Final National Team Trials for British Rowers

The finals of the 2002 British National Team Trials at Hazewinkel, Belgium today featured close races in excellent conditions.

Olympic champions James Cracknell and Matthew Pinsent won the men’s coxless pair final in 6:33.4. Yet the double gold medallists from last year’s World Championships were made to work hard in the final stages of the race by world coxless four champions Steve Williams and Toby Garbett who came second in 6:35.7.

Triple Olympic gold medallist Pinsent and Cracknell, a member of the Sydney Olympic gold medal four, settled into a good rhythm from the start and took control after the first minute. Olympic eight gold medallist Kieran West and Tom Stallard were their main challengers in the opening 500m with Josh West (not related) and world coxless four champion Rick Dunn also in contention alongside Williams and Garbett.

With 500m to go, it seemed as if Williams and Garbett might haul back Pinsent and Cracknell but the double world champions responded to win by two thirds of a length.

“We expected the threat to come from Williams and Garbett”, Cracknell told British Rowing news afterwards. “We got into a really good rhythm right from the start and took control. After that we even tried to experiment by resting a little and seeing whether we could keep control. That probably wasn’t a sensible thing to do because it gave them the chance to come back into the race. On the whole though it was a very good race and a good platform for the rest of the season”.

Pinsent, clearly taxed by the effort at the finish, said in a British Rowing report:

“Yes, I was tired at the end but you can’t compete in a race like that without expending some effort. I am happy with the result, we were very much in control and, generally, made it easy for ourselves. We did try to relax in the middle to see whether that would work for us in future races and then had to increase the rate towards the end

At the back of the race, Cambridge gained some small revenge over Oxford for their Boat Race win with this year’s Cambridge President Tom Stallard and Kieran West taking fifth place ahead of this year’s Oxford President Ben Burch with Robin Bourne Taylor.

Earlier, Debbie Flood and Frances Houghton, World Cup doubles scull medallists last year, went head to head with each other and Olympic silver medallist Katherine Grainger in the women’s single scull final. In an exciting race, Flood went out strongly from the beginning, tracked in the early stages by a quartet of Alison Mowbray, Grainger, Elise Laverick and Houghton. Flood extended her lead until the 1000m mark but from there Houghton, the eventual winner, began to move up whilst Laverick and Grainger fell behind. Houghton’s winning time was 7:37.46 with Flood second in 7:40.99. Both now return to the UK to begin University exams tomorrow.

“I like going out fast and being able to see what the others are doing”, said Flood who has raced both with and against Houghton since early junior days. “The races between Frances and I are always the same. I wondered today when she would come back at me. I got a better lead than normal but with 500m to go I knew that she would come back at me. It was just a question of how long I could hold on before she caught me”.

In the men’s single scull Ian Lawson narrowly held off Matt Wells, the pre-race favourite, to win in 7:00. 98. A visibly angry Wells, second in 7:03.21, thumped his fist into the water at the finish. Wells’ younger brother Peter was third.

Tracy Langlands won the women’s lightweight single final in a time of 7:52.08 and Tim Male won the lightweight men’s title in a neck and neck battle all the way down the course in 7:11.18 from Tom Kay in 7:11.59. Male was the rower who missed out on the Sydney Olympics after breaking his arm in a freak training camp accident. Kay has returned from a year out of the sport.

Sarah Waldron and Sarah Martin won the women’s pair race in  7:41.9. The final race of the Trials, the men’s lightweight pair, was won by Ned Kittoe and Matt Beechey in 6:43.11.

David Tanner, British Rowing’s International Manager, was pleased with the strength in depth shown and commented in a British Rowing report:

“We’ve had an exceptional standard in our finals.The big move on from last year has been the strength in depth that we’ve seen. In most of the races the medal positions have been contested right the way down the course and that really shows that we are taking some serious steps forward”.

Tanner was particularly pleased with the development shown by the women’s singles, men’s singles and the whole lightweight programme.

There was no complacency, though, as Tanner is aware that such progress does not automatically translate into medals on the world stage. “We need to move forwards now from here and work to get our combinations right for the season’s first regattas”.

The opening men’s regatta will be in Cologne from 2-5 May and the women and lightweight squads will begin in Duisburg from 17-19 May. The crews for Cologne will be announced on Tuesday 30 April.