Seville, Spain, 19th & 20th February 2005
Article submitted by RQ to the Daily Telegraph 20/2/05
Britain's international rowers kicked off their spring training camp in Seville with good results at the FISA Team Cup sprint regatta this weekend. The national team's excellent record at this regatta was maintained with fifteen medals, including gold for the men's fours, pairs and eights over 1km on Saturday, although the overall trophy went to hosts Spain. Alex Partridge proved he is back from his lung and rib injuries, partnering Olympic champion Steve Williams to a 4-second win in the 1km coxless pairs, and the duo joined Phil Simmons and Jonno Devlin to hold off Spain in the fours. On Sunday Partridge and Williams broke the course record for 500m men's pairs, previously held by Steve Redgrave and Andrew Holmes.
Although twenty nations in total were taking part, the presence of the top Chinese and German women made their events the more competitive. On Saturday Katherine Grainger and Sarah Winckless were edged by China in the double sculls, with Fran Houghton fifth in the singles. Houghton's revenge came in the 500m competition on Sunday, when she picked up silver, an encouraging two seconds ahead of Germany's Olympic champion Katrin Rutchow-Stomporowski.
Britain had a partial team, lacking several students including those preparing for the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. Most successful men's sculler was Pete Wells, taking silver with Steve Rowbotham in the doubles on Saturday before sprinting off the blocks to claim singles gold on Sunday, and the Under-23 silver medal four joined the squad, helping the eight to two golds.
Full results on the Andalusian rowing website.
Single sculls - 1st Germany 1 4:06.06, 2nd Sweden 1 4:09.40, 3rd Spain 1 4:10.34, 5th GBR (F Houghton) 4:12.01
Double sculls - 1st China 2 3:45.21, 2nd GBR 1 (S Winckless/K Grainger) 3:46.62, 3rd China 1 3:49.87, 8th GBR 5 (B Rodford/B Moffat) 3:57.30
Lightweight single sculls - 1st Holland 4:14.04, 2nd Germany 2 4:17.30, 3rd Spain 3 4:19.73, 7th GBR (N Hoogesteger) 4:27.33
Lightweight double sculls - 1st China 1 3:49.16, 2nd China 2 3:53.07, 3rd GBR (J Hammond/H Casey) 3:54.64
MEN
Single sculls - 1st Ireland 1 3:41.77, 2nd GBR 2 (A Campbell) 3:42.42, 3rd Belgium 2 3:45.45, 5th GBR 3 (S Rowbotham) 3:48.46, 7th GBR 5 (A Gregory) 3:55.64
Double sculls - 1st Russia 2 3:23.56, 2nd GBR 2 (S Rowbotham, P Wells) 3:24.53, 3rd Russia 1 3:25.57, 5th GBR 1 (I Lawson, A Campbell) 3:28.40, 7th GBR 3 (T Stallard, A Gregory) 3:33.50
Coxless pairs - 1st GBR 1 (S Williams/A Partridge) 3:34.21, 2nd Argentina 3:38.34, 3rd GBR 2 (J Devlin/P Simmons) 3:41.09
Coxless fours - 1st GBR 1 (S Williams/A Partridge/P Simmons/J Devlin) 3:10.50, 2nd Spain 1 3:11.73, 3rd Spain 2 3:12.85, 5th GBR 2 (H Lee/R Hollis/W Robinson/R Davies) 3:19.59
Eights - 1st GBR (H Lee/R Hollis/K West/R Egington/E Johnson/S Fieldhouse/W Robinson/R Davies/cox N Ford) 3:02.38, 2nd Spain 1 3:03.39, 3rd Spain 2 3:08.56
Sunday 20th February 2005, raced over 500m
WOMEN
Single sculls - 1st Sweden 1 1:47.33, 2nd GBR (F Houghton) 1:48.26, 3rd Russia 1:49.62
Double sculls - 1st China 2 1:36.84, 2nd Germany 1 1:36.97, 3rd China 3 1:38.81, 5th GBR 1 (S Winckless/K Grainger) 1:39.52
Lightweight double sculls - 1st China 1 1:40.69, 2nd China 2 1:43.29, 3rd Spain 2 1:43.77, 5th GBR 1 (J Hammond/H Casey) 1:44.29
MEN
Single sculls - 1st GBR 6 (P Wells) 1:34.85, 2nd Belgium 1 1:35.66, 3rd GBR 2 (A Campbell) 1:37.11
Double sculls - 1st Russia 2 1:26.96, 2nd Russia 1 1:29.36, 3rd GBR 2 (A Campbell/P Wells) 1:30.45, 6th GBR 1 (S Rowbotham/I Lawson) 1:32.96
Coxless pairs - 1st GBR 1 (S Williams/A Partridge) 1:31.04, 2nd Spain 2 1:31.31, 3rd Spain 1 1:31.94, 6th GBR 2 (H Lee/R Hollis) 1:38.58, 7th GBR 3 (W Robinson/R Davies) 1:39.89
Coxless fours - 1st Spain 1 1:25.88, 2nd GBR 1 (P Simmons/J Devlin/S Fieldhouse/E Johnson) 1:27.32, 3rd Spain 2 1:28.33, 5th GBR 2 (H Lee/R Hollis/W Robinson/R Davies) 1:29.85
Eights - 1st GBR (S Williams/A Partridge/K West/R Egington/P Simmons/J Devlin/E Johnson/S Fieldhouse/cox N Ford) 1:20.09, 2nd Spain 1 1:20.85, 3rd Spain 3 1:23.76