Shandong win men and women's 2000m race

The host team from Shandong won both the men's and women's 2000-meter race in the quadruple-oared shell. The men's team included Song Kai, Sun Zhaowen, Zhao Linquan and Zhang Liangliang. They raced in lane 3 and got off to a quick start. The Shandong foursome led after the first 500 meters.

But Zhejiang caught up and took the lead when the race reached the 1000 meter mark. Shandong never fell far behind and would set up a fantastic finish.

The Shandong team kept pace with Zhejiang, then made a final, dramatic sprint to win the race. Shandong's winning time of 6 minutes 36.58 seconds was 2.28 seconds ahead of Hebei. Zhejiang faded from its lead at the halfway point to a third place finish.

The women's quadruple-oared shell team added one more gold for Shandong. Li Xin, Xi Aihua, Li Yan and Yao Guangwen combined to win the women's 2000-meter race in 7 minutes 19.12 seconds. Shanghai and Jiangsu claimed the silver and bronze medals.

The men's 2000-meter pair-oared shell race saw a neck-and-neck competition between the teams, the lead being traded on several occasions. Zhejiang kept the lead for most of the race, but long-distance events require stamina and steadiness from the rowers.  Finally the Fujian pair of Sun Jian and Wang Xiangdang held their strength, keeping up the pace till the end of the race. And that earned them the champions' title. Zhejiang and Hubei finished second and third.

Beijing's rowers grabbed titles in the women's 2000-meter pair-oared shell. Twin sisters Li Tong and Li Meng led from the very beginning of the race. They made a final sprint to cross the finishing line first in 7 minutes, 57.29 seconds to take gold. The silver and bronze medals went to the Anhui and Zhejiang teams.

Zhang Yangyang and Tian Liang raced for the Liaoning team and won the women's double sculls title. Zhang Yangyang is an Beijing Olympic gold medalist. She teamed-up with Tian Liang to try to win at the National Games. Zhang and Tian turned out to be the strongest pair in the finals. They used good balance, coordination and powerful leg drive to push their way to the National Games gold. Jiangxi settled for second place and Sichuan ended up third.