Coastal Rowing Champs for the tough

This year’s World Rowing Coastal Championships for Clubs is about to start in Plymouth, Great Britain and crews from 18 countries are currently gearing up to take to the water in rowing’s extreme sport.

Rowers from the usual hotbeds of coastal rowing, France, Italy and Great Britain will face a mixture of newcomers to the sport like United Arab Emirates and Ukraine as well as regular contestants from Ireland and as far away as New Zealand.

All eyes will be on the women’s coxed quad. A crew from Great Britain’s Thames Rowing Club, that is full of former elite flat water rowers, will take on the current champions in this event. Olympic silver medallists, sisters Guin and Miriam Batten are joining together with current Great Britain squad member Elise Laverick and German Olympian Lenka Wech. They will go up against reigning title holders in this event, the Swiss crew from Lausanne Sports Aviron Club. The Lausanne crew includes Olympian Colleen Orsmond who is back with last year’s winning crew of Bettina Schaefli, Fanny Mossiere, Gael Pannatier and coxswain Diego Larrain.

Former World Champion in the double, Hungary’s Akos Haller is competing in the men’s double with partner Zsolt Erdelyi who is a former Hungarian national team member.

There are also races in singles and coxed fours. This year the distance is 8km around a four buoyed course. Race organiser Jeff Hammond says there will be good spectator watching. “Spectators will be able to watch the whole of the race from the famous Plymouth Hoe which overlooks Plymouth Sound where the event takes place,” says Hammond. “Also, spectators can use the Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club which has a beautiful lounge and balcony that overlooks the course and finish line.”

Plymouth is on the southern shores of Great Britain and the city has a rich history of maritime activities. The city plays regular host to international yacht races like the Transatlantic and the Fastnet race. There are also Cornish pilot gig club races.

The weather forecast is showing cool temperatures with a high chance of rain for the first two days of racing and cloudy conditions for Sunday finals day. The strongest winds are expected on the second day of racing. Most of the course is inside the Plymouth Breakwater – a large manmade reef – which protects the harbour. One section of the course, however, is outside the breakwater so it is likely to be quite rough.

Sir Steve Redgrave is the patron of the event.

The racing starts with heats on Friday 23 October and finishes on Sunday 25 October.

For more information go to: http://www.worldoffshorerowingchampionships2009.com

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