News

Posted: October 21, 2014

Scotland's Polly Swann and Heather Stanning both added British Rowing Championships titles to their previous World and Olympic successes respectively - but not in the way they were expecting.

Gusts of up to 40mph at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham, meant the Championships had to be cut short after the morning's time trials today in which Swann's eight and Stanning's four had set the fastest times in their events, giving them the titles when the semi-finals and finals were cancelled.

Army RC's Stanning, from Lossiemouth, had also taken gold in Saturday's racing in a composite four with her 2012 Olympic gold partner Helen Glover with GB squad team-mates Jess Eddie and Zoe Lee.

Stanning's crew came through to win the final comfortably despite earlier predictions from informed insiders that the final would be a close-run thing with Swann's four from Leander Club who were a couple of lengths behind in silver.

Stanning said: "It was a really good race because we executed exactly what we wanted to do. Total respect to the teams around us, we train with those girls every day so we knew what they were capable of and what we were capable of. It was mainly about minimising mistakes, especially at the start where it was quite rough. There were a few key things we were working on and we knew if we did them right we'd be in a strong position.

"This weekend is about getting back into racing and having a bit of fun with it as well. You learn something about the crew and improve with every outing".

The British Championships is one of a very few events in the year when crews can get back to racing for their clubs.

Article provided by GB Media Team.

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