The international elite rowing season kicks off next weekend in Eton, Great Britain, and there will be a small, but powerful, group from the National Men's Team representing Canada.
"The Eton World Cup presents Canada's National Senior Men's Team with its first international competitive opportunity since the 2004 Olympics in Athens," says Rowing Canadas High Performance Director, Alan Roaf. "The objective is to test the waters in a couple of small boats to see whether we are on pace at this stage. Information gained from this early season regatta will be useful in our preparations for the 2005 World Championships in Japan later in August."
A men's pair of Olympic silver medallist Barney Williams of Salt Spring Island, B.C. and Scott Frandsen of Kelowna, B.C., will race with former World Champions (men's eight) Kyle Hamilton of Richmond, B.C. and Ben Rutledge of Cranbrook, B.C., also in a pair. 2004 World medallists Liam Parsons of Thunder Bay, Ont. and Matt Jensen of Innerkip, Ont. are entered in the lightweight men's double category.
Rowers from 39 nations will be competing in this first leg of the 2005 BearingPoint Rowing World Cup, May 26 to 28. Close to 500 athletes will row in 217 boats on Dorney Lake not only as a first chance to test the 2005 field, but also to test the course in preparation for the 2006 World Rowing Championships.
The largest entry comes from Great Britain and includes 62 rowers in 25 boats. In the follow-up to the Athens Olympics, and with many athletes retired or on leave, the line-up still counts an impressive 53 Athens Olympic medallists.
The BearingPoint World Cup finals, to be raced on Saturday, May 28, as well as an exclusive legends race staging Sir Steve Redgrave and his 2000 Olympic crew against his then Olympic opponents, will be transmitted live on the BBC, also host broadcaster for the event. European sports channel Eurosport as well as several other European television channels will broadcast the finals live or deferred.