Rowing News

The ‘Red Express’ of Matt Wells and Marcus Bateman charged down Lake Bled in Slovenia to win world cup men's double scull gold ahead of their compatriots, Reading’s Sam Townsend and Bill Lucas in a first one-two for Britain in men's sculling since the rowing world cup began in the nineties.

"We're both red-heads so it's a fiery combination and to be part of such a great British success was an emotional moment for me" said Leander’s Wells , who won a bronze medal in this event at the Beijing Olympics.

"We've all come from the world class start programme" added Bateman. "We've come from the same place and we had the same dreams. So it's awesome to come out and dominate at this level".

Their gold medal was part of a nine-gold, six-silver and one-bronze medal haul for the GB Rowing Team.

Leander’s Anna Watkins and her Marlow partner Katherine Grainger were also stand-out winners taking double gold with victories in the women's double and quadruple scull just over an hour apart - beating the reigning world champions from the Ukraine in the latter event.

Watkins and Grainger, both experienced Olympic medallists in their own right, were a new-look GB double scull in Bled, where they took early advantage in their final and were more five seconds ahead of their nearest rivals, the USA, at halfway. Holding that advantage into the final phase both China and the USA challenged hard but the British duo held on to win.

Watkins and Grainger later returned to action for GB in the women's quadruple scull alongside Beth Rodford and Annabel Vernon. As the finish line approached the British quartet powered on and in a strong finish won smoothly in 6:26.65 to give Watkins and Grainger their second gold of the day.

"I'm really proud of this medal", said Watkins. "I think we earned it. We knew we had to make improvements over the weekend to get it and we did. There was real commitment and drive in the crew especially at the 500m mark when we knew everyone was much of a muchness".

There was another women’s gold medal for the eight which included Leander’s Jo Cook, Lou Reeve and Vicky Thornley. At the 1000m halfway mark Britain led narrowly from the Dutch with China threatening in third place at halfway. As the finish approached GB clung to its small lead as the Chinese boat surged through and the Netherlands tried to fight back. The British crew took victory by just under half a length.

"We knew we were potentially fast but you don't really know until you race", said a clearly delighted Vicky Thornley.

Cook added: "We had loads of confidence in our crew as we have done a lot of good training but this is a beginning and we have a long way to go".

Matt Langridge, Alex Gregory, Ric Egington and Alex Partridge wanted to stamp their authority onto their final and made their move just before 500m, where they had a second lead over Serbia. Powering smoothly ahead they tried to stretch that lead but the Serbs began to claw back the deficit. Urged on by the strong British element in the crowd, the Leander four dug deep, moved up a gear, and held onto win with Serbia second and Canada third.

"We still want to get to where we were last year and I don't think we're quite there yet. But this was a good step" said Langridge.

"Mark could not be here this weekend but having a coach like Jurgen Grobler, one of the best in the world, was not a bad stand-in", he added wryly.

"It's a beautiful venue but the conditions on the water are difficult. We haven't been in the boat very much yet this season and we did enough to win today" said Leander captain Egington.

Gregory added: "It's a good start to the season. We are not at the standard we were at the end of last year but we can make lots of improvements".

But there was disappointment for Leander’s Pete Reed and his Molesey partner Andy Triggs-Hodge, who were beaten for the seventh time in the last twelve months by the New Zealanders Hamish Bond and Eric Murray in the men’s pairs.

The two Greek pairs led the field to halfway, where the Kiwi crew suddenly surged forward and tried to drop the British, who were suddenly a length down with 500m to go. But a final sprint from the British brought them tantalising close, as New Zealand crossed the line just a canvas ahead, while Greece finished third.

"Our time will come", said Reed afterwards. "We need to go away and work on our technique in rough water but we made a big step up today".

Reed had just over two hours to recover before subbing in to the men’s eight in place of an injured Tom Wilkinson. The crew included 1992 Olympic champion Greg Searle who is returning to the sport after a ten-year break, aged 38, and were always confident of victory despite strong Dutch and Polish opposition.

"I'm exhausted", said Reed, "but such credit must go to this crew. There a lot of young guys who are not experienced and they have an exciting future ahead and were strong and committed today. It was great rowing with them".

The GB lightweight men's four not only included three Leander men - Richard Chambers, Paul Mattick and Chris Bartley, together with London’s Rob Williams – but it was also coached by Leander’s Rob Morgan ,who recently moved to Caversham to take up a role within the GB set-up.

By the 1500m mark the British four had moved briefly into the lead ahead of Denmark, but as the tempo picked up for the line the Danes moved ahead and took the gold medal just 1.4secs ahead of silver for GB, with Italy third, marginally ahead of fourth-placed Switzerland.

"It's good have a lightweight men's four back in the medals. We train to win gold and when you don't it's disappointing but this is a good start for us as a crew" said Chambers afterwards.

"In the grand plan we now know where we are relative to the others" added Mattick.

There were some notable absentees from Bled, including most of the German squad as well as the Australians but their success in Slovenia will have given the GB rowers the best possible start to their 2010 season.

18 May 10: The Leander world champion men's four remains unchanged at the start of the international regatta season, which kicks off in Slovenia in just ten days time.

Alex Gregory, Alex Partridge, Matt Langridge and Leander captain Rick Egington are coached by Leander Director of Rowing Mark Banks and proved unbeatable when they stormed across the finish to take the gold medal last year in Poland.

The winter training schedule may have taken its toll on other members of the men's heavyweight squad. But the four have come through unscathed to earn their place as the flagship men's sweep boat when they compete on the picturesque lake at Bled, the venue for the 2011 world championships.

"We try not to look back too hard at what we did last year in Poland because this is a new year" said Egington.

"Our big aim is to retain the world title, but there's been no point where any of us can relax - it's been a real fight for us all to retain our places, and that has pushed us on. Now we can start to race the opposition and not each other" said Langridge.

The four will be part of 22 Leander athletes who have been named to compete at Bled, where they will comprise one third of the total GB squad.

Pete Reed and Andy Triggs-Hodge remain together in the men's pair, the event in which they were beaten into second place three times last season by the New Zealanders who became world champions in Poland.

Olympic gold medallist Reed admitted enjoying his first international season in the pair, despite the obvious disappointment of his defeat.

"We've had a full season's training together despite the winter weather, so I'm looking forward to it and I'm enjoying it" he said.

In the lead women's boat Leander's Anna Watkins has been selected to compete in the double scull with Marlow's Katharine Grainger, the most successful British women's rower in history. The duo will also double up in the women's quad event in which Grainger won Olympic silver in Beijing.

After some blistering performances in the winter trials Leander's Marcus Bateman takes a step up from the quad to compete in the men's double with his clubmate, Olympic bronze medallist Matt Wells.

But there was disappointment for Leander's Mark Hunter who partnered Marlow's Zac Purchase to become Olympic champion in the lightweight men's double. A recent back sprain has put him out of contention for Bled, where Purchase will race the single, while Hunter hopes to be fully fit for the second regatta of the series at Munich in one month's time.

Many crews announced for Slovenia will be testing the likely competition for the rest of the season, an aim which was undermined this time last year, when the competition proved a little thin for the season's opening regatta.

But British international performance director David Tanner said he was expecting some tough competition in Bled.

"It's going to be a very strong field as nations familiarise themselves with the venue in advance of next year's Olympic qualification regatta" he said.

ENDS