Vonarburg Wins Armada Cup

Armada Cup
© Bern Regatta Federation

Switzerland's top sculler, Andre Vonarburg captured first place on the winding Wohlensee course of the 18th annual BKW-Armada Cup in Bern, Switzerland. Vonarburg not only held the lead throughout the nine-kilometre race but also managed to get within striking distance of the course record.

Vonarburg, who recently finished eighth in Athens, used an aggressive start to get into the lead. In this way he avoided any possible collision with the 200 plus singles that made up the mass start of nine rows of 25 boats each.

"Andre went fast off the start and that made it easy for him to choose his water," said President of the Bern Regatta Federation and 2004 Olympian Simon Stuerm. Being in the lead also meant Vonarburg could choose his course ahead of his competitors.

At the finish line Vonarburg had come within 10 seconds of the course record recording a time of 33 minutes and 17 seconds. This was despite recent heavy rain that had increased the current that worked against the rowers on the dammed river course. But Stuerm, who won the event in 1999, said the conditions overall were very good.

The challenging course demanded a tight 90 degree turn soon after the start and rowers as well as having to contend with avoiding other competitors had to keep an eye out for possible weed and sand banks. Swiss sculler and Athens Olympian, Florian Stofer suffered one of the many course obstacles when his boat went into a sand bank. Stofer was forced to get out of his boat and push it back into deeper water but still managed to finish seventh overall.

Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, who came to Bern following her Olympic silver medal win, easily won the women's section, taking away CHF1,500 ($US1,250). She finished an impressive 32nd overall.

This was nearly a minute ahead of second place, Marit Van Eupen of the Netherlands. Behind Van Eupen and finishing third for the second time in two years, Magdalena Schmude proved that she is Germany's up-and-coming top single sculler. Schmude won the World Under 23 Regatta earlier this year and has already been part of her country's elite when she raced the World Cup to bronze in 2002.

Italy's lightweight champion Elia Luini finished second in the men's category for the second year running ending the race 30 seconds down on heavyweight Vonarburg. Behind Luini, James Stephenson of Great Britain finished third and in the process held off a slew of Olympians including Germany's Jan Herzog in fifth and Robert Sens, of the German men's quad, in eighth.

For results please go to: http://www.bkw-armadacup.ch