Great Britain starts strong at World Rowing Cup I

The GB Rowing Team made a solid start to the season at World Rowing Cup I in Varese, Italy with 11 crews reaching 10 finals across Saturday and Sunday. Tomorrow sees a further three crews racing repechage and one other taking on the semi final

The three GB women’s four (W4-) boats were drawn in the same heat. Not only was it all to play for with just the top two going directly to the final, but the GBR2 and GBR3 crews raced again just two hours later, where they convincingly won their Women’s eight (W8+) heat, coxed by Henry Fieldman.

The new GBR1 women’s four combination of Helen Glover, Esme Booth, Sam Redgrave and Rebecca Shorten led from the start, winning the heat with GBR2 of Heidi Long, Rowan McKellar, Holly Dunford and Emily Ford taking the second final spot. Just behind in third were GBR3 of Hattie Taylor, Annie Campbell-Orde, Lauren Irwin and Eve Stewart who will race their repechage on Saturday.

Reflecting on the race, her first in the four, Esme said: “It was a crazy draw – after a winter of lots of testing and selection, a draw like that feels like training again, but doing it in a World Rowing Cup setting and getting to race all your friends is something not many people get to experience, so it was good fun and a good result for us as a squad.

“It’s exciting to try a new event and it was a good race for us as a new combination but we’ll find things to work on and keep seeing where this project takes us. We’re all giving it 100%, it’s Olympic year and it’s super exciting.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / British Rowing

Annie Campbell-Orde, fresh from the Women’s eight victory said: “It’s been quite a day! We had a good race and a good rhythm in the four which we can build on again tomorrow in the rep to try and get into the A final. It will be good if we can get all three GB crews in the women’s four final, but the eight’s race is what we really came here for. I’m pleased we got out in the lead as it shows we’re working on the right things. It was a positive first race which hopefully we can build on for Sunday.”

Also racing in the same heat were the two GB Men’s pair (M2-) crews. Taking the one final spot were Ollie Wynne-Griffith & Tom George (GBR1) with Will Stewart and James Robson (GBR2) finishing third, meaning they will race repechage on Saturday. “It was good.” Ollie said after the race, “We haven’t competed since September, so it was nice to get that side-by-side start line feeling and so nice to hear the honk of the buzzer! We did what we wanted to do, so now it’s just about stepping through the regatta. This is why we do it – we just enjoy racing.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / British Rowing

The Men’s quadruple sculls (M4x) of Callum Dixon, Tom Barras, Matt Haywood and Graeme Thomas won their heat in style, coming from behind to cross the line ahead of Italy. Graeme said: “It was a quick start that’s for sure. We maybe got caught napping a little bit on the start line, but that’s definitely one thing we can easily fix. We had to tough it out in the middle of the race but that just shows the good middle pace we’ve got, and hopefully something’s still in the locker for Sunday! In terms of coming back this season, it’s a big relief to get the first race done and I’m feeling good.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / British Rowing

Emily Craig and Imogen Grant continued their unbeaten run in the Lightweight women’s double sculls (LW2x) finishing 6 seconds ahead of the field.

Second in their heat and through to the final were Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson in the Men’s four (M4-). “We’ve qualified for the A Final on Sunday, so that’s job done for today.” David said, adding “There are always opportunities to work on what you’re doing especially as it’s a new season and we can take lots of positives from that performance. It’s good to get some racing done and we’re looking forward to stepping on to Sunday.”

Credit: Benedict Tufnell / British Rowing

The morning session ended with a win for the Men’s eight (M8+) of Sholto Carnegie, Rory Gibbs, Morgan Bolding, Jacob Dawson, Charlie Elwes, Tom Digby, James Rudkin, Tom Ford and cox, Harry Brightmore. Rory said: “It’s always a bit exciting for the first race of the season, there’s more to come, but it’s definitely good to get the season underway. That feeling you get coming through the K is great – all in all we’re happy, but tired.”

George Bourne raced twice in the Men’s single sculls (M1x), winning the heat and finishing in second by just 0.02 seconds in the quarter final to progress to the semi final on Saturday.

John Collins and Seb Devereux in the Men’s Double sculls (M2x) will race a repechage after they finished their heat in fifth place.

The preliminary races saw Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgie Brayshaw finish third in the Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x); Olivia Bates took a convincing win in the Lightweight women’s single sculls (LW1x) and Rebecca Edwards and Chloe Brew finished fourth in the Women’s pair (W2-).

You can follow World Rowing Cup I across British Rowing social media channels and the World Rowing website. Racing will also be shown on BBC iPlayer and the BBC website.

Full Results

Boat	Race	Result	Time	Next Race
LW1x	Preliminary Race	1st	07:47.66	→ Final
W2-	Preliminary Race	4th	07:11.44	→ Final
W4- (GBR1)	Heat	1st	06:30.42	→ A Final
W4- (GBR2)	Heat	2nd	06:35.80	→ A Final
W4- (GBR3)	Heat	3rd	06:42.28	→ Repechage
LW2x	Heat	1st	06.52.58	→ A Final
W4x	Heat	3rd	06:17.42	→ Final
W8+	Heat	1st	06:13.74	→ A Final
M4-	Heat	2nd	05:58.40	→ A Final
M1x	Heat	1st	07:03.25	→ Quarter Final
M4x	Heat	1st	05:45.26	→ A Final
M8+	Heat	1st	05:31.77	→ A Final
M2- (GBR1)	Heat	1st	06:29.56	→ A Final
M2- (GBR2)	Heat	3rd	06:34.78	→ Repechage
M2x	Heat	5th	06:24.58	→ Repechage
M1x	Quarter Final	2nd	07:08.91	→ A/B Semi Final