By Bruce Archer

London Rowing Club’s Mark Aldred bucked the trend for GB Rowing by winning gold at the Lucerne World Cup regatta, writes Bruce Archer.

On a weekend when GB came up short in most events, Aldred, competing with Sam Scrimgeour in the light-weight men’s pair, repeated his golden success of Eton Dorney last month.

However, this weekend’s regatta, in a much more competitive field strengthened by the return of USA and Germany, was far more rewarding for Aldred.

He said: “We’re a new pair, we’ve only been together for about eight weeks, so just to be racing was great but to win gold was amazing. Our first race together was at Eton Dorney and this was our first time at Lucerne.

“Dorney was great because of the home crowd but here, with the return of the big teams, it was more satisfying; it was a much bigger test.”

Aldred puts the pairs’ success down to a good friendship but emphasises they are still learning.

He added: “It was good to put our race strategy into the three races in Lucerne and we showed we could finish well, so we knew we’d be in the mix for a medal.”

One of Aldred’s coaches at London Rowing Club, Phil Bourguignon, praised Aldred’s performances, he said: “It was really important for the season to do well at this regatta, and after Dorney where there were only four boats, to compete against 14 this time, making it a much more honest field, was really impressive to take gold.” 

Aldred, though, continues to stay grounded ahead of next month’s World Championships in South Korea, claiming after their double gold World Cup show they are still not guaranteed a place in the squad.

He said: “We’ll have to wait and see about Korea, we’re still new so it’s up to the boss, although I think we’ve done everything we can to put ourselves in a good position for selection – it would be amazing, though.”

There was however, disappointment for Imogen Walsh, who took silver at Eton Dorney, in the Women’s Pair with Kathryn Twyman, as they finished outside of the medal positions by 0.09 of a second.

Walsh though, did take some positives from the weekend, she said: “We put in a really good middle part of the race today and we’ve improved with every race out here.”

The World Championships take place in Chungju, South Korea starting on August 25.