Hebden's Hodge strikes gold in World Cup thriller (From Craven Herald)
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Hebden's Hodge strikes gold in World Cup thriller
9:37am Monday 28th May 2012 in General
Great Britain's Alex Gregory, Pete Reed, Tom James and Andy Hodge on their way to men's fours gold at the World Rowing Cup on Lake Rotsee in Lucerne, Switzerland
Hebden’s Andy Hodge was involved in the most dramatic British victory on finals day at the Rowing World Cup event in Lucerne on Sunday
The men’s four of Alex Gregory, Pete Reed, Tom James and Hodge produced the morning’s most eye-catching British win, coming from half a length behind Australia to take the lead in the final 20 strokes and eventually triumphing by over a second.
It was one of three British victories and five medals, and Reed said afterwards of the Australians: “We had a feeling before the race that they would try to do something special. That’s the way they raced in Bled last year and in the Olympic final as well.
“The Australian boat is always very classy but moving past them in the last 500 (metres) is something we hadn’t seen from our crew yet and that can be massively improved.”
The men’s four, women’s pair and women’s double scull also served notice of their potential for Olympic success with morning victories.
Such standards could not be maintained in the afternoon session, although the lightweight men’s four collected bronze and the men’s eight wrapped up the day with a silver medal.
Helen Glover and Heather Stanning kicked off Britain’s golden morning when they held off a strong field to win the women’s pair event, building on a fast start to top the podium in 7min 2.14sec ahead of the United States, with New Zealand’s world champions Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown third.
Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger carried on the British momentum as they powered clear in the double scull, leaving Poland to take silver from Germany.
The lightweight men’s four of Paul Mattick, Richard Chambers, Rob Williams and Chris Bartley led in the early stages but were overhauled by China and South Africa.
The men’s eight, having come through the repechage stage to reach the final, stayed on the trail of leaders Germany throughout but were unable to get past, eventually finishing just over a second back. Alan Campbell was edged into fourth in the men’s single scull.
The women’s quad and eight, which included Guiseley’s Debbie Flood, finished fifth.
Stephen Rowbotham, Charles Cousins, Tom Solesbury and Bradford’s Matthew Wells won the men’s quadruple scull B race.
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