ROWING: The Australian Senior A Rowing Team departs Australia this Saturday, 15 June to compete in two World Rowing Cup events in Europe.

A 14-person team will compete at the Samsung World Rowing Cup 2, which returns to the 2012 London Olympic Venue in Eton Dorney, Great Britain (21-23 June).

For the World Rowing Cup 3 in Lucerne, Switzerland (12-14 July) the team will be joined by double 2012 London Olympic medallist Kim Crow, who will depart Australia on Sunday, 23 June to first contest the 'Holland Beker' regatta in Amsterdam, Netherlands (29-30 June) – a fixture for the best single scullers from around the world.

In Lucerne, the Australian Senior A contingent will be joined by ten athletes of the Under 23 Team that departs Australia on Saturday, 6 July.

Between the World Cup events the Senior A team will be training at the Australian Institute of Sport’s European Training Centre in Varese, Italy.

The four-week tour will serve as a crucial phase in preparations for the 2013 World Rowing Championships in Chungju, South Korea (25 August – 1 September) with all crews set to gain valuable international racing experience.

Following the success of the Australian crews at the first World Cup of the new Olympiad in Sydney in March, Rowing Australia’s National High Performance Director Chris O’Brien says the main aim of this tour this early in the Olympic cycle is to build on past results and to expose the team to more high-level international competition.

“We are at the start of the new Olympic cycle and have a squad with a good blend of youth and experience.  We have quite a few athletes on the team who have come up from Under 23s and are competing in their first season on the Senior A team; this tour will provide them with the necessary international exposure and racing experience to keep building towards our ultimate goal of a strong, medal-performing team for the 2016 Rio Games.”

“Having had the first World Cup of the new Olympiad on home waters provided our younger athletes with the opportunity to get high-level international racing experience.  There is no doubt, that the competition at the upcoming two World Cups will be stronger again.  This tour will provide us with some quality racing against the World’s best and the team is eager to get up there and give it their best shot.”

At the first event in Eton, Australia will be represented with four crews, including the men’s and women’s quad scull, the men’s four, as well as the women’s pair.

These Senior A crews will also compete in Lucerne, plus Australia’s women’s single sculler Kim Crow (VIC).

Alexander Lloyd (NSW), Spencer Turrin (NSW), William Lockwood (VIC), and Joshua Dunkley Smith (VIC) are the newly formed four, which will line up against the international competition in Eton.

Nicholas Purnell (NSW), Thomas Swann (VIC), Kieran Kobelke (NSW) and Alexander Belonogoff (NSW) will race the men’s quad scull, while Jessica Hall (QLD), Madeleine Edmunds (QLD), Olympia Aldersey (SA) and Rebekah Hooper (VIC) will race the women’s quad scull.

Katrina Bateman (VIC) and Tess Gerrand (NSW) will contest the women’s pair.

Following the conclusion of the World Cup tour, the Senior A crews will return to Australia to prepare with the rest of the team for the World Championships at the end of August.

In Australia, a delayed coverage of the World Rowing Cup finals will be available via Fox Sports.

Rowing Australia