap.

Wilson, an Olympic finalist in 2012, has also scaled back her involvement in the sport since the London Games in order to concentrate on her medical studies. For the Imperial College rower, the win today followed double scull victory a month ago in the British Rowing Championships with New Zealander Emma Twigg.

Leander Club’s Holly NIxon was third behind Grainger and the fastest-finishing under 23. There were also strong performances from GB Rowing Team “Start” athletes, including Holly Hill from the Isle of Ely RC who came home eighth just ahead of the University of Bath’s Sam Courty.

2013 World Junior Champoin, Jess Leyden ,who had been expected to be amongst the top contenders today, withdrew for medical reasons.

Grainger said: “I think it’s nearly three years from my last set of trials at Boston so I was prepared for these to be a bit of a shock! But I was happy on many levels – from the high standard of competition to the huge numbers of athletes ready and raring to break into the British team to the great camaraderie that was obvious even at an event as stressful as trials. As for my own performance I still have a long way to go yet to where I want to be but it was a decent start after a few weeks back training and has reassured me that I still have the desire and drive for competition that I’ve always had”.

Campbell’s nearest challenger was Stewart Innes of Leander and Reading Univ. He came home six seconds ahead of his club-mate and world U23 medallist Jack Beaumont. Nick Middleton was fourth and Angus Groom was fifth in a field largely dominated at its top end by Leander rowers. James Rudkin of Newcastle University, Karl Hudspith, from Molesey and OUBC, and Frazier Christie from the University of Bath were the exceptions in the top ten coming home seventh, ninth and tenth respectively.

Zak Lee Green, who went to the World Championships in Amsterdam in August as a “racing spare” in the lightweight men’s single scull, won the same event in Boston in the afternoon session. The Welsh dentist from the GB Rowing Team Start programme at Agecroft BC, was just over 12 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger Charles Waite-Roberts of Leander Club, a 2014 World U23 silver medallist in the lightweight men’s pair.

Samuel Mottram was third, ten seconds ahead of Joel Cassells from the 2014 World U23 silver medal GB lightweight men’s four.

Emily Craig, of the Univ of London BC ,was an even more emphatic winner of the lightweight women’s single scull. She completed the 5km course on the River Witham in 20:53.19 – more than 21 second ahead of fastest U23 in the field, Robyn Hart-Winks of Edinburgh Univ BC. Craig was a finalist in the lightweight single scull at last season’s World U23 Championships.

Ellie Lewis of Agecroft, still an U23, and Gemma Hall of Wallingford RC were third and fourth respectively.

Boston Rowing Club, host of the event on behalf of the GB Rowing Team, will next be the venue for the second GB Rowing Team Winter Assessment on the 20th December. All those rowers who competed at the World Championships in Amsterdam will return to the field for that Assessment.

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RESULTS

(Top ten only. For full results later today please visit: www.gbrowingteam.org.uk/trials)

OPEN

WOMEN

Single scull

1. Melanie Wilson (Imperial College BC) 19:10.60
2. Katherine Grainger (St Andrew/Marlow BC) 19:14.82
3. Holly Nixon (Leander Club) 19:30.23
4. Georgina Granfield (Agecroft) 19:38.10
5. Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (Reading Uni BC/Reading BC) 19:49.76
6. Georgia Francis (Imperial College BC/St Mary’s Univ) 19:56.76
7. Laura Wheeler (Nottingham RC) 19:58.43
8. Holly Hill (Isle of Ely/Cambridge Univ Women’s BC) 20:00.80
9. Sam Courty (Bath Univ BC) 20:07.14
10. Emily Carmichael (Leander Club/Royal Agricultural Univ) 20.12.14

MEN

1. Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers Sch) 17:03.23
2. Stewart innes (Leander Club/Reading Univ BC)17:18.05
3. Jack Beaumont (Leander Club/Univ of London BC) 17:24.00
4. Nick Middleton (Leander Club) 17:29.80
5. Angus Groom (Leander Club) 17:34.96
6. Barnaby Stentiford (Leander Club) 17:37.30
7. James Rudkin (Newcastle Univ BC) 17:40.33
8. Matt Rossiter (Leander Club) 17:41.32
9. Karl Hudspith (Molesey BC/Oxford Univ BC) 17:41.54
10. Frazier Christie (Bath Univ BC) 17:43.70

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

Single scull

1. Emily Craig (Univ of London BC) 20:53.19
2. Robyn Hart-Winks (Edinburgh Univ BC) 21.15.79
3. Ellie Lewis (Agecroft BC/Manchester Univ BC) 21:20.07
4. Gemma Hall (Wallingford RC) 21:23.44
5. Francesca Rawlins (Leander BC) 21:29.95
6. Jess Elkington (Exeter Univ BC) 21:41.79
7. Louise Hart (Wallingford RC) 21:43.83
8. Flo Pickles (Gloucester-Hartpury) 21:45.47
9. Lucy Cruxton (Reading Univ BC) 21:46.14
10. Katherine Denham (Durham Univ BC) 21.47.41

MEN

Single scull

1. Zak Lee Green (Agecroft) 19:01.83
2. Charles Waite-Roberts (Leander Club) 19:13.90
3. Samuel Mottram (Leander Club) 19:23.40
4. Joel Cassells (Oxford Brookes Univ BC) 19:35.00
5. Kieran Brown (Edinbugh Univ BC) 19:35.09
6. Matthew Bedford (Univ of London BC) 19:38.33
7. Christopher Goldsack (Univ of London BC) 19:41.98
8. Timothy Richards (Imperial College BC) 19:42.21
9. Stuart Heap (Tideway Scullers Sch) 19:42.44
10. Wilf Kimberley (Imperial College BC) 19:42.69

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KEY DATES FOR YOUR 2014/2015 DIARY

NB – PLEASE NOTE CHANGE: to provisional date for announcement of World Championships Team. Now 21 July.

December
20
Second assessment, Boston, GBR (M, W, Lwts, U23s)
Second assessment (Land), Caversham, GBR (Para-rowers)
January 2015
10-11
First training assessment, Caversham, GBR (Para-rowers)
17 – 18
Second training assessment, Caversham, GBR (Para-rowers)
February
8
British Rowing Indoor Rowing Championships, Olympic Velodrome, London
14
Third assessment, Boston, GBR (M, W, Lwts, U23s)
28 Feb – 1 Mar
Third assessment (Water), Caversham, GBR (Para-rowers)
March
14
Women’s Head of the River Race (9:30 prov)
29
Head of the River Race (11:30 prov)
April
4-5
GB Rowing Team Para Trials, Caversham, GBR
17 – 19
GB Rowing Team Senior Trials, Caversham, GBR
26
GB Rowing Team Junior Trials, NWSC, Nottingham, GBR
May
8-10
Rowing World Cup 1 – Bled Slovenia
13 – 26
Varese International Regatta & Training Camp, Varese, ITA (Para-rowers)
23-24
European Junior champs
29 – 31
European Rowing Championships, Poznan, POL (M, W, Lwts)
JUNE
19 – 21
Rowing World Cup II, Varese, ITA
JULY
1 – 5
Henley Royal Regatta
10 – 12
World Cup III, Lucerne, SUI
19 – 26
World Rowing U23 Championships, Plovdiv, BUL
21
PROVISIONAL DATE: ANNOUNCEMENT of crews for World Championships
30 Jul – 9 Aug
World Rowing Junior Championships, Rio de Janeiro, BRA – NB Olympic test event
31 Jul – 2 Aug
Coupe de la Jeunesse, Hungary (Jnr)
August
30 Aug – 6 Sept
World Rowing Championships & Olympic/Paralympic Qualification Regatta, Aiguebelette, FRA (M, W, Lwts, Para-rowers)