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Beautiful conditions with blue sky and minor waves met the A Finalists competing on the last day of racing at the 2007 World Rowing Coastal Championships for Clubs in Mandelieu, near Cannes (FRA). Despite cool temperatures close to zero Celsius early in the morning, bright sunshine quickly warmed up the rowers after the start of racing.
To allow for a tighter competition schedule today following the postponement of racing yesterday due to bad weather conditions, the course was shortened from a distance of 8km to a new distance of 6.65km.
The women's coxed fours and quads opened the day's racing with a straight final. Nineteen crews lined up at the start. The Killorglin rowing club of Ireland attacked from the start and rowed at the front of the field in the first part of the race, but Crefelder rowing club of Germany caught up by the first buoy, took the lead and stayed there throughout the race, finishing with gold in a little over 23 minutes. It was Poland's Lotto-Bydogostia-WSG-BP first coastal rowing experience, but they had enough power to overtake Ireland, take second and stay there until the line. Poland hope their silver medal will encourage their National Federation to develop further interest in coastal rowing.
Theresa Huelnman (GER, Crefelder): We were fifth at the start, but we had a good rhythm. At the first buoy, we saw we were in first position with a half boat-length advantage. We then played up our advantage to prevent the other crews from catching up on us.
Vera Dresely (GER, Crefelder): We are from Crefelder, close to Köln and this is our first coastal rowing experience. Normally we train on lakes. This summer, we decided to enter the competition, it was a good way to end the racing season. Coastal rowing is almost non-existent in Germany. Our club gave us the finances to come here.
Johanna David (GER, Crefelder) raced at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships and Mona Berger (GER, Crefelder) at the World Rowing Junior Championships.
Six minutes later, seventeen boats lined up for a straight final in the women's double sculls. The race was largely dominated by France. Club Gravelines became French national champions two weeks ago at the French Coastal Rowing Championships organised in Saint-Malo. Starting in the lead, their dominance was continuously challenged throughout the race and in the end the French club of Avignon finished in the gold medal spot in a time of nearly 26 minutes ahead of Gravelines in silver. A third French club, Majolan, take bronze.
Adeline Mendoza (FRA, Avignon) took part at the World University Championships in 2006: "The start was a bit chaotic, as everyone clashed into each other. We rowed up the field. After the second buoy the first two crews clashed into each other and we took advantage of it to take the lead."
Caroline Guerrand (FRA, Avignon) took part in the World Rowing junior championships in 2006: "We were lucky, but it was our race. At the previous French national coastal championships, we broke an oar and finished fourth. Now it is our turn. We normally row on rivers. Coastal rowing is part of our training. It's more fun."
With only eight entries, the women's solo race was nearly entirely French, with the exception of Sweden's Louise Rosenguist of club Stockholm Roddforening. Four-time French national coastal champion and four-time national champion in non-coastal rowing, Perrine Maltret from the Havre proved her dominance and won gold, with Charlotte Culty of Avignon in second and Alizee Charaux of Talloires in third.
The two heats in the men's coxed fours and quads on Friday were won by the French from Saint-Malo and the Italian from Trieste. Naturally, they were the favourites. But Saint-Malo had earned the title of French national coastal champions two weeks ago, and that certainly boosted their confidence. They hoped to win a medal today, and ended up with the nicest - gold. Trieste finish out of the medal spots. After gold in the women's coxed fours and quads, the German Crefelder rowing club produce another medal, silver, and bronze goes to the French of Bergerac.
Thirty crews lined up at the start of the A Final in the men's coxed fours and quads. The Hungarian crew included World Champion in the men's double sculls Akos Haller, who was discovering coastal rowing for the first time with partner Zsolt Erdelyi. But the French of Fontainebleau, three-time national coastal champions, had more experience rowing on the sea and finish with gold, ahead of Hungary in silver and another French club, Marignane, in bronze. Akos Haller plans to come back for more challenges.
On Friday, both heats in the men's solo were won by Sweden. One by Paul Rosenguist, the other by Peter Berg. Rosenguist proved to have the most energy left to confront France's experienced Eric Rousseaux from the Havre, who apparently had saved his final show for today. Rousseaux finishes with gold, Rosenguist in silver and, another French, Yannick Beaudelot from Saint-Malo, in bronze.
Eric Rousseaux (FRA), I discovered coastal rowing in 1998 and raced internationally in the men's double in 1997 and the men's quad in 1998: "I feel emotional, because today I'm retiring. It's time for me to stop after 13 years of competition. The race started really quickly and I managed to surf on the waves in the last part of the race. The finish was critical. My experience in river rowing really helped me at the end." The World Rowing team values feedback . |
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