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Official press release published by British International Rowing on 18th July 2007 GB ANNOUNCES WORLD U23 CHAMPS TEAM GB ROWING IS LOTTERY-FUNDED Bill Lucas and Charles Cousins return from senior international duty at the world cup finals in Lucerne, Switzerland, over the weekend to head a list of 40 rowers, named today, who will represent Great Britain at the forthcoming World U23 Championships in Strathclyde, Scotland, from July 26-29. The team also includes Manx brothers Will and George Laughton, competing in the men's eight and coxed four respectively. Lucas and Cousins, who are both products of the ARA's World Class Start Scheme - a unique talent identification and development scheme which is sponsored by Siemens - will compete in the double scull. Neither comes from a traditional rowing background. Both were talented spotted at school because of their height and have come through a rigorous testing and training regime to emerge as elite rowers. Equally Bob Hewitt from Scarborough BC, Chris Boddy from Tees RC, Olivia Whitlam from Agecroft RC and Heather Stanning from the University of Bath were talent-spotted by the same scheme - the former duo will race in one of the lightweight crews in Strathclyde whilst the latter two will form a women's pair. The World U23 Championships themselves are also used as an international stage on which to develop promising rowers - doubly advantageous this year because it is a home event offering the opportunity to compete in front of a partisan crowd. Britain will also field several rowers who were gold medallists earlier this year at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival. These include Mohamed Sbihi, in the men's four, and Nathaniel Reilly O'Donnell in the men's eight as well as Vicky Bryant and Rachael Jeffries in the women's four. Reilly O'Donnell is also a reigning World junior gold medallist, having won the men's four title a year ago whilst Frances Fletcher and Franki Jus-Burke were both silver medallists in last year's World U23 women's quadruple scull. Meanwhile, Great Britain is always seeking to move rowers up from junior and U23 crews to Olympic class boats at senior level when they are ready. Tom Lucy, who has raced in the senior GB men's eight, and Richard Chambers, who won gold this weekend in the senior lightweight men's four, were in the world junior and world U23 teams this time last year and were both gold medal winners in those Championships. Approximately 600 athletes from 40 countries usually take part in the event. This year, Britain has entered 12 boats, comprising 40 rowers in total.
Racing is currently scheduled to take place from 26-29 July as follows:
For more information on the detailed timetable see www.worldrowng.com. GB CREWS FOR WORLD U23 CHAMPS (Strathclyde, July 26-29). NB - listed from bow to stroke with athlete name followed by club in brackets). WOMEN Pair: Olivia Whitlam (Agecroft RC/Warrington)/Heather Stanning (Uni of Bath/Lossiemouth). Coach: Hamish Burrell Four: Vicky Bryant (Oxford Brookes/Chester-le-Street)/Emily Taylor (Durham Univ/Lincoln)/Kirsty Myles (Oxford Brookes/Edinburgh)/ Rachel Jefferies (CUWBC/Oxford). Coach: Nick Strange Single scull: Ruth Walczak (Hollingworth Lake RC/Rochdale). Coach: Ade Roberts Women's quadruple scull: Tina Stiller (Nottingham RC/Yarm, N.Yorks/23.6.87)/Franki Jus-Burke (Nottingham RC/Nottingham/3.1.87)/Atlanta St John (Reading Uni/North Leigh/Oxon/13.1.87)/Lauren Fisher (Reading Uni/Reading/17.2.86). Coach: Ade Roberts MEN Pair: Tom Wilkinson (Leander/Henley)/Charles Burkitt (Leander/Reading). Coach: Chris Collerton Four: Cameron Nichol (Uni of London/Glastonbury)/Oliver Moore (Imperial/Burford)/Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey/Surbiton)/Colin Scott (Cambridge Uni/Malvern). Coach: Peter Sheppard Coxed four: Ryan Davies (Oxford Brookes/Henley)/Pete Marsland (Molesey/Hampton)/Alex Holden-Smith(Oxford Brookes/Bewdley)/George Laughton (Newcastle Uni/Douglas, I.O.M)/AndyGraham (cox) (Durham Uni/Walton-on-Thames). Coach: Andy Bird Eight: Joshua Davidson (Leander/Richmond)/Matt Tucker (Oxford Brookes/Windsor)/Will Robinson (Oxford Brookes/Reading)/Nathaniel Reilly O'Donnell (Uni of London/Durham)/ Tom Ransley (York City RC/Canterbury)/Nick Clark (Leander/Marlow)/Will Laughton (Imperial College/Douglas I.O.M)/Pete Randolph (Bristol Uni/Twickenham)/Seb Stuart (Durham Uni/Salisbury). Coach: Stuart Whitelaw Single scull: Ben Smith (Imperial/Oxford) Double scull: Bill Lucas (Reading Uni/Dartmouth)/Charles Cousins (Rob Roy/Cambridge) LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN Double scull: Emma Steel (Durham Uni/Chester-le-Street)/Frances Fletcher (Durham Uni/Chester-le-Street). Coach: Peter Lee MEN Quadruple scull: Henry Chin (Durham Uni/Camberwell)/Bob Hewitt (Scarborough BC/Scarborough)/Adam Freeman-Pask (Imperial College/Windsor)/Chris Boddy (Tees RC/Thornaby-on-Tees). Coach: Nathan Adams SUPPORT STAFF: Team Manager: Drew Robertson, Doctor: Tom Jenkins, Physio: Su Clark, Equipment Manager: Maurice Hayes. CONTACT DETAILS. For media enquiries about British Rowing please contact: Caroline Searle. T: (01225) 383518. M: (07831) 755351. e: caroline@matchtight.co.uk The GB Rowing Squad is supported by the National Lottery Sports Fund as part of UK Sport's Podium Programme. GB Rowing News bulletins are issued by British International Rowing. |