Adaptive rowers in early season race

Adaptive rowing has stepped up a notch in the lead up to the Paralympic Games later this year. In Italy’s popular training venue, Varese, adaptive rowers from 10 nations battled it out at the Gavirate International Adaptive Regatta.

One of the only regattas solely for adaptive rowers, the Gavirate International will be the last chance for top quality racing before the final Paralympic qualification regatta (Munich, Germany, May 2008) and Great Britain’s team look to be well on track.

Great Britain took gold in the men’s (AM1x) and women’s single (AW1x) with Helene Raynsford winning the women’s and Tom Aggar winning the men’s. Raynsford told GB Rowing News, "I came here because I had something to prove after Munich. I feel that I've shown that I'm back on track to be in the medal zone in Beijing.” Raynsford won gold in 2006 but finished outside the medals last year at the World Rowing Championships in Munich.

The British also won gold in the coxed four (LTAMx4+) finishing just under four seconds ahead of Italy. The Italians also showed their strength by winning three silver medals. Italian press officer Marco Callai said the Italian team were happy because they have already qualified these three boats for the Paralympic Games.

Crews from Italy, Israel, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, Russia, France, Hungary, Poland and Australia competed in the four adaptive events racing over the standard 1000m distance.

An adaptive classification workshop also took place in Gavirate with 17 athletes from six countries being classified. This will enable them to compete in the correct event at adaptive regattas.

Results

Women’s single (AW1x)
1. Helene Raynsford (Great Britain) 5:47.40
2. Moro (Italy) 6:19.10
3. Bercovitch (Israel) 6:20.70
4. Snopek (Poland) 6:29.40

Men’s single (AM1x)
1. Tom Aggar (Great Britain) 5:08.40
2. Eli (Israel) 5:22.40
3. Serinyi (Hungary) 5:42.00
4. Malishev (Russia) 5:48.20

Mixed double (TAM2x)
1. Australia 4:14.90
2. Italy 4:18.60
3. Great Britain 4:20.00
4. Poland 4:23.50

Mixed coxed four (LTAMx4+)
1. Great Britain 3:33.50
2. Italy 3:37.30
3. Netherlands 3:44.80
4. Russia 3:54.00

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