#ARC24 DAY THREE PREVIEW: CRUNCH TIME ARRIVES FOR SMALL BOATS 

By Rupert Guinness at the Sydney International Regatta Centre

The Australian Rowing Championships (ARC) reach a critical juncture on Wednesday, with many small boat entries set to line up for their first major knock-out round, the semi-finals.

Highlighting day three at the ARC are the Open Men’s Single Sculls semi-finals.

Four of the 10 scullers to make semi-sinals after the heats and repechages are in the Australia Rowing Team recently named after selection trials at the Sydney International Regatta Centre.

They are Sydney University’s David Bartholot and Marcus Della Marta, who make up the Australian Double Scull that will race the final Olympic Qualifying Regatta at Lucerne in May with the boat still to qualify for Paris; and the reigning Australian Single Scull champion Caleb Antill of ANU-ACT and SUBC’s Campbell Watts, both named in the ‘Australia A’ sculling squad to compete in the World Cup I in Varese in Italy from April 12-14.

While the ARC is not a selection regatta, eyes will be watching closely to see how the four ART members fare against each other, and the others.

Only the first three in each semi-final will qualify for Friday’s final for the medals and title.

Other races on Wednesday include:

• Repechages for the Open Men’s Double Sculls and Open Women’s Double Sculls, based on results from Tuesday afternoon’s heats.
• Semi-finals for the small boats in the Under 17, 19, 21 and 23 age categories
• Heats for the underage Coxed Fours and Quad Sculls