Three Tough Canal Cup Days in Germany

Canal Cup start
© E.ON Hanse-Cup 2004

Top national men's eights teams from Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and the United States gathered in Rendsburg, northern Germany to race the E.ON Hanse Canal Cup which has been dubbed ?the hardest long distance rowing race in the world."

In its fourth consecutive year the Canal Cup has established itself on the international invitational rowing calendar as a ?must do? event.

The event covers 12.7 kilometres (7.9 miles) on the busiest artificial waterway in the world ? the Kiel Canal ? that connects the North and Baltic Seas. Over 150,000 spectators came to watch the three day event at the start of October.

First time Canal Cup rower and stroke of the German eight, Andreas Penkner, described the atmosphere, "You get to experience an enthusiasm of thousands of spectators and fans you do not experience anywhere else in rowing.?

The rowers competed in a trilogy of events, including a 500 meter ergometre competition, followed by two 400 metre sprint races on the water and finally the main event, the 12.7 kilometre eights race.

Day one and two erg and sprint events set the tone. On the erg, the German team started strong beating the United States by averaging 672 watts over the American's 643 watts. This was behind last year's strong US result of 693 watts. The Dutch came third with 609 watts ahead of the British Team at 596 watts.

Teams then lined up on the water for two rounds of 400 metre sprint racing.  Both heats saw the same ranking as in the ergometre competition. By winning the two introductory events the German team got to choose their start lane for Sunday's long distance race.

Canal Cup flags
© E.ON Hanse-Cup 2004

Defending champions, Germany faced tough competition from the United States. With four Olympic Champions on board, as well as two national team members from the four, the US looked to be strong opponents for the young German crew which included three national team rowers from the eight.

In the first three kilometers Germany and the United States battled closely before the Germans were able to move away to a 35 second lead over the US who finished second.

German coxswain Peter Thiede described the length of the race, "It makes you experience quite a different sort of pain than the one you experience with just rowing the 2000 metres.?

?It was a very competitive race," said US coxswain Marcus McElhenney. "We would have liked to finish first, but the Germans are tough to beat.  We will have to come back stronger next year.?

The 12.7 km of racing proved its toughness with stroke of the Dutch eight, Jurrien Rom Colthoff describing it as his worst nightmare. "Racing for almost 13k, it is crazy," Colthoff said after the race. His team finished third after clashing with fourth placed Great Britain early in the race.

Canal Cup winners
© E.ON Hanse-Cup

Athletes were treated to VIP treatment throughout their stay with all aspects of their stay taken care of from top quality dinners, luxury car shuttles, receptions, prize money and the pop star attention of rowing fans.

As well as the elite rowing, spectators got to see dragon boat racing, school competitions and ergometre racing. The town of Rendsburg fully immersed itself in rowing fever with the local radio stations providing a party atmosphere from mid-day till late at night and television stations broadcasting the main rowing events live.

All of the teams expressed their intention to return in 2005, forgetting about the pain and talking highly of the atmosphere of cheering spectators.

Additional pictures and further information on www.eon-hanse-cup.de

Contributed by Cora Zillich, German Rowing Federation

Final Times
1. GER 34:59.2
2. USA 35:32.2
3. NED 36:14.6
4. GBR 36:19.1

How they raced…

Germany
1. Jochen Urban
2. Sebastian Thormann
3. Stephan Koltzk
4. Johannes Doberschütz
5. Thorsten Engelmann
6. Jan-Martin Bröer
7. Jan Tebrügge
8. Andreas Penkner
Peter Thied

USA
1. Garret Klugh
2. Paul Daniels
3. Joshua Inman
4. Wyatt Allen
5. Daniel Walsh
6. Dan Beery
7. Beau Hoopman
8. Joseph Hansen
Marcus McElhenney

The Netherlands
1. Rogier Blink
2. Martijn Nuijten
3. Sybolt de Vries
4. Mitchel Steenmann
5. Roy van Kessel
6. Geert Jan Derksen
7. Daniel Mensch
8. Jurrien Rom Colthoff
Anne van der Staak

Great Britain
1. Tom Broadway
2. Phil Simmons
3. Jonno Devlin
4. Richard Egington
5. Ben Lewis
6. Stephen Rowbotham
7. Simon Fieldhouse
8. Peter Gostling
Christian Cormack