Day one of Rowing Australia's National Selection Regatta

Day one of Rowing Australia's National Selection Regatta was held in beautiful conditions at the Sydney International Regatta Centre in Penrith, NSW. There are 22 QLD athletes competing with some excellent racing.

Tim Conrad, Head Coach of the QAS stated "There were some mixed results today, with some disappointments but also some strong results overall. Crews like the lightweight combination of Darren Purcell and Michael McBryde as well as the women's U23 pair of Fran Paterson and Peta Eddington have improved considerably on their National's results which is very encouraging. Angus Morton and Adam Kachyckyj are also doing a good job in their lightweight singles."

Hannah Every-Hall and Sally Kehoe both placed 2nd in their respective A finals which places them in good stead for the rest of the week, however unfortunately Beijing Olympians Duncan Free and Sam Conrad did not race this morning due to injuries.

All are looking forward to another good day of racing on Saturday which is an especially important day for our junior trialists.

Please see below for the Rowing Australia media relase of Day 1 of the National Selection Regatta.

Women's Pair

Patterson/Eddington 2nd B Final (UQBC)

Women's Single

Kehoe 2nd A Final (Syd. Uni./AIS)

Hall 4th B Final (Bris GPS/AIS)

Savage 4th A Final (UQBC)

Edmunds 6th B Final (Comm/AIS)

Men's Lightweight Single

Kachyckyj 4th Semi no. 3 (Comm)

Morton 2nd Semi no. 4 (UQBC)

Bidwell 4th Semi no. 1 (UQBC/AIS)

Men's Pair

Camphin/Laidler 1st Semi no.3 (UQBC)

Men's Lightweight Pair

McBryde / Purcell 4th A Final (UQBC/TRC)

Women's Lightweight Single

Every-Hall 2nd A Final (Dutton Park)

Kukla 6th A Final (Bris GPS)

Murray 5th A Final (Melb. Uni)

Kelly 4th Heat 2 (Tweed Heads)

Junior Time Trials

Women

Wilson 2nd (Bris GPS)

Hill 5th (Bris GPS)

Spark 6th (Bris GPS)

Dadic 8th (Bris GPS)

Men

Smith 1st (Comm)

Amies 7th (UQBC)

Coates 8th (UQBC)

Baxter 14th (UQBC)

 MEDIA RELEASE

Victorian combination step up the pace

Saturday 24 April 2010

2008 Beijing silver medallists Cameron McKenzie-McHarg and James Marburg have shown their class to claim the final of the mens pair at the 2010 Rowing Australia National Selection Trials at the Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith.

With a slight breeze blowing across the course, McKenzie-McHarg and Marburg, who were part of the mens four in Beijing, produced a strong second 1000m to claim victory and position themselves as the number one ranked pair heading into trialling for the mens four and mens eight later this week.

The Victorian pair moved away from the field across the last 500m, with the fast finishing Matt Ryan (NSW) and Fergus Pragnell (NSW) grabbing second place, and the young AIS pair of Joshua Dunkley Smith (VIC) and Tom Larkins (VIC) taking third.

Karsten Forsterling (VIC) moved to the top of the rankings in the mens sculling group after defeating a top class field in the mens single scull final.

Forsterling has been one of the form rowers of the selection trials after making his comeback to competition this year, and held off the challenges of 2008 Beijing Olympians Chris Morgan (SA) and David Crawshay (VIC).

Rowing Australia National High Performance Director Andrew Matheson says he is happy with the progress made to date.

The mens sweep and sculling groups have thrown out some interesting and pleasing results in the smaller boats, Matheson said. These first two days have given us the chance to rank all of the athletes and now we can see who forms the best combinations in the bigger boats.

We have a few ideas in mind in regards to who should be where but it is important we view all the possibilities.

Kerry Hore (TAS) made it back-to-back victories in the womens single scull with a bow ball-to-bow ball victory over Sally Kehoe (QLD). The two AIS scholarship holders once again proved their class, while fellow AIS scholarship holder Kim Crow (VIC) crossed the line in third place.

Double world champion in the womens lightweight quad scull, Alice McNamara (VIC) took out her second final of the womens lightweight single scull. Hannah Every-Hall (QLD) recorded another second place finish, with her and McNamara heading into the lightweight double scull trials as the leading pair.

Anthony Edwards (TAS) and Sam Beltz (TAS) won their third consecutive race in the mens lightweight pair, with Ben Cureton (WA) and Todd Skipworth (WA) finishing in second place, while Pauline Frasca (VIC) and Phoebe Stanley (VIC) also won their third race of the trials in the womens pair.

The next stage of the selection trials will now consist of seat trialling across all bigger boat categories, before the Senior A and Under 23 squads are named on Sunday 2 May. The Junior team will be named this Monday (26 April).