Two-time Olympian Sam Townsend is to retire from rowing, 14 years after taking up the sport through the GB Rowing Team’s Start programme, to take up a role at Radley College.

The 30-year-old from Reading made history in 2013 when, alongside Graeme Thomas, Charles Cousins and Peter Lambert, he won Great Britain’s first ever World Championships medal in the men’s quadruple sculls.

Townsend made the final in both of his Olympic Games appearances as part of the quad sculls crew, finishing fifth at both London 2012 and Rio 2016.

“It is great to have the opportunity to say a big thank you to all those who have helped, guided and influenced me throughout my 14 years in the sport as a competitive athlete,” Townsend said.

“Particular thanks goes to Mark Earnshaw, my first coach when I began on the Start programme in 2002. He encouraged and coached me from complete novice to Olympic finalist. This was then carried on by Paul Stannard for the next four years to Rio and I can’t speak highly enough of them both.

Townsend joined Reading RC in 2002, aged 16, and won the British Junior Ergo Championships the following year.

Ten years later, Townsend won his first World Championships medal, building on the fifth place at London 2012 by finishing third in Chungju in 2013.

In 2014 Townsend joined the same crew to improve on the previous campaign by rowing to a silver medal in Amsterdam, just nine hundredths of a second behind the winning Ukraine boat.

Townsend added: “I will definitely miss the squad. I have been lucky enough to train and race with incredible athletes and support staff on a daily basis. In particular, a special thanks must go to those who have put up with me directly in the boat.

“I wish there could have been more silverware in my career but I will never forget that feeling of Chungju and Amsterdam and being a part of a ‘first ever’ medal win for GB, which felt like a long time coming.”

Sir David Tanner, 91ÌÒɫ’s Performance Director said: “We all wish Sam well in his new challenge. Sam was one of Start’s earliest recruits and I remember him well as a promising 16 year old at Reading RC back in 2002. His hard work and dedication to the GB Rowing Team over the past 14 years has been exemplary and the young rowers at Radley College will have a great role model to look up to.”

Townsend will now take up the role of Master in Charge of the Radley College Boat Club, where he will also teach geography.

Niall Murphy, Senior Master of Radley College added, “Sam takes up the position of Master in Charge of Radley College Boat Club from 6 November. We are looking forward to him joining the team and building on the college’s previous successes.”

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Thornley and Grainger turned an indifferent season into a silver lining today, battling all the way down the course with the Polish favourites only to be outdone in the very dying metres of the race.

The silver was a first for Thornley – and one she will cherish – and a fourth for Grainger since 2000 to add to the gold she won in the same event at London 2012.  The tally makes her Britain’s most decorated female Olympian of all time.

Grainger said of the race and their early lead:  “I don’t think you ever feel like you are going to win but we were ahead and it felt good and then you come down very quickly.  It was certainly a dramatic race”.

Thornley added:  “It was a really great race from us and a silver medal is so nice, I think”.

Earlier the open men’s pair of Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes, and double of Jonny Walton and John Collins produced gutsy performances to finish fourth and fifth respectively. The men’s quad of Jack Beaumont, Sam Townsend, Angus Groom and Peter Lambert also gave everything they had to finish fifth overall – an impressive result after their disrupted build-up to the Games.

Peter Lambert, Angus Groom, Sam Townsend and Jack Beaumont gave their all

Stewart Innes and Alan Sinclair

John Collins and Jonny Walton

Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis produced a dominant performance in their men’s four semi to qualify for tomorrow’s final, leading throughout.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning were equally impressive in their semi, taking an early and big lead before going on to win comfortably.

Will Fletcher and Richard Chambers emptied the tank giving their all in the lightweight men’s double scull semi but could not get into the top three and qualify for tomorrow’s final.

Alan Campbell will race the final GB semi of the programme tomorrow morning in the men’s single scull.  The men’s four and women’s pair will line up for their finals.

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

For further information about this report please contact the GB Rowing Team press officer, Caroline Searle, via comms@gbrowingteam.org.uk OR the phone numbers in the contact box below.

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Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis laid down a strong marker in their opening Olympic men’s four heat here at the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas in Brazil.  They built on an early lead to win in 5:55.59 and move into Wednesday’s semi-finals.

“I feel like a pressure valve has been released”, said Gregory  It’s been a lot of waiting but it was good to get the job done”.

Nash added: “It was good to get that one under our belts and out of the way”.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning experienced a much tighter affair, coming through a stiff Danish challenge to win their opening heat of the 2016 Olympic regatta in 7:05.05.
The Olympic, World and European Champions saw the danger in the final 250m and needed a powerful flourish at the end to secure the win.

Stanning said:  “The important thing today was to get into the semi-finals and we did that.  It definitely wasn’t a bad row but it wasn’t an exceptional row either”.

Glover added:  “On time and on margin that was a tough race but we have experienced having to dig deeper in other races and in training”.

The GB women’s eight paced their heat to perfection to break through a New Zealand lead in the final 500m to win and take a place in Sunday’s final.  The win was revenge for their defeat to the Kiwis at the season’s final world cup.

GB’s men followed up with a commanding performance to win their eights heat in 5:34.23 to move straight through to Sunday’s final.

“We have put in a lot of hard work over the past two months and I think it’s beginning to show”, said Pete Reed.

“They are all very, very good crews here. The final is going to be an incredible race”, added Paul Bennett.

Will Fletcher and Richard Chambers secured their semi-final slot with second place in their lightweight men’s double heat behind South Africa.

Chambers talked on behalf of the crew whilst his crew-mate Will Fletcher was called to anti-doping. “Today was good but not good enough. I know we can do better. We didn’t settle as well into our rhythm as we have been doing in training.  It was probably just the excitement of an opening heat at the Olympic Games”.

Kat Copeland and Charlotte Taylor did not get the result they wanted today as they were fifth in their heat and now race a repechage of the lightweight women’s double scull.
Taylor said: “I guess the disappointing thing is that we haven’t shown what we can do.  We need to deconstruct what we have just done and put it all back together again for tomorrow’s repechage”.

Earlier the GB men’s quadruple scull warmed GB hearts as they overcame recent bad luck to reach the Olympic final, taking second place in their repechage. As Jack Beaumont, Sam Townsend, Angus Groom and Peter Lambert crossed the line there was probably a bit of Graeme Thomas – the man who had to go home ill  – with them as they became the first GB crew to reach a final here in Brazil.

“It hasn’t been the ideal preparation but I’m very happy for the three guys behind me in the stroke seat as well as for Charles (Cousins) and Graeme (Thomas) who helped get us here”. said Lambert.

John Collins and Jonny Walton were also in much better racing fettle today as they powered into the semis of the open men’s double scull with a win in a tensely-contested repechage.

For further information about this report please contact the GB Rowing Team press officer, Caroline Searle, via comms@gbrowingteam.org.uk OR the phone numbers in the contact box below.

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Alan Campbell will launch Great Britain’s Olympic rowing campaign this Saturday on Rio’s Estadio de Lagoa at 09.00 Brazilian time (13.00 BST) when he faces opposition from Belarus, Korea, Zimbabwe and Indonesia for a place in Tuesday’s quarter-finals of the open men’s single scull.

The 2012 bronze medal open men’s single sculler, from Coleraine and coached by John West, will lead off a British contingent of 12 boats and 47 rowers in action at these Games at a lake which Team GB Rowing Leader, Sir David Tanner, has described as “one of the iconic venues of the Games”.

Saturday morning’s race-card includes the men’s pair of Alan Sinclair, from Inverness, and Henley’s Stewart Innes, the European silver medal winners (14.40 BST). They have drawn the Dutch crew of Roel Braas and Mitchel Steenman, also multiple medal winners this season, in their opening heat.   A top three finish from the six starters will see them into Tuesday’s semi-finals.

“The guys are excited about racing at their first Games and are fired up because of the support back home”, said their coach Rob Dauncey.

2012 Olympic women’s eight finalist Vicky Thornley, from Wrexham, and five-times Olympian and Glasgow’s defending Olympic champion Katherine Grainger, have a tough opener in the open women’s double scull in which they need a top three placing to progress.

They are drawn to race alongside Lithuania’s 2013 World Champions Donata Vistartaite and Milda Valciukaite in a heat also featuring 2015 World bronze medallists, Germany (15.00 BST).

“It’s a very tasty heat and the women are looking forward to testing themselves”, said coach Paul Thompson.

Leicester’s Jonny Walton and Twickenham’s John Collins will kick off their debut Olympics in a heat of the open men’s double scull, which features current World bronze medallists New Zealand and 2014 silver medallists, Italy (15.30 BST).  A top three finish for the duo, coached by Mark Banks, will see them safely into Tuesday’s semi-finals.

Coleraine’s Peter Chambers and Chester’s Chris Bartley both took silver in the lightweight men’s four in London and return to this boat class in Rio where they race with Olympic first-timers Mark Aldred, from Birmingham and Maidenhead’s Jono Clegg.

In Saturday’s opening heat (16.10 BST) the quartet, who finished the world cup season on a strong note, with world cup bronze in Poland, have drawn 2014 World Champions and 2015 World silver medallists, Denmark.  They also race the Germans whom they beat into fifth place in the final in Poland.   Three crews go through to semi-finals.

‘It will be interesting to see how we run off against the Danes in the opening heat because they are one of the top crews in the world. It will put everyone’s minds at rest to see where we stand”, said coach Hamish Burrell.

Jack Beaumont from Maidenhead has flown out to join the GB men’s quadruple scull crew in the past few days because of illness to Graeme Thomas.  Beaumont, Reading’s Sam Townsend, Glasgow’s Angus Groom, who learnt to row in Guildford, and Henley’s Peter Lambert will close out GB’s first day of racing.

“Australia and Poland are the seeded crews, so it will be a good test”, said coach Paul Stannard of their opening heat (16.40 BST) from which two crews progress to Wednesday’s final and the others to a repechage which provides those crews with a second chance on Monday.

SUNDAY

Sunday’s start-list will see the men’s four, women’s pair and the two lightweight double scull crews in action in their respective opening heats.

Gloucestershire’s defending Olympic Champion Alex Gregory, Surbiton’s Moe Sbihi, George Nash, from Guildford, and Londoner Constantine Louloudis start unbeaten this season in the men’s four. They line up with South Africa, France and Greece in heat three (16.20 BST).

Three crews from each heat will progress to the men’s four semi-finals on Wednesday.  Britain have been Olympic champions in this event at every Games since Sydney 2000.

“Overall the draws are good but there is no easy opposition at Olympic Games level.  We are here to compete and to show how we can perform.  We have prepared well and we are now looking forward to it”, said coach Jurgen Grobler who is coaching at his 11th Olympic Games.

Helen Glover, from Penzance, and Lossiemouth’s Heather Stanning will race a women’s pair heat which includes Denmark and Germany who are both world cup finalists this season (14.10 BST).

Robin Williams, coach to the Olympic, World and European Champion duo, said: “The draw has turned out evenly balanced with the seeded crews missing each other but we have crews in our heats who can race, and race well, so we will be giving them the proper respect”. Three crews progress from this heat.

Tees rower Kat Copeland, like Glover and Stanning, is a defending Olympic Champion. With Putney’s Charlotte Taylor, Copeland won World silver a year ago.

The duo missed the latter part of this season’s world cup racing because of injury but have come through well from two recent good training camps.

Only two crews progress to semi-finals from their heat (14.40 BST). Coach Paul Reedy said:  “We are racing crews that are ranked quite highly so it will be a good first test and we are raring to go”.

Richard Chambers, the elder of the Chambers siblings and a London 2012 lightweight men’s four medallist, races this Games with Games debutant Will Fletcher from Chester-le-Street in the lightweight men’s double scull.

In a somewhat ironic twist the combination, coached by Darren Whiter, are drawn in their heat (15.50 BST) alongside John Thompson and John Smith who were half of South African lightweight four who so narrowly pipped GB to gold in London four years ago.  The top two crews go on to the semi-finals with the remainder to the repechages.

MONDAY

Britain’s two eights open their Games on Monday with heats starting at 10.30 local time (14.30 in the UK).

The men have drawn Holland, Italy and New Zealand.  Germany, the Olympic Champions, are in the other heat.   Scott Durant (Lancaster), Tom Ransley (Ashford), Andrew T Hodge (Hebden), Matt Gotrel (Chipping Campden), Pete Reed (Nailsworth), Paul Bennett (Leeds), Matt Langridge (Northwich), Will Satch (Henley) and Londoner Phelan Hill feature in this line-up.

Christian Felkel, who coaches the eight with Jurgen Grobler, said:  “It was expected that the Germans would be in the other heat because of the seedings. The Dutch, of course, won in Lucerne at the world cup so that will be interesting but we are not worried and we can’t wait to get going”.

The GB European Champion women’s eight are drawn with Canada and New Zealand.

James Harris, coach of the European Champion women’s eight with Paul Thompson, said:  “The seeding meant that we would always face New Zealand in the heats. We’ve traded results with them this season and the Canadians, of course, are the World bronze medallists from last year so it’s going to be a good three-boat fight”.  Only one crew can progress directly to the final, the other two will have a second chance via the repechage.

Katie Greves (Oxford), Melanie Wilson (London) Frances Houghton (Oxford), Polly Swann (Edinburgh), Jess Eddie (Durham), Olivia Carnegie-Brown (Reading), Karen Bennett (Edinburgh), Zoe Lee (Richmond) and cox Zoe de Toledo (London) will race at 10.40 Brazilian time (14.40 in the UK) with the men in action 20 minutes later.

Click here for a full guide to the Games

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Already missing Olympic medallists Constantine Louloudis and Peter Reed from the men’s four and eight respectively – who were recovering at home from a virus – Heather Stanning from the Olympic, World and European Champion women’s pair and Peter Lambert from the men’s quadruple scull succumbed pre-race to a different condition.
There was drama too for the men’s four who came through to take gold in a race where the Australians caught a speed-sapping crab* just a few metres from the line.
“That wasn’t exactly a text book way to win”, grinned Alex Gregory afterwards.  “But it shows how strong our squad is that we can swap in Callum [McBrierty] and still pull out the win. He’s a great guy.”, he added.
“We could have stayed away and trained at home but we didn’t want to shy away from it. This has been invaluable experience’. said Mohamed Sbihi.
Great Britain added a spectacular silver from its women’s eight as they came crashing back towards the World and Olympic champion American crew in the final 500m to fall short by mere fractions of a second.
“That was really exciting and I hope we can get them next time”, said Karen Bennett.
“We showed how effective our rowing can be”, said Melanie Wilson.
The men’s quad went out to race with sub Jack Beaumont on board and took a superb silver behind the Australians.  Beaumont was kept busy later in the day when he raced in the second-ranked men’s double to a sixth place – no doubt making his dad and 1988 Olympian Peter Beaumont proud of his doubling-up feat.
“It was a bit surprising to be up by so much in the early part of the race but we knew the Australians had a good sprint.  In a last minute combination like today there is only so much you can do but we are pleased with the result and there is still a lot more we can do” , said Groom.
Bronze came from Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell and Mat Tarrant who might also have been awarded silver, so close was the photo-finish with the Dutch at the end of a race which the British crew had led in the early phases and which was won by New Zealand.  Bronze for GB came as an addition to the world cup gold they won in Varese early last month.
There was disappointment, though, for the men’s eight who finished an agonising fourth in a race won by the Dutch rather than the Olympic-champion German eight who had been pre-race favourites.
Britain backed those results with three top six finishes in the morning session, taking fifth in the lightweight men’s double scull and four and the open men’s single scull.
The lightweight men’s double raced here for the first time since Richard Chambers injured his hand and they looked fast in the early phases before showing their lack of race practice in the final quarter of the race.  Chris Bartley, Mark Aldred, Jono Clegg and Peter Chambers made a strong challenge for bronze until the final 250m when they faded.
Alan Campbell showed an upward curve from his European Championships performance to take fifth place in the open men’s single scull in a race won by Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand.
Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing Team Performance Director, said:  “I am very pleased with our medals – all of them high quality in their different ways.  Well done to Callum McBrierty for subbing into the men’s four and Jack Beaumont in the men’s quad.  These two results were great but underneath that there has been the frustration of illness before we came and in Lucerne today.
“Helen and Heather showed in their semi-final their top form but sadly were unable to race today but what a wonderful result from our women’s eight taking silver behind the World Champions from the USA.
“We will take a lot of positives form this but hope to get healthy again very soon to enter our final pre-Olympic racing in Poznan next month”.
For reaction to this report and interview requests please contact the GB Rowing Team press office on site:  comms@gbrowingteam.org.uk or 07831 755351
For pictures please contact:  GBRTPressOffice@GBRowingTeam.org.uk or  07765 071683
If you missed the live BBC coverage today, don’t forget to catch up on i-player.
*When the oar clips the water and flies out of control”.

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Their perfectly-paced race on Brandenburg’s breezy Beetzee made them one of six GB Rowing Team crews to make tomorrow’s finals and join the seven crews that had already qualified from yesterday’s racing.

Innes said:  “We had a good start and then the middle bit got a bit bouncy but we came through it well – job done and we’re looking forward to the final”.

John Collins and Jonny Walton came through strongly in the second half of their open men’s double semi today to take a third place and move through in a strong field.

Collins said:  “We looked at both semi-finals and thought we had the toughest one but we know we have to race the best at some point. We had quite a strong first half in yesterday’s heats but needed to be a bit calmer in these conditions and I felt we pitched it a lot better today”.

Imogen Walsh

Jamie Kirkwood

Jonny Walton and John Collins

Both GB open quads went through – the men in second place and the women in third in their repechages.  As an inexperienced crew the women did well in the worsening wind and the men were closing on Estonia, who won, in the closing stages.

Jamie Kirkwood grabbed third in a dramatically close finish to his lightweight men’s single semi and Imogen Walsh was second in her repechage to book a place tomorrow.

Meanwhile, It was a difficult day for two 2012 medallists.  Olympic champion Kat Copeland and her partner Charlotte Taylor missed out on a finals spot coming fourth in their light double semi.  Alan Campbell looked out of sorts and finished fifth in his open men’s single.

Conversely fourth place was a significant achievement for 21 year-old emerging talent Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne in the open women’s single at her first regatta at this level in this boat.

End of the Rio Road for W4x. Copyright Intersport Images

The men's quad

The 2016 GB men’s four of Alex Gregory, George Nash, Mohamed Sbihi and Constantine Louloudis, after an eye-catching heats win,  are amongst the seven already-qualified crews.  Despite their comfortable qualification all four feel there is more to be done.

Gregory said:  “For me it feels like it’s been a long winter of training.  There has been a lot riding on trials and getting selected.  So, to finally get a run-out competitively in the heats here was exciting.  It felt great.

“But we have a few things to adjust in our race place and we are looking forward to putting them right tomorrow.  The conditions here are not easy so it’s a test of boatmanship was well as our first international races as a crew”.

Sbihi added:  “Looking ahead to the final, we are not looking at who we are racing but how we are going to improve from yesterday”.

The men’s eight were pleased with their heats win ahead of Poland but are not resting on their laurels.

Scott Durant said:  “We obviously want to win tomorrow but this is the first regatta of the season, so it’s about building on what we have done so far and working towards the goal of Rio. It’s all part of the learning curve”.

The lightweight men’s four also impressed in qualifying yesterday and Peter Chambers said: “It’s been going well for us over the last few weeks, we’ve got our act together and have been moving the four along nicely. We’ve been setting a good high standard and hopefully we can show that tomorrow”.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning will kick off the Olympic boat class action tomorrow for GB as favourites to win the women’s pair after a blistering heat.  They race at 09.18 UK time in a finals session which has been brought forward by one hour due to predicted strengthening wind conditions later in the day.  The session starts at 07.00 with the B finals. A Finals start at 08.33 and finish at 12.33.

Follow live updates on Twitter – @GBRowingTeam.

GB ROWERS TO RACE EURO FINALS WEARING BLACK RIBBONS

In tomorrow’s European Championships finals, members of the GB Rowing Team will race wearing black ribbons on their vests in memory of the late Ron Needs who sadly died a few days ago.

Ron had been a GB coach since the 1970s, coaching many medal boats and he continued to work with the team until a couple of years ago.

He coached the current GB women’s pair coach Robin Williams to a lightweight world medal in the 1970s and coached alongside current GB Rowing Team Performance Director Sir David Tanner in his days as an international coach.

Ron also coached the first GB crew to win a world gold since the 1940s when they won lightweight eight won in Amsterdam in 1977.

Katherine Grainger said:  “Ron was my first GB Rowing coach and remained a wise counsel and friend to me for 20 years.  His passion for rowing was infectious and his knowledge and understanding of the sport immense”.

For reaction to this report and interview requests on the day please contact the GB Rowing Team press office on site:  comms@gbrowingteam.org.uk or 07831 755351 or 07765 071683.

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Helen Glover and Heather Stanning were announced in the women’s pair in which they are the reigning Olympic, World and European Champions.

Glover said:  “It’s always fantastic to be selected to represent Great Britain, and never more so than in Olympic year. The European Championships are our first opportunity to test our early season speed against international competition.”

And one of the strongest open men’s sweep* rowing squads in the world has been deployed across the men’s eight and four, as well as a new-look men’s pair, for the event which takes place in Brandenburg, Germany from May 6-8.

Sir David Tanner, GB Rowing Team Performance Director, said: “We are clearly ambitious to do well in Rio and will race and then review the Europeans combinations announced today. We will also enter six crews for the Varese World Cup regatta in ten days’ time.”

Double Olympic men’s four champions Pete Reed and Andrew T Hodge have been selected into the men’s eight in a line-up which includes Scott Durant and 2012 men’s eight medallist Matt Langridge alongside multiple World Champions Paul Bennett, Matt Gotrel, Tom Ransley, stroke Will Satch and cox Phelan Hill. Ransley, Satch and Hill are also 2012 medallists.

Alex Gregory, 2012 gold medallist in the four, returns to that boat and races with his Trials winning partner, Mohamed Sbihi, plus George Nash and stroke Constantine Louloudis. The quartet are all reigning World Champions in the men’s eight.

Gregory said:  “Everything we do aims towards the Olympics and now finally we are starting to form the crews that will make up the Olympic team. With the European Championships as the first test, I can’t wait to get the 2016 racing season underway. It’s a privilege to race for our country and the feeling of pride and excitement never diminishes.”

Having laid down a strong marker with a top-four finish at the recent GB Trials, Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes are named as the men’s pair.

It is the first major step conquered on the way to fulfilling my dream of competing in my fifth Olympic Games – Frances Houghton

Relative rookie Angus Groom has forced his way into the open men’s quadruple scull* in the absence of the injured Charles Cousins, to join 2013 and 2014 World medallists Sam Townsend, Graeme Thomas and Peter Lambert.

Lambert said:  “I am extremely happy with my selection for the Europeans. This regatta is an exciting start to our Olympic season. The men’s quad at the Europeans is an extremely high competition. Out of the eight crews that qualified last year for the Olympics, seven of them are European countries. We are looking forward to it.”

2012 bronze medallist Alan Campbell, whose Trials’ win showed that he is back on form, races the single scull and Jonny Walton and John Collins, contest the double scull – they qualified that boat for Rio at last year’s World Championships.

Four-times Olympic medallist Katherine Grainger is named in the open women’s double scull with Trials winner Vicky Thornley in a reprise of their 2015 partnership which finished its debut season with a place in the World final.

Like Grainger, Frances Houghton, will race a fifth Olympic Games if selected later this summer for Rio.  She has switched from sculling to sweep rowing and has won a seat in the women’s eight that came so close to winning a medal at last year’s World Championships.

Grainger said:  “The idea of ever competing at the Olympic Games was once just a dream and so it was incredible when I made the team in 2000. Now 16 years on and looking to my fifth Games I still have the same excitement I did back then, it’s the most amazing event to be part of and that doesn’t change whether it’s the first time or the fifth.”

Houghton said:  “I feel almost overwhelmed to be selected for the European Championships in the women’s eight. It is the first major step conquered on the way to fulfilling my dream of competing in my fifth Olympic Games.

“It has at times seemed like an insurmountable mountain to climb and now it is just sinking in that all the hard work and deep belief in the darkest of times of illness and injury has paid off.”

Olympians Jess Eddie, Katie Greves and Melanie Wilson as well as 2013 World pair champion Polly Swann, back after a year out with injury, will be joined in the line-up by Zoe Lee, Karen Bennett, Olivia Carnegie-Brown and cox Zoe de Toledo.

It’s a privilege to race for our country and the feeling of pride and excitement never diminishes – Alex Gregory

World silver medallists Kat Copeland and Charlotte Taylor will once more race the lightweight women’s double scull having taken the top two spots at the Trials from a strongly contested lightweight sculling group. Imogen Walsh, therefore, races the single in which she won World silver in 2015.

Richard Chambers is on his way back after a recent hand injury and will race the lightweight men’s double, if fully fit, with Will Fletcher. Just like Olympic Champion Copeland and Taylor, they won World silver last year in their debut season together.

Further post-Trials testing was needed to establish the crews for the lightweight men’s sweep boats.  2012 silver medallists Peter Chambers and Chris Bartley have made the cut and will be joined by Mark Aldred and Jono Clegg, both now experienced internationals.  Sam Scrimgeour and Joel Cassells are GB’s choice in the pair. They won World gold last year.

Jamie Kirkwood, a World finalist last year, takes up the GB slot in the lightweight men’s single once more.

91ÌÒÉ« will also race six crews at the Varese World Cup from April 15-17, including the women’s quadruple scull, announced in the European squad today as Holly Nixon, Jess Leyden, Tina Stiller and Rosamund Bradbury as the campaign begins to qualify this boat for Rio.

Click the expander ‘Crew List’ box below to see the squad in full.

*Sweep = one rower, one oar / Scull = one rower, two sculls

RACING TIMETABLE – 2016 European Championships, Brandenburg, Germany

• Friday 6 May – all heats a.m.; some repechages p.m.
• Saturday 7 May – All further repechages and semi-finals.
• Sunday 8 May – All finals (09.33 – 13.33 UK Time).

GB ROWING TEAM MEDALISTS – 2015 European Championships, Poznan, Poland

Gold:

• Women’s pair – Helen Glover, Heather Stanning.
• Men’s pair – James Foad, Matt Langridge.
• Men’s four – Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell, Alan Sinclair, Tom Ransley, Scott Durant.
• Lightweight women’s single scull – Imogen Walsh.
• Lightweight women’s double scull – Charlotte Taylor, Kat Copeland.
• Lightweight men’s pair – Joel Cassells, Peter Chambers.

Silver:

• Men’s eight – Matt Gotrel, Stewart Innes, Pete Reed, Paul Bennett, Moe Sbihi, Alex Gregory, George Nash, Will Satch, Phelan Hill (cox).
• Lightweight men’s double scull – Richard Chambers, Will Fletcher.

Bronze:

• Women’s double scull – Vicky Thornley, Katherine Grainger.
• Men’s quadruple scull – Jack Beaumont, Sam Townsend, Graeme Thomas, Peter Lambert.

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Britain’s sculling fortunes have gone from strength to strength during the past decade, with Townsend a key figure in that process.

In 2010 he was part of the first GB men’s quadruple scull crew to reach a World Championships final in 28 years, then Townsend and Bill Lucas were finalists in the double scull at London 2012.

Townsend has been an ever-present in the quad during this Olympiad and helped to secure GB’s first-ever World Championship medals in the boat – bronze in 2013 and silver in 2014.

Now the 30-year-old has his sights firmly set on a gold medal at this summer’s Olympics, with the next big step on the road to Rio being the announcement of the European Championships squad on April 6 – the first selection of the Olympic season.

Do we really believe we can go out there and get that gold in Rio? I certainly do

A host of talented rowers are coming through the sculling programme and challenging for a place in the three Olympic boats, as demonstrated at last week’s Olympic-season Trials, but Townsend is thriving on the added pressure.

“That is an attitude we have always taken – we want that competition, we want to help people get better,” said Townsend, a graduate of GB Rowing Team Start who first took up the sport after being identified as a potential rowing champion while a pupil at Chiltern Edge School in Sonning Common.

“That ethos has helped the whole group push on. We have people desperate to make seats and that competition will ultimately end with high-quality boats that can hopefully medal at the Olympics.

“We know we have quality in our squad and it’s going to be down to how well we train, how well we gel. Do we really believe we can go out there and get that gold in Rio? I certainly do and I am pretty confident the rest of the boys do as well.”

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2014 World silver medallist Sam Townsend, who finished runner up to Sbihi in a time of 5:47.6 today, was full of admiration for his team-mate:  “I’m chuffed for Moe.  It’s a good record that he’s beaten.  I train alongside Moe a lot in the gym and he’s worked hard for that.

“For myself, it’s just shy of my personal best which I set in 2011.  So that’s a good marker for me and shows that I’m on the right track for the Olympic season.  It’s a very good stepping stone to the next test which we have in March”.

Paul Bennett, third in a time of 5:48.5, has come into the SAS Analytics-supported Championships off the back of illness and was disappointed with his score today because of it. He came home in a time of 5:48.5 in front of a noisy crowd.

“That’s around three seconds off my personal best, so I’m a bit disappointed to be honest. I wanted to be a bit closer than that but it is what it is”, he said.

From the 2015 GB World Champion men’s eight the pecking order from fourth onwards was Will Satch, George Nash, Alex Gregory, Matt Gotrel and Pete Reed.  Constantine Louloudis did not race.

Richard Chambers, 2012 Olympic silver medallist in the lightweight men’s four, won gold too.  He finished in 6:08.8, in the lightweight men’s 2k category, to bolster his confidence after a hard training camp.

“I wanted to test myself against myself here’, said Chambers.  “And I’ve done that.  It’s not bad but not a pb.”.

The GB Rowing Team’s Imogen Walsh, Vicky Meyer Laker, Jess Eddie and Donna Etiebet raced in the open women’s relay.

Record-breaking Sbihi concluded the day by saying:  “It is a great atmosphere and a wonderful event here.  It’s such a good place to have set the record.  Indoor rowing is now a massive bit of our sport.  The machines are the same in gyms around the world and it’s growing and growing”.

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All four men were part of the 2015 World Champion men’s eight as were George Nash and Will Satch who came home third.

Gregory said: “As Boston 5ks go that was a good one.  We got out hard at the start and attacked it and when we settled into our rhythm we held it better than previously.  As we crossed the line I felt that whatever the result we could had a good feel for the boat and our efficiency was good.

“I have been racing 5ks here since the juniors in 2003 and there have only been two or three that I would say that I got right. This was up there.  As you are racing, because it’s against the clock, you don’t know how well you are going.  You have to base it all on experience and the perception you have of your fitness levels”.

The top seven finishers were from the national squad with Leander’s William Warr and Matt Rossiter topping the non-squad list in eighth place.

Two hours later and in glorious, sunny conditions Reading’s Olympian and World medallist Sam Townsend won the open men’s single scull title ahead of Leicester’s Jonny Walton and Twickenham’s John Collins.

Collins and Walton, who have raced as the GB Rowing Team double for the last three seasons, finished ahead of 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Alan Campbell, from Coleraine.

It was a debut win on the Boston 5k course for Townsend who has, since London 2012, had surgery on his arms and whose previous best here was third.

“I’m pretty surprised”, he said afterwards.  “But I’ve been rowing quite nicely.  For the squad, it’s pretty early. It feels like we are just back after the Worlds and I didn’t feel that prepared for this.

“I guess it’s an early marker and physically I’m feeling very good and we had lovely conditions to race in today.  I just tried to keep calm today and just plug away”.

Yorkshire’s Olympic men’s four champion Andrew Triggs Hodge competed in the open men’s single as part of his comeback to fitness after a recurrence of a virus which kept him out all of last year. He pronounced his efforts as “alright”.  Earlier he had said that it was about taking “day by day and step by step and if all goes well I’ll be in Rio and able to contribute”.

Coleraine also provided the lightweight men’s single scull winner in the shape of Richard Chambers who led home his younger brother, Peter, followed by his 2015 lightweight double scull partner and Chester-le-Street’s Will Fletcher, in third.  All three recorded times close to those of their open weight counterparts.

Richard Chambers said:  “I didn’t expect to do that well.  My ergo yesterday was steady but I found it hard.  I guess 5k is what I’m good at, getting into the rhythm.  It’s tough but it’s all about working away at it.  It’s really good for the lightweights to see Pete and Will in the mix.  It shows the strength of the squad”.

Wrexham’s Vicky Thornley underlined her sculling pre-eminence in the British squad by winning the open women’s single in 20:01.85 followed by Aberdeen’s Katherine Grainger, her double scull partner in 2015, and  Londoner Melanine Wilson. Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne was top of the emerging rowers with a fourth place in 20:25.89.

Vicky Meyer Laker was fifth with Frances Hougthon in sixth and Tina Stiller in seventh.

Thornley said: “That is a good start.  It’s what I would have expected of myself to be honest.  Things have been going well in training.  It’s a long time since I’ve done a 5km trial as I was ill at the time last year and it is very much a fine line with pacing in this kind of race.

“Mind you, I had Katherine {Grainger} behind me so that was a good marker.  In a race like this it’s easy to get to the bend [in the course] quickly and then die after that”.

On her comeback race at this distance, Anna Watkins, gold medalist with Grainger in London, was 12th and Polly Swann who missed last season through injury was eighth. Debbie Flood, twice and Olympic silver medallist, who has not raced internationally since 2012, was 10th.

Watkins said: “It felt really good coming away for the weekend and competing and every time I scull I know that I’m getting faster every week but I am still a long way from the finished product”.

Imogen Walsh was clearly delighted with her lightweight women’s single scull win in a time of 20:14.1 from Katherine Copeland, of Tees RC, and Emily Craig of the University of London.

Walsh, who missed a lot of last winter through illness, said:  “This time last year I was going down in health terms and I had to come out of training altogether to recover.  The time out taught me a lot of things technically and mentally and it was exciting today to see where I can go when you put the fitness on top of that.

“It’s a really positive thing for the whole lightweight women’s squad that wer are all pushing each other”.
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RESULTS (Top 10 crews only, for full results see Twitter @gbrowingteam)
OPEN
WOMEN

Single scull

1.  Vicky Thornley (Leander) 20:01.85

2.  Katherine Grainger (Marlow) 20:17.16

3.  Melanie Wilson (Imperial Coll) 20:17.55

4.  Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (Reading Uni) 20:25.89

5.  Vicki Meyer-Laker (Leander) 20:30.00

6.  Frances Houghton (UL Tyrian) 20:36.00

7.  Kristina Stiller (Tees RC) 20:36.72

8.  Polly Swann (Leander) 20:38.01

9.  Louisa Reeve (Leadner) 20:40.39

10. Debbie Flood (Leander) 20:44.83

MEN

Pair

1.   Alex Gregory/Mohamed Sbihi (Leander/Molesey) 17:08.92

2.   Peter Reed/Constantine Louloudis (Leander/OUBC) 17:15.04

3.   George Nash/Will Satch (Molesey/Leander) 17:19.82

4.   Alan Sinclair/Scott Durant (Leander/Oxford Brookes BC) 17:27.38

5.   Matt Gotrel/Paul Bennett (Leander/ULBC) 17:32.92

6.   Tom Ransley/Stewart Innes (Leander) 17:34.95

7.   Nathaniel Reilly O’Donnell/Matt Tarrant (ULBC/Oxford Brookes Uni) 17:35.20

8.   William Warr/Matt Rossiter (Leander) 17:44.31

9.   Timothy Clarke/Thomas George Ford (Leander) 17:48.61

10. Barnaby Stentiford/George Rossiter (Leander) 17:49.48

Single scull

1.   Sam Townsend (Reading Univ) 18:41.01

2.   Jonny Walton (Leander) 18:55.48

3.   John Collins (Leander)  19:02.16

4.  Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers’ School) 19:07.06

5.  Peter Lambert (Leander)  19:16.15

6.  Tom Barras (Leander) 19:17.32

7.  Nick Middleton (Leander) 19:20.33

8.  Frazier Christie (Leander) 19:28.01

9.   Dave Bell (Molesey) 19:28.01

10. George Stewart (Molesey) 19.28.36

LIGHTWEIGHT
MEN

Single scull

1. Richard Chambers (Leander) 18:51.33

2.  Peter Chambers (Oxford Brookes Univ) 18:58.06

3.  William Fletcher (Leander) 19:00.73

4.  Zak Lee-Green (Agecroft) 19:08.19

5.  Jamie Copus (Oxford Brookes) 19:18.16

6.  Joel Cassells (Oxford Brookes) 19:20.35

7.  Jonno Clegg (Leander) 19:22.33

8.  Jonathan Jackson (Leander) 19:23.56

9.  Mark Aldred (London) 19: 23.64

10.  Sam Scrimgeour (Imperial College) 19:29.56

WOMEN

Single scull

1. Imogen Walsh (London RC) 20:14.19

2.  Kat Copeland (Tees RC) 20: 37.23

3.  Emily Craig (Uni of London) 20:45.03

4.  Robyn Hart-Winks (Edinburgh Uni) 20:48.59

5.  Eleanor Piggott (Wallingford RC) 20”51.26

6.  Gemma Hall (Wallingford RC) 21:01.78

7.  Francesca Rawlins (Leander) 21:12.88

8.   Ellie Lewis (Agecroft) 21:20.57

9.   Katherine Denham (Durham Uni) 21:21.58

10.  Imogen Mackie (Oxford Brookes Uni) 21:36.46

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