Results from this Weekend's Regattas

European Champions in the women's pair: Helen Glover and Polly Swann of Great Britain. Photo: British Rowing.

This weekend saw some interesting regattas on both sides of the pond, which we mentioned yesterday. In the U.S., it was the NCAA and the IRA. In Europe, it was the European Championships and the Scottish Championships and the Scottish Schools’ Championships. South of Scotland, Tim Koch reminded us about Eights’ Week in Oxford and Bryan Kitch of RowingRelated about the Metropolitan Regatta at Dorney. Tim promised us a report from Eights’ Week later on, while results from the other mentioned regattas will be found below (posting this Sunday evening, some results have not yet been posted, but hopefully they will be up very soon):

NACC
IRA
Scottish Championships
Scottish Schools’ Championships
Met Regatta
European Championships

All these Rowing Events this Weekend...

Photo: Ohio State.

This weekend sees some interesting regattas on both sides of the pond. In the U.S., it’s the NCAA in Indianapolis and the IRA on Lake Mercer. Bryan Kitch of RowingRelated has picked his ‘Crews to Watch’ at these championships in a well-written piece here, while you will find USRowing’s take on these two regattas here. Today is also when the National Rowing Foundation is inducting new members into the NRF’s Rowing Hall of Fame, which will happen at the Princeton Marriott at Forrestal. Read more here.

In Europe, the European Championships are underway in Belgrade, Serbia, which you can read about here. This weekend it’s also the Scottish Championships and the Scottish Schools’ Championships at Strathclyde Country Park. You will get more info here. If you are interested in finding out how this year’s Nat Schools Regatta went in Nottingham, England, then read what British Rowing wrote about the regatta on their website, here.

European Championships Starts Today!

He's back!

Norwegian sculler Olaf Tufte is back! The legendary sculler will race in the single sculls again, now at the European Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, which start today. Will he be able to rise to the challenge as the reigning World Champion Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic has been king in this boat class for the last four years?

Worldrowing.com has posted an article about whom to watch for at these championships. Read about the rowers on FISA’s new, spiffy website, which is much better than the previous one (we think).

You will find the article here.

Record entries for 2014 European Rowing Championships

In a press release from Thursday, the International Rowing Federation, FISA, writes about the upcoming European Championships, which start on 30 May:

A record 36 nations will take part in the 2014 European Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia with 659 competitors entered to race. This large number of entries has been aided by the European Championships being changed to an early-season date in the calendar rather than its previous position at the very end of the rowing season. Last year May was tested and it proved to be popular.

Three countries – Germany, Italy and the Netherlands – are sending a full 17-boat team with Great Britain sending 16 crews followed by Russia and the Czech Republic each with 15 crews.

Germany topped the medals table in 2013 scoring nine medals. Italy followed in second and the Czech Republic was third. Germany will face stiff competition from Great Britain this year with the British sending a much more complete team than in previous years. One of the most anticipated races will be the men’s eight with the German Olympic Champions facing the British World Champions. This is the first time for these two crews have faced each other since last yea’'s World Rowing Championships in Chungju (KOR).

This regatta will mark the return of single sculling legend Olaf Tufte of Norway. The two-time Olympic Champion in the men’s single sculls took a break from racing after finishing ninth at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Tufte will have a tough challenge when he comes up against World Champion Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic and 2013 World Championship bronze medallist Marcel Hacker of Germany.

Laura Milani and Elisabetta Sancassani of Italy are favourites in the lightweight women’s double sculls as they come to this regatta as defending World Champions. Olympic Champion in the double, Katherine Copeland of Great Britain has returned to racing and is making her post-London debut with Imogen Walsh. Together they are likely to challenge the Italians.

Racing will take place on Belgrade’s Sava Lake and the Serbian Rowing Federation has reported that despite the recent flooding in Serbia, the European Rowing Championships are going ahead as planned. Secretary General of the Serbian Rowing Federation Nebojsa Jevremovic stated, “The water level of the Sava River which surrounds the venue is at the usual level for this time of year and does not present a threat. With this in mind, the safety of all of the participants and spectators of the 2014 European Rowing Championships in Belgrade is assured.”

The European Rowing Championships was reinstated in 2007 and is open to the 43 European national rowing federations, including Israel. There are 17 boat classes (14 Olympic events plus three International events).

The 2014 European Rowing Championships goes from 30 May to 1 June 2014. Full entries, provisional timetable, race reports, live results, live blogging, live race tracker and a photo gallery will be available on www.worldrowing.com throughout the regatta.

The Italians at the 1937 European Championships

The 15 August 1937 at Bosbaan: the winning Italian eight at the prize dock. Alberto Bonciani, Ottorino Quaglierini, Enzo Bartolini, Dante Sechhi, Mario Checcacci, Giovanni Persico, Oreste Grossi, Enrico Garzelli (stroke), Cesare Milani (cox). Garzelli, the stroke, is looking away from the camera while the crew is doing the fascist salute.

On 8 November, HTBS posted an entry about the Italian oarsman Francesco ‘Checchin’ Pittaluga (on the right), who in October celebrated his 100th birthday. ‘Checchin’ is the last surviving of the oarsmen who competed at the Berlin Games in 1936 – his coxless four took a fourth place. He took a silver medal at the 1938 European Championships in the coxless four in Milan. One source that I found also claimed that he rowed in the coxed four that took a bronze at the 1937 European Championships which were held at Bosbaan, Amsterdam. I have had a hard time establishing if this was true as old result lists normally only have the names of the winners.

Then the other day I received an interesting e-mail from Johan ten Berg, a Dutch rowing historian, who has come to HTBS's help several times before. In his e-mail Johan wrote that he had published the above photograph of the Italian eight, who became European champions in 1937, in the Dutch rowing magazine Roeien. In a Dutch newspaper (see below), Johan had found that ‘Checchin’ had been called in from Italy to row in the bow seat in the coxed four when the original bow man, Milan Bussani, had had an accident after a training outing on Bosbaan, crushing his middle finger. The Italian crew crossed the finish line as the third boat, claiming the bronze medal – on the top of the page in the newspaper from 16 August, 1937, is a picture from the coxed fours race, showing ‘Checchin’ in the bow seat.

(Click on the image above to enlarge it!)

Many thanks to Johan for sharing the information about the 1937 European Championships in Amsterdam.

“Checchin” - The Last of the 1936 Rowing Olympians, Just Turned 100 Years Old

This photograph shows “Checchin”, who last month turned 100 years old. He is the last of the 1936 rowing Olympians who is still alive (“Checchin” is the handsome-looking fellow on the right).

The other day, I received a kind e-mail from Cesare Sorio of Connecticut. He wrote that he had enjoyed reading my review of Daniel James Brown’s book The Boys in the Boat, an article which I had published in the Mystic Seaport Magazine. Cesare then continues to write: ‘Last month I was back to my native Italy, visiting family and friends and, together with my brother, Pino, had the good luck and pleasure of attending the 100th birthday party for our old rowing coach that was being held at the indoor training facilities of the Rowing Club Argus in Santa Margherita Ligure, near Genoa.’

Who then is this 100-year-old rowing coach, you might wonder? Cesare writes: ‘The name of our old coach and friend is Francesco Pittaluga (nickname “Checchin”) and he is the only rowing Olympian still alive from the 1936 Berlin Games where he rowed in the Four without Coxswain.’

The always reliable Greg Denieffe found some information about Checchin’s party on Tuttolevante’s website. Under the headline “The Argus Rowing Club celebrated the centenary of Checchin“ the article states there was a big party at the Argus Rowing Club of Santa Margherita, in Costa Domitius, for the centenary of Checchin, the dean of Italian rowing, who is now an honorary member of the rowing club. One hundred fifty people attended the party, including the mayor of the town, Roberto De Marchi, who gave Checchin a beautiful plaque. The ‘birthday boy’ was only supposed to have stayed for a short while, but enjoyed himself so much, he stayed for a couple of hours. Read the whole article here (in Italian).

Francesco Pittaluga, Checchin, sitting in the center, with a plaque which was given to him by the mayor of Santa Margherita.

Taking a look at Checchin’s rowing career, his four took a fourth place in the Berlin Games after Germany (gold), Great Britain (silver) and Switzerland (bronze). Checcin rowed in the four with his uncle, Antonio Ghiardello, and his cousin, Louis Luxardo, and Aldo Pellizzoni. Two years later, at the 1938 European Championships in Milan, Checcin rowed in the Italian crew who took a silver in the four without/coxless four. Other members in the crew were, Luigi Luscardo, Gaetano Petrucci and Agostino Massa. (Some sources say that Checchin also took a bronze medal at the 1937 European Championships at Bosbaan in Amsterdam, but then it must have been in the coxed four as Italy did not have a crew in the coxless four at these championships. I am afraid I have not been able to track down the names of the medallists in the Italian bronze four.) After the Second World War, Checchin returned to Argus to pass on his passion for rowing to the younger generation as the club’s coach.

You will find more information about Checchin here (in Italian).

HTBS would like to send Mr. Francesco Pittaluga, “Checchin”, our warmest belated congratulations on his 100th birthday and at the same time thank Cesare for sharing the information about the last surviving rowing Olympian from the Berlin Games. Thank you also to Greg!

Results European Rowing Championships

Here are the results from today's B-finals and A-finals of the European Championships in Sevilla, Spain.

European Championships in Sevilla, Spain

The 2013 European Championships, held at Sevilla, Spain, are only a couple of days away. The course officially opened this morning at 7:00 a.m. local time, and the first heat starts on Friday, 31 May, at 9:00 a.m. B-Finals and A-Finals are on Sunday. Read more about the European Championships here.

If you are interested in the results from the Junior European Championships held in Minsk, Belarus, you will find them here.

Euro Open - Indoor Rowing Championship 2013

On 26-27 January, the ‘Euro Open’, the European Indoor Rowing Championship, will be held in Essen-Kettwig, Germany. This is the second time the Euro Open is organised in Kettwig, which is a suburb to Essen. The organisers write on FISA’s World Rowing website: ‘The event will take place in the coliseum of THG School, which has been the venue of Germany’s number one indoor rowing event, the “NWRV Indoor-Cup”, for many years now.’ They continue to say, ‘Besides this very special sports event there are more reasons to come to this town in the Ruhr Area (“Ruhrgebiet”), wich has a large cultural diversity and is well worth a visit.’

To get more information about this competition, culture programmes, accommodations and information for spectators, etc, please click here.

The 2012 European Championships have Ended

Photo: Claudio Cecchin. (Photo not from this year.)

The European Championships ended yesterday with a record number of 36 nations taking part. The host nation Italy took most of the medals to the delight of the 10.000 spectators, FISA reports on its website. Read the press release here.

Here are the results.

2012 European Championships Start Today!

 Photo: Claudio Cecchin/FISA

Today the 2012 European Championships begin in Varese, Italy. There is a record number of nations competing, 36, and FISA has posted a press release about whom we should watch during these championships. On FISA’s website it says:

Watch out for a huge representation at the beautiful Varese rowing venue in Italy for the 2012 European Championships.

A record 36 nations from throughout Europe are getting ready to race from 14 to 16 September. They will race in the 14 Olympic boat classes with a stack of London Olympians, including some of the medallists, lining up. Read on for who you should watch out for at this exciting European Championship regatta. To read the press release click here.