Armada Cup

Thrills and spills at Armada Cup

28/10/2008

The BKW-Armada Cup in Bern, Switzerland, attracted what organiser Simon Stuerm described as the biggest and most probably the strongest field ever to assemble for the race last weekend, with 291 singles starting and 289 boats finishing. This, says Stuerm, is roughly 50 per cent more than last year.

The race for the 1500CHF ($US1300) first prize went to Estonia’s Allar Raja. Raja, who raced in the quad at the Beijing Olympics, caused an upset by beating out Olympic men’s single medallists Olaf Tufte of Norway and last year’s Armada Cup winner, New Zealand’s Mahe Drysdale. First woman home, Emma Twigg of New Zealand also upset the status quo by beating several time Armada Cup winner, Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus.

The race had its fair share of action and Stuerm admits, “The conditions were difficult this year. There was a lot of weed in the water.” Tufte led the race early on with Drysdale in second and Brodowski and Allar following. But then Tufte struggled with weed and later rowed into the reeds near to the shore.

“Olaf said he has troubles turning his head to one side and he didn’t see the reeds coming,” says Stuerm who noted that experience of the 9km Wohlensee course definitely helped. “The first three (finishers) have all raced in Bern several times before.” This was Tufte’s first time racing in this event and he comes to the race following his recent marriage and honeymoon.

Both Drysdale and Cohen ended up in the water and with the water temperature at 9 degrees Celsius Stuerm admits it must have been pretty chilly. Two scullers were not so lucky. They did not finish the race, having to be picked up by safety boats after falling in.

Coming in second behind Allar, German Olympian (M2x) Karsten Brodowski took home 1000CHF for finishing second and Drysdale stayed just enough ahead of recent Head of the Charles winner Nathan Cohen (NZL) to earn the 500CHF third prize. Tufte finished fifth.

Winning the women’s event, Twigg was the 29th finisher overall. Twigg beat Karsten by 46 seconds. Switzerland’s lightweight national team sculler Pamela Weisshaupt followed in third earning the 500CHF third prize with New Zealand Olympic finalist (W2-) Juliette Haigh finishing fourth. Femke Dekker of the Netherlands finished fifth. Dekker won silver at the Beijing Olympics in the women’s eight.

The Armada Cup is known for its mass start which means scullers race hard to get into the lead. Stroke rates at the start are often around 35 strokes per minutes in a sprint to be in front by the first corner, 900m into the race. “Being in front at the first corner is crucial,” says Stuerm. “After that the rowers go to 28-30 (stroke rate) normally.”

Weather conditions were not conducive to record-breaking times with a slight head wind and cloudy conditions.

The BKW-Armada Cup began in 1987 and was designed off the cross country skiing race, the Engadiner, which attracts 10,000 participants.

For a full list of results, click here.

ΚΑΙ ΑΠΟ ΤΗΝ ΕΠΙΣΗΜΗ ΣΕΛΙΔΑ

Skiff-Race

The 22th BKW-Armadacup ( 25th of October, 2008 ) A Single scull Long Distance Race over 9 Km with Mass Start in 2 categories (women only and mixed). The past BKW-Armadacup races were a huge success. Young and old, debutantes and winners of Olympic Gold medals were very enthusiastic, not only, because it is an original rowing event but also a real alternative to the 2000m races. We hope this will also apply to the present event. The next BKW-Armadacup on 25th of October, 2008 will be realised in the same way and on the same course as the years before. This year too there are a lot of world class rowers at the starting line. We hope to see many "hobby enthusiasts” at the present event. Apart from the athletic performance, this should also be an enjoyable event. After the race you can enjoy a glass of wine and some good food in a nice atmosphere. Your friends and family are also welcome to join you. Registration forms need to be returned by Monday, 13th of October, 2008, 18:00 at the latest.