On 24th March 2013 in the middle of the night (if you are British), three Loughborough Students Rowing alumni made club history. Matt Gotrel, Jonny Walton and Monica Relph, all raced at the first World Cup in Sydney, Australia. Furthermore, Matt brought home gold!
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| Loughborough Students Rowing alumni (from left) Matt Gotrel, Monica Relph and Jonny Walton. |
The first race of the new Olympiad meant a chance for new faces to step on to the senior international scene and take their first steps on the 'Road to Rio', and our Loughborough trio did not disappoint! A new look team GB saw Monica Relph in the women’s quad, Jonny Walton in the men’s single scull and Matt Gotrel alongside three Olympic gold medalists from the London games in the men’s eight.
The women’s quad was an exciting new crew prospect, with all four new faces on the senior team. On day one of the Regatta Monica, joined by Tina Stiller, Olivia Carnegie-Brown and Zoe Lee faced a tough first heat, beaten by eventual bronze medal winners New Zealand and had to race the repechage on day two, which they got through comfortably to reach Sunday’s A Final. The race was dominated by a young and very talented Australian crew, but the GB girls showed their strength and promise by putting in a great finish to end up 4th in this very competitive event.
For Jonny Walton, Loughborough’s Sportsman of the Year 2012 this was also his debut performance in the men’s single at a senior event having finished 8th in the same event at the Under 23 World Rowing Championships in 2011. The “Leicester Legend” as he known, made his heat of the first world cup look easy, leading the field from the first stroke and never looking back, to win the race by 13 seconds and qualify automatically for Sunday's A Final. One of the favourites leading in to race, but not in his trademark yellow boat due to racing down-under, Jonny was perhaps taken by surprise in his final as Bulgarian born Georgi Bozhilov went out at a blistering pace and grunted his boat through the line to finish first. Jonny who looked comfortable and relaxed throughout the majority of the race, put on the after burners in the final 500m to make an impressive move from 6th to finish 4th. A fantastic start to his Olympic campaign!
Finally Matt Gotrel, who learnt to row at Loughborough University, competed in the final event of the regatta in what was named “Jurgen’s Big Eight”. An impressive line up which included three of London 2012’s gold medal winning men’s four Pete Reed, Alex Gregory and Andy Triggs Hodge as well as bronze medal winners in the men’s eight Moe Sbihi, Tom Ransley and cox Phelan Hill, Matt was under no small amount of pressure to keep up the expectations of these phenomenal athletes. It would seem Gotrel thrived under the pressure, executing a perfect race in this five boat final, in which they lead from start to finish! It is rare for a rower to have such accelerated success in the sport. In just a few years we have seen Matt go from novice to World Cup gold medalist, of which Loughborough Students Rowing Club is very proud to have been part of!
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| Matt Gotrel (top row, second from right) posing with 'Jurgen's Big Eight' crew and a gold medal around his neck. |
The next World Cup of the series is from the 21st-23rd June at Eton, Dorney, the venue of the 2012 Olympic Games. Tickets are available online and it would be great to bring that special Loughborough edge to the famous ‘Dorney Roar’!
(Special thanks to Pete Reed MBE for the team photograph!)
By PIPPA WHITTAKER
To see the races in full follow the links below:
Monica Relph - Women's Quadruple Sculls (W4x) Final
Jonny Walton - Men's Single Sculls (M1x) Final
Matt Gotrel - Men's Eight (M8+) Final
