Germany Wins E.ON Hanse Canal Cup

Dubbed one of the “hardest rowing races in the world,” the E.ON Hanse Canal Cup brought some of the world’s rowing elite to Germany’s far north. At 12.7 kilometres it is the longest rowing race on the busiest artificial waterway in the world – the Kiel Canal – that connects the North and Baltic Seas.

National team men’s eights from Great Britain, the United States, the Netherlands and Germany competed in this invitational race that has helped put the town of Rendsburg on the map of world rowing events and Germany took top honours for the third time. The event was first raced in 2001 and has become a welcome start to the post-World Championship phase of training.

The Canal Cup takes place over two days and includes a combination of fun events like dragon boat racing, school competitions, several rowing machine events as well as top level elite rowing. The local radio stations provide a party atmosphere with a large variety of food and drink booths, small rides and information stands for rowing clubs and businesses.

About 200,000 spectators over two days turned out making the event one of the biggest rowing races in the world.
All participating nations sent their best teams to compete in this trilogy of events which including a 500 metre competition on the rowing machine followed by two 400 metre sprint races on the water and the main event, the 12.7 kilometre race following on Sunday 5 October. The three events were used to identify the overall winner of this regatta.

Day one’s erg and sprint events set the tone. The Unites States started strong averaging 693 Watts and in the process beat Germanys 2002 record of 678.5 Watts. Germany finished second with 657 Watts, followed by Great Britain at 654 Watts. The Dutch team positioned fourth with 636 Watts. By winning this event the United States got to choose their start lane for Sunday’s long distance race.

Teams then lined up on the water for two rounds of 400-metre sprint racing. Both heats saw a similar outcome with Germany winning twice in a very tight finish over the United States. Great Britain placed third and the Netherlands fourth.

The main event, the long distance race began the following day with the United States taking an early lead. Germany followed with Great Britain and the Netherlands remaining in third and fourth respectively. Looking strong, the Americans kept a boat length ahead of Germany for the first three kilometres. Germany then made their move with just under half the race gone and using long and controlled strokes the Germans got their nose ahead of the Americans and continued to push ahead.

Cheered into the finish by the thousands of spectators and followed by television cameras on the water and from helicopters the Germans defended their title for the third time with the United States in second and Great Britain and the Netherlands remaining in third and fourth.

If they did not get wet during the race, all crews did during the victory ceremony, where several bottles of sparkling wine showered the competitors. A spirited crowd, live television coverage and happy sponsors ensured the Canal Cup’s continuation in 2004 with all four teams expressing their intentions to return.

The defending champions, Germany, competed with the strength of national team members including members that competed at this year’s World Championships. They included Bernd Heidicker, Ulf Siemes, Enrico Schnabel, Jan-Martin Bröer, Paul Dienstbach, Sebastian Thormann, Stefan Koltzk, Sebastian Schulte and coxswain Peter Thiede.

The British team was made up of a combination of their bronze medal winning eight from the World Championships and the silver winning coxed four. The team included, Jonathan Devlin, Alex Partridge, James Livingston, Kieran West, Ed Coode, Dan Ouseley, Philip Simmons, Tom Stallard and coxswain Christian Cormack.

The United States eight was chosen by coach Matthew Times who narrowed down his eight from the 22 athletes who wanted to take part in the competition and included members of the silver medal winning eight and World Champion coxed four. The team included Jonathan Watling, Ryan Torgerson, Matthew Deakin, Brian McDonough, Christopher Liwski, Garrett Klugh, James Schroeder, Daniel Walsh and coxswain Marcus McElhenny.

The Netherlands placed fourth in 2002 at the Canal Cup came to Rendsburg with a combination of this years national team eight plus their double. The boat included Mathys Vellinga Nico Mensing van Charante, René ten Thije, Frank Munneke, Daniel Mensch, Mathys Vellinga, Jan Willem Gabriels, Geert Jan Deerksen and coxswain, Niels van den Bovenkamp.

Final Times:
Germany: 37.48
United States: 38.00
Great Britain: 38.49
Netherlands: 40.44

Pictures and German coverage on www.eon-hanse-cup.de

Thank you to Cora Zillich
German Rowing Federation