Redgrave in Spotlight at Henley

Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell took the men’s coxless pair at the Henley Royal Regatta with little difficulty on Sunday but once again found themselves in the shadow of their former crewmate Steve Redgrave.

Redgrave stole the show by rowing in the winning crew of the Queen Mother Challenge Cup for men’s quadruple sculls more than eight months after his retirement.

Rowing for his Leander Club, Redgrave took the 20th Henley title of his career when the crew beat the London Rowing Club by 2.75 lengths in a time of 7:09.

There were few surprises among the races involving elite international crews.

In the men’s coxless pair, Cracknell and Pinsent made their win look easy as they beat British lightweights Nick Strange and Peter Haining with open water.

Crackell and Pinsent reached the final by beating South African Olympic finalists Ramon Di Clemente and Donovan Cech on Saturday, while Haining and Strange beat German heavyweights Detlef Kirchhoff and Robert Sens to earn their spot.

Olympic champion Ekaterina Karsten, of Belarus, had four and a half lengths over Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski, of Germany, as she took the women’s single sculls. She had beaten British Olympic quad silver medallist Guin Batten by the same margin the previous day to make the final.

Australian national champion Duncan Free took the Diamond Sculls in his first international race since been named as Australia’s single sculls representative for 2001. Free beat Canadian Olympian Todd Hallett by four lengths to take the title.

And there was more success for Australian elite crews in the women’s eight. Rowing as the Australian Institute of Sport, the Australian women’s eight took The Henley Prize race, beating Britain’s women’s eight, rowing as Nautilus Club, by 2.75 lengths.

In university level racing, Dartmouth Rowing Club from the USA beat their countrymen, men’s college champions Princeton, in the Ladies’ Challenge Plate for university men’s eights.

The race proved one of the most exciting of the day, with Dartmouth winning by just a canvas.