Sunday's Holland Beker results 2021

Jun 27, 2021

Sunday’s Holland Beker results 2021

While the sun is working and the volunteers are shining we jumped on our bikes to watch some nice races. The KNRB lightweight men’s quadruples rowed themselves to the winners podium. That race was immediately followed by the heavyweight quadruples. In this race a U23-KNRB combi appeared at the start with the main competition coming from Skøll and a German national squad. The experience in those boats turned out to be a size too big for the young KNRB athletes. It remained a tight race for about 1500 metres between Skøll and Germany, until the moment Lennart van Lierop (Skøll) started his final sprint. Skøll went home with the title!

After the men’s quadruples we continued with the women’s eight. In this field a nice mix of seasoned rowers and young talents could be admired via the livestream. The Dutch Women’s Eight took the lead, but were chased on their heels by the U23 Eight. With a difference of 3 seconds the medal went to the eight stroked by Karien Robbers. The lightweight women did not have to compete with rowers of the Dutch equipe. However, the final became all the more exciting. The Skøll/Proteus/Aegir/Neureus combi already had the lead from the first 500 metres and managed to push this through the finish. They were awarded with a golden medal and four different club anthems that were started for the winners podium.

The lightweight men’s double sculls was quite a race. To start with, we had three boats from Triton. Neither of these boats managed to produce the speed that the German couple from Germania Frankfurt 1869 had, who started strong and kept the lead. The German race ended in agony however. With one of the boats from Triton chasing on their heels, one of the Germans catched a horrific crab, which provided Triton with the opportunity to overtake the German just in front of the finish line and thereby claiming the title.

Despite the well-known global pandemic, the Ladies’ Trophy, one the main events of the KHB received some striking names, with Marloes Oldenburg, Martine Veldhuis and Pia Greiten, to name just a few. The race follows a tournament-setting. This means the women start with heats, followed by repechages for everyone except the winners of the heats. Next are the semi-finals, which will result in the finals. Beforehand, Marloes Oldenburg and Pia Greiten were the big favorites, with both rowers from the respective national eights. The conditions developed throughout the day, with the wind blowing over the course from finish to start. Pia showed her outstanding talent. With long and strong strokes she managed to make the best out of it. With a lead of nearly 20 second Pia claimed the Ladies’ Trophy and thereby became the successor of Emma Twigg.

As befits the Holland Beker, the field received the most entries with 20 men competing. Most appealing name was that of Martino Gorreti, reigning World Champion in the lightweight men’s single. Other names to watch were Amos Keijser (Laga), Guido de Ruijter (Theta) and Ruben Claeys from Belgium, who all showed good speed throughout the heats and semi-finals. As with the women, the wind played a larger role than during Saturday, with the wind blowing against the rowers. This wind however, appeared to not affect Martino Goretti. Following a blistering start, he extended his lead throughout the race. The only one to keep some kind of connection was Amos, who claimed the silver medal. Third was Ruben Claeys, who managed to outsprint Niels Boonstra (Njord) in the last 500m.

During the M2x finals both Skøll crews had to accept a second and third position. Two French rowers became winners of the Open National Championship.

The remaining main events of the Koninklijke-Holland Beker are the Junior Men’s and Women’s single. For the boys some fierce competition drove to Amsterdam this weekend. This showed in the A-Finale, where half of the field was not Dutch. The best in the Boys’ competition was Aaron Andries from Belgium. He started strong, kept his speed high and crossed the line first. Second came August Wisholm from Denmark. The third spot was claimed by Robbe Mourits from Het Spaarne. His start wasn’t the best, but following a good race, he managed to claim the remaining spot on the podium.

For the girls we had less foreign competition, but what competition it was. With a very strong showing and outclassing the entire field, we received Astrid van Roy from Belgium as the first to cross the line. Second came Fien Wenneker from Willem III. Third spot was claimed by Annelot ten Berg from Viking.