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The second international DRV Junior Regatta in Hamburg was an impressive and successful event, featuring 1400 boats and approximately 3000 starting places. Despite the challenges posed by the construction site (expansion of the training center) and restrictions due to the Hamburg Ironman, everything ran smoothly.
Sources: rudern.de / AAC NRB
Regatta Director Cornelius Grajecki and Philip Schmolling, the President of the Jury, expressed their satisfaction with the excellent conditions and, together with Andreas Döpper, Chairman of the Allgemeiner Alster-Club/Norddeutscher Ruderer-Bund, extended their full appreciation to the approximately 150 volunteers, without whom such a regatta would not have been possible.
Adrian Bretting, the U19 national coach, also expressed great satisfaction with the event: “The U19 ranking list, which we competed for on Friday and Saturday, was the focus. While there were some shifts compared to the results of the first performance review in Krefeld, there were no completely unexpected surprises. Mostly, the boats that had already shown promise during the season placed in the top positions. The conditions on these days were flawless. On Sunday, a tailwind was added, which slightly increased the challenges and led to some crabs. Nevertheless, everything was manageable.”
“I am glad that we were able to complete the races under good conditions and without major illness-related absences. This now serves as the basis for nominations after the German Age Group Championships. It’s positive that we can already narrow down the pool of athletes who will join the national team quite significantly. This largely creates clarity. My impression was that we are on the right track compared to Munich. I felt that everyone approached things a bit more seriously. But just because we take one or two steps forward doesn’t mean the gap to international competition has closed. The results of the U19 European Championships from Poland also show this. There were already some strong performances from the European nations. We definitely need to keep at it,” Bretting commented on the result.
Since the Junior European Championships took place in parallel with the international regatta in Hamburg, the German athletes had little international competition.
“After the ranking races on Friday and Saturday, the extended U19 national team will move into the mid-sized and large boats on Sunday of the regatta. Here, even without international competition, the German boats put considerable pressure on themselves and delivered exciting races. For the B-Juniors, the races in the seeded divisions here are a true dress rehearsal before heading to the DJM in Essen in a few weeks. There was a lot on offer here too,” Bretting said about the regatta Sunday.
Ranking Winners:
Junior Women’s Single: Julia Stöber (Kettwiger RG)
Junior Men’s Single: Ole Hohensee (Stralsunder RC)
Junior Women’s Pair: Merle Gläser and Jolina Westphal (Lübecker RK/Elmshorner RC)
Junior Men’s Pair: Sebastian and Daniel Hopf (both RV Münster)
All detailed results can be read here.
Boat Naming Ceremony on the Occasion of the DRV Junior Regatta
The DRV Junior Regatta was an excellent occasion to christen a new racing boat for young athletes in competitive sports. “We are very grateful that the acquisition of this new boat was generously supported by the HSB and the Stiftung Leistungssport,” said Andreas Döpper. “Today’s christening and thus the availability of top-tier sports equipment supports our extensive activities in rowing as a priority sport in Hamburg, within the framework of the Hamburg Active City Strategy.”
The boat was named after one of Germany’s most successful rowers and an honorary member of the AAC/NRB State Rowing Association Hamburg, Peter-Michael Kolbe, who passed away far too early last year at the age of 70. With five World Championship titles and three silver medals at the Olympic Games, he was an exceptional athlete. In 2016, after many previous accolades, he received a very special honor when he was inducted into the “Hall of Fame of German Sports.”
“The young rowers from our Hamburg performance center will compete for medals in this quad scull on national and international regatta courses in the future, and thus be at the heart of our beautiful sport of rowing for many years to come,” said the LRV Hamburg.
