Wilts and Somerset rowers take gold, silver and bronze
4th June 2007Somerset's Stephen Rowbotham and Paul Mattick and Georgina Menheneott of Wiltshire are all celebrating today after winning gold, bronze and silver respectively at the world cup in Linz, Austria yesterday in Siemens-sponsored boats. GB also won the overall world cup title for the first time in history.
Rowbotham's gold - his first ever at a world cup - came with Matt Wells, of Northumberland, in the men's double scull.
In the final the duo positioned themselves well in third place in the first half of the race with the French world champions in the lead. Just past that 1000m mark they made a move to push past the Australians and just as the 1500m marker arrived they were a whisper in the lead.
No-one in this world class field, was about to give up, though, and there was a dog-fight in the final 500m with Wells and Rowbotham getting the strongest finish and holding on to win their first world cup gold to add to world championship bronze of last year in 6:18.55.
"It's all about staying as controlled as we can for as long as we can", said Wells afterwards.
"We know that if we're still in contention at 1000m we have a good chance of doing something", said Rowbotham.
Paul Mattick's bronze also made history for Britain on one of the most successful afternoon's racing ever experienced by the British team. Mattick's lightweight men's four with Richard Chambers, James Clarke and James Lindsey-Fynn, took Britain's first-ever world cup medal in this Olympic boat class.
In the final Great Britain's new Siemens-backed line-up were second at 500m - just 0.25 behind China. By the halfway mark the crew, stroked by James Clarke, were in third with Italy having surged into the lead in a tightly-contested field.
With two-thirds of the race gone, the leading trio had reshuffled several times before settling into Italy, China, Great Britain in that order once more.
As bowman Richard Chambers looked over his shoulder going towards the line he would have been able to confirm that Italy had won, with China a close second, and Great Britain in bronze.
"It's particularly pleasing to win a medal on a day when all of the British team has done so well", said Mattick who was born in Bath but grew up in Frome and Taunton.
Menheneott, from North Bradley, meanwhile, was also in action this weekend as part of the Siemens-sponsored British women's eight which clocked up its best world cup result yet with a silver.
Caroline O'Connor, cox to the eight, knew that her crew were battling for second and third throughout their final. Every time she called for more, the crew responded.
"You could feel the boat lift each time", said Menheneott's team-mate Baz Moffat afterwards. "That gave us great confidence".
At the regatta, Britain finished top nation overall with four golds, three silver and two bronzes - all bar one bronze coming in Olympic events.
This is the first of three world cups this season and attracted a bumper entry of over 880 athletes. The second world cup is in Amsterdam from June 22-24 with the world cup finals in mid-July in Lucerne.
This is also the season where the world championships, to be held in Munich in August, double as the Olympic Games qualifier.
RESULTS (British crews only, listed bow to stroke)
FINALS
OPEN
WOMEN
Pair
1. Kim Crow/Sarah Cook (Australia 4) 7:03.39 2. Megan Cooke/Anna Nickelson (USA 1) 7:10.49 3. Susan Francia/Caroline Lind (USA 2) 7:11.97 4. Darcy Marquardt/Jane Rumball (Canada) 7:12.38 5. Natasha Howard/Alison Knowles (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:15.81 6. Robyn Selby Smith/Natalie Bale (Australia 2) 7:20.45
Eight
1. Germany 1 6:16.81 2. Baz Moffat/Carla Ashford/Georgina Menheneott/Jess Eddie/ Beth Rodford/Natasha Page/Katie Greves/Louisa Reeves/ Caroline O'Connor (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:18.07 3. Netherlands 6:18.31 4. Canada 6:20.15 5. Australia 6:21.93 6. China 1 6:22.79
Quadruple scull
1. Annie Vernon/Debbie Flood/Frances Houghton/Katherine Grainger (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:26.90 2. China 1 6:29.43 3. Germany 6:33.13 4. China 2 6:34.66 5. Romania 6:36.38 6. France 6:36.57
MEN
Pair
1. Colin Smith/Matt Langridge (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:29.77 2. Sinisa & Niksa Skelin (Croatia) 6:31.06 3. Andreas Penkner/Jochen Urban (Germany 1) 6:32.24 4. Jakub Makovicka/Jan Schindler (Czech Republic) 6:32.28 5. Scott Frandsen/Barney Williams (Canada) 6:32.78 6. Erwan Peron/Luarent Cadot (France) 6:35.69
Four
1. Steve Williams/Peter Reed/Alex Partridge/Andy Hodge (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:56.44 2. Netherlands 5:58.30 3. France 5:58.85 4. Czech Republic 6:01.86 5. Germany 1 6:02.64 6. Slovenia 1 6:04.24
Eight
1. Canada 5:40.98 2. Belarus 5:43.00 3. China 5:43.45 4. Russa 5:43.98 5. Jonno Devlin/Tom Stallard/Tom Lucy/Hugo Lee/Josh West/ Richard Egington/Robin Bourne-Taylor/Alastair Heathcote/ Acer Nethercott (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:44.98 6. Netherlands 5:46.26
Single scull
1. Ondrej Synek (Czech Republic) 6:47.96 2. Alan Campbell (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:48.36 3. Marcel Hacker (Germany) 6:50.80 4. Olaf Tufte (Norway 1) 6:52.19 5. Iztok Cop (Slovenia 1) 6:52.21 6. Sjoerd Hamburger (Netherlands) 7:05.69
Double scull
1. Matthew Wells/Stephen Rowbotham (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:18.55 2. Rene Bertram/Robert Sens (Germany 1) 6:19.01 3. Igor Kuzmin/Allar Raja (Estonia 2) 6:19.67 4. Jean-Baptiste Macquet/Adrien Hardy (France) 6:19.79 5. Tonu Endrekson/Jueri Jaanson (Estonia 1) 6:19.85 6. Scott Brennan/David Crawshay (Australia) 6:19.87
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Single scull
1. Ismaray Aria Marrero (Cuba 1) 7:57.46 2. Michaela Taupe (Austria) 7:59.05 3. Luara Tasch (Germany 1) 8:00.04 4. Erika Bello (Italy 1) 8:01.81 5. Orla Duddy (Ireland) 8:07.21 6. Andrea Dennis (GREAT BRITAIN) 8:08.19
MEN
Pair
1. Andrea Caianiella/Armando Dell'Aquila (Italy) 6:45.33 2. Roleand Lievens/Paul Drewes (Netherlands) 6:47.27 3. Matt Beechey/Daniel Harte (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:487.68 4. John Sasi/Terence McKall (Canada) 6:53.80 5. Nicola Moriconi/Fabrizio Gabrielle 6:56.34 6. Kasper Winther/Asbjoern Joensen (Denmark) 6:58.03
Four
1. China 6:03.13 2. Italy 1 6:03.71 3. Richard Chambers/James Lindsey-Fynn/Paul Mattick/ James Clarke (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:04.74 4. Netherlands 6:06.02 5. Italy 2 6:06.67 6. USA 6:06.89
Double scull
1. Mads Rasmussen/Rasmus Quist (Denmark) 6:23.12 2. Zac Purchase/Mark Hunter (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:26.83 3. Matt Jensen/Douglas Vandor (Canada) 6:29.68 4. Kazushige Ura/Diasaku Takeda (Japan) 6:29.93 5. Zsolt Hirling/Tamas Varga (Hungary 1) 6:30.13 6. Vasileios Polymeros/Dimitrios Mougios (Greece) 6:38.03
B FINALS
OPEN
MEN
Quadruple scull
1. Australia 6:01.39 2. Simon Fieldhouse/Sam Townsend/Alex Gregory/ Ian Lawson (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:01.86 3. Belarus 6:03.89 4. Czech Republic 6:06.79 5. China 6:08.84 6. Hungary 6:10.70
LIGHTWEIGHT
WOMEN
Single scull
1. Sophie Hosking (GREAT BRITAIN) 8:08.22 2. Yaima Velazquez (Cuba 2) 8:09.78 3. Daniela Reimer (Germany 2) 8:10.38 4. Ilona Hiltunen (Finland) 8:11.47 5. Carola Tamboloni (Italy 2) 8:17.19 6. Ibtissem Trimech (Tunisia) 8:17.23
Double scull
1. Helen Casey/Hester Goodsell (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:19.73 2. Magdalena Kemnitz/Ilona Mokronowska (Poland 1) 7:22.59 3. Sine Christiansen/Kirsten Jepsen (Denmark 2) 7:22.21 4. Sonia Boubeta Curras/Teresa Mas de Xaxars (Spain) 7:23.10 5. Laura Milani/Erika Mai (Italy) 7:30.17 6. Sinead Jennings/Niamh Ni Cheilleacher (Ireland) 7:36.43
MEN
Single scull
1. Arnaud Pornin (France) 7:21.64 2. Rolandas Kazlauskas (Hong Kong 2) 7:22.51 3. Mete Yeltepe (Turkey 1) 7:22.66 4. Alasdair Leighton Crawford (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:24.78 5. Valeri Porsvirnin (Estonia) 7:27.04 6. Song Zhenggang (China) 7:28.46
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
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/North Bradley, Wilts /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/London/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 (London RC/ London/13.12.84)
Single scull
Alasdair 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)