Waves, rolls and sand for Coastal Championships

For the first time ever the championships were held in South America, but this did not deter athletes from 26 nations heading to Peru’s capital city to race on the open ocean.  The Pacific did not disappoint, providing a spectacular show of lively water with waves measuring four metres high and 70 metres long for the coastal rowers.

The regatta began with a masters beach regatta, followed by the coastal championships heats and finals. On the last day competitors changed their boats and combinations to race in the short, fast mixed beach sprints.

Both the 4,000m course for heats and B-finals and the 6,000m course for the A-finals had rowers navigating around buoys. This meant that from heats to finals, racing was unique. Both courses started on the sea and finished on the beach.

By far the men’s solo garnered the most interest boosted by the entry of Cuba’s Angel Fournier Rodriguez. Better known for winning medals at the World Rowing Championships in the men’s single sculls, Cuba’s most successful flat water rower, Fournier raced for the local Peruvian club. This was Fournier’s first coastal regatta and he finished seventh overall.  Finishing first overall was Adrian Miramon Quiroga of Spain with Linares Eduardo of Peru in second. Last year’s winner, Peter Berg of Sweden finished back in tenth place, while last year’s silver medallist, Simone Martini of Italy was fourth.

Spain’s Kimberly Forde and Maria Del Mar Ferrer Sanchez had an outstanding performance taking gold in the women’s coxed quadruple sculls and then racing again in the women’s double sculls where they won silver.

Monaco made history by winning their first ever gold medal at a coastal rowing championships. Their tally ended up with two golds after they won both the men’s double sculls (Quentin Antognelli and Alberti Guiseppe) and the men’s coxed quadruple sculls (Mathias Raymond, Gaetan Delhon, Maxime Maillet, William Ader and coxswain Pierre Zervos).

Jessica Berra of France successfully defended her 2014 title in the women’s solo. Berra crossed the line in a time of 33:23, 36 seconds ahead of Selene Gigliobianco of Italy with Stephanie Chantry of France in third. France also had success in the women’s double sculls with Diane Delaleau and Nathalie Collet winning for a second year in a row.

“The wave would move you sideways 4 metres and, yes, there were crashes,” says FISA commission member Guin Batten, describing how the rowers faced the turning points.

France was the overall Team Trophy winners for the second time and Spain finished second overall.

For full results: http://www.worldrowing.com/events/2015-world-rowing-coastal-championships/event-information