Three WAIS Scholarship Holders in Senior A Rowing Team
Western Australia’s strong tradition in men’s lightweight rowing has continued with three members of the WAIS rowing squad selected for the Senior A Australian rowing team for the up coming World Cup season in Europe.
2008 Beijing Olympian Todd Skipworth has gained selection in the boat after a strong performance during the week long selection trials in Penrith.
Skipworth will now relocate to Tasmania where he will be joined by natives Blair Tunevitsch, Samuel Beltz and Anthony Edwards under the guidance of coach Brett Crow.
Emphasising the strength of Australia’s talent, a second squad has been selected to train with Crow in Tasmania, with the WAIS pair of Perry Ward and Ross Brown also preparing to make the trip to the Apple Isle.
In other Australian team news, WAIS Head Coach Lincoln Handley was appointed to coach the U23 men’s lightweight crew of David de Lang, Jonothan Hookway, Timothy Widdicombe and James Wilson with the squad to be based in Perth.
Australia will send crews to World Cup 2 (Munich, Germany) and World Cup 3 (Lucerne, Switzerland) on a four week tour of Europe, before the squad returns to Australia to continue preparations ahead of the 2010 World Rowing Championships in New Zealand (October 31-November 7).
Headlining the Senior A contingent will be the 2008 Olympic silver medal crew of Francis Hegerty (NSW), Cameron McKenzie-McHarg (VIC), James Marburg (VIC) and Matt Ryan (NSW) who will be eager to add further medals to their tally, after also claiming silver at the 2009 World Championships.
Rowing Australia High Performance Director Andrew Matheson says that there were a number of difficult decisions to make.
“Across the week of trials we had a number of athletes put their hands up and push for selection across all boat categories,” Matheson said. “We have developed a good talent pool of rowers for the current Olympic cycle and we believe that this squad will serve us well for the two World Cups in Europe.”
Meanwhile Matheson said there was still the chance for a number of other athletes to come back into the selection race for the World Championships.
“A number of athletes were unable to make the World Cup tour due to injuries or personal commitments and these athletes will have the chance to trial in August,” Matheson said.
“Duncan Free, Sam Conrad, Brooke Pratley, James McRae, Ben Cureton and Tom Gibson, who were all part of the Olympic team in 2008, will trial for places in August and will be given due opportunity to qualify for the World Championships team.”
The 2010 Australian Rowing Team will depart for Europe on Sunday 13 June to compete in World Cup 2 and 3.
A final round of selection trials for the 2010 Australian World Rowing Championships team will be held in August.
– with Rowing Australia