24 July: Leander's Tom Wilkinson, competing in the GB coxed four in Amsterdam, finished in fifth place while Germany, Italy and Romania shared the medals at the head of the field.
Wilkinson, a member of the GB quad at the World Junior Championships at Schinias two years ago, was selected to row in the bow seat of the coxed four in which every other crew member came from Oxford Brookes University. Their coach was former lightweight single sculler Peter Haining, three times world champion from 1993-5, and now chief coach at Brookes.
With only six entries to the event there was always going to be just one race - the final. In such circumstances FISA regulations demand a preliminary 'race for lanes', to determine the fastest crews who will draw the favoured centre lanes.
British hopes were raised when Wilkinson's crew came third in the qualifying race behind Germany and Romania, but the Italians had evidently kept their powder dry. Come the real thing it was they who powered into the narrowest of leads at halfway, with the Germans and the Romanians hard on their heels. By comparison the GB four were slow off the start and never really made up the ground. Germany overhauled Italy to take gold, and the Brits came home nine seconds off the lead, behind fourth-placed Croatia but beating the tail-enders from the Ukraine.
Report by Leander press officer Robert Treharne Jones
Photo (c) Peter Spurrier
23 July: Ben Tipney and Gavin Shaw won the C final of the lightweight double sculls with a dominant performance ahead of Denmark and Hungary. After the disappointment of missing a place in their semifinal the double looked confident as they moved into an early lead down the 2000m Bosbaan course, crossing the line more than 2.32 secs clear of the opposition to finish the regatta in 13th place overall.
22 July: There was disappointment for Leander's Ben Tipney on the second day of racing in Amsterdam when he and Gavin Shaw missed a place in their semifinal after finishing fourth in their repechage of the lightweight double sculls.
As Canada and Turkey made all the early running the British double fought it out with Slovenia for the third qualifying place. Just past the halfway mark the Slovenians surged ahead, only to be matched by the Brits, but the next time the Slovenians surged they were unstoppable. The rush for third place brough both crews up behind Turkey, but it was Canada who reached line first, with Turkey taking second place ahead of Slovenia.
"We were up where we wanted to be for the first half of the race - it was three of us in a line all the way down the course but we just ran out of steam in the last 150m" said Tipney afterwards.
In the coxed fours event there are only six entries, so the GB crew which includes Tom Wilkinson will race for lanes on Saturday before the straight final on Sunday.
21 July: Ben Tipney and Gavin Shaw finished in fourth place in their heat of the lightweight double sculls today in Amsterdam. They needed to finish among the first three to qualify direct for Saturday's semifinals but the Vetesnik brothers of the Czech Republic set a cracking pace to which the rest of the field had to find a response. At first it was the Austrian double which managed to hang on before being overhauled by Hong Kong China but the pace set by the leaders was too much for Tipney and Shaw who now have a second bite at the cherry in tomorrow's repechages.
Report by Leander press officer Robert Treharne Jones
Photo (c) Peter Spurrier