Full results and pictures will be uploaded to the Concept 2 UK website during the day's racing.
This the first page of the live-written coverage - this page contains the second half, updated live during the competition.
Race 14:Men Open H (Heat 2)
The second heat of the Men's Open; still not the final medal positions,
but the top few should still break the 6min barrier. One common
feedback from the foriegn competitors has been that the atmosphere
here is better than at the World Indoor Championships in Boston - one
up for the brits then.
Nick Lloyd takes the out after a clean start, pulling 1:28s to create a start lead. Now Craig Barstow takes the lead from Lloyd, with Andrew Triggs-Hodge in third. Hodge now takes third from Lloyd with a push at 1:26s. Marcelino Garcia currently in fifth, but pulling the leaders back. Hodge now takes the lead, from Barstow in second. Phil Simmons takes third place from Lloyd. Half way comes up, with a 6min target possible for the top guys. Still Hodge in the lead, from Barstow and Simmons. Hodge and Simmons are both racing for GB selection here, so will be looking at the next heat times carefully. Simmons and Barstow equal second, but Simmons is undersplitting so sahould take the position. Hodge still rowing very long, with a solid back-end to the stroke. 200m to go, the Lloyd coming back from 4th and closing on Barstow for that bronze medal. Simmons sprints for the line, trying to close the gap on Hodge. final result is Andrew Triggs-Hodge takes it with 5:58.1, Phil Simmonds 5:58.8, and Craig Barstow with 6:02.3.
Race 13:Women Open L, Men Open H (Heat 1)
All of the lightweight open women go in this race - they're currently
showing some of the competitors racing in the World Championships from
Seville. It's also the Men's open first heat, but none of the men
competing will figure in the final medals, and we'll only see the scores
of the women who fill up the front row of the arean floor.
Clean start for those that have turned up to race today. Teresa
Mas de Xaxars leads the way, with Lisa Schlenker recoverying from
a slowish start to now take the leads. Shelly Wilkins in third place.
Schlenker, sitting amongst empty ergs, is rowing long and moving away
from the rest. de Xaxars is a quit a bit shorter, and now is in third
amongst a pack of 6 rowers. Shelly Wilkins in second, but now falls back
into the pack. Schlenker still undersplitting the pack, and has a huge
lead over the large pack at the half way stage. Best of the pack is
Biskitzi, but it's changing all the time - they're not quite a steady
on the pace as Schlenker. She's now splitting 1:44, and has droppeda
second or so. de Xaxars has moved, and is looking the most impressive of
the pack at the minute. It's still a pack of 5, with Julia Warren
moving into the pack and is now in around 4th - she's the top brit in
this field. Schlenker drops to 1:46 for a few stroke, before moving it
back to 1:44s. Warren now in second, with the pack still very close for
those minor medals. 200m to go for Schlenker, 250, to go for everyone else...
de Xaxars in third, with Schlenker looking more erratic now, may not get
the record, but will win gold.
Schlenker wins in 7:04.1 - breaking Helen Casey's record by over a second. Julia Warren in second with 7:14.5, Teresa Mas de Xaxars third with 7:15.4. Less than 4 seconds between places 2 to 6 in this blanket finish.
Race 12:Women Open H
They're just waiting for the second medal ceremony to end before
starting off the Women's Open Heavyweight event. Likely candidates
are two Canadians; Romina Stefanic and Carli Halpenny, Sarah Lauritzen
from Denmark, and Debbie Flood, the winner of this event two years ago.
None of the main women's GB squad are here - it's not a required event this year, and they can all do their selection erg in their own time during November. This means it's likely the international visitors will walk off with the medals, as Debbie Flood's best time is 6:43. Once again it's the women kept waiting, as the interminable presentation ceremonies drag on, despite a good attempt to rattle on by the announcer. Just bad timing on the organisers' part, not the competitors' fault. Another plug for the FISA/Eurosport DVD of the World Champs from the (Eurosport) commentary team, while they give the rowers one minute before starting. Lots of good women will also be racing in the U23 category for heavyweights, too. Now they're introducing the visitors, Lauritzen and Christina Rindom from Denmark waving to applause. Finally, they're off. The splits drop dramatically, and Lauritzen is hitting 1:37 with 300 gone, Flood and Halpenny just along behind. Closest in their wake comes Claire Cordory with Christina Rindom. Alison Trickey from the British squad a few years back is in the top ten too. Lauritzen leading still, 700 gone, with Halpenny undersplitting her by 2 seconds, and looking good to overtake. Halpenny took up rowing very recently, and just takes the lead with halfway coming up on the monitors. Flood's holding off Rindom for third and fourth, as Halpenny continues to draw away. Now Flood is pushing her own split down: she is holding Lauritzen and could begin to overhaul her if she can knock a bit more off. 500 to go, Halpenny looks very strong still, but Lauritzen is fading and letting Flood back in towards silver. Rindom clear of Stefancic in fourth. Up goes Lauritzen, bettering her split, Flood begins to push, but fading a little, losing control and her muscles locking up a bit. Halpenny leading, Lauritzen second, Rindom comes past Flood who looks in pretty bad agony as coach Mark Banks leans over her.
Carli Halpenny wins in 6:41.3, Sarah Lauritzen second in 6:44.6, with Christina Rindom picking up the bronze in 6:49.8. Debbie Flood holds onto 4th place with 6:51.7.
Race 11:Men J18H, J18L
The organisers are trying to catch up after an unexpectedly lengthy
medals ceremony earlier: they're rushing on with the next race, which
includes the MJ18's, both light and heavyweight. Countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2,
1 - they're off! Several non-starters in the first row, and the early
leader is John Foster J18H, with the fastest lightweight out is Jonah
Todd-Geddes. Second position is Miroslav Holecek, bronze medallist in
last year's CRASH-B's, gold M8+ in the Czech eight at the junior worlds,
and still splitting 1:31 with 500 metres gone. Meanwhile Todd-Geddes
is eighth in the overall lineup, with Ryan Morris second in the lwt
class. Up at the front Holecek is moving away from the Brits, top home
challenger still John Foster, with Sam Parker in third and Alex Gregory
also coming through. From lower down the order Tom James is coming
along quite hard. Looking at the front row, Parker is benefiting from
rowing alongside Holecek, both long solid oarsmen. Holecek on 1:32's,
with 600m to go. Into the last qurter, Parker's taken second but Foster
and James are also well in the hunt: they're nearly neck and neck with
James at the best split. Lightweights are still spread out, Todd-Geddes
30 metres to the good, Morris second and Doug Perrin third. Up in the
HWTs, James goes into second, then Parker charges again, James again,
Foster pushing hard, and Holecek finishes.
J18H first Holecek 6:08.3,
second John Foster 6:14.8, third Tom James, 6:15.3.
J18L first Jonah Todd-Geddes 6:22.3, second Ryan Morris 6:38.3, Doug Perrin 6:38.5 in third.
Race 10:Women J18H, J18L, J16
Right, we're back after a little (blessed) silence from the commentators,
ready for the tenth race of the day. Some very strong competitors,
including Natasha Page, junior sculling champion. A clean start, and out
early goes J16 Emily Little, ahead of Page by a good 5 metres. Top J18L
is Lucy Clarke, lying eighth overall. Little still in the overall lead,
with Page second and perennial Jo Cook third. Here comes Page on a
charge, burning off the early leader. Now here comes Jessica Eddie,
and Helen Aitcheson also in the J18H. Eddie now contesting the lead hard
with Page, and Eddie goes in front as they pass 650 gone. Little hasn't
dropped far - she's still the top J16, an d Clarke is still leading J18H.
Second in the J16 come Charlie Best and Jessica Aylard, hot on Little's
heels, but she's still holding her won with the older girls. Up at the
front, Eddie is still undersplitting Page and moving away, but Jo Cook is
rallying back. Another strong J18H is Vera Podejmova, and as Aitcheson
stops, Podejmova moves into fourth place. A bit further back, with 600 m
to go, Henrietta Greene is in silver J16 behind Little, while Lucy Clarke
still leads J18L. 200 to go, Eddie 's holding her lead and beginning to
sprint, Page has second, Cook's found an extra edge to hold off Podejmova.
Clarke and Little still leading their classes.
A win for Jessica
Eddie J18H in 7:06.6, second Natasha Page 7:11.9, third Jo Cook 7:17.5.
In the J18L it's gold Lucy Clarke 7:34.6 (a new record breaking Lizzie
Tatman's old time by 3 seconds), Vicky Tatman second in 7:43.7, third
Anna McNuff 7:49.2. For the J16, gold Emily Little 7:26.2, silver
Henrietta Green 7:35.5, bronze Jessica Aylard, 7:43.1.
Race 9:Men J15, J14
Alex Esslemont and James Ellison lead the pack for the J15, with Ben
Smissen joining them to move away from the pack. Smissen is in the J14
catagory, but moves back to give Smissen second place. Robert Manton
is in second for J14. Esslemont still leading Smissen in J15,
but in J14 Ellison looks it trouble after that fast start. Still pulling
hard, but not going very fast. Robert Manton coming level with Ellison,
these two have a slight lead over Benedict. At the top Smissen is almost
level with Esslemont, with Francis and Jones fighting for third and fourth.
Those two both catching up the leaders with 700m to go. still closing
with 5 seconds on the split advantage. Manton now with 15m on Ellison,
who is just hanging on to second place in J14. Still Esslemont and Smissen
in first and second J15. With only 300m left, there might not be time
for Jones and Francis to close the gap. Esslemont and Smissen still
neck and neck, lead is changing every stroke almost. Now Smissen finds
something extra for the last 100m, moving away, shortening up and moving
way ahead. Francis puts in a burst as well, with Esslemost fading, to
take second. Smissen falls off his erg, to be caught by Nigel Mayglothling
after winning.
J15; Ben Smissen 6:36.5, Rob Francis 6:38.0, Alex Esslemont 6:39.1
J14: Robert Manton 6:52.9, Ben Tufnell 7:00.2, Ben Duggan 7:06.7
Race 8:Men J16, J13
Just about to go off in this race, as they try and get back to
schedule. Alex Walker goes off fastest in J13, with Jonathan
Brownley leading off the J16 catagory. Joylon Simpson challenges
for the lead, splitting 1:36 to match Brownley. These two start
to move away from the pack, but Josh Davidson is starting to make
an impression. Walker still leads the J13s, with Michas Barry
a few lengths back in second place. It's still Browley in the
lead, with Davidson and Simpson even splitting in second place.
They're showing Browley on the video screen, some very steady rowing
at 28 strokes a minute. Now into the last 500m, with Brownley
moving away from Davidson in second, Simpson in third. In the J13
catagory, Daniel Bream has taken the lead from Walker now in
second. He still leads from Barry. Simpson is pushing hard and
taking ground from the top two, but he's left it too late, and
can't catch Davidson.
J16: Brownley 6.27.6, Davidson 6:34.0, Simpson 6:36.4
J13: Bream 7:04.4, Walker 7:15.7, Barry 7:30.8. Bream takes the
British Championship record.
Race 7:Women J15, J14, J13
Just before this race is the first medal ceremony; Cracknell having
pulled out is roped in to help out, although he's just standing around
looking a bit lost. Ahh, he's now handing out medals. These ceremonies are going on for a while - the poor junior women wait, on edge, while all the many veteran categories are handed their silverware. We'll start commentating again as soon as the race proper begins.
Although predicted to win J14, Faridah Newnman doesn't appear to be here today. After the delay for the medal ceremony, and a quick interview with James Cracknell, they are now underway. Harriet Rawlings goes off as a blasting pace in J15, with J14 Alice Leek leading off, and J13 Louise Entwistle up with the J15 bunch. Not predicted that high, so may be mistimed the pace. Franki Just-Burke in second overall, behind Rawlings. Lizi Hills moving into third place - she's the highest predicted score, and coming on very strongly after a slow start. Entwistle currently 50m ahead of her nearest challenge in J13, who is Chloe Willis. J14 is still Alice Leeke, who is again about 50m ahead of the next J14. Harriet Rawlings still going strong in the lead, with Franki Jus-Burkle Burke and Lizi Hills swapping second and third every stroke. Lydia Barstow is close on these two in fourth. 500m left, and Rawlings is still leading the pack of three, Barstow has now just taken second and looking good. Alice Leeke in J13 and Louise Entwistle still up with the J15 pack. In J15 its Rawlings dropping her split to try and keep ahead -mid 1:50 splits from all the leading group. J13 and J14 looks settled, with J15 Rawling in first, with a Barstow just taking second by 0.1 second, Lizi Hills pushed into fourth by Jus-Burke.
J15 - Rawlings 7:33.2, Barstow 7:37.8, Jus-Burke 7:37.9.
J13 - Jenny Cogger just took first on the line, with 7.51.0, with
Entwistle 7:51.4. Imogen Baylis with 7.54.3.
J14 - Alice Leeke, 7.54.0....
Correction - the J14 winner is Zoe Johnston, who was sitting on the second
row, so her times didn't get on the leader board. No time given, we may
find out later. Yes, she wins in 7:52.8, with Alice second in 7:54.0, and Shelley Linehan third in 8:04.4.
Race 6:Men 40-44H
John Wilson, organiser of this event and Mr Concept2 UK should be racing
here, with his long time friend and CUBC coach Robin Williams. Just to
get Robin going they're showing the 2002 boat race, with Oxford winning
on the line. Both of these are ex-lightweight competitors, but now
through the passing of time (and the pressures of work presumably)
both racing as heavyweights. Half way through the race, and Tony Edwards
is way out in front, although Ruseel Lloyd is 5 seconds faster on the split
in second place. Andrew Sangster in third place, and under pressure from
Marcus Harvey in third. It looks like Edwards may have blown - splits
droping all the time, wth Lloyd with 500m togo, with Lloyd underratting
and rowing longer. Lloyd now ahead, no-one is going to catch him here.
Edwards with nothing left, he may be caught. 200m left, and Lloyd is
accelerating away to win easily. Sangster and Harvey have closed on
Edwards, anyone for silver and bronze. Edwards finishes fourth, with
Sansgter and Harvey equal at 6:15.3 for silver. Lloyd wins with
6:10.1, Edwards holds fourth with 6:16.1. Interviewed after the race,
Edwards has only starting indoor rowing in February, with only a bit of
coaching - clearly a lot of potential for next year there.
Race 5:Men 50-54H, 40-44H
David Aldridge has set off strongly in this race, with Derek Boulton
in second, Hetherington in third. Out of the first 500, and it's now
Martyn Low comes strongly into 2nd, the winner of the first Grand Prix
race this year. Boulton falls to fourth. The inventor
of the concept 2 rower pushes Boulton to fifth, and then moves into
third place (using his own machine to great effect - just watch his
technique for special hints...) Low has now taken the lead, with
Dreissigacker into second place. Dreissigacker is racing for the
US team here, perhaps the profit from all these machines will be
spurring him on here. Low is just holding him off, with those
two moving away from the rest of the pack. Into the last 250m,
Low now 3 seconds faster than Peter on split, as long as he doesn't
blow, Low should win here. Last 10 strokes, Low is going to win,
Brown in third place, just holding onto third ahead of Hetherington.
Low gets a new PB, 6:25.6, Dreissigacker second in 6:28.1, Brown in
third with 6:36.4. Matheson finished 11th, 6:54.1, after thinking
it was a false start and not going with the pack.
Newsflash
One of the two commentators, Hugh Matheson, has just run off to change
into kit, and it now sitting in the front row of ergs waiting to race.
We'll keep you posted on how he does...
Race 4:Men 45-49H
With half way come and gone for the leaders, Ian McNuff has a useful
lead over the rest, and put in a push to extends that lead over
Steve Krum. William Riley and Paul Flack are neck and neck for
forth place. 300m left and Flack has taken third place,Riley falling
back to 6th. McGoldrick moves up to challenge for 3rd place,
splitting 5 seconds lower, but Flack holds on by 0.8 second. McNuff
ne of
wins in 6:13.4, Krum second in 6:16.3, Flack with 6:26.5.
Newsflash!
James Cracknell has just come into the newsroom saying that he's suffering
from a cold and has decided not to race today. He had hoped to fit enough
to race after taking a few days off, but it hasn't worked out.
Race 3: Men 40-44L, 45-49L, 50-54L
With the race nearly at the finish, Mike Caviston leads the way,
with Grahamn Price in the second place, John Brooks in third;
all these in 40-44L. Dennis Hastings in fourth, and leading the
50-54L. David Hislop leading the 45-49L catagory. Final
results were as above, with Mike Caviston coming in with 6:23.8,
Price with 6:29.4. Hastings wins 50-54L with 6.35.4, and David
Hislop wins 45-49L with 6:43.2.
Race 2: Men, various catagories 55+
Busy setting up, so no race commentary for this race, but a few catagory
results: 55-59H Tom Hinsby, who won this race overall, David Rayburn and
Mike Delaney in third. 60-64L Philip Stubley, Edwin Alderman, Malcolm
Fawcett. 70-74L Herbert Leah, Roger Burell, Lionel Everington.
80+L James Wallace, John Hodgson. John Hodgson, a regular at this
event, is the current Wold Record holder in the 90+L catagory, and was
competiting against Wallace, the 80+L World Record Holder, since they
don't have a separate 90+L catagory at this event.
Race 1: Women, various catagories 40+
The first race of the day gets under way, with already quite a large
number of people in the stands. Anna Bailey (50-54H) storms away from the pack
getting away to an early lead. Behind, Helen Mangan (40-44L) carves
out a lead in second overall, first in her catagory, and Mary Twitchett
(40-44L) moves into third. Midway through the race the gap on between
top two decreases, with Mangan rowing much longer than Bailey's
upright style. As they come towards the finish Bailey finds a bit extra
and moves away again to secure the win. Mangan is second overall,
first in 40-44L catagory with Twitchett behind her. Karon Phillips
is fourth overall, second in 50-54H. A little way behind the leaders,
Pauline Rayner wins her 60-64H catagory. No news on the other catagories
yet, we've been promised results soon.
The medal ceremony for this race is happening now, and it looks like from the times that all three medallist for the 55-59L broke the British record. Great footage of James Cracknell after presenting a medal; walking away licking his lips and looking around. Mary Twitchett gets a huge cheer from the CUWBC girls here, she's the training coach for the university squad. Anna Bailey defender her title, and was able to look down on James Cracknell as he handed her the gold medal. Sarah Springman also defender her title, in 40-44H, although a way out from Sue Larkman's record. 40-44H winner goes to Sue Brown - rumour has it that there is no love lost between these two; a good job they were not racing against each other.
The Rowing Service also has last year's commentary, together with previews of the Open Hwt men from this year.