21 June 10:
Eight Leander athletes returned with gold medals from Lucerne, where Team GB had its most successful World Cup regatta in history.
In marked contrast to another World Cup being played out somwhere in the southern hemisphere the Swiss lake witnessed Briitsh success in four events, including the men’s heavy and lightweight fours, and the women’s double and quadruple sculls. With another four silvers and three bronzes on the Rotsee it proved an exceptional team performance as GB topped the medal table and won the overall trophy for the 2010 season.
The lightweight men's four final featured Leander’s Chris Bartley, Paul Mattick, and Richard Chambers, with Rob Williams of London RC. Coached by Leander’s Rob Morgan the four were looking to repeat the form they showed by winning three weeks ago in Munich and once again the crowd were not disappointed
But their win was not without a struggle – lying in fourth at halfway, with Switzerland leading Italy and Denmark, the British were on a par with the leading trio with 500m to go. As all four crew burst for the line the GB men squeezed home just 0.07 sec ahead of the Danish world champions, with Italy third.
"The field here is incredible. It feels like the world championships", said Paul Mattick.
After their defeat in Munich and enforced break over Henley the Leander-based men’s heavyweight four were on track for revenge.
The reigning world champions burst off the blocks, and with 400m gone the power just kept on coming, to give Alex Partridge, Rick Egington, Alex Gregory and Matt Langridge a clear water lead at halfway. The four, coached by Leander’s Mark Banks, proved unstoppable and cruised to another gold medal ahead of New Zealand and France.
"We were papering over the cracks with power earlier in the season", said Egington. "Mark Banks was really hard on us after Munich and he was right".
Leander’s eight gold medallist in Lucerne was Anna Watkins, who partnered by Katherine Grainger in the double scull, with both athletes also racing in the GB women’s quad.
The form guide predicted a close race with Australia for honours in the double, and so it proved, with GB leading at the halfway mark, and the Aussies fighting it out stroke-for-stroke along the grandstands. But Watkins and Grainger held their nerve, taking the line for their third successive gold this season, before a few hours rest and their chance for victory in the quad.
Partnered by Beth Rodford and Annie Vernon the GB women were looking to avenge their defeat at the hands of Germany in Munich. A strong start, a determined middle race and a final burn to the line was what it took to dominate the race, with GB taking their fourth gold of the regatta ahead of Ukraine with the Germans forced back into third.
Annie Vernon leapt into the lake to cool off before the boat had even reached the medal rostrum pontoon.
"It was a good fight in the double and we wanted to put a really good race together here in the quad. The days don't get much better than these", said Watkins.
But there was disappointment for Leander’s Pete Read and Molesey’s Andy Triggs-Hodge in the men’s pair, beaten yet again by New Zealand’s Eric Murray and Hamish Bond.
Neither crew dominated the first 500m with Germany leading at that stage. In the middle of the race, the world's top two pairs surged away from the field. Gradually, the New Zealanders, unbeaten this year or last, moved out in front.
The GB supporters' hopes were raised with 300m to go when the Hodge and Reed moved up on the Kiwis but it was short-lived as Murray and Bond, clearly under pressure, somehow found another gear to win. Britain were second and the second-ranked Greek crew took bronze.
"We needed to have the perfect race to beat these guys. We got close but not quite there. We had rhythm and stuck to our race plan", added Reed.
The men's double scull final was also billed as a potential head-to-head between Leander’s Marcus Bateman and Matt Wells and Cedric Berrest and Julien Bahain of France.
France got the better of the first 25 strokes but by the 500m mark GB were just ahead. Just before halfway the French put in a push and GB responded but their rivals had a two-thirds length lead and tried to consolidate their advantage. At 1500m GB were still two seconds down and launched a counter-attack which brought them within half a length but the French held on for victory in 6:18.51. The British duo were second and the fast-finishing New Zealanders were third.
"We can be really proud of our campaign this year, said Wells. "The event has moved on since last year and we have had nine tough races in three weeks".
" This has given me a taste of what the world championships will be like", added Bateman.
The GB men’s quad, featuring Leander’s Steve Rowbotham in the stroke seat, also took silver, behind Germany, and there was a bronze medal for the men’s and women’s eight who put on strong performances among the highest calibre field of the season so far.
|
