WA Rowers Selected for Sydney World Cup Event
Rowing Australia today announced a 60-strong team to compete in the first round of the World Rowing Cup to be held as part of the 2014 Sydney International Rowing Regatta (SIRR 2014).
Australian selectors have named 30 crews to represent Australia in 14 boat classes in the event which runs from 28 to 30 March as part of the SIRR 2014 (which itself runs from 23 to 30 March).
The sixty-strong squad contains four WAIS scholarship holders. Maia Simmonds – who in 2013 made her World Championships debut – will contest the women’s lightweight double scull, alongside Queenslander Hannah Every-Hall, with the pair to be assisted by WAIS Rowing coach Lincoln Handley.
2012 Olympian Alex Hagan has been named in the women’s coxless pair, and will compete alongside Victorian Pauline Frasca. Perry Ward will tackle the men’s lightweight double scull in tandem with Queensland’s Adam Kachyckyj.
Rounding out the WAIS athletes in action, will be Tom Gatti who has earned a spot in the men’s coxed eight crew, whilst former WAIS scholarship holder David Watts will compete in the men’s quad scull.
There will be many familiar faces returning to the Senior A side for the first round of the World Rowing Cup including the likes of Olympic medallists David Crawshay (Gold – Men’s Double Scull 2008), Kerry Hore (Bronze – Women’s Quad Scull 2008), Joshua Dunkley-Smith and William Lockwood (Silver – Men’s Four 2012), Kim Crow (Silver – Women’s Double Sculls 2012, Bronze Women’s Single Scull 2012), James McRae and Christopher Morgan (Bronze – Men’s Quad Sculls – 2012).
The side is a mixture of youth and experience, as alongside the Olympians in the team, are a number of athletes making their debut in the Senior A squad. In the Women’s Coxless Pair category, New South Wales’ Georgina Gotch will make her debut alongside Katrina’s Bateman of Victoria, while Michelle Yann of Mercantile Rowing Club is paired with Renee Chatterton.
Meanwhile, in the Women’s Lightweight Single Scull, Annabel Gibson has been selected for the first time to represent Australia at Senior A level, with the Adelaide local being coached for the event by Ellen Randell.
It’s not just the women’s section of the team that features debutants; the men’s team also has a selection of athletes joining the senior squad for the first time. Cameron Girdlestone of Sydney University Boat Club will be racing alongside Alexander Belonogoff in what will be his first Senior A race, while Hamish Playfair, also of Sydney University Boat Club, will join the Men’s Quad Scull for the first time.
In the Men’s Coxless Pair, South Australian duo Nathan Bowden and Jed Nicolle will be racing for the Australian Senior A team for the first time and in the same sweep category, Melbourne University Boat Club’s Samuel Hookway is joining the Men’s Coxless Fours to make his Senior A debut.
Joining the Australian team for the first time in their careers will be Jackson Harrison of Victoria who will be rowing in the Men’s Lightweight Single Scull and Country Victoria brothers William and Timothy Day, from Nagambe, who will be rowing in the Men’s Lightweight Double Scull.
Returning to the Men’s Sculling Senior A set-up for the first time in two years is Victorian rower, John Linke. Having represented Australia in two World Rowing Championships (2010 and 2011), Linke was diagnosed in 2012 with a recurrence of a debilitating leg condition, however after three major operations in 14 months he has competed his way back into the side for the first round of the World Rowing Cup.
World Rowing Cup entries close on 17 March 2014 and Rowing Australia has not selected a Women’s Coxed Eight for the World Rowing Cup 1 due to expected insufficient international entries for the category to be a part of the event. However, the selectors have elected to enter four women’s pairs to provide substantial racing opportunity for women’s sweep athletes.
Rowing Australia’s National High Performance Director Chris O’Brien said there were a number of impressive performances at the trials held as part of the NSW State Championships, last weekend.
“We have seen some great racing from a number of our athletes during the course of the Championships and I’m sure we will see plenty more at the Sydney International Rowing Regatta. The whole team is full of anticipation and motivation to race in the first round of the World Cup on home waters, in front of a home crowd and I am sure this will push everyone even further,” commented O’Brien.
Athletes will now focus their attention on the final preparations and will train together on a camp basis before they arrive in Penrith on 22 March 2014.
All athletes will also race at the Australian Open Championships as well as many representing their States in the King’s and Queen’s Cup Interstate Regatta ahead of racing for Australia at the World Rowing Cup.
For more information on the World Rowing Cup 1 and the 2014 Sydney International Rowing Regatta, please visit www.rowingdownunder.org
-RowingAustralia