Brief history of how it started

I started rowing at the beginning of school, George Watson’s College. For those that have visited Edinburgh before: most will have seen the union canal, that narrow stretch which looks like an unlikely place for people to row on. The width of which is so narrow that the circulation dictates who has right of way and if you don’t you must pull into the bank for oncoming crews. Your not even allowed to row eights on the stretch, many moons ago there was an incident involving a single sculler and an 8. After this incident it was deemed unsafe for 8s to be on the water.

When I first started rowing I absolutely hated it, attempting to co-ordinate my hands and legs at the right time proved to be a great challenge. However with a very forceful mother pushing me to keep going along once a week I eventually got “the bug” and loved it. By the end of my first year I had increased my training load to every weekday. I think this was a relief for my parents as my attempt at rugby would later be referred to as me dancing around the pitch.

My school rowing career went from strength to strength: collecting multiple Scottish Championship titles alongside medals at the National Championships and National schools regatta. In my second to final year I gained my first GB vest representing them at the Coupe de la Jeunesse (essentially the junior European Championships) earning a gold and silver. In my final year of school I was selected for the Junior World Championships (2010) where I gained a silver medal in the men’s coxless four.

With the success I had in the sport from a young age choosing a university which I could continue doing the sport was of high importance. I was offered a place at Durham University to studying Engineering and accepted it.

Whilst at Durham I continued rowing at a high level however I found it challenging juggling a full time undergraduate course with the rowing program. A typical day would consist of waking up at 6 am to train for 2 hours before heading to lectures, once the lectures were finished approximately 5 o’clock in the evening I would then head down to the sports centre for a second session followed by late evenings in the library. The weekends were also accounted for with either races further afield or training on the Tyne, Newcastle. A normal weekend would mean waking up at 6:30 am and arriving home at 3 pm. In my final year at Durham I represented GB at the under 23 World Rowing Championships and gained nearly twenty BUCs championship medals however with the impact university had on my training regime I knew that I was yet to achieve my potential in the sport. I then made the decision to move down to Leander Club, Henley-on-Thames to pursue my rowing ambitions and train full time.