Oxford’s oarsmen completed one of their most successful season ever with three gold medals at World Championships in Gifu, Japan. Great Britain’s Andy Hodge and Pete Reed crushed their opposition in the coxless fours final, while their 2005 Blue Boat teammate Mike Blomquist helped power the United States Eight to a thrilling victory. Hodge and Reed’s four won with a dominance no British boat has achieved since the Pinsent and Redgrave era. Arriving in Japan on the back of a twelve race unbeaten streak, they won both their heat and semi final with ease. In the final, the Great Britain crew were even more convincing, leading from start to finish despite tricky conditions and quality opposition. After building up a half length lead to the halfway mark, a devastating third 500m put Great Britain almost a length up and the race beyond doubt. The Dutch showed their class with a determined charge through the last 500, but never looked under pressure and crossed the line two thirds of a length in front. Hodge and Reed have been the star performers of British rowing all year. Reed, in his first year as an international, delighted national coaches by winning the Great Britain pairs trials with Hodge and seamlessly slotting into the top boat alongside more experienced oarsmen. Hodge, meanwhile, has achieved what many thought impossible by filling the giant shoes of four times Olympic champion Matthew Pinsent. After stroking the national top boat to a victory Pinsent would have been proud of and even knocking off one of Pinsent’s British records on the rowing machines, Hodge has truly taken Pinsent’s mantle as the world’s top oarsman. Blomquist enjoyed a harder fought but no less impressive win. As defending Olympic Champions, the US were the crew to beat. However, they had suffered from retirements since the Athens Games, and while they rebuilt their crew the Germans and Italians dominated the international regatta season. Nonetheless, the Americans provided a statement of intent by winning their semi final, and, though chased hard all the way in the final, never relinquished their initial lead to win Gold.Elsewhere, Blue Boat cox Acer Nethercott steered Great Britain to an unexpected fourth place, OUBC President Barney Williams’ Canadian Eight won the B-final and 2004 Blue Colin Smith finished twelfth in the single scull. Coming at the end of a season which saw Oxford’s oarsmen defeat Cambridge’s self-declared “best ever crew” by clear water, smash Leander, Britain’s top club, by nine lengths in a private race, and claim the five of the top six spots at the BUSA indoor rowing championships, the golden haul brings to a close a season of prodigious success. The arrival in Oxford of world class performers such as Olympic champion Setfan Moelvig and former world ergo record holder Jamie Schroder suggests the Blues could continue this success for another season.
ARCHIVE: 0th week MT 2005
Oxford rowers strike gold at World Championships in Japan
