WAIS Athletes Prepare for World Championship Selection
WAIS rowing athletes will compete at the national selection trials for the 2009 Australian Rowing Team which commences on Friday at the Sydney International Regatta Centre.
With many athletes taking time off rowing following the Beijing Games, this regatta has presented itself as a good opportunity for the new generation to stake their credentials.
Of the WAIS athletes that competed at the 2008 Beijing Games: Ben Cureton and Todd Skipworth have taken time out to compete in the Ironman series, both qualifying for the Hawaiian Ironman. Amber Bradley is taking time out to pursue work interests, Nat Bale has decided against competing but continues to train. David Dennis is taking a sabbatical whilst Jeremy Stevenson will be backing up in 2009.
Along with Stevenson, WAIS will be represented by Cameron Brewer, Rhys Grant, Brendan Murray, Christian Eyres, Perrin Franks, Ross Brown, Perry Ward, Georgia Baker and Ashleigh Miles in the seniors. Fellow WAIS athletes Tom Gatti, Sam Collins, Josh Hicks, Matthew Cochran and Alex Hagan will compete in the juniors.
The ten day trialling process will begin with a regatta over the first three days, with all competitors competing in small boat racing, before trials are held for the bigger boats over the next six days.
The selection event will then conclude with a ‘Speed Order Trial’ on Sunday morning (26 April), with all proposed crews racing down the course to show the national selectors they have the required pace to race at international level.
National High Performance Director, Andrew Matheson, says that there will be a number of tough decisions to make throughout the week.
“We have a number of very high quality athletes competing against each other for minimal places on the Australian team and this ought to bring the best out of them across the trials,” Matheson said.
“We are only in the first year of the Olympic cycle, but it is time for some of our younger athletes to show their desire to compete at the 2012 London Olympic Games.”
In 2009 the Australian team will forego the World Cup circuit and only compete at the World Championships in Poland in August. Matheson said there were two main reasons that Rowing Australia had opted for this course of action.
“The financial cost of taking teams away to tour is quite extensive, but we also have a number of major tours planned in the coming four years, so we want to keep our athletes as fresh as possible.
“The decision will not affect our preparations for the World Championships as we plan to stage our own regattas in Sydney to correspond with the three World Cups over the coming months.”
At the conclusion of the trials the senior Australian team will be named along with the under 23 and junior teams to compete at their respective world championships.
Racing will begin at 8am on Friday morning with the heats of the single sculls and pairs. The draw for the heats will be released on Thursday morning.