WAIS Pair in Boat for Men’s Lightweight Four at World Cup 3

The Australian Rowing Team will aim to build on its performance from the 2011 Henley Regatta this weekend as they take to the water at World Cup 3 in Lucerne, Switzerland (July 8-10).

Australian crews made three finals in England last weekend as well as featuring in five semi-finals, less than four days after stepping off the plane from Australia.

WAIS scholarship holders Todd Skipworth and Ben Cureton will group with the Tasmanian duo of Anthony Edwards and Sam Beltz for the men’s lightweight four in Lucerne, with the team looking to build for the world championships, where last year they won silver in New Zealand.

18 Australian crews will race at World Cup 3 as the team continues to build ahead of the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia later this year (August 28-September 4).

Australia’s lightweight women’s double scull crew of Hannah Every-Hall (QLD) and Alice McNamara (VIC) will look for a repeat of last year’s performance, where they walked away with the gold medal against a high quality field in Lucerne.

McNamara, who along with Every-Hall rowed in a quad scull with Kim Crow (VIC) and Kerry Hore (TAS) at Henley last weekend, said it gave them a good preparation ahead of World Cup 3.

“Henley was a great opportunity for Hannah and I, rowing with two powerhouses in Kim and Kerry,” McNamara said. “We were lucky enough to get the opportunity to jump into a bigger boat and have the perfect physical blowout we needed.

“As a crew we just focused on speed of movement, of entry and drive. There’s real value in that for all of our small boats.”

McNamara said that she was looking forward to the challenge that World Cup 3 offered.

“We are looking at 2011 in that Henley was in preparation for Lucerne, and Lucerne is in preparation for Bled. It gives us an opportunity to put three days of consistent racing back to back.

“We love this place and that is helped by our great year here in 2010.”

The Australian team has been training in Lucerne now for two days and will complete a final session on Thursday before awaiting the draw for the heats on Friday morning.

50 nations consisting of 901 athletes will compete at the regatta, all with the one aim of gaining valuable race practice ahead of the 2011 World Championships, which serve as the main Olympic qualification regatta for next year.

Rowing Australia