Three time Olympic gold medallist Drew Ginn (VIC) and men’s pair partner Joshua Dunkley Smith (VIC) have bounced back to form in convincing style at the 2011 Australian Rowing Championships at West Lakes in Adelaide on Tuesday.

Ginn and Dunkley Smith finished fifth in their heat of the men’s pair on Monday and were forced to row a repechage to make it through to the A Final on Friday, and they beat a high quality field in the process.

In driving rain on the A.M Ramsay Regatta Course, Ginn and Dunkley Smith came through the field in the final half of the race to win in a time of 7:03.25, finishing just under a second clear of Fergus Pragnell (NSW) and Matt Ryan (NSW).

Both crews progressed to the A Final, while defending national champions and members of the 2008 Beijing Olympic men’s four silver medal winning crew, Cameron McKenzie-McHarg (VIC) and James Marburg (VIC), finished third to miss out on the A Final.

Ginn said he and Dunkley Smith had to improve after their row on Monday due to the standard of the field.

“To see the standard that the men’s sweep group has at the moment is great,” Ginn said.

“It’s not necessarily a better standard than the past, as it’s hard to judge that, but there are people who have been to the Olympic Games and have medalled. They bring that experience back to Australia.”

Ginn said the pair have been trying to take the races out fast and will look for more of the same in the final.

“We’re trying to start fast and in the final you want to get yourself out of trouble early on and that will be a focus. The course here you get exposed at the back half of the race, so if you’re not moving from 750 out from the start, then it’s hard to recover.”

In the second repechage Nicholas Purnell (NSW) and Sam Loch (NSW) won another superb race ahead of Duncan Free (QLD) and James Chapman (NSW).

The two crews exchanged the lead down the course before Purnell and Loch triumphed in a time of 7:01.78, with both crews qualifying for the A Final on Friday.

In the afternoon session, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games gold medallists David Crawshay (VIC) and Scott Brennan (TAS) won their heat of the men’s double scull in convincing style on Day 2 of the 2011 Australian Rowing Championships at West Lakes in Adelaide.

Crawshay and Brennan, who claimed a famous gold medal at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing Park in Beijing in the men’s double scull, have not rowed a double scull race together since the Olympic final but showed their combination still has a lot to offer.

The Olympic champions had too much power for the challenge of Daniel Noonan (NSW) and Karsten Forsterling (VIC) to win Heat 1 in a time of 6:09.41 and qualify for the final.

After the race Brennan said it was a good feeling to strike up their partnership again.

“We’ve been looking forward to doing this for a while and it was a little bit nerve wracking going into the race with the memories of our gold medal row,” Brennan said.

“Jumping back in a boat together you always think are you going to be up to it but it turned out really well and it was good fun out there.”

In the second heat, South Australian Olympians James McRae and Chris Morgan stamped their claim as a favoured crew for the title with a boat length victory over Nicholas Hudson (NSW) and Jared Bidwell (QLD).

In the women’s double scull heats, Sally Kehoe (QLD) and Kerry Hore (TAS) showed their class in a strong performance across the 2000m. Kehoe and Hore, who are both AIS scholarship holders in Canberra, led home Pippa Savage (QLD) and Sarah Cook (ACT), winning by just under a boat length in a time of 6:39.28.

Kim Crow and Brooke Pratley won the second heat, with both heat winners progressing directly to the A Final on Saturday.

Rowing Australia