Local rowers in world cup action this weekend
29th May 2007Three Somerset and Wiltshire rowers will be in action at this weekend's season-opening rowing world cup in Linz, Austria, from 1-3 June.
2006 world senior bronze medallist, Stephen Rowbotham, from Winscombe in Somerset, heads the trio. He competes in the double scull once more this season and will be a medal hopeful this weekend.
By contrast newcomer Georgina Meneheneott, from North Bradley in Wiltshire, makes her senior international debut in the Siemens-backed womens eight in Austria.
Meanwhile Paul Mattick, who was born in Bath and grew up in Taunton, has moved up into the lightweight men's four - an Olympic boat this season.
This is the first of three world cups in a season which will culminate in the world championships in Munich in August which doubles as the Olympic qualifying regatta.
More than 880 athletes in 380 boats from around the world will contest the event which begins on Friday and concludes with finals on Sunday (3 June).
Germany, with 37 boats, and China, with 27 boats, are the biggest entries but the British contingent is also likely to be amongst the strongest nations with 20 boats and 57 athletes.
Great Britain's team includes the men's four (Steve Williams, Alex Partridge, Peter Reed and Andy Hodge) and the women's quadruple scull (of Debbie Flood, Katherine Grainger, Annie Vernon and Fran Houghton) both backed by Camelot, who are defending world champions and overall world cup winners - although Vernon is a newcomer to the crew this season having won her place through the trials in April.
GB also picked up overall world cup titles last year in the women's double scull and the men's single scull- an event in which Alan Campbell, of Coleraine, features.
Stephen Rowbotham and Matt Wells, meanwhile, were world senior bronze medallists, sponsored by Siemens, in August of last year on home water at Eton-Dorney, the venue for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Zac Purchase, of Tewkesbury, and Tom Lucy, of Monmouth in Wales, are two new names to watch this weekend. Purchase, already a world champion in the lightweight single scull, has stepped up into the Siemens-sponsored lightweight men's double this season - an Olympic boat. Tom Lucy, meanwhile, is one of the youngest rowers, aged 19, ever to have received a world cup call up. He competes in the Siemens-backed men's eight.
Hugo Lee, from Jedburgh in Scotland, joins Lucy as a new name in the GB men's eight whilst the women's eight features world cup debutantes, Georgina Menheneott, from Wiltshire but named after a village in Cornwall, and Louise Reeve from the world-famous Leander club.
For Scot Katherine Grainger, part of the world champion women's quadruple scull, the next eighteen months will be crucial in her quest to gain an elusive Olympic gold medal after taking silver in 2000 and 2004 to put alongside her three world titles.
"That's definitely the ultimate aim", said Grainger. "With the world championships doubling up as the Olympic qualifying regatta we want to make sure we focus every step of the way this year".
Vernon, meanwhile, also from the quadruple scull is in her first Olympic cycle as a senior athlete, having come through the ARA's World Class Start programme, sponsored by Siemens. She is understandably elated at her elevation: "I was surprised, almost in shock, when I was first told", she said. "But, of course, I'm pleased to be in the lead boat. I think we've got a really strong women's squad as a whole and a top-class women's quad. I can't wait to get on and race now".
Paul Thompson, coach to the women and the lightweights was complimentary about Vernon and Purchase: "Zac Purchase has been outstanding in the single and the crew boats We are looking forward to seeing what impact he will make on the double. Annie Vernon has been our most consistent peformer over the winter and her place in the lead boat which is thoroughly-deserved". Jurgen Grobler, the men's chief coach, meanwhile, has stuck by his 2006 World Champion line-up in the men's four, sponsored by Camelot, and headed by reigning Olympic champion Steve Williams. This crew is now unbeaten in 24 races over the past two years in which they have won the world title twice.
"It's going to be a tough season", said Williams. "When you're unbeaten and world champions everyone pins a target on your back and takes aim. The positive for us is that we feel we've still got a few seconds in the tank and that we weren't pushed to the very limit last season or the year before".
"One very positive point is the high standard and consistent performances that the rowers have put in over the winter", said Grobler of his decision. "However, I've told the rowers that everything they have done for the past two years doesn't count. This is a new start".
"We must target medals at the world championships this year", said GB Performance Director David Tanner GB Rowing's Performance Director today. "But we are also focussing on Beijing next year. Many of the places for the Olympic Games will be decided at this year's world championships in Munich so we must make sure we perform well there".
At the season's second world cup, in Amsterdam, from June 22-24, GB will be looking to enter another strong team. In Amsterdam, GB will also be able to race an adaptive four, sponsored by Siemens, because FISA, the sport's world governing body, is offering a race for this Paralympic category at a world cup for the first time and GB intends to support FISA's move.
GB CREWS FOR FIRST WORLD CUP OF 2007 LINZ, AUSTRIA, 1-3 JUNE (listed bow to stroke with club/home town/date of birth in brackets after name)
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
Alison Knowles (Thames RC/Bournemouth/27.3.82)/ Natasha Howard (Tideway Scullers/West Runton/3.9.80)
Eight
Baz Moffat (Thames RC/Bradford/8.4.78)/Jess Eddie (Uni of London/Durham/7.10.84)/Georgina Menheneott (Mortlake, Anglian & Alpha RC/...... /18.12.78) Louise Reeve (Leander/..../16.05.84)/Beth Rodford (Thames RC/Burton-on-Trent/ 28.12.82)/Carla Ashford (Thames RC/Northallerton/13.3.79)/ Katie Greves (Uni of London/Oxford/2.9.82)/Natasha Page (Reading Uni/Hartpury/30.4.85)/Caroline O'Connor (Oxford Brookes/ Ealing/25.4.83)
Quadruple scull
Debbie Flood (Leander Club/Leeds/27.2.80)/Annie Vernon (Thames RC/Wadebridge/1.9.82)/Fran Houghton (Uni of London/Oxford/19.9.80)/Katherine Grainger (St Andrew BC/Aberdeen/12.11.75)
MEN
Pair
Colin Smith (Leander/Henley on Thames/3.9.83)/Matt Langridge (Leander/Northwich/20.5.83)
Four - two boats
Steve Williams (Leander Club/Cheltenham/15.4.76)/Peter Reed (Leander Club/Nailsworth, Glos/27.7.81)/Alex Partridge (Leander Club/Alton, Hants/25.1.81)/Andy Triggs Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden, N.Yorks/3.8.79)
Marcus Bateman (Leander/Torquay/16.9.82)/Tom Parker (OUBC/Winchester/24.10.82)/Kieran West (CUBC/West Byfleet/ 18.9.77)/James Orme (Leander/Colchester/1.4.84)
Eight
Jonno Devlin (Oxford Brookes/Putney/17.3.76)/Tom Stallard (Leander/Welwyn, Herts/11.9.78)/Tom Lucy (Oxford Brookes/ Monmouth/1.5.88)/Hugo Lee (Oxford Brookes/Jedburgh/5.3.84)/ Josh West (Leander/Santa Fe/25.3.77)/Richard Egington (Leander/Knutsford/26.2.79)/Robin Bourne-Taylor (Army RC/Oxford/22.7.81)/ Alastair Heathcote (Army RC/...../18.08.77)/Acer Nethercott (OUBC/Harlow/28.11.77)
Single Scull
Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers/Coleraine/9.5.83)
Double Scull
Matt Wells (Leander Club/Hexham, Northumberland/19.4.79)/ Stephen Rowbotham (Leander Club/Winscombe, Somerset/11.11.81)
Quadruple scull
Simon Fieldhouse (Molesey/Thames Ditton/4.9.76)/Sam Townsend (Reading Uni/Reading/26.11.85)/Alex Gregory (Reading Uni/ Wormington/11.3.84)/Ian Lawson (Leander/Oltey, W.Yorks/4.3.77)
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Single scull (two boats)
Andrea Dennis (Wallingford RC/...../03.01.82)
Sophie Hosking (Durham Uni/Wimbledon/25.01.86)
Double scull (two boats)
Helen Casey (Wallingford RC/Oxford/6.2.74)/ Hester Goodsell (Rob Roy/Cambridge/27.6.84)
Jane Hall (Leander/Caversham/20.10.73)/ Mathilde Pauls (Imperial College BC/...../26.09.83)
MEN
Pair
Matt Beechey (Leander/Worcester/3.4.77)/Daniel Harte (London/Edinburgh/12.12.75)
Four
Richard Chambers (Oxford Brookes/Coleraine/10.6.85)/ James Lindsay-Fynn (London/Trim/29.9.75)/Paul Mattick (Wallingford/Oxford/25.4.78)/James Clarke (Durham Uni/ London/13.12.84)
Single scull
Alistair Leighton-Crawford (Tideway Scullers/Richmond-upon-Thames/09.12.81)
Double scull
Mark Hunter (Leander Club/Romford, Essex/1.7.78)/ Zac Purchase (Marlow RC/Tewkesbury, Glos/2.5.86)