Video Of The Week: Newcastle's First Eight 2013—From Henley to Linz



The World Rowing Under 23 Championships drew to a close on Sunday in Linz, Austria, and saw a number of familiar faces back on the podium once again this year, including lightweight standout Andrew Campbell, who took his first international gold medal in the BLM1x. The U.S. women's eight did not disappoint, with returners Madison Culp, Amanda Elmore, Kristine O'Brien, and coxswain Kendall Schmidt making it two golds in two years at the U23 level, and the U.S. men's eight took the long road through the rep en route to a 'sterling' performance in the A Final. Also in the men's eight A Final was Team GB, with a crew that included four of the athletes from this week's video—stroke George Rossiter (a two-time U23 bronze medalist in the BM8+ and BM4- in 2011 and 2012, respectively), Sam Arnot (silver in the JM8+ in 2009), Thomas Ford, and Timothy Clarke. The Newcastle crew raced to the semifinals at Henley Royal Regatta earlier this month, before losing in a close battle to the eventual second-place finisher Harvard frosh crew.

In Linz, the Newcastle athletes named above were joined by Cameron Buchan, who raced on the Northeastern Husky men's varsity eight this season, Cal Bear James Edwards, and friend of RR and author of The Coxswain Perspective, Rory Copus of Oxford Brookes. Though the GB crew edged the U.S. off the line, it was the American combination that had the better result in the end, placing second behind New Zealand, and roughly two seconds ahead of third place Poland—GB finished fifth behind Spain, one length ahead of Germany.

For complete results from the 2013 World Rowing Under 23 Championships, visit the official website of FISA.

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-RR

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