WORLD CUP REGATTA

Linz, Austria

1 - 3 June 2007

Report by Leander Press Officer Robert Treharne Jones

Photography (c) Igor Meijer

Leander athletes brought home eight gold medals, two silver and a bronze from the opening World Cup regatta of the season in Linz, Austria. The world champion men's four and women's quad won in convincing style, but the big surprises came when Colin Smith and Matt Langridge triumphed in the pair, as did Matt Wells and Steve Rowbotham in the double scull.

It was the best possible start to the international season for our squad, sponsored by Invesco Perpetual, as they focus towards the world championships in Munich at the end of August, where the prospects of qualification for the Beijing Olympics will lend an added zest to the regatta.

A record number of athletes entered the World Cup in Austria, many of them returning to the sport after a long lay-off after the Athens Olympics. It meant that many of last year's world medallists were forced back into the B and C finals. Against this sort of opposition the performance of the GB crews was outstanding, and it means they now lead the overall World Cup trophy on points ahead of Germany.

The GB men's four, which includes Leander's Alex Partridge, Pete Reed and Steve Williams, together with Molesey's Andy Hodge in the stroke seat, extended their unbeaten run to 27 races by making light of a challenge from the Dutch, who briefly led the world champions in their semifinal on Saturday. In Sunday's final they weren't about to make the same mistake, and by 500m they had a second in hand over the second-placed Netherlands and the margin remained the same throughout the race with France in third place. At the line another push from the Dutch gave them a slight overlap on their old rivals with the French in third.

"Races like the ones we've had this weekend keep us on our toes but there is more work to do" said Steve Williams after the race. The Olympic and world champion  is one of the vice-captains at Leander.

"I think the win here is a result of the hard work that we've put in already this year. I'm very pleased" added his crewmate Pete Reed.

The women's quadruple scull, with Leander's Debbie Flood in the 2 seat, dominated the field in their final to win gold. With Britain's most successful female rower, Katherine Grainger in the stroke seat the crew led by a length and a half lead at halfway and they had a five second margin over the field at 1500m. The advantage was more than enough to cope with a late charge by the Chinese who closed the deficit to within a length at the finish.

"We have wanted to get a fast start for the past few seasons but we've never really managed to achieve it", said Grainger. "Today we were thrilled to get out quickly and demolish the field early".

One of the more spectacular victories of the day came from Colin Smith and Matt Langridge in the newly-formed pair coached by Jurgen Grobler. Smith and Langridge were inside the pack chasing the Croatian Skelin brothers, 2004 Athens Olympic silver medallists, who produced a blistering start in the final. At the half-way point the Germans had hauled back the Croatians but Britain were last. But then stroke Matt Langridge raised the rate and brought Britain up into the silver medal place at 1500m. The pair continued their charge to take their first world cup gold in their debut competition together.

"Taking the lead with 250m to go is a good feeling", said Langridge. "You know that you're almost home".

In the men's double scull final Matt Wells and Stephen Rowbotham positioned themselves well in third place in the first half of the race with the French world champions Macquet and Hardy in the lead. Just past that 1000m mark they made a move to push past the Australians and just as the 1500m marker arrived they were a whisper in the lead.

But no-one in this world class field was about to give up hope and a dog-fight developed in the final 500m with Wells and Rowbotham getting the strongest finish and holding on to win their first world cup gold to add to world championship bronze of last year.

"It's all about staying as controlled as we can for as long as we can" said Wells afterwards.

"We know that if we're still in contention at 1000m we have a good chance of doing something", said Rowbotham.

There was sweet reward for Leander captain Mark Hunter and his partner Zac Purchase in the lightweight men's double scull. Purchase is the reigning world champion in lightweight singles and the new combination with Hunter in the Olympic boat class had always shown promise. The British were in second place at the 500m mark behind the Danish world champions, Rasmussen and Quist, with
Canada third. With 500m to go, the Danish world champions had moved out to a two length lead but GB had created a length over the chasing Canadians, and the positions remained unchanged over the line with Britain taking their first ever World Cup medal in this boat class.

"We work well as a unit", added Hunter. "Just when I felt we should be pushing on, Zac was already making the calls. It was poetry".

Leander's medal haul in Austria was completed when Matt Beechey won bronze in the lighrtweight men's pair with his partner Danny Harte of London RC, and the day was complete when Lou Reeve won a silver medal in the stroke seat of the GB women's eight., The Durham University graduate only arrived at Leander during the autumn but has already shown much promise after her silver medal in the GB quadruple scull at last year's Under-23 World Championships in Belgium.

The next World Cup regatta takes place in Amsterdam in three weeks' time and an announcement on the GB selected crews is expected later in the week.

ENDS

RESULTS FOR GB CREWS in LINZ

(Non-Leander athletes in italics)

23 May: Eleven more Leander athletes have been named among the rest of the GB squad announced today to contest the first World Cup regatta of the season in Austria in ten days time. Among the eighteen Leander athletes in Linz will be newcomer Lou Reeve, who now strokes the GB women's eight, and Ian Lawson, who returns to the GB squad for the first time since the Athens Oympics.

But there's disappointment for Anna Bebington, whose recent hamstring injury means postponing her season's debut in the women's double, the boat in which she took fourth place at last year's world championships.

Last year's Commonwealth silver medallist Ian Lawson has had a lean time since competing at the Athens Olympics, where he took sixth place in the single scull. But as the standard of British sculling increases there's every chance of qualifying a men's quad for the Beijing Olympics. The decision opens the door for a boat which includes Sam Townsend and Alex Gregory, two scullers making their debut at senior level, along with Simon Fieldhouse and Ian Lawson providing the steady hand of experience.

"I've been in two A finals before and that's the minimum standard for me. All four of us are going down the same path - it's a very easy boat to scull together and to get it moving" said Lawson.

For Lou Reeve, who arrived at Leander from Durham University last September, finding herself in the stroke seat of the women's eight was something of a surprise. But final trials in April gave a hint of things to come, with the top two women destined for the pair, and Lou in fourth place heading for the eights group.

"As the year went on I knew I was ending up in the eight - it's where I wanted to be" she agreed.

After taking a silver medal in the Under-23 women's quad last year in Hazewinkel she aimed for Leander to further her rowing career, knowing that the club would provide coaching specific to her needs as she tried to break in to the senior squad.

Lightweight double sculler Jane Hall knows all about life in the senior squad - after her first season in 1993 she took a world gold medal in the women's four in the Czech Republic, but recent years have been dogged by illness and injury. Now aged 33 she is at the theoretical peak of physiology for a lightweight woman athlete and is looking forward to the season ahead.

But it's not going to be plain sailing - a neck sprain at final trials meant she couldn't get into the A boat, and instead she is doubling with Mathilde Pauls, the German and naturalised Briton who stroked the Cambridge women's Blue Boat to victory in 2005. Hall and Pauls have beaten the A double, Helen Casey and Hester Goodsell, in three recent pieces, but Casey and Goodsell won their last meeting and as they head off to Austria there's everything to play for.

"I'm fit and I'm strong and I'm bursting with energy" said the woman who has just recorded yet another personal best on the ergo. "There's lots of raw speed in our boat and it's just a matter of converting it to racing" she said.

Three Leander athletes have won places in the men's eight, including Rick Egington, the veteran Tom Stallard and the giant Josh West, who at 6' 9" is still the tallest man ever to row in the Boat Race.

The men's pair has turned out as predicted with two Leander athletes on board - Matt Langridge is drawn with Colin Smith, who was a world championships finalist in this event last season.

26 April: Eight Leander athletes have been named among six crews to contest the first World Cup regatta of the season in Austria in early June. There were few surprises among today's announcement, with the men's four staying unchanged from the line up which has won the world title for the last two years, and Debbie Flood retaining her place in the gold medal women's quad.

After weeks of speculation chief coach Jurgen Grobler has stuck with a winning formula and retained the same line-up for the men’s four that has taken the gold medal at world championships for the last two years.

Earlier in the year Grobler announced a ‘coxless six’ for training purposes, including top-class athletes like Leander’s Matt Langridge and Rick Egington. Their presence only served to heighten awareness among the world champions that no-one’s seat was safe for the new season.

Earlier in the month there was speculation that after Alex Partridge’s performance at trials his position might be less than secure. His pairs partner fell ill and a late combination proved less than successful, finishing third in the B final. But seat racing last weekend showed that he was back on form, and Grobler stuck with the crew he knew best.

“We said the men’s four would be our lead boat, and I don’t think it’s the right time to start something new – it doesn’t send the right message to the team” he said after today’s announcement.

He was quick to dismiss the significance of the 24 consecutive wins which the four has so far notched up in two seasons at the top of their form.

“We’re just halfway through (the Olympic cycle)” said Grobler. “It’s a new start, a new challenge.”

“It’s an Olympic year, so everyone ups their game. We’d be dreaming if we didn’t think that people will try and get close to us” agreed Leander vice-captain Steve Williams, the only member of the Athens gold medal crew to carry on rowing to Beijing 2008.

But Williams is confident that the team for 2007 has strength in depth.

“It’s definitely the strongest men’s team I’ve ever been in” he said.

Today’s news meant disappointment for Leander’s Matt Langridge, who switched from sculling to sweep after the 2005 world championships in which he finished 7th in the GB men’s quad. He has missed a place in the four, at least for the time being, and is now hotly tipped for a place in the men’s pair with another Leander athlete, Colin Smith, the Oxford Blue, despite any official announcement so far.

“I’m still learning a lot about the switch from sculling to sweep but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed not to make the four” said Langridge, a former world junior champion.

“But they’re the world champions and that’s got to count for something. It would have to be something big to break them up” he said.

Leander’s Matt Wells and Steve Rowbotham, who won world championship bronze in 2006, will race again men's double scull.  Both performed strongly at this month's GB trials in Belgium and their form augurs well for another successful season. After coming third behind Slovenia and France last year Wells said they were still the crews to beat but acknowledged that new line-ups were sure to come into the mix during the lead-in to this year's world championships in Munich.

In the women’s quad Debbie Flood retains her seat in the crew, but Annie Vernon of Thames RC moves into the quad to take the place of Sarah Winckless who has been sidelined after a recent knee injury. An operation last week for the world champion means she is unlikely to win her place back in the boat until the world championships in August, if at all. Vernon's promotion to the lead GB boat means a new partner for Leander's Anna Bebington, who won fourth place at last year's world championships in the women's double. She now teams up with Elise Laverick, who took the bronze medal in the Olympic double in Athens where she was partnered by Winckless.

For Leander captain Mark Hunter the next season has much to offer now that he has been teamed up with world lightweight singles champion Zac Purchase of Marlow RC.

At just 20 years of age Purchase already has two world titles to his credit, and when the two lightweights moved so far ahead of the field during winter training a double for 2007 was always on the cards.

“It’s very exciting – we’ve talked a lot about this all winter and it’s got the foundations to be something quite exceptional” said Hunter after the announcement.

For Purchase the year provides an extra challenge – after years maintaining his weight at 72.5kg, the limit for single scullers, he has to trim down to 70kg, the limit for the double.

But Hunter, with years of experience behind him, reckons he can help his new partner.

“A lot of younger athletes panic about making the weight – whatever else you do you have to forget about it after you step off the scales” he said.

Further announcements about the rest of the squad in Linz will follow during the next two weeks, but GB Rowing has promised to send a full team to Austria, including all 14 Olympic boat classes. At the season's second world cup, in Amsterdam, Britain will also be able to race an adaptive four because FISA is offering a race for this Paralympic category at a World Cup for the first time and GB intends to support this move.

ENDS