First Ever Under 23 Champions Crowned

Hamburger – Champion in the single

In its first year as a championship status regatta, the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in Amsterdam, the Netherlands wrapped up last Sunday after four days of racing.

The Bosbaan course, set in the Amsterdam Forest, saw over 700 athletes compete with finals day boasting thousands of spectators and a moving grandstand that followed the races from start to finish.

Upgraded this year to a championship status regatta a definite increase in standard was noted. Rowing Australia's High Performance Director, Noel Donaldson commented in Rowing Australia's press release that, ?Without question the status of this regatta in its inaugural year as a World Championship event has seen the standard of competition rise to an unprecedented level.?

Rowing Canada's development coach Terry Paul also commented in Canada's press release, ??The standards are very high here.?

Continuing the tradition of awarding points to find overall challenge winner, Germany won the Challenge of Spain Cup for the best results overall for men and women lightweights. Germany, with 29 points finished just ahead of

Romania celebrates winning the men's eight over Germany

Great Britain on 27 and Italy on 26.

The Challenge of Austria Cup for lightweight men was won by Italy (21 points) ahead of Germany (18) and Great Britain (17). The Challenge of France for lightweight women went to Germany with 11 points, just ahead of Great Britain on 10 with the Netherlands and Italy tying for third at five points each.

The Challenge of Hamburg Cup for men was won easily by Germany on 30 points with Italy back in second at 18 points, followed by Romania with 16. For the women, the Jaques Waefalaer Challenge Cup went to Romania (17 points) just one point ahead of Germany (16) with the United States finishing third on 11 points.

Germany's lightweight men's four adds to their country's points total

The Paolo d'Aloja Challenge cup for overall winner was won by Germany (75) comfortably ahead of Italy (53) and Great Britain came third (39).

The Under 23 Regatta first began in 1976 as a step for rowers who were too old to be juniors but not quite ready for the top level of racing. Originally known as the ?Seniors Match? it then was renamed the ?Nations Cup? in 1992.

Last year the Under 23 regatta came under FISA's wing for the first time and following FISA's Extraordinary Congress, held earlier this year, the regatta was voted by member federations to be upgraded to championship status. This means the event increased from three to four days and winners of each of the 19 finals at Amsterdam can now call themselves Under 23 Champions.

Next year the World Rowing Under 23 Championships will be in Hazewinkel, Belgium from 20 ? 23 July, 2006.

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