U23 Rowing World Champs Set to Start in Amsterdam

Australia’s next generation of rowers will ply their trade this week as they contest the Under 23 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (July 20-24).

The Australian team will field 11 crews at the four day regatta which features the best Under 23 athletes from 63 nations across the globe.

The Australian team arrived in Europe last week after a final week-long training camp at the Sydney International Regatta Centre that concluded on Sunday 10 July.

The women’s quad scull featuring AIS-WAIS athlete Alexandra Hagan(WA), Katrina Bateman (VIC), Amy Fowler (ACT) and Jess Hall (QLD) will be one of the crews to watch.

The crew trained out of the Australian Institute of Sport under coach Anna Tree, and apart from having access to the best facilities in Australia, also had the advantage of training with Australia’s senior women’s double and quad scull.

WAIS head rowing Coach Lincoln Handley is overseeing the Australian U23 coxless four crew that contains WAIS athletes Ashleigh Miles and Hannah Vermeersch, along with Queenslander Francesca Paterson and South Australian Peta White.

Other WAIS athletes in action in Amsterdam include: Hannah Jansen in the women’s lightweight single scull and Brendan Murray and Tom Gatti in the men’s coxed eight.

South Australia duo Olympia Aldersey (SA) and Renee Chatterton (SA) will contest the women’s pair in a prequel to the combination joining the senior team to compete at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in the women’s four with Kate Hornsey (TAS) and Pauline Frasca (VIC).

Aldersey, who last year won a silver medal at the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore, said the pair was aiming for consistency at the regatta.

“Renee and I are just focusing on trying to put our best race forward and really performing to our full potential in the next week,” Aldersey said. “We would like to make the A Final and hopefully put ourselves in a good position to get on the podium.”

A Finals commence on Saturday (July 23) and Sunday (July 24).

-With Rowing Australia