PRESS RELEASE 

The Blackburn Challenge, held on July 17 this year, is the premier human-powered open-water event on the East Coast. One of the reasons why this event has been recognized as one of the best open water races in America is due to the venue – a 20 mile circumnavigation of Cape Ann Massachusetts – a course that inevitably serves up a wide variety of conditions on the water. The first three or so miles of the race are along the protected and tidal Annisquam River, resulting in something akin to a head race, but with plenty more interesting obstacles to avoid (mooring and navigation buoys, boats, docks, etc.) and a 17 mile open water race after it. Once the river empties into the open waters of Ipswich Bay, the wind strength and direction play a decisive role in determining the conditions of the day, which range from relative calm (it’s never a flat water event) to very rough (staying upright and afloat trump the idea of competition). The last couple of miles from the Dogbar Breakwater at the entrance of Gloucester Harbor to Pavillion Beach, are usually plagued by confused boat wakes from numerous fishing, whale watch and pleasure boats going in all directions. Each year at the Blackburn brings us a very different story, making the event so interesting for open-water aficionados. One thing that thankfully remains the same each year is the fun time after finishing – cold beer, massages, good music and food and the inevitable harrowing stories from the event. The 2010 Blackburn Challenge will be the 24^th running of the event.

All event information may be found at the event website: www.blackburnchallenge.com

BBC Sports

New Zealander Mahe Drysdale overcame injury to retain his Diamond Challenge Sculls title at Henley Royal Regatta.

The four-time World Champion beat Sweden's Lassi Karonen by three lengths in Sunday's final.

Drysdale told BBC Berkshire: "It was my first real challenge back and I really thought I was going to struggle.

"You just get through the race and you remember how you do it and remember what the pain feels like and it's not actually as bad as you think."

Full article here.

Canada's women eight beat out the local favourites today to win at the Henley Royal Regatta in Henley-on-Thames, England.

The Canadian women set the tone for the race with a solid start and ended up winning by two lengths in a total time of 7.29 minutes over
the British team, representing Leander Club and Oxford Brookes University. They raced a distance of 2,112 metres, unique to this regatta, in gusty headwind conditions.

"We train in all conditions (on Fanshawe Lake in London, Ont.) and we're accustomed to the wind, but we didn't underestimate the British.
We took some sloppy strokes, and so did they.  The results speak for themselves," said women's team veteran Darcy Marquardt, who won this
event once before.   Of today’s winners, only Marquardt and crew mate Andréanne Morin were part of the Canadian boat that took this title in 2003 beating out an Australian crew.

"This win feels sweeter this time around, and it's a reaffirmation of where we want to be as we head into the World Cup in Lucerne and prepare for the Worlds in November."

The women's eight is Lesley Thompson-Willie of London, ON, Cristin McCarty of Saskatoon, SK, Darcy Marquardt of Richmond, BC, Ashley Brzozowicz of London, ON, Krista Guloien of Port Moody, BC, Andréanne Morin of Montreal, QC, Janine Hanson of Winnipeg, MB, Sandra Kisil of Ancaster, ON and Emma Darling of Burnaby, BC.

"It's an exciting time for women's rowing," said the eight's coach, John Keogh, who recently came to Rowing Canada from Australia via the
British women's program. "The women have trained hard with (lead women's coach) Al Morrow the past winter and this shows we are moving
in the right direction. It was a good race against quality opposition - I'm encouraged for this squad."

High Performance Director Peter Cookson agreed: "It's a confidence builder for this group of young women who are very motivated. It's still early days for as a crew, but today's race is a good indication of the potential they have."

Women's eights races first appeared at Henley in 1998. In 1999, it was decided to make this event into an open women's eights event, formally
incorporated in the rules of the regatta and to be known as The Henley Prize. At the 2002 regatta the event became known as the Remenham Challenge Cup when the Henley Stewards accepted the gift of a trophy presented by the nearby Remenham Club in recognition of the support its founding clubs had given women's rowing and in memory of its past President, Mr. Ian Rogers, M.B.E.

This was the only Canadian crew in the finals today. This year’s Henley had a total entry of 505 crews and included 116 overseas crews from 20 different nations.

More on the Henley Royal at the regatta web site:

http://www.hrr.co.uk/

The Canadian women’s and men’s senior teams now move to Switzerland to take place in the third - and arguably the most important - World Cup
race of the year in Lucerne.

PRESS RELEASE

From USRowing and Rowing Canada

Twenty U.S. Crews to Race at 2010 Henley Royal Regatta

Henley-on-Thames, England, U.K. – Twenty U.S. crews, including five USRowing Training Center boats, will be contesting titles at the 171^st Henley Royal Regatta. In most of the events, crews faced qualifying preliminary races last Friday; the Racing Committee posted the official draw this past weekend. Racing will begin on Thursday, July 1 for the nineteen title cups contested annually at the regatta.

Racing for the Stewards’ Challenge Cup (the men’s four event) is the USRowing Training Center crew of Josh Inman (Hillsboro, Ore.), Henrik Rummel (Pittsford, N.Y.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.) and Giuseppe Lanzone (Annandale, Va.). The lineup took the silver medal at the Munich World Cup last weekend. Ten crews are entered in the event including the 2009 World Champion Great Britain four, the defending champions of the event. The USRowing TC crew has drawn the Dutch National team, racing as Hollandia Roeiclub, for the first round. In the U.S. crew, Rummel competed at Henley in previous years for Harvard University, including winning the Ladies’ Challenge Plate in 2007. The Stewards’ Challenge Cup has been contested every year since 1841.

USRowing TC’s Warren Anderson (Paso Robles, Calif.) and Glenn Ochal (Philadelphia, Pa.) will compete in the Double Sculls Challenge Cup after racing to a fourth-place finish in the event at the Munich World Cup stop. Peter Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Thomas Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio), who represented the U.S. at the 2009 World Rowing Championships in the event, are also entered. With 13 entries, competition includes the Great Britain and France double sculls crews that took first and second in Munich, as well as the New Zealand lightweight men’s double that won silver in Munich. The Double Sculls Challenge Cup was first raced in 1939, at the centenary celebration of the Royal Henley Regatta.

The championship men’s quadruple sculls event, the Queen Mother Challenge Cup, will be contested by the U.S. crew of Scott Gault (Piedmont, Calif.), Will Miller (Duxbury, Mass.), Wes Piermarini (West Brookfield, Mass.) and Elliot Hovey (Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass.) that placed seventh overall the event at the Munich World Cup. Piermarini and Hovey previously reached the final of the Queen Mother Challenge Cup in 2008, the year they also won the Double Sculls Challenge Cup. Miller won Henley’s intermediate quadruple sculls event, the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup, in 2008. There are a total of five entries in the event this year, including the Great Britain crew that took third in the event in Munich. The Queen Mother Challenge Cup was first contested in 1981.

Several USRowing TC crews will be doubling up into an eight that will contest the Grand Challenge Cup, the premiere men’s eight event at Henley. The eight will consist of coxswain Ned DelGuercio (Media, Pa.), Inman, Rummel, Newlin, Lanzone, Ochal, Anderson, Gault and Hovey. The crew’s competition includes the defending-champion Great Britain eight that won the event at the Rowing World Cup in Slovenia. Also entered are last year’s world-champion German eight, the Canadian national team eight – which the U.S. has drawn in the first round, an eight comprised of New Zealand’s under 23 and senior world championships fours and a Cambridge University and London Rowing Club crew with all but one of the rowers from the eight that won the 2010 Boat Race. The Grand Challenge Cup is the original Henley event and was first contested in 1839.

The lone women’s entry for the U.S. is Genevra Stone, competing for Cambridge Boat Club before she races for the U.S. at the Lucerne World Cup stop. Stone will be racing for the Princess Royal Challenge Cup, the top single scull event for women, and attempting to better her second-place finish from last year. Stone will be joined by American Mae Joyce Gay of Union Boat Club in the event. Top international competition will likely come from Emma Twigg, New Zealand’s Olympic sculler and last year’s Princess Royal Challenge Cup winner, Czech Republic’s Mirka Knapkova and Great Britian’s Debbie Flood.

Several crews from the United States will compete in the Temple Challenge Cup, the elite men’s collegiate eight event. Grand Valley State University (Grand Valley, Mich.), Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.), the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, Calif.) and the University of Washington (Seattle, Wash.) will take on competitors both domestic and international. This weekend’s draw will see Harvard University facing the University of Southern California in the first round. Last year’s IRA-champion Princeton University lightweight crew is the defending champion.

Outside of the Temple Challenge Cup, the most subscribed event this year is the Prince Albert Challenge Cup for men’s secondary school and collegiate coxed fours. Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.), Grand Valley State University (Grand Valley, Mich.), Eastern Sprints winner Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.), Sprints silver-medalist Princeton University (Princeton, N.J.) and Yale University (New Haven, Conn.) will be racing.

In the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup for men’s high school eights, three U.S. crews will be vying for victory – Kent School (Kent, Conn.), St. Joseph’s Preparatory School (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Salisbury School (Salisbury, Conn.). The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup will be contested by a total of 32 crews and has been raced since 1946.

Finally, in the Thames Challenge Cup for club eights, the U.S. crew from Potomac Boat Club (Washington, D.C.) has drawn York City Rowing Club for its first-round competition. The Thames Challenge Cup is also contested by 32 crews and has been raced since 1868.

Racing will commence Thursday, July 1. For more information, visit the Henley Royal Regatta’s official site at http://www.hrr.co.uk/. Official results will be available at http://www.hrr.co.uk/pdisp.php?pid=316.