The crowds were tremendous, thousands and thousands crowding the bank, and cheering the rowers and scullers every time they appeared, and queueing for autographs near the boathouse. There was a buzz of excitement in the air, visitors thrilled to be able to see their heroes and heroines in action, so soon after the Sydney Olympics. On duty from the British Olympic team were legends Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent, racing as a coxless pair again, and joined by several other GB medallists and Olympians. Lining up against them in the international Supersprint were some formidable teams, including Olympic and Nation's Cup champions from the USA, Netherlands, Norway and Russia.

Racing began with the individual boat categories, rowing in heats and then finals, with the relay races bringing the competition to a nailbiting climax at the end of the day. Each event had two heats per boat type, with the two fastest crews of each heat going through to the boat category finals and points awarded to the crews in order of finishing. The relay section of each event led off with the men's single sculler rowing the first leg, the women's double scull starting as a flag was dropped to tell them when their team-mate had crossed the line. The final leg was taken by the men's coxless pair, and the pairs finishing order determined the points given.

The Sunday Telegraph/Norwich Union Schools Supersprint Challenge
During the individual category races in this event, the scullers from clubs such as Sir William Borlase School, Wycliffe and Radley Colleges and Gloucester Rowing Club were particularly impressive, a credit to the recent investment in UK junior sculling. The top sweep-rowing pair came from the Westminster/Kingston Grammar Schools team, with Oratory/Henley not far behind. Consistency was the key to the points awarded, with Radley/Headington and Wycliffe/Gloucester tied for first place going into the afternoon relays.
In these, however, the crews not only have to win their leg, but pass on as much of a lead as possible to the next rowers. After a tight first leg of the final, where Wycliffe/Gloucester caught up with quick-starting Radley/Headington, Wycliffe/Gloucester consolidated the lead commandingly. The anchor-men from Radley took up the challenge, and closed hard during the last few strokes of the race, but Wycliffe were too strong for them. School champions at the end of racing were Wycliffe/Gloucester, with Radley/Headington second, Westminster/Kingston Grammar School third, and Hampton/Lady Eleanor Holles fourth.

The Sunday Telegraph/Norwich Union Universities Supersprint Challenge
The student event was less evenly matched, and throughout the individual races the Cambridge and London teams looked impressive, sharing most of the points between them. These two also featured Sydney Olympians Matthew Wells (UL) and Kieran West (CUBC), the latter fresh from his triumph in the British men's gold-medal eight. London went into the relays with one point advantage, and Cambridge were three points clear of joint-third Imperial College and Oxford behind them.
In the relay heats, despite some desperate sculling from Oxford President Dan Snow (son of TV presenter Peter Snow), the strength-in-depth of the London and Durham teams pushed Oxford out of the running, and Exeter were also lost at the heat stage, failing to reach the final. This was a London celebration, Matthew Wells taking a solid lead on the first leg, which was extended during the women's doubles, giving the London men's pair little to worry about. Behind them, however, Cambridge's pair rowed heroically to make up the deficit they had at the hand-over, and after a photofinish were awarded second place over Imperial College and Durham. In the final University placings, the champions were the University of London, with Cambridge second, Imperial College third, and Durham fourth.

The Elite Supersprint Challenge
Eight teams entered the Elite clubs challenge, and only two failed to win individual category points in the first round of racing. Again the teams with skill in each crew were impressive, the big names being Molesey, Kingston and Tideway Scullers, from various stretches of the Thames in west London. After some slightly erratic steering from the Molesey pair in their final, the teams lined up for the relays with Kingston slightly ahead (8 points) over Molesey with 7 and Tideway Scullers with 5.
The relay heats were slightly deceptive, Tideway Scullers qualifying relatively easily in one from Upper Thames, while in the other Molesey and Kingston fought a pitched battle to the line. In the final, however, Kingston were fast right from the beginning, opening up a terrific lead during the first two legs. A disastrous mis-stroke on the start from the Kingston men's pair gave Tideway Scullers the chance they needed, and they slipped through Kingston to cross the line first, just ahead of Molesey. This gave these two clubs equal points, and so the trophy had to be decided on the relay placings. Champion Elite club was Tideway Scullers, with Molesey second, Kingston third and Upper Thames fourth.

The Nortel Networks International Supersprint Challenge
The premier event of the day caused a huge stir, crowds flocking to the lakeside to cheer the oarsmen and women. The field included a remarkable number of Olympians, including Danish scullers Bo Kaliszan and Sarah Lauritzen, Norwegian silver Fredrik Bekken, the American silver medallist men's pair of Ted Murphy and Sebastian Bea, and a total of five Olympic silver medals amongst the talented Danish team. Many of the other competitors in this event were junior or Nation's Cup (Under-23) champions or medallists at World Championship level. Lining up for the GBR 1 team were Matthew Pinsent and Steve Redgrave (men's pair), Gillian Lindsay and Miriam Batten (women's double) and James Cracknell (men's single). For GBR 2 Ben Hunt-Davis and Simon Dennis (men's pair), Frances Houghton and Helen Fenoullet (women's double) were joined by Andrew Lindsay (men's single). In all the two teams featured a total of six gold medallists and two silver from Sydney.
The individual events were very closely fought, every team taking at least one point into the relay, and with no easy races. Denmark's Bo Kaliszan won the single sculls, with Russia leading the doubles in, and Great Britain 1 taking the honours in the men's pairs after the fast American duo caught a minor crab near the finish line. This put Great Britain 1 top in the standings before the relay, with the Netherlands lying three points back in second place, just ahead of Russia and Denmark by virtue of their strong double and pair.
As the relay heats began, only a third placing or worse was going to deny the GBR 1 team their win, but in Supersprint racing, anything can happen. From the first heat, some excellent sculling from Bekken in Norway's single and the Dutch women's double saw these two teams easily through to the final, GBR 2 and the USA failing to qualify. A bad start in the second heat gave James Cracknell plenty to catch up, which he did with great panache, powering past the German junior world champion Jorg Schulze and almost catching Kaliszan on the line. This set Lindsay and Batten off on the lead they needed to stay ahead of the Russian double, and by the third leg of the heat Pinsent and Redgrave were in control.
After a powerful race from Norway at the start of the final, who rowed Cracknell down on the line, the British women had to scull strongly away, despite a tremendous fight-back from the Netherlands and Russian doubles. Pinsent and Redgrave took up the challenge on the final leg with a little room to spare, and increased the lead as they neared the line, rowing through to claim the applause of the crowds with a safe margin. This confirmed the position of Great Britain 1 as champions, with Russia second, the Netherlands third and Norway fourth.