I started rowing at Lancaster University in 2007, arriving horrendously unfit, but prepared to do something different with my free time and get in shape.
I fell in love with rowing almost instantly, from the comradery of being in a squad to that blissful sensation of gliding over the water in the midst of a smooth, technical long distance row.
Having always been a morning person, and not minding the cold, the early sessions on the Lune are some of the best memories I have of rowing. There are few rivers in the country quite like it and frankly I am astounded that more clubs trying to save some money don’t visit for training camps.
But after two and a half years of rowing in fours and eights, I realised there was something I was missing from the sport. This was when I jumped ship and joined John O’Gaunt, keen to get my sculling up to scratch.
From that point on, I found a new enjoyment in the sport, being able to push myself to my own content in the single and seeing all kinds of improvements in a short space of time.
Having a fantastic season racing in the double scull with Matt Wilkinson was one of the best times I had in Lancaster. With plenty of competition to try our hand against, we were never short of a challenge, but somehow always came up with the goods – we only lost two races all year!
I also found myself trying out coaching while at Lancaster, whether lending my eye to fellow students, the masters or helping with the juniors. This gave me a new perspective of the sport and expanded my knowledge drastically while I shared the comparatively little I knew.
Since leaving Lancaster and returning to my native Thornbury, a town somewhere in the no-mans-land between Bristol and Gloucester, I have dabbled at a number of clubs, starting with Bristol Ariel who I raced with at Head of the River and in the Thames Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.
I was then presented with the opportunity to row at the University of the West of England, a steadily improving club on the university rowing scene, as I began a masters in journalism, a field I had picked up the bug for, having served as the press officer for every club I had rowed for since Lancaster.
With UWE I once again got the chance to race all over the country, but my progress was hampered early on as I had to undergo surgery for a heart problem I thought had been fixed ten years beforehand. Despite that I was back to training twice a day within two months, and peaked for the season at BUCS regatta, where I was able to final in the lightweight VIII and lightweight 4x.
Funding my study were the Henley Stewards, as I worked for British Rowing as a Stewards Charitable Trust Coach – thanks to a wonderfully exaggerated reference from Mr Sullivan – working with clubs in the Bristol and Bath area, helping to develop their junior squads.
The main club I worked with was Avon County RC, a small community club with a vastly expanding junior programme and some very committed coaches. Here I saw junior rowing potential like I never had before, working with a group of girls who found it harder to lose than they did to win, taking title after title, both at local races and at every version of British championships going.
Since leaving British Rowing, I have worked for the past year as a reporter for the Gloucestershire Gazette series, somehow managing to work rowing into the mix after writing a couple of pieces on three-time Olympic gold medal winner Pete Reed, who is from my area.
Outside of coaching, I have stayed very active in the sport, dabbling in event photography and videography, having been commissioned to take photos at events like the British Indoor Championships, as well as filming both the Henley Boat Races and the Bristol Varsity Boat Races for the past couple of years.
In my nine years in the sport, I have tried to find other distractions to give me some breathing room from rowing, but each time I look, I never find anything that compares – strangely enough.
With all the friends, memories, exciting wins, and character building losses that have been and gone, I am truly thankful for every minute.
Comments are closed