Golden hour for Great Britain at World Rowing Cup in Varese

The gold medal winning GB Men’s Eights crew, featuring Windsor-based Cox Will Denegri. Credit is Benedict Tufnell for British Rowing.

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Great Britain enjoyed a golden hour on Lake Varese on Sunday afternoon with three teams scooping gold and another taking bronze at one of the first World Rowing Cup events since last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.

Team GB enjoyed a hugely successful Olympic summer in the rowing events, securing golds in several of the events, but with many of their more experienced athletes retiring from the sport, some more unfamiliar names are stepping into the limelight.

Some of these athletes shone on the shores of Lake Varese this weekend, with Windsor’s Will Denegri coxing the men’s eight crew to a narrow victory over the fast-finishing Germans in Sunday’s final.

Denegri called the tune for Will Stewart, Matt Rowe, Miles Beeson, Fergus Woolnough, David Bewicke-Copley, Sam Nunn, Matt Aldridge and Archie Drummond to perform and hold their nerve to take gold from Germany in second place.

Miles explained: “We really had to keep our wits about us as the Germans completely stepped up their game and came absolutely flying at us, so we had to be careful. We know it's a game of building and progression. We're always looking to try and take a step on after each race to see what we can improve. I think today was a step on from the Europeans so let's see how much more we can do going forward.”

The men’s and women’s eights crews both took gold on Sunday while Lauren Henry (Leicester RC) (Hometown: Lutterworth, Leicestershire) was also victorious in the women’s singles sculls. There was also a bronze medal for the men’s quadruple sculls on Sunday, while on Saturday, GB’s PR3 Men’s pair also finished well to finish in third.

Team GB are in the process of shaping and moulding their crews for the next Olympic Games in LA in 2028 and the likes of Will Denegri and Maidenhead’s Jake Wincomb would love to be part of that Olympic team.

Jake (Oxford Brookes University BC) (Hometown: Maidenhead) took part in the men’s fours event in Italy this weekend, with the crew finishing fourth after a late surge. They finished roughly a second behind the second Netherlands crew in a final that was dominated by the Dutch.

The crew of Wincomb, Dan Graham (Leander Club) (Hometown: Newcastle); James Vogel (Leander Club) (Hometown: Pinner, London) and Joshua Bowesman-Jones (Leander Club) (Hometown: Derby), finished just outside of the medals in a time of 05:51.09.

Marlow’s Toby Lassen (Oxford Brookes University BC / Great Marlow Swans) (Hometown: Marlow, Bucks) also travelled with the GB squad. He competed alongside Felix Rawlinson (Oxford University BC / Thames Rowing Club) (Hometown: Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire) in the men’s pair (M2-). They struggled to make an impact in the main event, but led from start to finish in the C final, finishing as the 13th best crew overall.