Rachel Morris started the gold rush when she turned an appalling start, as she termed it, into a final 350m surge in the arms-shoulders single scull to add Paralympic rowing gold to the gold she won in cycling in 2008.

Tom Aggar produced a fiercely determined performance to add bronze in the equivalent men鈥檚 event, holding off the 2012 Paralympic Champion from China in a race won by the Ukraine.

c. Simon Way

Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley lived up to the promise they showed in winning their heat in a World Best Time to win gold in the mixed double scull.

Pamela Relph became a back-to-back Paralympic Champion in the mixed coxed four when she and Grace Clough, Daniel Brown, James Fox and cox Oliver James brought home gold in the final race of a fabulous 2016 for the GB Rowing Team.

Grace Clough, Dan Brown, Pamela Relph, cox Oliver James and James Fox won LTA mixed coxed four gold at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games

Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing Team Performance Director, said: 鈥淭oday聽has been exceptional for our programme. To be top of the medal table was our first objective and we are undisputed leaders of that.

“Last year at World Championships we showed the standard of our squad by getting three silvers and a gold and we have converted two of those silvers to golds here. That鈥檚 no discredit toTom Aggar who got a great bronze.聽I鈥檓 proud of the rowers.

鈥淎s ever I鈥檓 deeply grateful to the National Lottery without which none of this would be possible.”

Click on the expander boxes below for race reports, reaction and results in full.

The post Three golds and a bronze on epic day for GB Rowers appeared first on 91桃色.

Rachel Morris will be the first GB rower to race on the Lagoa de Freitas tomorrow at the 2016 Paralympic Games when her heat of the arms-shoulders women鈥檚 single scull starts at 12.50 BST.

Morris is drawn in lane 1 in a heat which features former World Champion, 2015 World finalist and local favourite Claudia Santos of Brazil.

The Guildford rower has made remarkable progress since transferring to the sport from hand-cycling in early 2013 and whilst she admitted to always having a few pre-race nerves she said: 鈥淚 will focus on the moment and the processes and only worry about my own performance鈥�.

She also had praise for the Rio set-up:聽聽 鈥淭he Village and the Lagoa venue are both really top quality and the Rio committee have done a fantastic job getting everything ready for us鈥�.

Tom Aggar races in the equivalent men鈥檚 event and is also a World silver medallist and 2008 Paralympic Champion but underlined the progress made by the sport since winning that inaugural Paralympic gold in Beijing.

He said:聽 聽鈥淚t鈥檚 crazy, I was only thinking the other day that I am one of the few survivors of the Beijing Games in terms of athletes.聽 The sport has changed dramatically since then. The standards just to qualify are pretty high and to medal the standard has moved on too.

鈥淭he sport has become more professional across all the events and the bandings are so much tighter. Medals are so much more hard fought and the races are much closer so from a spectator point of view, it is exciting racing to watch.聽 But when you are out there it鈥檚 really stroke by stroke, side by side, top racing鈥�.

The Londoner races in heat two at 13.30 BST and will line up on the start line with聽 the reigning World Champion, Erik Horrie of Australia, with only one place available in Sunday鈥檚 final and all other contenders racing a repechage on Saturday.

Heat two of the trunk-arms mixed double scull could also be a GB v Australia affair.聽 Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley are World silver medallists but a very new crew on the international scene.

Gavin Bellis and Kathryn Ross beat the GB duo by just under a second in France last year to take World gold setting the scene for an exciting heat tomorrow including contenders from China and the Ukraine. Only one crew can go through to the finals.

Rowles only took up rowing in early 2015 after 聽switching from athletics.聽 She has also juggled A level studies this year with training for Rio.

Recently she talked of聽 her passion for her 鈥渘ew鈥� sport and said:聽 鈥淭he first moment that I got in a boat I knew that it was for me. It was amazing, I loved the sense of freedom and, maybe, if I鈥檇 carried on with athletics I would have made progress but this the sport for me鈥�.

Pamela Relph, Grace Clough, Daniel Brown, James Fox and cox Oliver James are the World Champions in the mixed coxed four and will keep a wary eye on China and South Africa who could prove the main opposition in the heat.聽 They will be favourites, though, to move into Sunday鈥檚 final direct.

Channel 4 will carry a highlights package of tomorrow鈥檚 racing in their afternoon show between 16.00 鈥� 19.00 BST.聽 Fans can follow the action through live graphics on the www.worldrowing.com

Results will be posted on Twitter via @gbrowingteam

The post The draw is done and the Rio scene is set appeared first on 91桃色.

Henley Royal Regatta provided the backdrop as the nine GB rowers for the Rio Paralympic Games took part in a row-past to celebrate their announcement today by the British Paralympic Association.

The list of named rowers was led by Grace Clough, Daniel Brown, Pamela Relph, James Fox and cox Oliver James, the reigning World Champions in the mixed coxed four (LTAMix4+).

Great Britain has claimed the World Championship title in this boat for three consecutive years since London 2012.

The 2015 World Championship final was one of the most thrilling of the overall event with the GB four holding off the Americans by a narrow margin. This event is increasingly competitive on the global stage.

Relph is the only returning member of the victorious gold medal crew from London 2012.聽 A physics graduate from University of Birmingham, Relph took up rowing after arthritis led to reduced movement in her wrists and ended her planned Army career.

Relph said: 鈥淚 am over the moon to be selected for my second Paralympic Games and feel so excited and nervous at the prospect of trying to defend my gold medal from London 2012. This season has been the toughest yet and I am looking forward to going to Rio to race the rest of the world. The team that has been selected is far stronger than any I have been a part of in my six years of rowing for GB and I am proud to be a part of such a talented squad.鈥�

James Fox and cox Oliver James are triple World Champions with Relph.聽 James took up coxing whilst at the University of Warwick and Fox, a former non-disabled club rower, classified into para-rowing because of a congenital ankle condition.

James said:聽 鈥淚t’s exciting to be selected to go to the Games in Rio and I’m looking forward to knuckling down over the next two months before the Games to make sure we bring back the result that we have been training so hard for over聽the last聽four years”.

Fox added:聽 鈥淚t is a real honour to be selected for the GB Paralympic Rowing Team. Racing at World Championships is exciting but being selected to race at a Paralympic Games is something special. It is my first Paralympics and I can’t wait to get out to Rio and crack on鈥�.

Grace Clough and Dan Brown are the most recent additions to the crew, joining the boat in 2014 for the World Championships that year and contributing to World titles in both 2014 and 2015. Clough 鈥� who graduated from University of Leeds with a first in Sociology 鈥� was first introduced to disability sport in 2013 when she attended a ParalympicsGB SportsFest event at the EIS in Sheffield.

Brown said: 聽I’m excited about being selected to race in Rio. Things have been going well in training and I’m looking forward to showing what we can do as a crew come September.

Selected for his third consecutive Games, Tom Aggar will compete in the arms-shoulders (ASM1x) men鈥檚 single scull event. Aggar is the longest-serving of the para-rowers currently on the squad. He started rowing in 2007 and made history as the first ever Paralympic champion in the men鈥檚 arms-only single scull when he won gold at Beijing 2008, where the sport made its Paralympic debut. He is a 2014 and 2015 World silver medallist and will be seeking to add to his medal collection in Rio.

Aggar said:聽 鈥淚t鈥檚 a huge privilege to be selected to represent your country at a Paralympic Games, and it means even more to be able to say it for a third time. Competing at the Games at the highest level is an exciting time to showcase our sport and brings with it tremendous personal pride鈥�.

Also selected today is Rachel Morris, who has previously competed for ParalympicsGB in cycling at two Paralympic Games, winning gold in Beijing and bronze in London, and who now turns her attention to the women鈥檚 single scull (ASW1x).

Already a World silver medallist in her new sport from the 2015 World Championships, Morris will be seeking to add her to Paralympic medal tally when she competes in Rio this summer. 聽On the eve of being selected, Morris won world cup gold in Poznan, beating the reigning World Champion.

Morris said today: “I’m so proud to be wearing ParalympicsGB kit again, to be representing my country is such a privilege. I’m so happy to have had such an incredible few years changing from a cyclist to a rower and had the chance & people believing in me. I would like to thank the GB Rowing Team support staff and Tom Dyson for coaching me and helping me achieve new goals and getting me into the position I am now, both mentally and physically.

“My family have been such a support by providing understanding and calmness as I’m challenged further and further to set new levels.鈥�

A relatively new partnership in the mixed double sculls (TAMix2x) is selected, with Laurence Whiteley joining up with Lauren Rowles.

Whiteley had competed in a non-Paralympic class boat while the GB Rowing Team undertook a two-year-long search for a partner who could compete alongside him in the double.

Teenager Rowles was spotted by GB Rowing Team staff by chance at Stoke Mandeville and transitioned from athletics where she was a successful wheelchair racer having competed for England at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games in the T53/54 1,500m. The duo first competed internationally at the 2015 World Championships, where they won silver.

The pairing have not raced internationally this season while Rowles has been taking her A-levels.

Rowles said:聽 鈥淏eing selected to represent your country at a Paralympic Games is the biggest honour and wouldn鈥檛 be achievable without the support I鈥檝e received from the coaches and specialists on the GB Rowing Team and also my mother who continuously supports me. 聽It fills me with a great sense of pride to be part of such a powerful and successful team and I am very much looking forward to producing a good performance in Rio鈥�.

Whiteley added: 鈥淎fter what was a very uncertain start to my first Paralympic cycle, missing the first two World Championships due to not having a partner to row with in the trunk and arms mixed double scull, I am delighted to finish this Paralympic cycle by being selected to row for Great Britain in the TAMx2.鈥�

Penny Briscoe, Chef de Mission of ParalympicsGB, said:

鈥淭he GB Rowing Team is known internationally for producing consistently outstanding crews and this para-rowing team is absolutely no different 鈥� today I am delighted that I am announcing such a strong team to join ParalympicsGB for Rio 2016.

鈥淭hese rowers have proved themselves on the international stage and I am confident they will do the same at the Paralympic Games. I would like to thank all their coaches and support staff at GB Rowing for all their hard work to produce this team.鈥�

Sir David Tanner, 91桃色 Performance Director said:

鈥淚 am confident that this team will prove the strongest that GB has ever sent to a Paralympic Games.聽 Our聽para rowers have worked daily with the GB Olympic Squad since London 2012 and this integration has produced real dividends in improved performance.聽I am sure that our four boats will do GB proud out in Rio.鈥�

Louise Kingsley, Team Leader for Rowing, said:

鈥淚 am extremely proud that we are able to announce a full para-rowing team today, this has only been achieved through the dedication and hard work of all of our coaches and support staff. The quality of international competition has increased significantly since London 2012, we had a great World Championships in 2015 however, some very good new crews have achieved qualification slots this year for the Paralympic Games so we will leave no stone unturned as we challenge for places on the podium in Rio.鈥�

The post World Champions head Rio Paralympic selections appeared first on 91桃色.

It is not long now until Tom Dyson, our Lead Coach for para-rowing, and the powers that be select their team for the Rio Paralympic Games.

Talking of which; 159 days is all that separates us and the opening ceremony on the 7th of September. 159 days. Not long at all is it?聽 That day will come around before we know it, which is bone chillingly exciting but there is work to be done between now and then.

This weekend hosts our final trials. The Olympic squad had theirs last Tuesday and Wednesday and now it鈥檚 our turn.

Many of you will be aware of the term 鈥楽peed Order Testing鈥� especially if you have trialled for regional or national teams before but, for those who haven鈥檛, the term refers to racing in set crews (as opposed to swapping in and out like seat racing) over racing distance to gauge each boat鈥檚 speed in comparison to the predicted gold medal time (PGMT) at the Paralympics for their event.

It levels the playing field and is a great way to compare performances within the squad or even from previous years. This weekend we have speed order testing over 1km. For the coaches this trial will consolidate all of the data they have gathered on us over the year and will help to form a decision about who will make the boats go fastest this summer and, ultimately, who deserves a seat at the Paralympics. As I say, exciting times.

In other news; I鈥檓 sure many of you have been 鈥榚njoying鈥� what Storm Katie has been offering us. The kind of wind that makes you feel like you got lost along the way and pottered right outside of the Thames estuary.

It reminds me of James Cracknell capsizing on his first attempt to cross the channel in a single scull. It clearly happens to the best of us. Perhaps we should stay in eights – the guys at the weekend in the Boat Race did alright didn鈥檛 they!

Congratulations to all the Boat Races winners and also to the Cambridge women for finishing in the most adverse of conditions. A serious amount of grit was on show there.

Meanwhile, if you want to know how Grace Clough, a World Champion with me in the mixed coxed four, was identified into rowing then there’s a good piece on the BBC website: 聽

The post Blog: James Fox – speed order and true grit appeared first on 91桃色.

With the second of the winter assessments out of the way, it鈥檚 time to give you the low down on who鈥檚 who and what鈥檚 what ahead of this summer’s racing.

All three boat classes (arms and shoulders [AS] single scull, trunk and arms [TA] mixed double scull and legs, trunk and arms [LTA]mixed coxed four) were racing this time round, although the format for each class differed slightly.

Tom Aggar historically represents GB in the AS men鈥檚 single and in fact has dominated this event nationally and has worn the vest at every World Championship and Paralympic Games since the debut of Paralympic rowing at the 2008 Beijing Games.

At the assessment, he time-trialled along with Rachel Morris who has represented GB in the AS women鈥檚 single at the last two World Championships after transferring from hand-cycling a few years ago. They raced down the track against the clock and put down a strong marker to push on from for the rest of the season.

Laurence Whiteley was a lone ranger looking for companionship in 2013 and 2014 but has since found a female double scull partner to team up with in the form of Lauren Rowles who transferred from wheelchair track racing after competing at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Together they won a silver medal in the TA double at last year鈥檚s World Championships after training together for just four months. This season Laurence has competition for his place in the boat and will be seat racing against Scott Meenagh, an eager Scotsman who joined our squad after sustaining injuries serving in Afghanistan, and the recent assessment was the first of those races.

In the coxed four, things are being shaken up a bit. I have stroked the boat at the last three World Championships but there is no reason to say that is the fastest combination and so we鈥檝e been playing a bit of musical chairs.

For the last fortnight or so Pam, Gold medallist from London 2012 and four times World Champion, has been stroking the four with me sitting behind in the three seat and on training camp we tried a few other combinations too.

There are still four seats in this particular game of musical chairs though which is a relief. We seat raced this time around too but, for us, it is as much about going fast in every order and combination as it is about finding which individuals make the boat go fastest at the moment.

The results from the recent assessment won鈥檛 necessarily lead to selection for Rio but they will give our coaches and selectors a general impression of how things are going. A kind of data collection exercise, if you like, ahead of final trials. If nothing else it certainly provided a chance to open the lungs after a winter of rate 18!

The post BLOG: From low-downs to lone-rangers appeared first on 91桃色.

Hi, I鈥檓 James Fox and I鈥檝e rowed for a little over a decade but most recently I have stroked the Paralympic LTA Mixed 4+ since 2013. This is the first of my light hearted but hopefully informative monthly pieces aiming to shed some light on what goes on behind closed doors in the GB Paralympic Team, and keep you 鈥榠n the know鈥� in the run up to Rio. It鈥檚 an exciting time and I think it would be great to have you on-board as the season unfolds and we go in search of some metal聽work across the pond this Autumn.

We have just got back from training camp in Cerla; a relatively new, unknown venue on the Spanish-Portuguese border. Traditionally the Paralympic team goes to Banyoles three times a year – twice in the winter, once in the summer.

Banyoles is a great place to train. A buoyed 2k course in the middle of a vast lake in the shadows of the foothills of the Pyrenees. Very little wind and a warmer-than-home climate has meant that its popularity as a venue for national teams and keen clubs alike has exploded over the years and January was set to be a busy month. This was the perfect excuse for us to try somewhere new.

Before this year I had never heard of Cerla. The GB Rowing Team Juniors chose it as their venue for their winter training camp in December and I know there are a few other high performance teams that have been or are going there to train this year. Its 10k stretch suits winter miles down to the ground.

On arrival we were told by the local rowing manager that wind was rare. 3 or 4mph was about as stormy it was going to get. Obviously this was met by sniggers of disbelief. You鈥檝e seen the wind on the tideway on Head race days. Or at any time for that matter. The University of London is my home club so I know better than to believe that. But he was right. As some of my friends would describe it; it was 鈥榞lassy鈥�. Perfect.

We got some really good training done over the fortnight. Mainly in pairs and fours in preparation for the impending trials in March but it was nice get out in sculls too and churn through some miles.

Imagine our shock when Storm Imogen welcomed us home鈥ow, with 200 days to go to Rio,聽聽it’s business as usual for me. It’s very exciting that it’s closing in but there’s a lot of work still to be done.

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