Cop comes out at Italian sculling challenge

This is Cop’s second time winning the event and he finished in his own fastest time of 23’57” for the 6,000m race which includes a turn around an island. Cop last took line honours in 2010. After the race Cop commented that he was very pleased with his victory and that he saw it as a good omen for the coming season which will culminate for him in at the London Olympics, competing in the men’s double sculls.

Defending champion, Italy’s Elia Luini, finished second with Franco Sancassani (ITA) coming in third. Both Luini and Sancassani race internationally as lightweights and both are World Champions. For the entire race Luini kept a steady stroke rate of 31 -32 per minute to hold his second place.

Amongst the women Elisabetta Sancassani finished first with Alessandra Patelli in second. This is Patelli’s first time racing in the Italian Sculling Challenge while Sancassani has won before, in 2007. Valentina Calabrese was third and in her third year racing the Challenge. Sancassani’s finishing time was 26’42” which put her into 16th place overall.

The scullers endured cool conditions with some light rain. Although not so good for spectators, the conditions made for very good rowing.

The day before the Challenge a team relay event on the indoor rowing machine took place. The teams consisted of one disabled athlete, four pupils from local schools plus a champion rower. Both Cop and Italian World Champion Jiuri Vlcek took part. This year a record number of 14 teams took partparticipated and is a culmination ofand as a result of a  rowing promotional campaign in the local schools, where more than 850 students tried out the indoor rowing machine. Vlcek’s team finished first over the team that included Germany’s Ingo Euler.

Full results are available here.