Mouth-watering semi-finals day in Store at Henley
3rd July 2009New Zealand and Great Britain will continue their recent rowing rivalry during Henley Royal Regatta’s semi-finals session tomorrow, starting at 10am.
Olympic men’s four champions Andrew Triggs Hodge and Peter Reed will clash in the Silver Goblets’ men’s pair event with New Zealanders Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, the men who not only beat them at the world cup last month but who were part of a Kiwi quartet who beat them to become world men’s four champions in 2007.
Alan Campbell, twice a previous winner of the Diamond Sculls Challenge for single scullers, will face a stiff test on the Thames from Olympic champion Olaf Tufte of Norway.
Campbell has beaten Tufte twice already this season. The winner looks set to race world champion Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand in Sunday’s final. Drysdale takes on Belgium’s Tim Maeyens in his semi-final.
The Double Sculls Challenge will see Britain’s Matt Wells and Stephen Rowbotham, bronze medalists in Beijing, race Chinese opposition.
A close race, with a little edge to it, is predicted between the GB women’s eight and their U23 counterparts in the Remenham Challenge Cup semi-finals.
Pangbourne will see whether they can halt the so-far unstoppable charge of Eton College in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup semi-finals for junior men’s eights