British rowers outgun French in Cardiff Bay; Youngsters defy difficult conditions to record a big win over old rivals.

ROWING

GREAT Britain's Under-16s rowed a wave of success on a choppy Cardiff Bay as they sank France's juniors by a record nine races to four.

The event was the first time British international crews have ever raced in Wales, and despite the high winds and difficult conditions that saw two boats capsize, organisers still hope to attract more national and international events in future.

With conditions progressively worsening during the 29th Anglo-French junior match, racing on the 1,500m Barrage Wall-to-Mermaid Quay national course was at one point suspended after the GB girls' quadruple scull filled with water and overturned.

When racing started again over a shortened 750m, South Wales duo Freddie Madler and Jo Hancock were among the British winners in the pairs, seizing on a French collision with a 500m marker buoy that saw the bow girl's blade momentarily pop out of its gate, with GB powering away to win by five lengths.

The French appealed to Boat Race legend Boris Rankov - a six-time winner for Oxford - in the umpire's launch, but the buoy was at least two metres outside their racing lane and the result stood.

Crew coach and assistant team manager Kate Callaghan said: "Steering's all part of the game. Conditions were tough and watermanship was at a premium, but it's great for the girls to be part of a winning GB team again after two years of defeat to the French and in a best-ever score for us Brits."

GB's girls' 8 had started the ball rolling with a tight third-of-a-length win after the stake boat start had been dispensed with in the sweeping crosswind and a free start given.

But French boys' singler Alberic Cormerais then rowed down GB's Luke Moon - Britain's fastest under-18 sculler, let alone under-16 - to win by three-quarters of a length to square things up.

That was the last win for four races, though, for Les Bleus - 9-4 winners in France last year - as GB took a 5-1 lead in the match with a three-length win in girls' doubles, a four-length victory in boys' quads, a one-length win in boys' coxless fours and a one-and-a-quarter length win in girls' singles for Klara Weaver.

France pulled one back in the boys' doubles as GB suffered a shipwreck, and made it 5-3 when GB's waterlogged girls' quad failed to complete the course.

And with racing resuming after a 45-minute delay over the shortened course, the closest race of the day saw the French reduce the deficit to 4-5 with a three-foot victory in the boys' coxed fours.

But GB crushed any hopes of France successfully defending the title in the last four races, as the Brits won the girls' coxless fours by a quarter of a length, the boys' pairs by a length, the girls' pairs, and then the boys' eights by just a canvas.

Wales rowing team manager Mike Hnatiw, who helped organise the regatta alongside Cardiff Harbour Authority, said: "Rowing's an outdoor sport, and just as you have to play football or rugby on a muddy pitch, then sometimes you have to be ready for rough water.

"I thought the standard of rowing in the difficult conditions was very good and who knows, perhaps we've seen a future Olympic gold medallist today, like Cardiff's Tom James.

"If they had raced last week, the water was like glass, but at least we managed to complete the event and hopefully we can still attract future regattas here."

CAPTION(S):

Welsh GB Under-16 winners Freddie Madler, left, and Jo Hancock The Great Britain eight celebrate in front of Pierhead and Welsh Assembly building