Lake Geneva, Switzerland, 18th-19th September 2004
(Report by Stéphane Trachsler)
The 32nd Tour du Léman à l'Aviron around Lake Geneva took place on the third weekend of September 2004. It was organised by the Rowing Section of Société Nautique de Genève with the support of the Services Industriels de Genève, the Municipality of Geneva, the Municipality of Cologny, San Pellegrino, Kroenenbourg, Tamoil and Powerade.
The weather conditions were ideal. At no time were the competitors disturbed by the wind or the waves. No crew withdrew from the race and several records have even been beaten this year. Here are a few results:
The race was won by the Dresdner Ruderclub crew "Five for Dresden" (Törpsch A., Schulze St., Kleber Ph., Wietstock S., Schuster A.) in 12h 41mn 00s, i.e. nearly 43 minutes from the record established in 2000 by Turbo Bonn. It is this crew's first participation in the Tour.
Karlsruher Rudderverein Wiking (Behrend O., Depner H., Ludwig I. (W), Roller S. (W), Sauter Ch.) finished in the second place in 12h 47 mn 34 s. This crew has smashed by 32mn and 41s the record of the Mixed Category (crew with at least two women) held since 1999 by Dynamix Bonn.
The record of the "Elite Féminine" Category has also been beaten. The feminine crew "Frauenpower" of the Dresdner Ruderclub (Fleischhauer L., 14h 00mn 55s and for its first participation has beaten by nearly 10 minutes the preceding record held by Bonner Rudergesellschaft/Rhenania Koblenz/GTRV Neuwied/ARC Rhenus Bonn. It is to be noted that Peggy Waleska has finished in the 2nd place at the Olympic Games of Athens.
Ludwigshafener Ruderverein (Decker Ma., Decker Mi., Orth A., Reichel St., Sturm H.) who arrived in the 3rd place in 13h 03mn 44s did not succeed in beating its own record (Sweep Category) established in 12h 53mn in 2001.
The Masters Category has been won by RG Wiesbaden-Biebrich (Gottscharl R., Bieniek A., Maté P., Klobedanz K.-U., Westendorf U.) who finished in the 4th place in 13h 07mn 10s.
The gap between the first and second positions was extremely tight, the difference never exceeding 7 minutes. The same applies to the 3rd and 4th crews where the gap never exceeded 4 minutes.
Full results in PDF format and a Word document summary.