News from the coaches of the 2005 Australian U23 crews Thursday 21 July 2005 Hi all, The first day of racing has been completed with some mixed results across the team. The men's lightweight four with James Crouch and Mack Wilcox had a great race today, finishing 2nd behind Italy. Coach Andrew MacKenzie was really happy with the guy's performance. They have qualified directly to the semi-final which is a terrific result given the highly competitive nature of the lightweight events. They will race on Saturday for positions in the A-final. The women's four had a solid hit out, and after leading the crews out to the 500m, they finished 2nd behind France. They will need to finish in the top 2 of the repechage tomorrow to qualify for Sunday's A final. With Saturday being a "rest" day for the girl's four, they will be heading off to Amsterdam on Friday afternoon for sightseeing and, of course, shopping. Tara is predicted to again come home with the biggest bag. The men's lightweight quad with Chris Ritchie will also race in the repechage tomorrow after finishing 4th in their heat. They will need to finish in the top two to move to the A final. Conditions today were much the same: windy (tail) and light rain on and off for most of the day. It seems odd that everywhere in Europe except for Holland seems to be in sunshine. More soon, Gordo