Drew Ginn (VIC) and Joshua Dunkley Smith (VIC) continued their 100 per cent record in the men’s sweep program this morning at the first round of Rowing Australia’s 2012 national selection trials.

It was another near perfect day for rowing at the Sydney International Regatta Centre as Ginn and Dunkley Smith combined with 2008 Beijing Olympic Games silver medallists Cameron McKenzie-McHarg (VIC) and James Marburg (VIC) to win the first rotation of the men’s coxless fours.

Ginn and Dunkley Smith won the 5km time trial and 2km race in the men’s pair on the opening day of trials, while McKenzie-McHarg and Marburg had finished second on both occasions, and the quartet showed good rhythm in the bigger boat.

 Stroked by 22-year-old Dunkley Smith, they crossed the line ahead of Nicholas Purnell (NSW), Tom Swann (VIC), Tom Larkins (VIC) and Joshua Booth (VIC), while James Chapman (NSW), Francis Hegerty (NSW), Sam Loch (NSW) and Will Lockwood (VIC) finished third.

The first rotation of the women’s double scull saw Sally Kehoe (QLD) and Kim Crow (VIC) claim victory over Pauline Frasca (VIC) and Dana Faletic (TAS), with Brooke Pratley (NSW) and Pippa Savage (QLD) in third place.

Crow and Kehoe, who both competed in Beijing three years ago, executed a good race and looked smooth in the calm water conditions.

Crow has partnered Tasmanian Kerry Hore, who is currently recovering from minor surgery, to back-to-back silver medals at the past two world championships in the women’s double scull, while Kehoe has rowed to two consecutive fourth place finishes in the women’s quad scull at the same regattas.

David Crawshay (VIC) partnered Chris Morgan (SA) in the men’s double scull rotations, with the pair winning ahead of Scott Brennan (TAS) and Jared Bidwell (QLD), with Nicholas Hudson (NSW) and James McRae (SA).

Crawshay, who struck gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games with Brennan, won both the 5km time trial and the 2km race in the men’s single scull on Thursday and is in excellent form ahead of the 2012 Games.

Hannah Every-Hall (QLD) prevailed in the lightweight women’s single scull, leading home Alice McNamara (VIC), who has partnered Every-Hall at the past two world championships in the lightweight women’s double scull.

Rowing Australia National High Performance Director Andrew Matheson says the performances of the triallists to date had been impressive.

“There is a lot of pressure on each of the athletes at selection trials but to date everyone has coped well and we have seen some good racing and some excellent results produced,” Matheson said.

“As a whole, we are extremely happy with the progress of the program, but we expect the athletes to continue stepping up.

“We are trying to view as many combinations as possible over the coming days and that will give us a good basis to move forward over the next three months ahead of the final trials in March.”

The final trials for the 2012 Australian team will be held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre from March 23 – April 1 next year.

Australia’s crews will then be selected to compete at world cup regattas in Lucerne, Switzerland (May 23-25) and Munich, Germany (15-17 June) before the final crews are nominated to the Australian Olympic Committee on June 22.

Rowing Australia