Sensational day of semi finals
New Zealand looked formidable during today’s semi final racing at the Henley Royal Regatta at Henley-on-Thames in Great Britain
Eight New Zealand boats raced in seven races over the course of the day, with five crews booking their berth for tomorrow’s finals in the prestigious regatta.
Matt Dunham will contest the final of the Diamond Challenge Sculls after a sensational win against Olympic silver medallist Cameron Girdlestone of Australia.
In the trans-Tasman battle lightweight Dunham stormed through heavyweight Girdlestone after the Australian appeared to suffer the consequences of a flying first half.
Dunham will now challenge American John Graves in the final of the illustrious event.
Brooke Donoghue and Olivia Loe annihilated their competition in the semi-final of the women’s double sculls with a commanding performance.
Donoghue and Loe beat the British duo of Georgia Francis and Emily Carmichael by a sensational four lengths. They will face the experienced Dutch combination of Marloes Oldenburg and Roos de Jong in tomorrow’s final.
John Storey and Chris Harris took a classy win in the men’s double sculls, setting them up for the final of the Double Sculls Challenge Cup.
The Olympian duo opened up a clear water advantage over the German lightweight crew of Konstantin Steinhuebel and Jonathan Rommelmann and powered to a convincing win.
Storey and Harris will take on the French lightweight Olympic champions Pierre Houin and Jeremie Azou in what is set to be a very exciting final race.
It was a sisterly duel in the semi final of the women’s pairs as Kerri Gowler lined up against younger sister Jackie.
The current world record holders Kerri and crewmate Grace Prendergast proved too strong for Jackie Gowler and Kirstyn Goodger who are both racing their first elite season, winning with a clear water advantage.
Gowler and Prendergast will line up against Olympians Megan Kalmoe & Tracy Eisser of the USA in tomorrow’s final.
The women’s eight will contest the final of the Remenham Challenge Cup tomorrow after a superb win against the national crew from the Netherlands in today’s semi final.
The world cup winning eight pushed to an early lead and held their position the full length of the course to finish with just over two lengths of clear water ahead of the Dutch.
The final battle for the Cup will be between New Zealand and the Leander/University of London.
The men’s eight were forced out of contention for the Grand Challenge Cup after coming up short against the German national crew.
Germany, who are the current world record holders, snatched an early lead but faced a sustained challenge from the New Zealand crew.
Cox Caleb Shepherd called an impressive race for New Zealand, and the race favourite German crew snatched victory by just three quarters of a length.
Hannah Osborne pushed Olympic silver medallist Vicki Thornley hard in the semi final of the Princess Royal Challenge Cup for the women’s single sculls.
Osborne, who is competing in her first year as an elite held her own against the vastly experienced Thornley, pushing the pace down the course and finishing just over a length down on the British rower.
Racing resumes on the Thames tomorrow for finals.
Entries, results, schedule and live coverage can be found at hrr.co.uk.