World Cup III Results

Photo; FISA

Here are the results from World Cup III held in Lucerne, Switzerland, during Friday, Saturday and Sunday - find the results here. On top of the medal table came New Zealand followed by Great Britain and Germany.

Whom to Watch at Lucerne

Lucerne, the World Cup III. Photo: FISA.

This coming weekend, 11 - 13 July, it is time for the final World Rowing Cup for the 2014 season. As always it is held in Lucerne, Switzerland, where FISA writes in a press release, ‘there are high expectations of top quality racing, fair conditions and tight finishes.’ Whom to watch for? This is what FISA writes on its website:

Women’s Pair (W2-)
There is no doubt about the crew that will dominate. The Olympic Champion duo of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning (Great Britain) had a comfortable win at Aiguebelette last month and their confidence to continue to improve is evident. The question is who can step up to the standards that Glover and Stanning are setting. With the United States not racing in Lucerne, the big challenges may come from Rebecca Scown and Louise Trappitt of New Zealand. After winning at the Sydney World Cup, Scown and Trappitt were unlucky to not make the A-final in Aiguebelette. Debuting their 2014 season is South Africa’s young and dynamic pairing of Lee-Ann Persse and Naydene Smith. Persse and Smith raced in the A-final at last year’s World Rowing Championships and this regatta will reveal their current form. Keep an eye out too for Romania. Regularly strong in the pair, Romania is boating Laura Oprea and Mihaela Petrilla in one crew and Nicoleta Albu and Roxana Cogianu in another. Both of these combinations will be strong.

Men’s Pair (M2-)
Essentially this will be about the race for second. New Zealand’s Eric Murray and Hamish Bond have been completely dominating for the last five years, leaving other countries to scratch their heads to work out new winning formulas. More than other international races this season, Lucerne may see some surprises, as some new dynamic combinations are racing. Serbia is back with Dusan Bogicevic and Veselin Savic who raced splendidly to gold at the European Rowing Championships. Greece is trying some new pairings with Georgios Tziallas and Konstantinos Christomanos in their country’s number one crew. Great Britain has stepped up for Lucerne by putting James Foad and Matthew Langridge together. Both Foad and Langridge raced at the World Cup in Aiguebelette in the silver medal eight. But it may be Rogier Blink and Mitchel Steenman of the Netherlands who will really shine. They have a solid track record including a medal from last year’s World Rowing Championships, and as their country plays host to the World Rowing Championships, they have an added incentive to do well. Watch out too for Germany's Bastian Bechler and Anton Braun who come to Lucerne after finishing second to the New Zealanders at Aiguebelette.

Women’s Double Sculls (W2x)
Leading the way this year are Sally Kehoe and Olympia Aldersey of Australia. Kehoe and Aldersey won at both the first and second World Rowing Cups and this new combination look like they have really gelled. Kehoe and Aldersey will face the reigning World Champions, Milda Valciukaite and Donata Vistartaite of Lithuania. Valciukaite and Vistartaite got off to a slow start this season in Sydney, but there is little doubt that they will be stepping up for Lucerne. Also in strong contention for the medals will be Aiguebelette silver medallists Meghan O'Leary and Ellen Tomek of the United States and bronze medallists Magdalena Fularczyk and Natalia Madaj of Poland. Both of these crew will add to the potential for a very close finish. And the talent does not end there. Keep an eye out for silver and bronze medallists from last year’s World Rowing Championships, New Zealand and Belarus respectively. Both crews have retained their line ups, Zoe Stevenson and Fiona Bourke for New Zealand and Ekaterina Karsten and Yuliya Bichyk for Belarus.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x)
There is an evolution going on in the men’s double. No crew has yet to come out as a definite medal prospect with a variety of crews medalling so far this season. At the World Cup in Aiguebelette, Croatia’s Sinkovic brothers came first. The Sinkovic’s are remaining in the double (rather than their World Champion quad) for Lucerne and will be high on the list to medal again. Australia’s Alexander Belonogoff and James McRae finished third at Aiguebelette and in their first season together their extra time in Europe will surely be paying dividends. New Zealand’s Karl and Robert Manson are in a similar situation. With more time in Europe they will be well settled into the racing season. Keep an eye out for World Champions Kjetil Borch and Nils Jakob Hoff of Norway. Despite a slow start to the season they cannot be dismissed. A similar scenario goes for Italy’s Romano Battisti and Francesco Fossi. Third last year, Battisti and Fossi have had a very slow start to the season.

Men’s Four (M4-)
There is no doubt that the British crew of Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Andrew Triggs Hodge are looking hard to match. This is their first season together, but so far they remain unbeaten and have the power to lead for the entire race. Australia, however, has a strong affiliation with the men’s four and, despite finishing second to Great Britain at Aiguebelette, they will be training to win gold. Watch out for Canada. They had a very strong finish at Aiguebelette and if they get out of the start a bit quicker they will be able to challenge for the medals. Greece also has a talented line up that is able to produce a devastating sprint when needed.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)
The 2013 World Champion, Kim Crow of Australia is back on the international scene after missing the World Rowing Cup in Aiguebelette. In the meantime, Emma Twigg of New Zealand scored her second World Cup win of the season. Twigg won in Aiguebelette and also beat Crow at the start of the season in Sydney. When these two top scullers meet again in Lucerne it will be a full 2000m fight to the line. Coming along in rapidly is Magdalena Lobnig of Austria. The young Austrian was fourth at last year’s World Rowing Championships and then in Aiguebelette she scored bronze. Lobnig will be challenging Olympic Champion Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic for a medal spot. Keep an eye out too for Ireland's Sanita Puspure and the ever-improving Chantal Achterberg of the Netherlands.

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)
Back leading the pack after a win at the Aiguebelette World Cup is Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand. Drysdale overtook World Champion, Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic, in a close finish. Synek, however, is not ready to play second fiddle to Drysdale and he will be using his racing skills to get the better of the New Zealander in Lucerne. Always ready to challenge is Marcel Hacker of Germany. The experienced Hacker is in his 20th year on the German national team and when he has a good race, he medals. Coming up through the ranks is A-finallist from Aiguebelette, Stanislau Shcharbachenia of Belarus. This sculler has proved that he is one to watch. Also with the potential to push into the A-final is Roel Braas of the Netherlands and Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania. Braas recently won his country’s prestigious Holland Beker regatta, which will boost his single sculling confidence. Griskonis is a regular A-finallist with his most recent result being a bronze medal at the European Rowing Championships.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x)
The unbeaten crew of Laura Milani and Elisabetta Sancassani from Italy are back after not competing at Aiguebelette. Milani and Sancassani are the current World Champions and they have shown their ability to win from behind. The Italians will have their work cut out for them as winners of the World Rowing Cup II last month were Katherine Copeland and Imogen Walsh of Great Britain. Copeland is the Olympic Champion in this boat class and has made a successful return to international rowing after taking a year off. Germany has brought Lena Mueller and Anja Noske back together for Lucerne. Mueller and Noske are the bronze medallists from the 2013 World Rowing Championships and also have a silver together from this year’s European Rowing Championships. Keep an eye out too for Canada and Sweden. Both of these crews raced in the A-final at Aiguebelette and both are edging towards a medal spot.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x)
France’s Jeremie Azou and Stany Delayre are on fire this season. They already collected gold at the Aiguebelette World Cup, the European Rowing Championships and the open double at the Henley Royal Regatta. Together they have every intention of remaining at the front of the field. The World Champions, Kristoffer Brun and Are Strandli of Norway look to be building as the season advances and will be aiming to improve on their Aiguebelette bronze medal. Also ones to watch out for are the Greek duo of Eleftherios Konsolas and Panagiotis Magdanis, who have shown great results in the past. Willing to fully challenge Azou and Delayre will be Germany’s Lars Hartig and Konstantin Steinhuebel. After an average performance in Aiguebelette, Hartig and Steinheubel will be aiming to show their country’s selectors that they are the best combination.   

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-)
The results from the World Rowing Cup in Aiguebelette last month got people talking. This race usually presents very tight finishes. But in Aiguebelette, New Zealand won with a handy margin over World Champions, Denmark. Was this a one-off by the New Zealand crew of Hunter, Lassche, Rapley and Taylor or will they be able to do it again in Lucerne? One thing is for sure, Denmark will not make it easy for New Zealand. Also right in the mix will be Great Britain. The British are back with three members of the crew that took silver at the London 2012 Olympic Games. They finished third in Aiguebelette and will be aiming to go higher in Lucerne. Keep an eye out too for France who raced in the A-final at Aiguebelette and are looking to remain on the path of improvement as the season advances.

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x)
Following their dominating win at the World Rowing Cup last month in Aiguebelette, it looks like Germany has found the perfect combination for the season. The current World Champions are sticking with Carina Baer, Julia Lier, Lisa Schmidla and Annekatrin Thiele to fly the flag for Germany. Challenging Germany for the lead is likely to be the bronze medallists from Aiguebelette, the New Zealanders. This is a new line up for New Zealand, but their Aiguebelette medal proved that they have strong capabilities. Keep an eye out too for Canada, Great Britain and Australia. These nations regularly put together medal winning quads and both Canada and Great Britain raced in the A-final at Aiguebelette. Australia won the Sydney World Cup in March and, with the very experienced Kerry Hore in the boat, this crew will be aiming to impress.

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)   
One of the biggest surprises from the World Cup in Aiguebelette was the win by Great Britain’s Cousins, Lambert, Thomas and Townsend over Germany. They will now race with a target on their back as other crews now know their capabilities. It also means that Germany will be ready and waiting to strike back. Great Britain and Germany may be the front runners, but they better watch out for Australia and Canada. The Canadian’s debuted at Aiguebelette and finished third, while Australia has a new line up racing internationally for the first time in Lucerne. Australia has gone through a series of trials to select this crew and are expecting some positive results. Watch out too for the new United States line up. There are some familiar names in the boat including the Graves brothers and it will be interesting to see what they can achieve together with Benjamin Dann and Stephen Whelpley.

Women’s Eight (W8+)
Last month in Aiguebelette, Canada led for the majority of the race before being overtaken by the World Champions United States on the line. Canada can take pride in this performance and will come to Lucerne with added confidence of their racing abilities. But, in the absence of the United States, Canada has a new challenger – Romania. The Romanians had a great start to the season by winning at the European Rowing Championships. They are also the silver medallists from the 2013 World Rowing Championships and have done some strategic tweaking to find the best line up. At Aiguebelette, Great Britain finished third and looked rather displeased with this result. They will be using their bronze medal to motivate them to move up the medal ranks. Keep an eye out too for the Netherlands who are known to medal when they put it all together on race day.

Men’s Eight (M8+)  
The final of the men’s eight in Aiguebelette last month was not as expected. The United States won, with Great Britain and Belarus taking the lesser medals. This was a coup for Belarus who have not seen medals in the eight for a number of years. Can Belarus do it again in Lucerne? In the absence of the United States, there will be room for another crew on the medals podium, but with the Olympic Champions, Germany back racing, a medal spot may have already been reserved by the Germans. Germany, however, cannot expect an easy ride. Russia finished second at the European Rowing Championships and, under the guidance of new coach Mike Spracklen, they will be looking for a World Cup medal. Watch out too for New Zealand who arrive with an under-23 crew filled with high expectations.

Results from World Cup II and Henley Women's Regatta

It was a busy weekend across the pond. The Marlow Regatta (nowadays at Dorney Lake) and the Henley Women's Regatta were held in England, while FISA World Cup II was organised on Lake Aiguebelette, France. Unfortunately, at the time of posting this blog post, the results from Marlow have not yet been posted on the regatta's website, therefore, below you will only find the results from the two other regattas:

Results at Henley Women's Regatta, here.

World Rowing Cup II in Aiguebelette, here.

Impressive International Range of Rowers at the World Rowing Cup II

In a press release the World Rowing Federation, FISA, announces a diverse field of entries for World Rowing Cup II in Aiguebelette, France, on 19-22 June, 2014. FISA writes:

Lake Aiguebelette will host nearly 700 athletes from 46 nations. Strong rowing countries like Australia and New Zealand are making the trip to Europe, as well as the United States and Canada. This means tough competition for last year’s World Cup overall winner, Great Britain.

A full schedule of racing includes Olympic, International and Para-rowing boat classes. China has entered all Olympic boat classes, with Great Britain and Germany the next biggest teams in this area. Of the five Para-rowing boat classes Poland, Ukraine and Russia have entered the most, with four boat classes each. 
 
The lightweight men’s double is the most popular boat class with 30 entries. This includes local favourites Stany Delayre and Jeremie Azou (FRA). Delayre and Azou became European Champions earlier this month, but they will face World Champions Kristoffer Brun and Are Standli (NOR) in the quest for World Cup points.
 
The women’s double sculls has created a lot of interest with Magdalena Fularczyk and Natalia Madaj (POL) looking to lead the way. Multiple World and Olympic Champion Ekaterina Karsten (BLR) is back in the boat, with Olympic and World medallist Yulia Bichyk, to form a formidable combination. Karsten, who just turned 42 years, is into her third decade of international competition.
 
Emma Twigg (NZL) won the women’s single sculls over Olympic Champion Mirka Knapkova (CZE) at the World Rowing Cup I in Sydney and the two will meet again in Aiguebelette for some high intensity racing. In the men’s single sculls, Ondrej Synek (CZE) continues to look unbeatable. Olympic Champion Mahe Drysdale (NZL) returns to international racing to challenge Synek along with top sculler Marcel Hacker (GER).

World and Olympic champions USA in the women’s eight and World Champion Great Britain in the men’s eights will add to an exciting finish to the regatta.
 
The regatta starts on the afternoon of 19 June with Para-rowing heats and continues to 22 June 2014. The heats on 20 June will be in time trials format in order to prepare all rowers for possible contingency scenarios at some point in the future. The rest of the races will follow the FISA progression system leading to the finals on 22 June.

Full entries and provisional timetable can be found at www.worldrowing.com The World Rowing media centre includes a media guide for the event (online as of yesterday, 16 June 2014) at http://www.worldrowing.com/mediacenter/

Race reports, live results, live blogging, live race tracker and a photo gallery will be available on www.worldrowing.com throughout the regatta.

2014 World Rowing Cup in Sydney

Women's 1x winner: Emma Twigg.

This past weekend, counting Friday as the first day, saw the first World Rowing Cup races for 2014. If you think it’s early in the season for a World Cup regatta, you are right. However, as the Cup was held in Sydney, Australia, the world rowing elite travelled down-under for their first meeting of the year. The racing was held during three days of ideal rowing conditions. Some of the reigning World champions found themselves knocked off the top position in some exciting races. It’s going to be interesting to see how the gold, silver and bronze medals fall at the two remaining World Cup regattas in Aiguebelette, France, between 20 and 22 June and in Lucerne, Switzerland, between 11 and 13 July. Though before the second World Cup there is the European Rowing Championships, from 30 May and 1 June in Belgrade, Serbia.



For full results in Sydney, click here.

To watch videos of the races, click here.

For a full race report, click here.

Jean-Christophe Rolland, New President of FISA in July 2014

Jean-Christophe Rolland (FRA) ©Igor Meijer/FISA

In a press release from yesterday, the International Rowing Fedaration, FISA, writes that its member federations elected Jean-Christophe Rolland of France as the future President of FISA on the first ballot at the 2013 Ordinary Congress in Chungju, South Korea. Rolland received 117 of the 179 ballots cast. The required absolute majority was 90 votes. Other candidates John Boultbee (AUS) and Tricia Smith (CAN) received 50 and 12 votes respectively.

Rolland holds a Master Degree in electrical, electronics and communications engineering and has worked for EDF, one of the world’s leading electric utility companies, since 1993. At first an engineer, then a regional Deputy Director, he was appointed the Human Resources Director of his business unit. Rolland managed EDF’s sponsorship programme with the London 2012 Olympic Games Organising Committee.

 Rolland participated in three Olympic Games, winning bronze in Atlanta and gold in Sydney. He has five World Championship medals, including two gold medals. Appointed to FISA’s Athletes Commission in 1994, Rolland served as Chair of the Commission between 2002 and 2011 and served on FISA’s Executive Committee from 2004 to 2011, at which time the FISA Council appointed him as a co-opted member.



Rolland will assume the presidency in July 2014, when the current president Denis Oswald will step down from the position. Denis Oswald, FISA president since 1989, announced earlier this year at FISA’s 2013 Extraordinary Congress that he would seek re-election but only for a transitional period of six to eight months. The FISA Council decided to stage the election of Oswald’s successor at the same Congress in order to assist the newly elected ‘president-elect’ in the transfer of knowledge and introductions to the international sports world.



The Congress also elected Tricia Smith (CAN) as Vice-President, winning 98 of a possible 178 votes. Smith was running against the incumbent Vice-President Anita DeFrantz (USA). In addition, Michael Williams (GB), the current Treasurer, was re-elected unopposed. The final elections that took place were for the three commission chairs who also serve on the Executive Committee. The Council had to wait for the outcome of the election for the President and Vice-President elections before proposing the remaining three members of the Executive Committee: Mike Tanner (HKG), John Boultbee (AUS) and Lenka Wech (GER). The delegates voted to approve the proposal. Wech, the only new member of the Executive, is the Chair of the Athletes’ Commission.



Denis Oswald, FISA president since 1989, is retiring next summer, and will be succeeded by Jean-Christophe Rolland.

At the end of the meeting, the Congress unanimously adopted a proposal of the FISA Council to name Denis Oswald ‘FISA Honorary President for Life’, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to rowing over the past 36 years.

Three World Rowing Championship regattas were attributed by the Congress with unanimous decisions: the 2017 World Rowing Championships to Sarasota, USA, 2018 World Rowing Championships to Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and the 2015 World Rowing Under-23 Championships to Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

The FISA Council also announced its decision to award the second World Rowing Cup of 2015 to Varese, Italy, and the third World Rowing Cup to Lucerne, Switzerland. Lucerne will host the second World Rowing Cup of 2016 along with the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta, and the third and final World Rowing Cup of 2016 will be held in Poznan, Poland.



Bids for the first World Rowing Cup of 2015 and 2016 had been requested from outside Europe, but following a review of the World Rowing Cup in Sydney in 2013 and 2014, it was decided that bids from within Europe should be considered, so the Council announced that these events would not be attributed at this Congress. Bidding has therefore been reopened and both events will be awarded in December 2013.

Three additional events were attributed by the FISA Council: the 2016 World Rowing Masters Regatta to Copenhagen, Denmark, the 2017 World Rowing Masters Regatta to Bled, Slovenia and the 2015 World Rowing Coastal Championships for Clubs to Lima, Peru. The latter marks the first World Rowing Championship event to be awarded to South America, and the first time that the World Rowing Coastal Championships will take place outside of Europe.



Five new national federations were admitted as members of FISA: Benin, Botswana, Mali, Saudi Arabia and St. Vincent & Grenadines. This brings the total number of FISA member federations to 142.

World Cup III Results & Ebbesen gets the Thomas Keller Medal

The World Cup III has now ended in Lucerne, Switzerland. FISA’s website offers race reports about the A- and B-finals. Read it here.

At a Saturday dinner held during the World Cup III regatta, FISA announced that rowing’s highest award, the 18-carat gold Thomas Keller Medal for 2013 was given to Eskild Ebbesen, Denmark’s most successful Danish sportsman. Read more about Ebbesen here.

Moe’s Missing Bib: Tales of Rowing World Cup II

The Great Britain men’s eight crew on the medal podium at RWC II Eton Dorney. Coxswains should really stand at the front! (Photo British Rowing)

HTBS’s Greg Denieffe reports from Eton Dorney:

Dorney Lake, Eton, has just hosted its third international rowing regatta in as many years and once again the weather has been a major talking point. World Rowing’s ‘Fairness Committee’, led by Thor Nielsen worked overtime and both Saturday’s and Sunday’s lane positions were re-drawn. There were some exciting races and some crews pushed out into the less favourable lanes exceeded expectations whilst some of those in the more sheltered lanes (lanes one and two) like Marcel Hacker and the British men’s quad, struggled. Why? Well, I think that the cross/cross-tail wind was finding its way through the access gaps from the warm-up lake and lane one wasn’t always the calmest on the course. It’s a tough decision but personally I would have preferred if they had kept the chevron system.

There were plenty of crab-catchers on finals day, with the Chinese W2x and the Great Britain W4x catching boat-stoppers in their sprints for the line. Even Ondřej Synek, gold medalist in the men’s single was guilty of catching one and that in a favourable lane in the early stages of his race.
 
The results and race reports for Sunday’s finals are on the World Rowing website.

Keen eyed spectators would have noticed that the Great Britain men’s eight who took the gold medal from Poland in the final 100m were not all wearing their yellow bibs as World Cup leaders in their row-past after collecting their medals.

The GB men’s eight on their victory row after the final race of the World Cup Regatta on Dorney Lake. Moe Sbihi in the ‘5’ seat.

Moe Sbihi, the tall (6 ft. 8 inch) powerhouse in the five-seat, was missing his after handing it to a lucky spectator. As usual, I watched the racing from the 1,750m mark and after the last race of the day I thought it would be a good idea to see what the view from the grand-stand was like. The presentation for the men’s eights had just finished and Moe walked past on his way to see his family. On his way back to the pontoon for the traditional row up the course for the medallists to be acknowledged by the spectators he kindly handed his bib to my daughters; a very kind gesture that they won’t forget. In truth, even the large bib came up a bit short on him (2nd left back row, picture on top) and Pete Reed (bottom right)!

One size fits all? Hannah wearing her World Cup leader’s bib.

So, what crews caught my eye? The New Zealand men’s pair was phenomenal, again! They took five seconds out of the rest of the crews in each of the splits from 500m to the finish setting a new World Cup best time of 6 min 16.01 sec. The Croatian men’s quad beat the German Olympic champions in magnificent style and bossed the last 500m with power and precision that was a joy to watch.

Race of the day was the men’s lightweight-four final between Denmark and New Zealand. New Zealand led by 0.29 at 500m, 0.20 at 1,000m and 0.90 at 1,500m and then the Danes started their charge but fell just short by 0.04.

Eric Murray and Hamish Bond (NZ M2-) with their gold medals – The best crew in the world, now or ever?

The final World Cup regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, is less than three weeks away and it should be the regatta of the year. With the World Championships at the end of August in faraway Chungju, South Korea, only crews that step up at Lucerne can expect to be sent. But before that we have Henley Royal Regatta to look forward to and it is nice to see such a high calibre entry in the Diamond Sculls. Olympic champion Mahe Drysdale (NZL) races in this weekend’s Holland Beker in Amsterdam and is joined in the Diamonds by Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers School and GBR) and Geordi Bozhilov (Nacional Sport Akademi and BUL), silver and bronze medallists at Eton Dorney.

World Cup II - Results

Emma Twigg took gold in the single sculls at the World Cup II. Photo Rowing New Zealand.

The World Cup II races at Eton Dorney have now ended with New Zealand topping the medal list. World Rowing website has already posted race reports and result lists. Read them here. You can watch the races here. (I am not sure that you are able to watch the races depending upon where you are located in the world.)

FISA World Cup II at Eton Dorney (Day 1 + 2)

Photo: Dorney Lake website.

How did it go yesterday at FISA World Cup II at Eton Dorney? Read Rachel Quarrell's report in the Daily Telegraph here (it has a easy-read result list, too). Of course, FISA's correspondent wrote reports, which you can read here (going to this page, click around on the different links to get all the race reports. Remember, the renown English weather has forced the organisers to mess around with the race schedule). HTBS's good friend Bryan Kitch had an interesting take on the World Cup II yesterday on his RR - absolutely worth a read, here.

Update 1: Sunday start list here (as a PDF).

Update 2: Rachel Quarrell on Tom Aggar, here.

Today is Dorney Day!

Today, the second round of FISA's World Cup starts at Eton Dorney in England. Among the forty nations that will compete today and this weekend, many took medals at the 2012 Olympic rowing regatta at Dorney Lake, or at the first round of the World Cup regatta in Sydney earlier this summer, or only a couple of weeks ago at the European Championships in Sevilla. Strangely, no women's eights have signed up for this second Cup at Dorney.

FISA's World Rowing website posted an article about who to watch. Read it here. All around the web, you will find rowing experts giving you their view on whom is going to medal at Eton Dorney. HTBS has decided to stay out of trying to stare into the crystal ball. We would, however, like to express that we think it is unfortunate that Women's Henley is arranged at the same weekend...

Tickets for U.K. World Cup Selling Fast!

Photo: British Rowing.

British Rowing writes on their website:

Organisers of the Samsung World Rowing Cup at Eton Dorney next month say that tickets are selling fast. They hope that anyone interested in seeing some world-class sport at one of 2012’s iconic venues will think about signing up quickly for the event from June 21-23.

Pre-purchase tickets for Sunday 23 are almost sold out with a few hundred remaining and there will only be a limited number available on the door on that day. So then attention is turning to “Super-Semi-Saturday” when crowds will be able to see their 2012 heroes and the stars of tomorrow in semi-finals in all events plus seven finals.
 
“It has been a privilege to see how much interest there is in the event”, said Ben Hunt Davis, himself a Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medallist who is Chairman of the Organising Committee. “We are nearing a sell-out on pre-sales tickets for the Sunday, but my experience of World Cup regattas is that semi-finals on Saturday can have some of the fiercest and tensest of racing as crews battle to take one of only six slots in the final”.

The spectators will be able to watch the action from start to finish on a big screen – a first for a World Cup in the UK. There will be food outlets offering street-food style cuisine and a range of retail outlets. The organisers have also made space available along the bank for spectators to picnic. British Rowing will run a “sport experience” area where spectators can have a taste of rowing first-hand and see how close they can get to the “gold standard” for their age and gender. The GB Rowing Team members who shone at Eton Dorney last summer at the Olympics have already talked of their excitement at competing there once more and reliving the memories.

Men’s four gold medallist Pete Reed summed up the excitement of returning when he said:  “The World Cup at Eton Dorney will rekindle the Olympic fire we all felt there last summer. The venue is stunning, great for our sport and should continue to inspire our talent of tomorrow”.

Reed’s Olympic gold medal counterparts Andrew Triggs Hodge, Alex Gregory and Helen Glover are all back in full training and will be raring to go in front of the home crowd alongside a host of GB’s silver and bronze medallists from the Games.

Racing will open with heats and Repechages on Friday before moving to semi-finals and finals on Saturday and World Cup finals on Sunday. On Friday any school wishing to attend can benefit from a ticket deal that offers two free adult tickets for every ten child tickets purchased. The aim is to inspire the next generation.

On-line ticket sales are available here.

Spectators can also purchase tickets over the phone through the Royal Windsor Information Centre by calling 01753 743915.

World Cup (1) Races in Sydney

Kim Crow (AUS). Photo: Worldrowing.com

FISA has now posted videos of the final races at the Samsung World Cup (1) in Sydney. Watch the races here.

Clean Sweep for Oxford

Photo: www.theboatrace.org

Despite bad weather, the Henley Boat Races were held this past Saturday, but not on the usual Henley Course. Instead, the races had been moved to Dorney Lake as mentioned before by Tim Koch. The whole affair – four races – ended with a clean sweep for Oxford. Read the report on The Boat Race website here, and the article by Rachel Quarrell of the Daily Telegraph, here. Quarrell also has a little sprinkle of news from this year’s first World Cup regatta in Sydney, Australia.

A more detailed report from Tim Koch will follow.

Champions Rowing in Australia for their State of Origin

HTBS’s Louis Petrin, who volunteered during last week’s regatta, is here seen holding the most prestigious regatta trophy, the King’s Cup.

Whilst rowing in the UK has been affected by some severe weather conditions, rowing in Sydney, Australia, has had temperatures around 30°C (86°F).

The past seven days has seen a feast of rowing events and records made at the National Championships, the Interstate Regatta, Schoolboy and Schoolgirl Championships and the Samsung World Cup.

A great summary on these events can be found on this website.

Probably of more interest to HTBS followers will be the trophies presented to winning crews for the various Interstate events. These are simply races between crews made up of rowers from the seven of the states and territory of Australia.

Some pictures of the various Interstate trophies:

Interstate Regatta Trophies

Women’s Single Scull - The Nell Slatter Trophy
The Queensland Women’s Rowing Association donated the perpetual trophy in 1963 for as a tribute to the then Queensland President Nell Slatter.

Nell Slatter Trophy

Men’s Single Scull – The President’s Cup
Mr E.C. Watchorn, the first President of the Australian Amateur Rowing Council, donated the President’s Cup as the perpetual trophy in 1926.

President’s Cup

Women’s Lightweight Four/Quadruple Scull – The Victoria Cup
The Victorian Ladies’ Rowing Association presented this perpetual trophy in 1968.

Victoria Cup

Men’s Lightweight Coxless Four  - The Penrith Cup
The Penrith City Council provided this perpetual trophy in 1958.

Penrith Cup

Women’s Youth Four/Eight – The Bicentennial Cup
Presented by the New South Wales Rowing Association in 1988 for winning Coxed Four crews and changed to being presented to winning Eights in 1994.

Bicentennial Cup

Men’s Youth Eight – The Noel F Wilkinson Trophy
Donated by Noel Wilkinson, a long serving Treasurer of the Australian Rowing Council, in 1974.

The Noel F Wilkinson Trophy

Women’s Eight – The Queen Elizabeth II Trophy, formerly known as the ULVA Trophy
The United Licensed Victuallers Association (ULVA) of Queensland presented this unique trophy in 1921 for the winning Women’s Four. It changed to being presented to the winning Eights in 1999 and its name became the Queen Elizabeth II Trophy, or simply the Queen’s Cup. Its nickname is Bertha and is my favourite trophy of all.

Queen’s Cup

Men’s Eight – The King’s Gold Cup
In 1878, the first race between Eights from Victoria and New South Wales took place. From 1921, crews raced for the King’s Gold Cup. This cup was won by the Australian Imperial Expeditionary Force eight at the Royal Henley Peace Regatta at Henley-on-Thames in July 1919. The trophy was a substitution for the Grand Challenge Cup race for that year which was not raced due to the war.

King’s Cup

Queen’s & King’s Cup together

My good friend Barry Moynahan led a working group to commemorate the King’s Cup. It was installed at the SIRC course at Penrith and unveiled at a moving ceremony on Sunday, 17 February during the 2013 New South Wales Rowing Championships.

King’s Cup Commemorative Plaque

2013 Sydney International Rowing Regatta

Dawn at the Sydney International Rowing Centre, Penrith – Finish Tower on left.

HTBS’s Louis Petrin writes from Australia,

More than 2,000 competitors will take part in 110 events at the Sydney International Rowing Regatta – a meet that includes the 2013 Australian Open Rowing Championships, the Australian Open Schools Rowing Championships, the King’s Cup and the Queen’s Cup.

This week, 18 to 24 March, has seen some fine rowing in Sydney at the SIRC rowing course in Penrith, the course used for the 2000 Olympics, and continues until Sunday, 24 March.

Chatting to our overseas visitors from USA and U.K., they all comment on how wonderful to have temperatures of 27°C (81°F) with no wind – just perfect for a rowing regatta. We have visitors from other countries, too, such as New Zealand, Canada, Hong Kong, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Portugal, Hungary, Germany, Estonia, France and China.

Samsung World Rowing Cup
This year, the regatta is unique as it incorporates for the first time here in Samsung World Rowing Cup (round 1), the fifth time a global rowing event has been held in Australia. The events will be held from 22-24 March.

Live video streaming of the finals at no charge can viewed at www.worldrowing.com beginning this weekend (22-24 March). USRowing has entered a team of eight crews for this opening regatta of the 2013 international season, including six Olympic medallists. Great Britain, which topped the medal ranks at the 2012 London Olympics, will line up at the 2000 Olympic Games course with a record number of nine Olympic medallists, including five London gold medallists.

Other events to be rowed are the national Australian Rowing Championships (18-22 March), Kings and Queens Cups Interstate Regatta (23 March) and the Australian Open Schools Rowing Championships (22-24 March).

Australian Rowing Championships
The Australian Rowing Championships is an annual rowing event that determines Australia’s national rowing champions and guides the selection of Australian representative crews for World Championships and the Olympic Games. It is Australia’s premier regatta, with states, clubs and schools sending their best crews. The Championships commence with the National Regatta – men’s, women’s and lightweight events in open, under 23, under 19, under 17 and school age categories. Rowers at the National Regatta race in their local club colours with composite crews permitted.

The first proposal for a National Championship was submitted by NSW rowing association at the Australian Amateur Rowing Council meeting in 1946 and it failed to gain support outside NSW. Kevyn Webb of NSW was the driving force behind these proposals, being presented at each of the Council meetings up to 1960. That’s the persistence of a rower!

Kevyn Webb sculling in 1960.

(photo from www.rowinghistory-aus.info/national-championships/index.html)

Finally, a report was tabled at the 1961 Australian Rowing Council meeting prepared by Webb and the six States voted unanimously to hold the first National Championship Regatta on Lake Wendouree at Ballarat, in 1962. The National Championships became an annual event in 1974.

The Australian Women’s Rowing Council conducted their first National Championships events in 1968 and thereafter conducted the event annually. The men’s and women’s associations merged in 1979 but jointly conducted their Championships from 1976.
The Championships traditionally conclude with the Kings and Queens Cups Interstate Regatta – currently six events competed by state representative crews or scullers selected by the state rowing associations.

The King’s Cup – Interstate Men’s Eight
The King’s Cup is one of the most anticipated events in the Australian rowing calendar, and is competed for during the annual Interstate Regatta. With a history that dates back to the late 19th century, interstate rowing boasts some of the oldest and fiercest rivalries in Australian Sport. Rowers compete for their state in eight crews, men’s and women’s open and under 21 eights, single sculls and quad and four.

Victoria and New South Wales commenced inter-colonial racing in eight-oared boats in 1878 when the Victorian Rowing Association invited New South Wales oarsmen from the Sydney and the Mercantile clubs to boat crews for a race on the lower Yarra River over about four miles, with Victoria winning by two lengths.

Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania all showed an interest in entering crews from the mid-1880s but disagreements over definitions of amateur status resulted in inconsistencies in eligibility criteria in the early decades. New South Wales held firm to a view that not just professional sportsmen and those employed around boats would be deemed non-amateurs but also all manual labourers. Such debates were common around the world at this time and continued for quite a few years. The other states had relaxed this view by 1899.

Queensland and Tasmania first entered crews in 1885 and then Queensland raced regularly from 1890. From 1899 South Australia were racing annually. Following Federation the race became the interstate eight-oared championship with Tasmania and West Australia boating crews regularly by 1906.

However, since 1921 the crews have competed for the King’s Cup. The trophy had been won by an AIF crew at the Royal Peace Regatta held in London in 1919 following the cessation of hostilities at the end of WWI and was presented to the victorious eight-oared boat by King George V. In time, and in against dogged resistance from the Australian War Memorial, the Victorian Rowing Association petitioned the King to express his intention for the Cup, and at his command it became the perennial trophy to be presented to the winning state representative men’s eight at the annual Australian Rowing Championships.

King’s Cup

This year, the NSW crew will be stroked Dan Noonan crew as they try to set a new record of “six in a row” for NSW in this event.

The Queen Elizabeth II Cup – Interstate Women’s Eight
The result of the first Interstate Women’s Four Championship in 1920 was a win for South Australia. The next year, the United Licensed Victuallers Association (ULVA) of Queensland presented a unique sterling silver trophy to the Australian Women’s Rowing Council. The trophy was crafted by London silversmiths to depict Dorothy Arnold, the petite girl from Mannum who stroked the winning crew for South Australia. She is holding her oar and dressed in the rowing garb of her time, namely a floppy hat, sailor top and billowing bloomers.

Dorothy Arnold holding the trophy modeled on her at the time of winning the first race.

Up until 1998 the largest crewed boat was Fours. In 1999 the women’s interstate race was changed to an event for Eights with the ULVA trophy becoming the Queen Elizabeth II Trophy, or simply the Queen’s Cup, as the prize.

Australian Open School Rowing Championships
The events rowed include single sculls, coxed Fours, coxed Quadruples and Eights. This event has attracted international interest and successful overseas crews will come from Great Britain, the USA, Ireland and Italy.

Gavirate, South Africa’s St. Stithians College, Ireland’s St Joseph’s Galway College and British Abingdon School who will bring their National Champion schoolboy’s Eight, will take on the best Australian crews in the national schoolboy’s Eight. From the U.S., Saratoga, NY, has brought over their girls’ Eight, having won the prestigious Head of the Charles race in October. They will join Italian school Gavirate to contest the National schoolgirls’ Eight.

World Cup Rowing In Lucerne

Today the third and final round of FISA World Cup rowing was held, now in Lucerne, Switzerland. On FISA’s web site you will find all the finals on video. Go to World Rowing Live by clicking here.

World Cup Madness

Soon it is time for the FISA World Cup in Lucerne. Follow the World Cup madness by reading Esther Lofgren's blog Lucerne Rowing World Cup 2010. Lofgren, who is a four-time US national team member, has some nice photographs to share.

World Cup Rowing In Munich

Yesterday was the second round of FISA World Cup rowing, now in Munich, Germany. On FISA's web site you will find all the finals on video. Go to World Rowing Live by clicking here.

World Cup Rowing In Bled

If you missed the first World Cup rowing in Bled in Slovenia last Sunday, on 30 May, FISA’s web site has all the finals on video - free to watch! Go to World Rowing Live by clicking here.