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.
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.