Rowing: British pair put down a marker
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Your support makes all the difference.STEVEN REDGRAVE and Matthew Pinsent laid down their marker in the toughest heat of the coxless pairs at the World Championships yesterday. Drawn against the two crews who pushed them to knock three seconds off their own world record in Lucerne, the Olympic champions took a length lead in the first 500m and then commanded the race, while the Canadians and Germans made sure of a place in the semi-final by staying ahead of the Lorgen brothers who raced for Oxford in this year's Boat Race.
In the coxless four, the Searle brothers, alongside Tim Foster and Rupert Obholzer, held back to the 1000m mark, but in the third 500m they moved firmly into the lead and crossed the line in 5min 59sec, two seconds faster than the Romania winners of the next heat.
The British lightweight eight continued where they left off in Lucerne six weeks ago with a startling win in the preliminary heats. Facing Denmark and Italy, who finished second and third last year, the British crew covered the first 500m in 1min 24sec. They cruised through the second half to win by about half a length, but they were six and a half seconds faster than America, the winners of the second heat.
This gave particular satisfaction to Stephen Ellis, who is new to the squad this season but who was beaten at Henley by five members of the American boat. 'We have done no speed work yet, everything is timed for us to peak on Saturday next,' he said. Asked whether it would have been better to ease up and give themselves a second race in the repechage this week, he said: 'Somebody would have had the pleasure of finishing in front of us, and we had to show we mean business.'
The lightweight double scull of Stuart Whitelaw and Andy Sinton chased the Lucerne winners, Spain, to the line in their heat but missed the chance to race Cuba when Wilfredo Suarez chose to walk out of his hotel on the first night as the best method of leaving Cuba for good.
Sinton and Whitelaw, who had a poor start to the season, have gone well in training and closed rapidly at the end but may have been deceived by the tactical racing of others, particularly the Germans. However, their second place should ensure them a better draw for the repechage.
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