Local rowers represent GB in first World Cup
11th May 2011Five local rowers from Somerset have been selected to represent GB at the first World Cup of the season. After impressive performances at the senior Trials weekend and subsequent testing, they will be looking to continue the 2011 season with the same success in Munich, Germany from 27 - 29th May.
Double World champion Paul Mattick, born in Frome but brought up in Bath, has successfully retained his seat in the lightweight men's four.
As have his crew mates, Richard Chambers, Rob Williams and Chris Bartley who most recently raced to a World Championship Gold back in November, in a nail bitting race clinching the title by just seven hundredths of a second. Off the back of an exceptional 2010 World Cup season the crew will be looking to begin the 2011 season in a similar fashion.
Marcus Bateman, an ex University of Bath student has been selected to represent Great Britain in the double scull event with teammate Matt Wells. The red-haired pairing nicknamed the 'Red Express' will be looking to continue their fine form after winning silver medal at the 2010 World Championships held on Lake Karapiro in New Zealand last November.
Bateman is also a graduate of 'Start', the GB Rowing Team's talent identification and development programme which is lottery-funded and sponsored by Siemens.
Vicky Thornley, who learnt to row in Bath and worked for a while
at the University of Bath, will be competing in the single scull event. She was World U23 Champion in 2009, however most recently competed in the women's eight event at the 2010 World Championships so it is a change of discipline for Thornley to begin the first World Cup of the year.
Thornley came into the sport through the UK Sport and English Institute of Sport recruitment drive 'Sporting Giants'.
Stephen Rowbotham, from Winscombe, has five World Championships under his belt and has retained his seat in the men's quadruple scull discipline, along with teammates Sam Townsend and Bill Lucas that were placed 5th at the 2010 World Championship final. Unfortunately the fourth member, Charles Cousins will not be able to race so Olympian, Tom Solesbury, will take his place.
Glastonbury's Cameron Nichol has retained his seat in the men's eight as have team-mates Mohamed Sbihi, Cameron Nichol, James Foad, Greg Searle and Dan Ritchie. Alex Partridge and Nathaniel Reilly O'Donnell will complete the boat to be coxed by Phelan Hill. Having been part of the crew that narrowly missed out on a gold at the 2010 World Rowing Championships by six-tenths of a second, the squad will certainly be looking to go one better at the start of the World Cup season.
Nichol says, "I'm relishing the opportunity to show the rest of the world what we can do at these world cups. We have a great crew with great energy and we are so focussed on the tasks at hand. We want to win every race, leaving no stone unturned. These World Cups will give us a great opportunity to test things out and measure ourselves against the best out there so I think we are all excited."
"Selection for me is a real confidence boost as I feel I have made another step on this year. My boat performance and physical performance continues to improve and I'm looking forward to building on that in the World Cup series which will act as a great next step towards our goal in London. As our coach says 'the train to London is going faster and faster, and we have to work harder to be at the front pushing it forward', something I constantly strive to do every session of every day."
Elsewhere, five times World champion and three times Olympic medallist, Katherine Grainger looks set to continue her success in the double scull with Olympic medallist and World Champion, Anna Watkins. After winning the Sunday Times Team of the Year Award, the pairing go into the 2011 season with an unbeaten record which they will no doubt be looking to maintain.
Sticking to a winning formula, the illustrious pairing of Olympic Champions, Andrew Triggs-Hodge and Pete Reed have retained their seats in the pair discipline, as has World championship medallist Alan Campbell in the single scull event.
Meanwhile the rest of the squad remains fairly similar with minimal transition between boats and most rowers retaining their seats from the World Championships.
The first World Cup of the season will mark the beginning of a competitive and vitally important racing season for GB Rowing Team. The Munich World Cup on 27-29th May will start the three series event, with the other races taking place in Hamburg, Germany on 17-19th June and Lucerne, Switzerland on 8-10th July.
However, this particular season holds even greater significance in the rowing calendar culminating in the World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia from August 23rd - September 5th. This will also serve as the first Olympic qualifying event whereby Britain will be able to qualify boats for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
GB Rowing Team Performance Director, David Tanner says, "It's great that we are taking such a strong team to Munich. The world cup circuit is a prize in itself but it also gives us vital feedback on how the team has
progressed over the winter".
The GB Rowing Team won 9 Olympic and 2 Paralympic-class medals at the 2010 World Championships in New Zealand but Tanner is sanguine that world cup and World Championships medals do not always correspond to equivalent success at the Olympic Games.
"It's been my experience that most nations step up at the Olympic Games. There is a greater intensity so you need almost double the boats in the medal zone to hit your target at the Games", he said.
The GB team for the World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia
in late August and early September will be announced on July 19th.