British Rowing Championships 2013

On Saturday 19th October and Sunday 20^th October it was the British Rowing Championships 2013. This is a compulsory event for all athletes wishing to trial for GB for the 2013/2014 season. The event consists of a 1900m time trial followed by being positioned into the relevant 2000m semi-final, and then concludes with a 2000m final race.

I raced only on the Saturday and as there were no single sculling events I teamed up with a fellow lightweight squad member in a double scull. There were 49 entries in this category all together; lightweights, U23s and open weight athletes all race against each other so that racing is much closer and more enjoyable. Unfortunately there is only a medal for the top three places so as a lightweight double we never really had a chance at gaining one of those medal positions, especially when nearly the entire current GB team entered. It was going to be a challenging day of racing!

Our aim for the day was to get as high up in the rankings as possible and with 49 entries we were required to race hard. The day started with the time trial for all crews so that we could be placed into the relevant semi-finals A/B, C/D, E/F or G/H. We ranked 17th so got placed into the C/D semi-final. We now aimed to come in the top 3 of our relevant semi-final so as to be placed into the C final. We had a great race and finished a very close 2nd, with the current U23 GB squad members (who gained a bronze medal at the U23 World Championships 2013) just beating us. We made it into the C final and were both as determined as each other to win this. We had another great race and pushed from 5th position at the start to come through and gain 2nd place in the C final. We had no chance of catching the winner of this race, a U23 open weight double, who smashed it from the start but it was a great race, I loved every minute and couldn’t have asked more from my partner in crime!

Overall, we finished 14th out of the 49 crews that entered, we were the 4th fastest lightweight crew and I can proudly say I was the fastest U23 lightweight athlete that entered as a lightweight :) My double partner didn’t fall into the U23 criteria so we were unable to enter that category but the leading U23 lightweight crew came 18th overall.

My next big event will be trials on 16th and 17th November where I will need to perform a 2km ergo and a 5km water test, so I am training hard for that. I am feeling pretty ready and determined so roll on 16^th November!