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Tuesday, September 19
Rowers to sharpen up in Brisbane sprint
BRISBANE, Australia -- Olympic rowing hopefuls from
some of the sport's most powerful nations will get a chance to
sharpen their speed work at the Brisbane River Regatta this
weekend.
The Zurich 2000 Australian Rowing skins, being held for the
second year as part of the city's River Festival, will feature
Olympic oarsmen and women from Australia, Britain, Denmark,
Switzerland, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States.
The 500-meter sprint regatta is organized by former
Australian world championship rower Richard Paterson's Team
Rowing foundation, which aims to encourage youngsters to take
an interest in the sport.
And while the weekend's festival will include races for
schools, clubs, masters and corporate crews, most of the
attention will be on the elite.
Paterson said he was overwhelmed by the response of the
Olympic squads, many of whom have based their training camps
around Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
The Olympians will race over 2,000 meters in Sydney and the
fast and furious 500-meter Brisbane River course could prove an
eye-opener.
"Some of the crews used to 2,000 meters might get a bit of
a shock," said Paterson, who represented Australia in the 1995
world championships.
"It's set up for tight finishes and tight racing and being
a tidal race there could be swells and all sorts going on."
Xeno Mueller, the defending Olympic single sculls champion
from Switzerland, is a confirmed starter with several other big
names from the sport certain to join him.
The qualifying stages will be held on Saturday with the
finals taking place on Sunday.
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