Successful start to season in Varese
GB’s adaptive rowers had a strong start to their season,听winning four golds, three silvers and a bronze as well as the听overall team cup trophy at the Varese International Regatta this听weekend (2-3 May, 2009).
Reigning Paralympic champion Tom Aggar was a double gold听medallist, winning the men’s arms-only single scull event on听both days and setting an unofficial World Best Time of 4:58.5 on听Sunday.
In the same event, Andy Houghton, a newcomer to the British听adaptive squad, won two silver medals behind Aggar.听
For the mixed adaptive coxed four, the Regatta was an opportunity听to test out a new combination, with newcomers to the GB adaptive听squad James Roe and Dave Smith racing alongside Paralympic bronze听medallists Vicki Hansford, Naomi Riches and cox Alan Sherman.
On Saturday, the British crew raced well to win the gold, beating an听Italian combination that included two of their Paralympic line-up from听the Beijing Games. The following day, the Italian crew featured all four听rowers from the Beijing Paralympic Games. This newly-strengthened line-up took the silver, and the British team once again took the gold.听
Meanwhile the British mixed double scull were involved in a extremely听tight finish on Saturday, finishing less than a second behind a Polish听combination to take silver. On Sunday the crew suffered a poor start,听but showed impressive resilience to go on to take the bronze behind Italy听and Poland.听
GB High Performance Projects Officer听Louise Kingsley said "This has been a really positive听start to the season and I am pleased that the new squad members have听performed well this weekend.听
"As the season progresses and the World Championships get closer,听however, we will expect the quantity and quality of the competition to rise."
RESULTS
SUNDAY only
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Men’s single scull
1) Tom Aggar (GBR) 4.58.50
2) Andy Houghton (GBR) 5.05.20听
3) AUS 5.26.20
4) RUS 5.33.80
5) ITA2 5.34.70听
6) ITA 5.44.70
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Mixed double scull
1) ITA 4.15.80
2) POL 4.18.30
3) James Roberts, Samantha Scowen (GBR) 4.19.80
4) ITA2 4.34.30
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Mixed coxed four
1) Vicki Hansford, James Roe, David Smith, Naomi Riches,听
Alan Sherman (GBR) 3.31.00
2) ITA2 3.31.60
3) RUS 3.55.50
4) ITA 4.48.50听
5) POL 3.54.90听
6) RUS2 4.21.00
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CREW LIST
(club/home town/d.o.b in brackets)
VARESE INTERNATIONAL REGATTA
May 2-3
Men’s Arms-only Single Scull
Two boats
Tom Aggar (Royal Docks RC/Barnet, London/24.05.1984)
Andy Houghton (Maidenhead RC/Newbury/06.04.1981)
MIXED
Trunk and Arms Double Scull
James Roberts (City of Swansea RC/Swansea/11.05.1986)/听
Samantha Scowen (Dorney BC/Wokingham/29.10.1987)
Legs, Trunk and Arms Coxed Four
Vicki Hansford (University of Surrey BC/Farnborough/31.10.79)/
James Roe (Stratford-upon-Avon BC//Stratford-upon-Avon/
28.03.1988)/Dave Smith (Reading University BC/Aviemore/21.04.78)
/Naomi Riches (Marlow RC/Harrow, London/15.06.1983)/Alan Sherman听
(cox) (Thames Tradesmen RC/London/22.10.1951)
听
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