Issue 102 - October 1997

Home gain

The Great Britain team showed remarkable consistency as, with both the men and women finishing at the top of their points tables, they took the overall title in the Coupe de la Jeunesse. This match, which is currently open to nine nations, consists of seven men's boat classes and five women's events, and the British team recorded five individual event wins on Saturday, following that up with a mirror performance on the Sunday.

On each day, the men's hat-trick came in the first three finals - for coxed fours, coxless fours and coxless pairs, while the British women's wins came in the sweep categories - coxless fours and pairs.

Only two of the other men's crews slipped in their performances between Saturday and Sunday. Single sculler John Murray (the first-ever British team member in this Match from a Northern Ireland club) finished fifth in Saturday's final but was pipped in Sunday's qualification when he had to settle for winning the B final, while the men's eight which finished second behind France on the Saturday also let Belgium slip past them on the Sunday. The men's double finished fifth on both days while the men's quad reached fourth position.

In the women's sculling events, Alexandra Bedingfield finished sixth in both her finals, while the double twice had to settle for second place behind Switzerland although on the Sunday they were just pipped by less than a tenth of a second. The women's quad improved to second place on the Sunday by overtaking Switzerland from their Saturday performance, although Italy remained supreme in both their finals.

Team results:

Women: 1 Great Britain 96 pts; 2 France 77pts; 3 Switzerland 62 pts; 4 Belgium 52 pts; 5 Italy 52 pts; 6 Ireland 31 pts; 7 Netherlands 30 pts; 8 Portugal 16 pts.

Overall: 1 Great Britain 223 pts; 2 France 188pts; 3 Switzerland 154 pts; 4 Italy 144 pts; 5 Belgium 119 pts; 6 Ireland 106 pts; 7 Netherlands 75 pts; 8 Portugal 62 pts.

© Copyright Mike Haggerty, 1997.