German eight wraps up perfect season at Canal Cup

The Germans got out in front and remained there over the 12.7km distance on the Kiel Canal which is known as one of the busiest waterways in the world. In relatively tricky tail wind conditions Germany finished in a time of 37:07.

Poland battled with Great Britain for second place for the entire race and at the line Poland managed to secure second with the British finishing third, just three second behind the Poles. Australia were fourth.  

“We have never had such a competition for such a long time of the race before,’ race organiser Florian Berndt commented on the duel between Poland and Great Britain. “The rowers were happy with the sun coming out. There was a strong tailwind with some choppy water on the last 2k.”

The German crew of Eric Johannesen, Florian Mennigen, Lukas Mueller, Toni Seifert, Maximilian Reinelt, Kristof Wilke, Andreas Kuffner, Sebastian Schmidt and coxswain Martin Sauer featured two changes from the London Olympic Champion crew. Poland used their intact 2012 European Championship winning line up.

Great Britain and Australia boated up-and-coming national team members with their sights set on the 2016 Olympic Games, as well as some current World and Olympic athletes.

The race finished under the landmark cast iron railway bridge with the winners taking away more than 10,000 Euros in prize money.
Over the weekend of racing spectators numbering around 90,000 lined the Kiel Canal to watch the long distance race which has been called by organisers, ‘the toughest rowing race in the world.’

The day before crews had competed in a 250m sprint with Germany and Poland racing each other in the final round. Germany won. There was also a ‘500m Erg Challenge’ with each crew member racing for 500m on the indoor rowing machine. The total wattage for each eight team mates was then totalled but due to a technical error the wattage was not recorded. The four x 250m rely, however, was recorded with Poland the winners, Great Britain second, Australia third and Germany fourth.

For a full list of crew members click here.

Canal Cup website: http://www.eonhansecup.de/