EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Poznan, Poland

21 -23 September 2007

Report by

Leander Press Officer Robert Treharne Jones

23 September: Leander's Jo Cook and Vicky Myers marked their international debuts with bronze medals as members of the GB women's eight at the European Championships in Poland. Great Britain were only a second down on second-placed Germany at the 500m mark and while Romania led the race throughout to take gold with Germany in second, the British girls held off Belarus to take bronze.

But the men's eight, stroked by Leander's Tommy Burton with his clubmates Tom Wilkinson and Nick Clark on board, could manage only fifth place in their straight final. The race was led from start to finish by the Czech Republic with Poland in second place, but Roumania faded after early promise, to be beaten by the British in the last 500m.

Earlier in the day Mathilde Pauls and Sophie Hosking placed fourth in the lightweight women's double scull while Adam Freeman-Pask and Alasdair Leighton- Crawford worked their way up through the field to win their B Final ahead of Denmark and Norway.

GB CREWS and RESULTS in POZNAN

(Non-Leander athletes in italics)

Grid numbers represent position in each round, >>>> indicates progression to next round

22 September: The British lightweight women's double of Mathilde Pauls and Sophie Hosking finished second in this morning's repechage to claim a place in tomorrow's A final. With the Italians Erika Bello and Laura Milani setting the early pace the British girls hung on to the vital second position, leaving Hungary and Denmark fighting it out for third. The Danes won that battle but could never get ahead of GB who qualified in second place behind Italy.

It was a different story for Adam Freeman-Pask and Alasdair Leighton-Crawford in the semifinals of the men's lightweight double. They struggled against a field packed with seasoned campaigners such as Hirling and Varga, the Hungarians who won the B final in Munich three weeks ago. Hungary crossed the line first, followed by the Czech Republic and Belarus, who progressed to the A final while the British double finished in fifth place.

21 September: The low entry in the eights events at Poznan has meant that all five Leander athletes in Poland have progressed direct to Sunday's finals. In today's races for lanes the women's eight finished in third place and the men's crew fourth - in Sunday's draw each crew will occupy either lane 2 or 5 in the A final, while the two fastest qualifiers will take the favoured centre lanes 3 and 4.

In the women's eights heats Roumania, capitalising on their long tradition in the event, made all the running with Germany marginally ahead of Great Britain for second and third, and Belarus coming from behind to lead the trailing pack in fourth. In the men 's event it was the Czech Republic who proved unstoppable at the head of the field, winning by some three seconds clear of second-placed Poland, while Ukraine squeezed home less than a second clear of Great Britain for third place.

Britain needed to finish in the first three in their heat of the lightweight men's doubles to make it direct to the semifinals and duly completed their task, crossing the line behind Hungary and Germany. In the women's event only the first crew qualified for the A final, with the honours going to Poland, who finished more than four seconds ahead of the British duo, who will now compete in tomorrow's repechages.

13 September: Five Leander athletes have been selected among the GB squad of four crews travelling to next week's revived European Championships in Poland.

Tom Wilkinson, who won the Visitors' at Henley before bringing home a bronze medal from the men's pairs at the World Under-23s in Strathclyde, has been selected for the men's eight, as have Nick Clark and Tommy Burton. The women's eight includes two more Leander athletes - Vicky Myers, who stroked the GB women's four to fourth place at the recent world championships in Munich, will again stroke the Poznan line-up which also includes Jo Cook at bow.

Last held in 1973 the Europeans have been resurrected after lobbying from nations of the former Eastern bloc, for whom the staging of these championships means the generation of significant extra government funding for their rowing programmes. As a result the entry of 426 athletes from 33 nations is dominated by Ukraine, Poland, Belarus and Roumania, while West European nations are sending only token teams, with the largest coming from Germany and Britain.