British rowers celebrate year with Diamond Jubilee regatta

A number of members of Great Britain’s Olympic rowing medallists raced for their local clubs mixing in crews with a whole range of experience. Spectators were encouraged to come to view their favourite Olympians racing, especially if they had missed out on getting London Olympic rowing tickets.

The two day regatta included events for under-23s and open events, with heats using a time trial format of 1900m to decide the finalists. Olympic medallists Katherine Copeland (gold in the lightweight women’s double sculls) and Peter Chambers (silver in the lightweight men’s four) raced for their respective clubs. Chambers’ brother Richard, who was also part of the silver medal Olympic lightweight four raced separately from Peter.

Alex Gregory (gold in the men’s four) lined up for his club as did George Nash (bronze in the men’s pair) and Mohamed Sbihi (bronze in the men’s eight). These three Olympic medallists raced against each other, for their respective clubs, in the men’s eight race. The race was won by Cambridge University which featured Nash. Gregory’s Leander crew came second and Shibi’s Molesey crew was third.

The overall winning club was Leander, which was also the most successful British rowing club in terms of the number of Olympic medallists that rowed at the London Olympics – a total of 12.

This regatta was also a chance for coaches and selectors to see emerging talent in British rowing.

The Diamond Jubilee Rowing Regatta was designed as a test regatta for what may become the new senior British Rowing Championships.

For more information: http://www.britishrowing.org/djrc