Double gold for GB Four in Italy
The GB Rowing Team鈥檚 mixed adaptive coxed four (LTAmix4+) took double gold at the Varese International in Italy at the weekend, racing in two different combinations.
2012 Paralympic gold medallists Pamela Relph and Naomi Riches carried on where they left off in London by teaming up with newcomers James Fox, Sam Murray and cox Oliver James to take gold ahead of the host nation on Saturday in 3:23.07.
On Sunday Oliver Hester replaced Sam Murray in the line-up with GB coming home ahead of Italy for a second time. Conditions on Saturday and Sunday in the Northern Italian lake venue improved after the wind and rain of the training days.
Fox, 20, learnt to row at Peterborough. Murray has only recently classified as a B2 and is therefore eligible for this boat category for the first time. James took up coxing at Warwick.
Tom Aggar and Andy Houghton also took gold on consecutive days in the arms-and-shoulders only single scull category. Both recorded victories over 2012 Paralympic bronze medallist Alexsey Chuvashev of Russia.
Laurence Whiteley, from Tees, another new recruit to the GB Rowing Team para-rowing squad this season, made a great debut to take bronze on Saturday in the trunk and arms men鈥檚 single scull but fell agonisingly short of repeating the feat on Sunday when he was fourth in a tight race.
The squad will stay in Italy for a further week in training camp before returning to the UK.
鈥淎t the start of a new Paralympiad, it鈥檚 been a good experience to come here and try out different combinations as well as testing our newcomers under the pressure of race conditions鈥, said Coach Tom Dyson. 鈥淏ut we should not get carried away. The fields here were generally not deep and we have plenty to work on now in training camp鈥.
The GB Rowing Team Para-rowers will next compete internationally at the World Cup at Eton Dorney on June 20, 21 and 22. The GB crews for that event will be announced on June 5th.
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RESULTS
(Events featuring GB crews only. Full results: http://www.canottaggio.org/risultati_2013/1_adaptive_gavirate/menu.shtml)
SATURDAY
Mixed Adaptive Coxed Four (LTAMix4+)
1. Pamela Relph/Naomi Riches/James Fox/Samuel Murray/Oliver James (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 3:23.07
2. Italy 3:26.07
3. CBR 3:35.01
4. Italy 2 3:48.07
5. Russia 3:54.02
6. Poland 4:10.07
Men鈥檚 Arms-shoulders single scull (ASM1x)
1. Andy Houghton (GREAT BRITAIN 2) 4:59.06
2. Aleksey Chuvashev (Russia ) 5:00.04
3. Luciano Luna (CBR) 5:06.06
4. Bernard Fasanelli (FFSA) 5:18.04
5. Fabio Caselli (Italy) 5:24.00
6. Sergio Emilio Bartoloni (Italy 2) 5:47.02
Men鈥檚 Trunk-arms single scull (TAM1x)
1. Iaroslav Koida (Ukraine 2) 4:16.65
2. Daniele Stefanoni (Italy) 4:18.90
3. Laurence Whiteley (GREAT BRITAIN) 4:19.43
4. Dmytro Ivanov (Ukraine) 4:22.45
5. Massimo Spolon (Italy2) 4:46.43
6. Michal Gadowski (Poland) 4:59.59
7. Jolanta Pawlak (Poland 2) 5:25.64
SUNDAY
Mixed Adaptive Coxed Four (LTAMix4+)
1. Pamela Relph/Naomi Riches/James Fox/Oliver Hester/Oliver James (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 3:39.72
2. Italy 3:44.33
3. CBR 3:58.33
4. Russia 4:08.50
5. Italy 4:13.70
6. Poland 5:06.74
Men鈥檚 Arms-shoulders single scull (ASM1x)
1. Tom Aggar (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:09.12
2. Aleksey Chuvashev (Russia) 5:13.11
3. Andrew Houghton (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:14.63
4. Luciano Luna (CBR) 5:29.84
5. Fabrizio Caselli (Italy) 5:38.09
6. Szabolcs Nemeth (Hungary) 6:08.77
Men鈥檚 Trunk-arms single scull (TAM1x)
1. Iaroslav Koida (Ukraine 2) 4:23.68
2. Daniele Stefanoni (Italy) 4:25.26
3. Dmytro Ivanov (Ukraine) 4:26.79
4. Laurence Whiteley (GREAT BRITAIN) 4:28.45
5. Issac Reibeiro (CBR) 4:30.93
6. Massimo Spolon (Italy 2) 4:46.92
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CONTACT DETAILS
For media enquiries about this event please contact:
Caroline Searle: [email protected] or 01225 384 211 PLEASE NOTE NEW NUMBER or 07831 755351鈥
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