Laststroke » munique

Munich World Cup Finals

Estevao Pape — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:56:11 +0000

Its been a great day here in Munich. The weather was fine, light head wind (if anything) and the New Zealand Crews all performed with distinction.

The B finals were yesterday afternoon and after our womans double took the win (7th overall) our mens four could only manage 3rd (9th overall)
The A finals started yesterday and Duncan got us off to a good start with a lead all the way victory in the lightweight single for our first gold.
Robin Tinga our adaptive sculler was next to go with a credible performance to finish 4th. He would end up being our only crew in an A final that didn’t bring home a medal.
This morning our pairs lead off, the womans pair led from the start and held a good length throughout the race. Coming into the last 250M the Chinese threw everything at them and it ended in a photo finish with our girls coming off best with a very tight fought Gold medal.
The mens pair completely dominated their competitors, they led from the start and extended to a 5.5sec lead by the 1000M, the race was all but over and try as they may the British could only try and make the distance look less than embarrassing, by the end the margin was down to 2.5sec and our second gold of the day.
The Mens double had a battle all the way through their race to be piped by a canvass by the Germans but still a good result taking home silver.
Emma Twigg raced next and going through the 1000M was right up with Knapkova of the Czech Republic, unfortunately she was unable to reverse the order and came home with Silver, still a very credible result first up.
I raced next and the race panned out pretty much as planned. Campbell took an early advantage getting out to about a boat length lead going through the 500M, I was sitting in 2nd just under a length up on Tufte and Synek. Second 500M I slowly started to close the gap on Campbell. I was feeling really good and at the 1000M felt like I still had a lot left in the tank. I turned on the turbo at about 1100M going past Campbell and spreading the field. I took 3.5sec out of Campbell in the third 500M and 2 seconds out of Tufte and Synek. It was pretty much a repeat of the worlds back in 2007 except this time no one managed to close the gap in the last 500M so I took the win by 3.5sec (my biggest ever winning margin in world cups), Campbell held on for second and Tufte Bronze. So a great way to start and at least I know things are on track and going in the right direction.
The Lightweight double raced next, they led right from the start and opened up a very clear gap over their opposition, they held this to the end with another very impressive open water win.
That left only the womans quad to race. They also had a good race, they got a little behind in the first 1000M but really started to move through the field in the second 1000M, they moved up and passed the Chinese for 3rd position then set off after the British, unfortunately they weren’t quite able to close the gap but still finished with a bronze rounding out a great day and a good first up regatta for them.

This is our most successful world cup ever with 5 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze, not bad for 11 newish crews. None of us are getting complacent yet as we realise that it is still very early days and the hard work is still ahead of us. This is a good indication we are on the right track but there is still a lot of quality crews missing from a number of the fields and all our competitors will now take stock and set about chasing us down in the coming months. It is however a very pleasing way to start. There are some very positive signs considering we only got off the plane a week ago, while some of the fields are weak most of wins were convincing and by clear water and we are yet to do any speed work, so should be able to get even faster as we move towards the worlds. That is the real prize this year and these are just steps along the way.

We look forward to getting back into training over the next few weeks to try and keep our positions in Lucerne and Poznan, between now and then there will be more racing but that should just help sharpen us up.

I will be back with more results as they happen, until then take care.

Mahe

Noticias relacionadas

Munich World Cup- Semis and Repechage

Estevao Pape — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:54:19 +0000

Day one finished yesterday with some promising results. Our woman’s quad finished 3rd in their race for lanes and Robin finished 4th in his adaptive single to get good lanes for the finals and show they both are medal chances in the finals.

Day two of the world cup, we awoke to a slightly brighter day with only a few showers.

A few of the crews had already made their respective finals due to winning their heats and having 12 or less entries in their events. These crews were down to the lake early for training. The rest of us went down for a paddle over the course to wake us up and prepare us for our respective semi finals and repechage’s.

Duncan again started the day well leading from start to finish in his semi to qualify fastest for his final (which happens this evening)
Both our pairs are straight through to their finals so the woman’s double were next to race. The Polish got in front and dominated while our girls had a good struggle all the way with the Chinese for the second qualifying spot, they were just behind coming into the final 250M, put in a big sprint but it wasn’t quite enough finishing 0.4sec behind the Chinese. They will learn from this and now know what needs to be done in the next 9 weeks to be competitive at worlds. They just raced the B Final and won comfortably leading all the way to finish 7th overall.
The Men’s Double of Nathan Cohen and Matthew Trott hadn’t ever won an international race together until their heat yesterday. They seemed to like the feeling and lead their semi all the way to win two races in two days and set themselves up as one of the favourites for the final tomorrow.
Emma Twigg was next up and after leading her semi for the first 1000M over Katherine Grainger (1st world cup winner) dropped her rating a little too much allowing Katherine to row through for first. Emma is in the A Final and has a very good shot at a medal.
I was next, I drew a fairly good draw with Tufte and Vonarburg likely to be my main competition. Once again I got a good start pushing straight into the lead, Germany 1 kept pace for the first 750M before starting to fade allowing first Tufte, then Vonarburg to row through him. By the 1000M I was comfortably in front, Tufte second and Vonarburg then put in a big effort to move past the German into the final qualifying spot. That was the way it stayed as everyone was content to save the fireworks for the final tomorrow. Was much happier with the way I rowed today so looking forward to the final tomorrow, Campbell, Synek and Griskonis (Lithuanian I raced in heat yesterday) join us in tomorrow’s final. Should be another good showdown and as has been the case over the last 4 years looks like there will be four centre lanes challenging for the 3 medals. Times were very tight with Campbell and myself fairly even and the others all within 5seconds, although don’t think we will see everyone’s real speed till the final tomorrow.
The Lightweight men’s double raced their semi next, it was another dominating display as they lead from start to finish beating the Italians (world cup 1 winners) comfortably. They will move onto the A final and be very disappointed if they cant bring home some coloured metal as will be the favourites for gold.
The final race for the kiwis was the lightweight men’s four repechage, they had a pretty good race but couldn’t quite match it with the top guns finishing 3rd and just missing out on the A Final, they race shortly in the B final.

So another successful day, while we would have liked to get 11 from 11 into A finals, 9 from 11 with a relatively young and new team is still pretty good. Realistically all of these crews have medal chances. I would expect to see at least 5 medals and all going well we will see some golds.

Will be back tomorrow after the final, to let you know how it goes.

Mahe

Noticias relacionadas

Munich World Cup-Heats

Estevao Pape — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:25:45 +0000

Day 1 has been a successful one for the kiwis at the world cup in Munich.

As I said yesterday this is the first chance we have had to see how our training has been going and testing our speed in competition. It is still very early days (being the heats of the second world cup) but indications so far makes it look like our training is on track and most of the kiwis crews have the speed to match the competition.

The day started in the rain with some thunder and lightening, well one bolt of lightning which was enough for them to close the course for training early meaning we had to find alternative methods of warming up. By the time racing was due to start the bolt of lightning had moved on and there was just rain to contend with.

* Duncan Grant started the day well with a dominant display in the lightweight single recording the fastest time and advancing straight to the semi final.
* The woman’s pair of Rebecca Scown and Emma Feathery were next to race, they again dominated their field, recording the fastest time in their event and advancing direct to the final on Sunday.
* The men’s pair of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray were the next to go from the kiwi stable, they drew a tough heat racing the very highly favoured Brits who are from the Olympic gold medal four and have never been beaten in the pair. Our boys were half a length down for the first 500M, clawed back to level by the 1000M, had a bow ball to bow ball drag race to the 1500M then opened up the famous bondy afterburners winning by just over a length. The British contingent were notably shocked, but seeing the results these guys have produced so far this year I don’t think anyone in the kiwi camp was. This result gives them a day off tomorrow and a berth in the final on Sunday.
* The Woman’s Double of Paula Twining and Anna Reymer looked good to make it 4 from 4, leading through to the 1500M. In the end the Brits and the Bulgarians were too strong and overhauled them to leave them 3rd and give them a second chance to make the final in tomorrow’s repechage.
* The Men’s double of Nathan Cohen and Matthew Trott have been reunited after racing together in 2007, they looked pretty good leading a fairly tight race most of the way, just ahead on the Estonians. They go directly to the semi final.
* Next up Emma Twigg took centre stage as she blasted out of the blocks and into a very comfortable lead early on. She held this and cruised to the line taking a spot in tomorrow’s semi final.
* I was next, with 21 entries in our event you have to finish first in your heat to make it directly to the semi finals. I took off from stroke one opening up a clear water lead over the Lithuanian sculler by the 500M mark, from here it was just a matter of stay in control and while he never gave up, with a 5sec lead by the 1000M I was able to button back and maintain my advantage to the end. So straight through to tomorrow’s semi along with the usual suspects of Tufte, Campbell and Synek also winning their heats. While you cant read too much into times from the heats I was overall fastest as well and being quickest at each of the marks (except the 1000M where Tufte was 0.67sec quicker) so a good way to start.
* This year we have a big lightweight contingent with 7 athletes, this is quite a good thing as they have to starve themselves to make weight (70KG average) in the days leading up to racing leaving plenty of food on the table for the heavy weights, and giving us plenty of pleasure eating in front of them. Well the lightie double of Peter Taylor and Storm Uru finish 7th at the Olympics last year but flew out the blocks being 3seconds clear of the field by 500M and dominating the race to take first and a spot in the semi final as well as a confidence boost with the quickest time over the course of all the heats.
* The Men’s lightie four is a new boat for the kiwis this year. They drew the gold and silver medallists from the Olympics in their heat. While they struggled to keep pace at the start they didn’t loose too much ground through the middle of the race so should learn from the experience and be stronger next race when they race the repechage to try and make the A final.
* There are still two crews to race the woman’s quad and Robin Tinga our arms and shoulders (adaptive) sculler, both race later this afternoon but as they have 6 or less entries in their events, they are guaranteed an A final spot and their results will decide what lane they get for Sundays finals.

All in all it has been a good day with 7 wins from 9 races (2 to go) everyone is still in with a shot at making the A final (if they haven’t already made it) and I will be back tomorrow to give you a run down of round two racing and who has done what and a preview as to what our medal prospects look like for Sunday.

Mahe

Noticias relacionadas

Munich World Cup

Estevao Pape — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:07:43 +0000

I think the last report I sent was just after the nationals so a bit has happened from then to now. A quick synopsis. Trials happened in early March, I went head to head with Rob Waddell again and won the first race by just over 3sec. After seeing this and my result at the nationals the selectors decided they had seen enough and the rest of the week involved training and preparing for some time trials to prove I was going fast enough. I was selected in the single at the end of the week, Dick Tonks appointed coach and I had Emma Twigg, The Men’s Pair and Woman’s Quad as my training partners for the year. It was a little strange as out of the group that went to the Olympics in 2004 and Gifu in 2005 only Eric and myself remain, so a lot of young faces and new team mates. The team is of reasonable size with 22 athletes being selected and both the woman and lightweights out number the 5 heavy weight men selected which is a bit of a change.

Winter training has gone well, the younger ones are certainly full of enthusiasm and I have enjoyed training more than I have for a number of years, with the boat going really well. Since trials training has been the priority but I have also had a number of other commitments to keep me busy. In March I went to England for the week to meet up with the worlds top 8 scullers and we rowed an 8+ together in the Head of the River Race. Was a lot of fun and amazing how well the boat came together with 8 people all doing different things. In the 5 days we had together we seemed to come to a pretty good compromise putting rivalry aside, got the boat going well and won the race by 4 seconds, this completes a clean sweep for me, winning all the heads races on the Thames at least once.

The rest of the winter I did a fair amount of travel around the country speaking at various events including the West End 125th Jubilee, which was a great evening catching up with all the club mates past and present. There were a few tough weeks as I tried to fit training in around my commitments. My body has held up fairly well so far, although I’m older my body in the most part has held up well with only a few little niggles (some very weird) along the way. We have moved into our new high performance centre at Karapiro, it is a great facility and has everything we need on one site, it is much more pleasant place to train and nice to finally have our own gym and be able to enjoy hanging out between sessions in the athletes room.

We have now finished winter training and are back in Europe for some more summer training, was about time too as was just getting cold at home and we have arrived in Munich to beautiful sunny warm weather. The world cup starts tomorrow so it will be our first chance to see where we are all placed coming from New Zealand. The first few days were a little tough as I picked up a skin infection on my scalp before I left NZ (told you there has been some weird things happening) this meant I was unable to touch or put pressure on one side of my head for the last 5 days which has meant a lot of pain and added with jet lag, not much sleep. Thankfully the worst is now behind me and im back to sleeping well, it hasn’t affected my training and I am feeling confident that I am in good shape and happy with my boat speed. By Sunday I will know for sure if that is good enough compared to my main competitors or if I have a lot of work to do to catch them by the Worlds in August.

Our program from here is to race the world cup Friday, Saturday and Sunday my races are around 11am Friday and Saturday and 10:30am Sunday (that’s European time so 9pm and 8:30pm respectively in NZ). The final races will be shown on Sky TV on Sunday night in NZ and Eurosport around Europe. To follow the heats and semis you can go to www.worldrowing.com look under results and live race viewer and you can watch the animated boats race in real time. The finals will be streamed free online, look at the links from the webpage if you cant get to see a TV.

After this weekend we train here for a few days then I head for Amsterdam to race in the Holland Beker regatta next weekend, it is then straight to the UK to Race at the Henley royal regatta 2-5th July, followed by the 3rd World cup in Lucerne the following weekend 10-12th July. So a lot of racing in the next few weeks to get me back up to speed and into race mode. After all that we will have a 6 week training camp in Switzerland and Poland before racing at the World Champs 23-30th August in Poznan. So the fun times are ahead and will be in touch with results as they go.

Mahe

Noticias relacionadas

Portugal termina com um 9º lugar em Munique

Estevao Pape — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:42:57 +0000

A participação da selecção nacional na primeira prova da Taça do Mundo de Remo em Munique terminou com um 9º lugar para a dupla Pedro Fraga e Nuno Mendes. Os dois atletas fecharam a sua participação com um 3º lugar na final B de 2xLM. Esta foi a melhor participação de Portugal nesta prova, ficando-se as restantes equipas pelo fundo da tabela, pouco condizente e aproximado com o nível apresentado pelo 2xLM.

A dupla Fraga/Mendes chegou às semi-finais com relativa facilidade. Na semi-final, embora sem sabermos promenores, pela analise dos tempos a cada 500m, pensa-se que terá sido uma prova atipica e não correu de feição aos remadores lusos. Embora a dupla seja forte nos últimos 1000m e normalmente mais fraca nos primeiros 500m, na prova da semi-final o primeiro quarto de prova foi mais lento do que o normal, em relação às restantes equipas.

Na final B, o perfil de prova foi semelhante com a equipa a passar em 6º aos 500m, a pouco mais de 1barco do 1º lugar. A recuperação fez-se sentir de seguida, passando em 5º aos 1000m, em 4º aos 1500m e no final acabando em 3º. A distância para a Grécia, equipa bem quotada foi de 5segundos, mas menos de 1 segundo separou os atletas lusos do 2º lugar. O 2º lugar foi alcançado pela Republica Checa, adversário directo de Portugal no apuramento olimpico. De recordar que Portugal tem disputado desde à alguns anos muitas provas com esta equipa, tendo a primeira sido em 2005 quando esta equipa checa derrotou a dupla portuguesa nos Campeonatos do Mundo de Sub-23 em 2005. No mundial de 2007, também em Munique, a dupla portuguesa venceu na final C a equipa checa.

Para finalizar, pode-se referir a melhoria no resultado da equipa portuguesa em relação à primeira Taça do Mundo de 2007 disputada em Linz, na Austria. Nessa prova, a equipa de Pedro Fraga e Nuno Mendes terminou em 4º na final C, equivalente ao 16º lugar.

Noticias relacionadas

Dupla portuguesa nas semi-finais

Estevao Pape — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:45:10 +0000

A dupla de Pedro Fraga e Nuno Mendes qualificou-se para as semi-finais da Taça do Mundo de Remo em Munique, na categoria de 2xLM.
A equipa portuguesa classificou-se em 3º no primeiro quarto de final. O 2x luso fez a prova quase toda em 4º lugar, chegando perto do 3º lugar aos 1500m onde estava lado a lado com uma das equipas italianas. Os últimos 500m foram decisivos e viram a equipa portuguesa superiorizar-se aos adversários, acabando a prova no 3º lugar com cerca de 11 segundos de vantagem para o 4º lugar e perto das duas equipas da frente.

Amanhã Fraga e Mendes disputaram a 1ª semi-final, pelas 17h, necessitando de se classificar de novo nos 3 primeiros lugares. Irão competir contra Hungria, Grécia, Itália, França e Alemanha, equipas com tradição nesta categoria e que serão uma bom desafio para a dupla lusa.

As restantes equipas portuguesas não conseguiram classificar-se para as semi-finais. Maria Lima foi a atleta que finalizou a repescagem mais perto da qualificação, embora a atleta em 3º lugar estivesse em controlo.

Noticias relacionadas

Taça do Mundo Munique – 1º dia

Estevao Pape — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:18:01 +0000

O dia de prova em Munique, para as equipas portuguesas, não foi o mais promissor tendo apenas o LM2x (Nuno Mendes/ Pedro Fraga) cumprido a passagem à próxima fase. As restantes equipas não passaram do último lugar nas respectivas eliminatórias, tendo que disputar as repescagens amanhã (sexta-feira).

O dia começou com a prova de LW1x com Maria Lima na 2ª eliminatória. A atleta do Porto nunca conseguiu disputar a prova, começando e acabando a prova em 5º lugar. Disputará amanhã pelas 10:18 a respecagem, contra outros 4 adversários. Passam os 3 (de 5) primeiros às semi-finais.

Depois foi a vez da dupla Bruno Amorim/ Roberto Rodrigues em M2-. Os dois atletas, que passaram do M4- para este barco, também não conseguiram disputar a eliminatória, terminando em 6º lugar. Ainda chegaram a disputar o 5º lugar com a equipa da Eslováquia, embora apenas o 1º passasse directamente às semi-finais. A repescagem é pelas 12:24 de amanhã, sendo necessário alcançar o 2º lugar (entre 5) para alcançar as semi-finais.

Para 3º lugar nas equipas portuguesas estava o LM2x, equipa que cria maiores expectativas aos adeptos portugueses! A equipa nacional não defraudou as expectativas passando aos quartos de final com relativa facilidade, chegando a disputar a vitória da eliminatória nos últimos 500m. A equipa portuguesa chegou mesmo a realizar um dos melhores tempos na categoria. Como habitual a dupla realizou uma prova de trás para a frente, realizando parciais muito semelhantes a cada 500m (1:44, 1:46, 1:48, 1:46). os quartos finais serão pelas 16:24, passando apenas os 3 primeiros às semi-finais.

Por fim participou o LM4-, uma equipa renovada e apenas com Gualter Graça como “sobrevivente” do ano passado. Esta equipa também se ficou pelo 6º lugar na eliminatória. Amanhã disputará a prova de repescagem pelas 16:48.

Noticias relacionadas

Munique, dia 2

Estevao Pape — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:42:58 +0000

Depois do primeiro impacto de ontem, hoje tivemos tempo para apreciar a pista, as equipas, a estrutura e para estarmos mais preparados para os treinos de adaptação á pista.

Uma viagem como a do dia anterior tem impacto, não só em termos de disponibilidade física e mental, mas também no que respeita ao peso, hoje de manha estava um pouco alto, mas nada de preocupante!

Os treinos em si correram bastante bem, estávamos bastante concentrados e conseguimos cumprir o que tecnicamente nos foi pedido. Também conseguimos fazer uns “upgrades” nos remos (cortesia concept2), com uns punhos novos. Antes de acabar a taça do mundo ainda vamos substituir as mangas dos remos. Amanha vamos pôr o barco na empacher, para se arranjar alguns pequenos problemas para, na hora da prova, estar tudo impecável.

O hotel é impecável, o único problema é que demoramos quase uma hora a chegar á pista!

Amanha começam as provas. Nota-se na pista, aquele nervoso miudinho, que há antes de uma prova importante. Treinadores a ultimarem afinações, atletas a trabalharem pormenores técnicos e no caso dos ligeiros, o peso. É um ambiente de profunda concentração, há imensa gente na pista mas quase não se houve barulho, sendo esta tranquilidade só quebrada muito de vez em quando, por algum treinador a gritar com algum atleta, engraçado….
Outra coisa que também me chamou a atenção foi a qualidade de todas as equipes presentes nesta taça do mundo, impressionante, a quantidade de trabalho que foi precisou para todos eles estarem neste nível, aprende-se muitíssimo estando só na margem concentrado nas equipes que passam.

É tudo por hoje pessoal, amanha começa….

Por: André Gonçalves

Noticias relacionadas

Munique, provas começam quinta-feira

Estevao Pape — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:21:31 +0000

As provas da 1ª Taça do Mundo em Munique começam já na quinta-feira, com Maria Lima a iniciar a participação portuguesa perto das 10:30. De seguida será a nova aposta da FPR, o M2- de Roberto Rodrigues e Bruno Amorim a partir das 14:45, numa prova com 6 eliminatórias.

As equipas de ligeiros participam a partir das 16h30 e 17h30, LM2x e LM4- respectivamente. A dupla Fraga/Mendes enfrenta o maior número de adversários numa prova com 6 eliminatórias, embora alguns paises dupliquem as participações. O LM4- é uma prova com apenas 3 eliminatórias programadas e anunciadas 18 participações.

Em termos de cobertura televisiva, as finais poderão ser visualizadas na Eurosport (domingo e segunda, pelas 8h30) e pelo WCSN.com no domingo. No site WCSN, mediante o pagamento de apenas 38€ anuais ou 3,8€ por mês, poderemos ver ao vivo todas as provas mundiais de remo, assim como rever as imagens de todas as provas que já ocorreram (Taças do Mundo e Campeonatos do Mundo).

Noticias relacionadas

O primeiro teste

Estevao Pape — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:38:38 +0000

A pista de remo de Munique vai receber, dias 8 a 11 de Maio, o primeiro grande teste antes dos Jogos Olimpicos – a 1ª Taça do Mundo de 2008. Um recorde de entradas garante a presença de 54 países, 840 atletas e 371 tripulações. Estes números incluem o remo adaptado, com 32 tripulações.

Neste primeiro embate de titãs Portugal estará representado com 11 atletas, em 6 barcos. Os representantes portugueses seram:
M2-
Bruno Amorim
Roberto Rodrigues

LM2x
Pedro Fraga
Nuno Mendes

LM4-
Gualter Graça
André Pereira
André Gonçalves
João Costa

LW1x
Maria Lima

AW1x Filomena Franco

AM1x Manuel Botas

Para Portugal será uma boa ocasião de treino e teste para a última prova e oportunidade de qualificação olimpica. Na mesma situação encontram-se Cyprus (M1x), Lituania (M1x), Eslovaquia (M2x, LM2x) e Turquia (LM2x).