Head of the Cork

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25/03/2011 10:49 CET

The inaugural Head of the Cork in Portugal has started off with a bang attracting big names in men’s single sculling. Olympic Champion Olaf Tufte of Norway and Canada’s top sculler Malcolm Howard as well as Lassi Karonen of Sweden all raced with Tufte stating before the start: “I’m in it to win it.”
Tufte was the winner over the 6,000m distance on the Maranhao Dam in Avis, Portugal. Beginning with a mass start, the Norwegian won by 10 seconds ahead of local hero, Pedro Fraga of Portugal. Fraga has made his mark as one of Portugal’s best rowers ever through his success in the lightweight men’s double with Nuno Mendes. The duo rowed at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and last year finished second at the European Rowing Championships.
Howard, who came to the single last year after competing in his country’s Olympic Champion men’s eight, finished third with Karonen finishing back in seventh behind Norwegian scullers, Kjetil Borch, Are Strandli, Svein Urban Ringstad and Kristoffer Brun.
In this inaugural year, nearly 50 scullers from about six nations competed with great weather. Organisers, the Avizacqua Rowing Centre, have stated that they hope for this to become an annual event and they are hoping to attract double the numbers in 2012.
Tufte, Howard and Karonen have been training together in Portugal for the two weeks leading up to the Head of the Cork at their regular winter training retreat, the Avizacqua Rowing Centre. The centre is now a regular winter training centre for a number of European countries including Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
The World Rowing team v
από την σελίδα της FISA