A World Championships curtain-raiser for GB Rowing Team in Lucerne

The GB Rowing Team, bar single sculler Alan Campbell who is sidelined by a sore-throat, has arrived in Lucerne and is raring to race at the World Cup starting tomorrow (8 July).

The event which runs until Sunday (10 July) will, according to GB Rowing Team Performance Director David Tanner, be a significant “curtain-raiser” for the World Championships in late August in Bled, Slovenia, because of the high-quality entry.

“All the top nations are here with their leading boats and it will be a tough test for us”, said Tanner of his Siemens-sponsored and lottery-funded squad.  “For those boats that raced at Henley last week, we had a very encouraging few days against top class opposition, so we are looking forward to grappling with them again and others. For some of the women and lightweight crews it’s been a long time since they competed in Munich in May and they are really raring to race”.

The entry for Lucerne is always significant but is more comprehensive than ever this year.   Australia, New Zealand, Canada and China are amongst those enhancing this world cup compared to the mainly European entry in  Munich where GB won 11 medals, five of them gold and just pipped Germany on the points table.

Many nations are racing their Beijing crews in the smaller boats this season for the first time since 2008, including the Chinese women’s double scull, the Australian men’s double and the Canadian men’s pair.

Tanner says the GB team members, whilst unlikely to retain the overall world cup title after missing the Hamburg edition of this summer’s world cup series following the e-coli outbreak there, are all “in great shape”.

There are some new faces in the GB line-ups for Lucerne, including Constantine Louloudis and George Nash, former world junior champions and world U23 medallists, have been rewarded for the early-season form in the men’s pair which took them to fourth place in the GB Rowing Team Senior Trials with a call-up to race this weekend.

The duo, who are still aiming for this year’s World U23 team, have shown Olympic contender potential for Rio 2016 if not before, and will join a men’s pair event which already features world silver medallists and Olympic men’s four gold medallists Andrew Triggs Hodge and Pete Reed.

Hodge and Reed were winners at Henley last week but are itching to face the New Zealanders Eric Murray and Hamish Bond who beat them to the World title last year by just three-tenths of a second.

“”It was good to win at Henley and the two “easily” verdicts were great for us,” said Reed.  “But we know that Lucerne is going to be a tougher battle.”

Matt Langridge, Richard Egington, Tom James and Alex Gregory will, meanwhile, hope to repeat both their Henley wins, against good American and Australian fours, and their gold medal winning performance from the first world cup in Munich.

“We go into Lucerne with confidence after Henley”, said Alex Gregory.

Lucerne’s Rotsee lake will tomorrow witness the first competitive race of the season for World women’s double scull Champions Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger – the former is coming back to full fitness after a niggling back injury sidelined her for the Munich world cup at which Grainger took gold with Melanie Wilson.

Wilson has moved into the quadruple scull for this event  alongside three of last year’s World Champion crew Annabel Vernon, Beth Rodford and Debbie Flood. Frances Houghton rehabing from injury once more after an injury-blighted racing season last year which saw her race only twice – both times at the World Championships.

The British men’s World silver medal eight races in Lucerne following two defeats to the World Champions from Germany in Munich and Henley.  “It is frustrating racing the Germans’, said comeback Olympian Greg Searle, who is aiming to win an Olympic medal in 2012 twenty years after taking gold in Barcelona in 1992.  “We seemed to have dropped into a pattern where they get off quickly and then we are coming back on them at the end”.  The  Christian Felkel-coached combination, though, showed its pedigree at Henley by beating a strong Australian eight in the semi-finals.

Whilst the GB Rowing Team did not wish to risk Alan Campbell in the single scull at Lucerne after the Coleraine man went down with a sore throat, the remainder of the British men’s sculling squad is unchanged.

Stephen Rowbotham, Bill Lucas, Sam Townsend and Tom  Solesbury arrive in the Lucerne buoyed by their victory on Sunday at Henley against the World Champions from Croatia.  The GB men’s double scull of Matt Wells and  Marcus Bateman also raced well at Henley to beat 2008 Olympic champions David Crawshay and Scott Brennan but Wells says that “the doubles is such an intense event and is always hard to call”.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning, in the women’s pair, are the only unchanged British open-weight women’s crew in Lucerne. No longer “unknowns” as last year, the World silver medallists from Penzance and Lossiemouth respectively showed, by winning in Munich and at the Amsterdam International Regatta, that they have continuing medal potential.

Vicky Thornley switches back from sculling to sweep to join the women’s eight in Lucerne.  Jo Cook is back in the bow seat in a crew stroked by Lindsey Maguire.

Zac Purchase is closing back on full fitness from a post-viral episode but is not ready to compete in Lucerne.  So, Adam Freeman Pask is getting the chance to train with and race with world and Olympic champion Mark Hunter.

Hester Goodsell and Sophie Hosking will race the lightweight women’s double scull. They won in Munich and again at the Amsterdam International Regatta – the latter in the open weight women’s double scull event which included a strong Canadian combination. They should go to Lucerne, therefore, brimful of confidence.

World champion Richard Chambers will race for the first time at senior world cup level in a crew with his brother Peter who steps in to substitute for the injured Chris Bartley in the lightweight men’s four alongside Paul Mattick and Rob Williams.

*SIEMENS is the high performance partner of the GB Rowing Team
(as such they sponsor all the Olympic and Paralympic Class
boats in the senior squad and add value to the GB Rowing
Teams’ Start and High Performance Programme in Clubs Schemes)

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GB ROWING TEAM CREW-LISTS
2011 World Cup Regatta, Lucerne
July 8-10, 2011
(listed bow to stroke plus cox)

OPEN

WOMEN

Pair

Helen Glover (Minerva Bath/Penzance/17.06.86)/
Heather Stanning (Army RC/Lossiemouth/26.01.85)

Coach: Robin Williams

Eight

Jo Cook (Leander Club/Sunbury-on-Thames/22.03.84)/
Alison Knowles (Thames RC/Bournemouth/27.03.82)/
Jessica Eddie (Univ of London BC/Durham/07.10.84)/
Victoria Thornley (Leander Club/Wrexham/30.11.87)/
Natasha Page (Gloucester RC/Hartpury/30.04.85)/
Louisa Reeve (Leander Club/London/16.05.84)/
Katie Solesbury (Leander Club/Oxford/02.09.82)/
Lindsey Maguire (Wallingford RC/Edinburgh/15.01.82)/
Caroline O’Connor (Oxford Brookes Univ BC/Ealing, London/25.04.83)

Coach: Nick Strange

Double scull

Anna Watkins  (Leander Club/Leek, Staffs/13.02.83)/
Katherine Grainger (St. Andrew BC/Aberdeen/12.11.75)

Coach: Paul Thompson

Quadruple scull

Melanie Wilson (Imperial College BC/London/25.06.84)/
Beth Rodford (Gloucester RC/Gloucester/28.02.82)/
Annabel Vernon (Leander Club/Wadebridge/01.09.82)/
Debbie Flood (Leander Club/Guiseley/27.02.80)/

Coach: Ade Roberts

OPEN

MEN

Pair

Pete Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth, Glos/27.07.81)/
Andrew Triggs Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden, N. Yorks/03.03.79)

Coach: Jürgen Grobler

Constantine Louloudis (Isis BC/London/15.09.91)/
George Nash (Cambridge Uni BC/Guildford/02.10.89)

Four

Matthew Langridge (Leander Club /Northwich/20.05.83)/
Richard Egington (Leander Club/Knutsford/26.02.79)/
Tom James (Molesey BC/Wrexham/11.03.84)/
Alex Gregory (Leander Club /Wormington, Glos/11.03.84)

Coach: John West

Eight

Alex Partridge (Leander Club /Alton, Hants/25.01.81)/
James Foad (Molesey BC/Southampton/20.03.87)/
Cameron Nichol (Molesey BC/Glastonbury/26.06.87)/
Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell (Univ of London BC/Durham/13.04.88)/
Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC/Surbiton/27.03.88)/
Greg Searle (Molesey BC/Marlow/20.03.72)/
Tom Ransley (York City RC/Cambridge/06.09.85)/
Daniel Ritchie (Leander Club/Herne Bay/06.01.87)/
Phelan Hill (Leander Club/Bedford/21.07.79)

Coach: Christian Felkel

Spare: Tom Broadway

Double scull

Matthew Wells (Leander Club/Hexham, Northumberland/19.04.79)/
Marcus Bateman (Leander Club/Torquay/16.09.82)

Coach: Mark Earnshaw

Quadruple scull

Tom Solesbury (Leander Club/Petts Wood, Kent/23.09.80)/
Stephen Rowbotham (Leander Club/Winscombe, Somerset/11.11.81)/
Bill Lucas (London RC/Kingswear/13.09.87)/
Sam Townsend (Reading Univ BC/Reading/26.11.85)

Coach: Mark Banks

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

Double scull

Hester Goodsell (Imperial College BC/London/27.06.84)/
Sophie Hosking (London RC/Wimbledon/25.01.86)

Coach: Paul Reedy

LIGHTWEIGHT

MEN

Four

Richard Chambers (Leander Club /Coleraine/10.06.85)/
Peter Chambers (Oxford Brookes Uni BC/Coleraine/14.3.90)/
Paul Mattick (Leander Club /Frome, Somerset/25.04.78)/
Rob Williams (London RC/Maidenhead/21.01.85)/

Coach: Rob Morgan

Double scull

Adam Freeman-Pask (Imperial College BC/Windsor/19.06.85)/
Mark Hunter  (Leander Club /Romford, Essex/01.07.78)

Coach: Darren Whiter

SUPPORT STAFF

Performance:

Team Manager: David Tanner
Chief Coach Men: Jürgen Grobler
Chief Coach Women & Lightweights: Paul Thompson

Media/Admin/Logistics:

Assistant Team Manager (admin): Jo Bates
Sponsorship Liaison: Fran Bullock
Boatman: John Tetley
Press Officer: Caroline Searle

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WORLD CUP SCHEDULE

The final World Rowing Cup, sponsored by Samsung,
of the 2011 season takes place in Lucerne, Switzerland, from
8-10 July.

Currently the key stages are timed as follows but this may
be subject to change after the entry and draw are
completed. Full schedule and updates at www.worldrowing.com

Heats, repechages and quarter-finals

08.00 – 20.15  Friday 8 July

Semi-finals (non-Olympic classes only)

08.30 – 9.15  Saturday 9 July

Repechages and semi-finals (Olympic classes)

13.30 – 16.00 Saturday 9 July

FINALS  (non Olympic classes)

16.06 – 17.50  Saturday 9 July

B Finals (Olympic classes)

08.45 – 10.03  Sunday 10 July

FINALS (Olympic classes)

10.22 – 14.40 Sunday 10 July

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TV Coverage from Lucerne

BBC TV Sport of the World Rowing Cup will be:

World Cup 3, Lucerne, Switzerland

Sunday 10 July
09.45 – 11.15 Live on the Red Button/online
12.30 – 14.30 Red Button/Online

Monday 11 July
13.00 – 14.30  Highlights package on BBC2 and online
and afterwards on the i-player

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KEY DATES FOR 2011

This important season for the nation’s top rowers
culminates in the  World Championships and
Olympic qualifying regatta:

BLED, SLOVENIA, FROM AUGUST 28 – SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

Britain will seek to qualify boats into as many Olympic
and Paralympic classes as possible here rather than
through the last-chance final qualifying regatta in Lucerne
from May 20-23, 2012.

Meanwhile, here are some additional dates of note for the
GB squad for the remainder of 2011:

KEY DATES FOR YOUR 2011 DIARY

JUNE

29- July 3
Henley Royal Regatta

JULY

8-10
Rowing World Cup III, Lucerne, Switzlerand

19
Announcement of the GB World Championships Team

21-24
World Rowing U23 Championships, Amsterdam, Netherlands

29-31
Coupe de la Jeunesse, Linz, Austria

AUGUST

4-7
World Rowing Junior Championships, Dorney Lake, Eton
(this is also the Olympic test event)

28 – 4 September

WORLD ROWING CHAMPIONSHIPS, Bled, Slovenia

SEPTEMBER

16-18
European Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

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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 Searle (07831) 755351
M:  Andy Sloan (07714) 168391

e:  press@matchtight.co.uk

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