1997 Nations Cup— Milan Italy

Women's Sculler Sally Newmarch

Racing

This was a first class performance by the Australian team this year. They won more medals than ever before with a greatly improved performance by the girls. In fact they won every race they were in on the first day, won the point score award for lightweights and women and finished third overall. Sally Newmarch won the first gold medal by any Australian woman at this regatta.

Results—Men

Men's Single Scull

Final: 1st NED 6:55.30, 2nd SLO 6:57.30, 3rd NZL 6:53.90, 4th GBR 7:00.10, 5th CRO 7:05.60, 6th GBR 7:11.10

Men's Double Scull

Final: 1st ITA 6:24.10, 2nd RUS 6:28.20, 3rd AUT 6:29.20, 4th CZE 6:29.40, 5th GER 6:33.00, 6th ESP 6:41.40

Men's Quad Scull

ITA 5:52.80, 2nd GER 5:55.00, 3rd ROM 5:56.00, 4th POL 5:57.80, 5th AUS 5:58.40, 6th CZE 6:00.50

The coach Nick Garratt had a big job with this crew in a short time frame. The crew itself applied themselves determinably to the task preparing for this event, especially in a quad. Unfortunately, there was a bit of sickness in the crew the week before which also did not help matters. However, no one could doubt the application of this crew and it was great when they won their heat. If perhaps they rowed the final that way they may have been closer to the medals. The Australians were in fifth placing throughout the race.

Men's Pair

Final: 1st POL 629.30, 2nd ITA 6:41.60, 3rd SLO 6:42.30, 4th NED 6:43.60, 5th GBR 6:49.20, 6th YUG 7:05.00

Men's Coxless Four

Final: 1st ROM 6:01.60, 2nd AUS 6:03.30, 3rd NZL, 6:05.20, 4th ESP 6:07.60, 5th GBR 6:08.20, 6th CZE 6:15.50

It was a very controlled race.This crew didn't get the start that it was looking for and then had to use the race to catch up with the leaders. They were fourth after the first 500 and were third with 500 to go. However, the gap was too much to the first placed crew and they finished a strong second.

Men's Coxed Four

Final: 1st CRO 6:15.50, 2nd POL 6:20.10, 3rd GER 6:21.10, 4th SUI 6:23.20, 5th GBR 6:23.50, 6th SLO 6:28.70

Men's Eight

Final: 1st GER 5:34.20, 2nd USA 5:36.80, 3rd FRA 5: 37.80, 4th AUS 5;41.40, 5th CAN 5:41.40, 6th ITA 5:47.60

After winning their heat well against good opposition we were looking forward to a medal with this crew. Noel Donaldson had worked well with the crew and was looking forward to a real determined effort in the final. They always seemed to have a bit of a problem with the second 500 and this was the case again in the final. They slipped to fourth at the 1,000 metre mark and did not recover. However both Australia and Canada nearly caught the leaders. The race was of a high standard, the winning time 5.34.2 by Germany.

Men's Lightweight Single Scull

Final: 1st CZE 6:56.40, 2nd AUS 6:58.30, 3rd SUI 6:59.30, 4th FIN 7:01.10, 5th IRL 7:06.80, 6th GRE 7:08.60

This was a great race and Hamish gave everything to try and win it. Michal Vabrowsek from the Czech Republic is also a top sculler and he wore Hamish down over the race to win by 1.9 seconds. Hamish led well early and maintained his lead up to the 1,000 metre mark. The Czech rowed a faster third 500 by some 2.4 seconds and gained the upper hand. The race was fought out to the finish and was a credit to Hamish. The next day Hamish came down with a virus which may have affected him during racing.

Men's Lightweight Double Scull

Final: 1st ITA 6:24.00, 2nd AUS 6:27.80, 3rd FRA 6:30.80, 4th HUN 6:35.00, 5th CZE 6:37.50, 6th POL 6:40.60

This crew started a bit slowly and fought to get second position by the 1,000 metre mark. Unfortunately, the Italians who had the lead from the start maintained their lead and continued to row strongly for the remainder of the race. Glen and Karl tried hard to the finish and although perhaps a little disappointed did very well to win silver. Glen Loftus was one of our most successful Senior B rower, having a gold and silver in two years.

Men's Lightweight Quad Scull

Final: 1st GER 5:57.50, 2nd RUS 6:00.40, 3rd ESP 6:00.80, 4th ITA 6:02.80, 5th GBR 6:07.20, 6th ARG 6:15.00

Men's Lightweight Four

Final: 1st FRA 6:08.80, 2nd AUS 6:08.82, 3rd ESP 6:10.90, 4th GER 6:11.20, 5th USA 6:13,20, 6th GBR 6:14.20

The pressure was on this crew to repeat the gold medal of last year. They gave it a real go missing gold by only 00.02 seconds. This crew rowed in the same Stampfli boat as last years crew and took a while to settle down initially. However, with further training the crew settled down well and started to perform. They were always within range of the leading crew, France, throughout the race and came home very strongly just to miss out on the line. It took 45 minutes to get a result. This boat has now won Silver, Gold and Silver in the last three years.