Spotlight on Great Britain

Matthew Pinsent
© John Gichigi /Allsport

As Eton, Great Britain gears up to host the first BearingPoint Rowing World Cup for 2005 they start the season off with a bang as the sold-out event promises more than just heats and finals. The Legends Sprint will recreate the Sydney 2000 men’s four final and four-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Matthew Pinsent will receive the 2005 Thomas Keller Medal.

Rowing is currently at the forefront of sport in Great Britain following the success of the British rowing team and their three medal haul at the Athens Olympics and especially the acclaim generated by their gold medal win of the men’s four. This had the added highlight of being the fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal for rowing hero Sir Matthew Pinsent.

Adding to the World Cup excitement is the return of Sir Steve Redgrave. On Saturday, 28 May, Redgrave will join his Sydney Olympic gold medal four of James Cracknell, Tim Foster and Pinsent in a re-race of that legendary final. The “Legends Sprint” will be contested over 500 metres and will include Italy, Australia, Slovenia and New Zealand – five of the six crews that raced in the Sydney final.

The presentation of FISA’s 2005 Thomas Keller medal to Pinsent will also take place on finals day.

Of the 39 nations competing on the man-made Dorney Lake at Eton, Great Britain has entered the biggest contingent with 62 rowers in 25 boats including a return of the women’s eight. The squad features a mix of eight Olympic medallists and some new names on the international rowing scene as the cycle towards Beijing 2008 begins.

Katherine Grainger of Great Britain
© Getty Images/Paul Gilham

Racing in the women’s quad will be Great Britain’s most successful women in recent years, Katherine Grainger. As a member of the quad at Sydney, she won the first ever Olympic women’s medal for Great Britain and then topped it off with a second medal when she took Olympic silver in the pair at Athens.

In a press release Grainger threw down the gauntlet to the visiting crews, “We train at Dorney Lake all the time, now we’re going to race here in front of a home crowd. Being territorial we will be saying ‘this is our ground and if you want to come and take it from us you’ll need to be darn good’.”

Steve Williams
© Paul Gilham/Getty Images

The men’s four will also be at the forefront of highlighted races with Steve Williams returning to the boat that won gold at Athens. Williams is the only remaining member of last year’s four and all eyes will be on coach Jurgen Grobler’s new line-up of Williams, Alex Partridge, Peter Reed and stroke Andy Hodge.

Reed’s addition to the boat has been described by British rowing news as having a fairytale element to it. Reed began rowing only three and a half years ago at university. A sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy, Reed since then has twice been part of Oxford’s Boat Race crew and won the British senior trials this season with partner, Hodge in the pair.

The World Cup consists of a series of three regattas each season leading up to the World Champs and Great Britain has always had a strong showing. Last year the squad was second overall behind Germany who have been at the top of the table since the series started in 1997.

Eton hosting the first World Cup for 2005 is also significant as one hundred years ago this week, in 1905, rowers played a vital role in founding the British Olympic Association (BOA). In fact the first BOA chairman, Lord Desborough, was a rower who made his mark in the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race.

The BearingPoint Rowing World Cup in Eton will be shown live on www.worldrowing.com through live race streaming on Sunday, 29 May for finals day. This is available to all countries outside Europe. Also keep updated with regular race reports on www.worldrowing.com and live coverage on BBC television on Saturday, 28 May.