Fantastic Friday scheduled at Australian Championships
Thursday 5 March 2009
A number of rowers qualified for finals on the shortest day of action at the 2009 Hydro Tasmania Australian Rowing Championships at Lake Barrington, Tasmania.
Nicholas Hudson (NSW) and Brendan Long (TAS) set the quickest time in qualifying for the final of the men’s double scull.
Hudson and Long completed the course in a time of 7:00.09, finishing in front of David Crawshay (VIC) and Niccolo Mornatti (ITA) and the West Australian pair Steven Fletcher and Jeremy Stevenson, with all three crews progressing to the final.
The second semi-final was won by New South Wales’ Dan Noonan and Irish rower Sean Casey. The pair, who are representing Mosman Rowing Club won in a time of 7:09.79 with Bunbury’s Joshua Williams and Jayden Edwards, as well as Danjels Reedman (NSW) and Jared Bidwell (QLD) finishing in the top three. The final will be contested tomorrow morning.
The finalists were also decided in the women’s quad scull and the men’s four after one repechage in each event, with the finals to be contested on Saturday. Sally Kehoe (QLD), Sarah Cook (ACT), Liz Kell (NSW) and Anna McRae (SA) will be favourites to win the women’s quad scull, while it will be a tight tussle between two men’s four crews. Matt Ryan (NSW), Cameron McKenzie-McHarg (VIC), James Marburg (VIC) and Alexander Scharp (VIC) will face off with Dominic Grimm (NSW), Tom Larkins (VIC), Fergus Pragnell (NSW) and Tom Swann (VIC) for the title.
Finals of all small boats will be staged on Friday morning with the women’s open single scull set to be a two horse race between Toowoomba girls, Sally Kehoe and Pippa Savage. Kehoe and Savage have won their heats and semi-finals to this point and Kehoe will be confident of more success after beating Savage in the final of the New South Wales state championships three weeks ago. Sarah Cook and Lisa Szatsznajder (VIC) should battle it out for the bronze medal.
The women’s double scull will be held shortly afterwards with Kehoe combining with Cook to enter the final as favourites. They will be pushed all the way by Savage and Anna McRae, as well as Szatsznajder and Emma McCarthy (QLD).
In what promises to be one of the highlights of the regatta, four Olympians will contest the final in the open men’s single scull. The field features Olympic gold medallist in the men’s double scull, David Crawshay (VIC); defending Australian single scull champion, Dan Noonan (NSW); member of the 2008 Beijing men’s eight crew and quickest qualifier for the final, Jeremy Stevenson and Italian Olympian Niccolo Mornatti. Nick Hudson (NSW) and Jared Bidwell also feature in the red hot field.
There is also a race in four to become the new women’s lightweight single scull champion. Ingrid Fenger (TAS), Bronwen Watson (NSW) and Alice McNamara (VIC) were all members of the women’s lightweight quad scull crew that won gold at the 2008 World Championships, but will face stiff competition from 2008 Under 23 women’s single scull world champion, Carly Cottam (TAS), who has been in strong domestic form so far in 2009.
Cameron McKenzie-McHarg (VIC) and James Marburg (VIC) will attempt to win their second national title in the men’s pair, after winning the event in 2006 when it was last held in Tasmania. Their main threat is likely to come from the AIS pair of Dominic Grimm (NSW) and Tom Larkins (VIC).
The women’s pair is a straight final after the withdrawal of crews at the start of the week. Laura Osti (SA) and Emma McCarthy have been rowing very well in training at the AIS, but will need to mindful of Victorian duo Phoebe Stanley and Pauline Frasca.
Finals action will commence at 7.55am tomorrow morning.
For more information please call David Polglase on 0408 056 914
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