IMOGEN WALSH IS A WORLD CUP WINNER AT THE THIRD SAMSUNG WORLD ROWING CUP IN LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND

posted by Roy Sinclair - 17 Jul 2013, 9:03 a.m.

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Last weekend saw the last of the three Samsung World Rowing Cup regattas take place on the famous Rotsee course at Lucerne in Switzerland where Imogen Walsh and her Inverness GB team member Alan Sinclair raced in women's lightweight double sculls and men's coxless fours respectively.

In the women's lightweight double sculls event with her crew mate Kathryn Twyman, Imogen qualified well in third place from both her heat and semi-final to race in a hard fought final where they were rowed out of a bronze by New Zealand in the very last two strokes of the final.

Imogen and Kathryn recovered from a slow start to be in touching distance of the podium at the finish, the Antipodeans getting the verdict by just nine-hundredths of a second.
"We put in a really good middle part of the race today and we've improved with every race out here', said Walsh. "Neither of us had any idea who had won the medal", said Twyman afterwards. "That two minute wait was the longest ever until the result came up". The result on Sunday was however enough to keep them as overall world cup winners in this boat class and received their trophy at the victory ceremony.

On Friday, in the men's coxless fours event with his team mates Nathaniell Reilly O'Donell, Scott Durant and Matt Tarrant, Alan was unlucky to miss out on a direct qualifying place from their heat to the semi-final and raced again later that day winning the repechage to claim one of the three remaining qualifying places to the semi-finals. On the Saturday, their pace in the semi-final was unable to match that of the fastest three crews which then qualified for the 'A' final.

So, after some tough racing and recent good performances at the World Cup Regatta at Eton Dorney and at Henley Royal Regatta, they were disappointed to narrowly miss out on a top three placing in the 'B' final on Sunday morning despite putting in a strong finishing burst as they approached the finish line.

Both Inverness athletes now head off to separate training camps in Europe over the next few weeks to prepare for the World Rowing Championships which take place at the end of August at Tangeum Lake, Chungju in South Korea.