Brown Facing Repechage in Lightweight Four

WAIS rowing scholarship holder Ross Brown and his men’s lightweight four team mates have finished fourth in their heat at the Rowing World Championships in Poland.

Brown and his crew will now compete in the repechage stage for a place in the semi-finals, after an injury plagued lead up to the event had the Australians changing their squad.

The men’s lightweight four of Ross Brown, Angus Tyers (VIC), Tom Bertrand (VIC) – who came after the back injury to Chris Bigg (VIC) – and Darryn Purcell (QLD) were third through the 1000m mark but could not hold off Great Britain over the closing stages and finished in a time of 6:46.86. Czech Republic won the heat, with Spain in second.

WAIS Rowing Performance Manager Antonio Maurogiovanni said he believed the squad would get better with each row, as the newly formed combination gels.

“I’m pretty sure that race after race the performance of this crew will improve. However to make the final they have to be perfect,” Maurogiovanni said.

“Ross is the one with more experience in the crew and he is doing a fantastic job in keeping the crew concentrated and positive.”

Having spoken with Brown ahead of competition, Maurogiovanni said the crew were in good spirits despite the injury set back.

“The heat was the first international race for a young and renovated crew and the feedback that I had from Ross the day before competition started was that they were very positive and confident.”

“The final is still a way off and they have a lot of hard work in front of them,” Maurogiovanni said.

The repechage will be raced on Wednesday.