UK £7.95 / US $10.00

MAY / JUN 2023

ISSUE 048

BLED
2023 EUROPEAN ROWING
CHAMPIONSHIPS

NUMBER
50

SOFIA
MEAKIN

KAPUT FOR THE
MASTER CLASS

DENMARK’S
DIVERSION

Sinkovic brothers’
half-century

Journey into
the unknown

Chris Dodd revisits East
Germany’s collapse

Joachim Sutton on his
Pacific adventure

360

ROW

360

The Art Of Rowing.
ISSUE 010

UK £5.99 // JAN FEB 2015

ISSUE 004

ZIKA VIRUS

CUTTING EDGE

Biting gold medal
chances in Rio?

Inside the Hudson Boat
Works factory

THE BOAT
RACES 2016

C.R.A.S.H.-B.

MAR 2016

Patriot
Games

FEB

AMERICAN
DREAMING

US lightweight
Andrew Campbell

Julien Bahain

SAN DIEGO
CREW CLASSIC

SEAN
BOWDEN

The season starts here
COACHING ON
THE KNIFE-EDGE

Roger Barrow on South
Africa’s prospects

360
ISSUE 008

ISSUE 022

ISSUE 013

JÜRGEN
GROBLER

MARTIN
CROSS

Master of the
Goldmine

BIRGIT
SKARSTEIN
Climbing through adversity

THE FONTANA
BOATHOUSE

The importance of foot
placement in the stroke

One of Frank Lloyd
Wright’s lasting legacies

FABIANA
BELTRAME

NARROW
MARGINS

All 14 Olympic
events reviewed

The unique
agony of almost

Looking ahead to the
Head of the Charles

APR

MAY 2018

UK £7.95 US $10.00

RIO
GRANDE

UK £7.95 US $10.00
12/10/2016 12:37

ROW

Why now?

Ilse Paulis

Josh Dunkley-Smith

Tom Terhaar

Pete Reed on Retirement

Holland’s Golden Girl

Guide to Pulling a 5:35.8 2k

Keeper of Dreams

Issue 022 - OFC II.indd 1

24/05/2018 16:19

ISSUE 017

MAY 2017
APR
UK £7.95 US $10.00

15/09/2016 22:54

NEW
CYCLE

ISSUE 036

ben lewis:
THAMES RISING

Catching up with
Hamish Bond

Winning Henley while
working the 9 to 5

PSYCHOLOGY
AND FOCUS

REBECCA CHIN:
GAME CHANGER

Want to row better?
Pay attention

From Paralympic discus to
the GB women’s eight

OCT

SEP 2017
AUG

Valery Kleshnev
takes another look

UK £7.95 US $10.00

MOE
SBIHI

boat
check

UK £7.95 US $10.00

Royal Canadian
Henley Regatta

Master of his
own mind

TAKING
STOCK

ISSUE 042

PUTIN’S WAR
Rowers impacted by
the war in Ukraine

ALL TOGETHER, NOW! WIN!
An attempt to unravel an
Olympian dilemma

first look

svetla otzetova

C2’s BikeErg

Architect of dreams

STANDING STRONG

DOPING PHYSIOLOGY

SYSTEMIC FAILURE

GIANNI POSTIGLIONE

Ukraine at the
Head Of The Charles

Stimulants, steroids
and scandal

What happened
to Germany?

A coaching
odyssey

ISSUE 045

2022 BOAT RACES
Honours even as race
returns to Tideway

DRAWING LEVEL

BROOKE MOONEY

VARESE, ITALY

PHYSIOLOGY

Jeannine Gmelin

Emily Spiegel and Amanda
Kraus on gender equality

Discusses breaking the
women’s 2k indoor record

2021 European Rowing
Championships coverage

The polarisation of
athletes’ body types

ISSUE 046

Order and
Chaos
Meet Martin
Mackovic

Caileigh
Filmer
Big Wheel’s big
ambition

Reviewed
2022 World
Rowing Cup I
and II

Chris Dodd
A triple
draught of
Henley

2022 WORLD ROWING CHAMPIONSHIPS

NOV / DEC 2022
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Anchored in
economic uncertainty

TWO MEN WENT TO RIO
Ireland’s colourful
rowing history

GOLDEN GOODBYE
Grace Prendergast
bows out

+

MAY / JUN 2022

VINCENT’S VISION
WORLD ROWING’S NEW
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

STAYING AFLOAT

UK £7.95 / US $10.00

RAČICE
BOAT RACE 2022
ANTICIPATION BUILDS
ON THE TIDEWAY

Donata Karaliene

ISSUE 043

2022

YOU ONLY
RETIRE TWICE
HAMISH
BOND

Behind
Blue Eyes

HAPPY
DAYS

JAN / FEB 2023

ROW

mike teti

America’s most wanted

JUL / AUG 2022

ISSUE 041

sarasota 2017

World champs review

360

MAR / APR 2022
UK £7.95 / US $10.00

ROW

360

Australia’s Josh Dunkley-Smith

MARK DAVIES
THE CHAIR OF BRITISH
ROWING OPENS UP

Issue 013 - OFC 9.indd 3

NOV 2017

135 years
strong

AUG

ISSUE 019

MOE

What is it like to
train at altitude?

08/10/2015 16:21

ROW

ISSUE 020

into
thin air

Henrik Rummel

Issue 008 - OFC - FIN.indd 1

ROW

360

Issue 014 - OFC - FINAL.indd 1

Legends of the Lagoa

UK £7.95 US $10.00

The Great Eights
previewed

SEP OCT 2015

prepare for
greatness

Paralympics report
from Rio

360

Rachel
Quarrell

AMERICA’S
FINEST

MAY / JUN 2021

The Head of the
Charles 2016

UK £7.95 / US $10.00

Donna
MCLuskie

A look at life
after rowing

360

crossing
the line

On the state
of the Union

RACHEL
QUARRELL

THE NEXT
FIFTY YEARS

Leading the Brazilian
charge for 2016

OCT

NOV 2016

DECADE of
DOMINANCE
The US Women’s Eight

THE SYMMETRY
OF SWEEP

SEP 2016

ISSUE 014

20 years at the top

360

ROW

360

ROW

World Indoor Rowing
Championships

From the horse’s mouth

Tom
George
Emerging

JOSY VERDONKSCHOT
IN CONVERSATION WITH
SARA HENDERSHOT

www.row-360.com

2022
YEAR IN
REVIEW
with Chris Perry + Camilla
Hadland-Horrocks

MY WORD

H

Team Sheet: Our writers

ome sweet home – well, for some
anyway. Wizz Air airline weren’t
so whizzy on the Sunday night
of the Varese World Cup. Their
flight cancellation caused half the
British contingent to stay an extra
night; don’t feel too sympathetic, the poolside
Insta videos looked lovely. Likewise, American
lightweight sculler and Row360 contributor Jasper
Liu had a similar predicament at Frankfurt Airport,
and our own Rachel Quarrell made an all-night bus
journey across the Alps to return home via Zurich.
Before un-stranding herself from Italy, Rachel
Quarrell caught up with the GB head coaches, Paul
Stannard and Andy Randell, to find out first-hand
how their 2023 campaigns are fairing and what
expectations they have for the rest of the season.
Also be sure to check out her deep dive into the
2023 European Rowing Championships. It has all
the angles – results, stories, and gossip – from Bled,
Slovenia.

02

Benedict Tufnell
A rower, photographer
and writer, Benedict
discovered rowing
as a schoolboy at
Pangbourne College.
He went on to
represent Great Britain
at the Junior World
Championships in ‘05
and ’06 before heading
to the University of
California, Berkeley to
study and row. Wins
included the Head of the
Charles, Henley Royal
Regatta and two IRA
national championships
with the Golden Bears
between 2007 and
2010. After a brief
stint coaching rowing,
Benedict joined Row360
in 2016.

ROW360 // ISSUE 048

With Olympic qualifiers on the horizon the
international scene is hotting up nicely. A swathe
of Swiss silverware at Zagreb, and Bled, show
early promise for Ian Wright’s second coming
as Switzerland’s head coach: but can the Swiss
maintain this momentum all the way to the Worlds?
We’ll find out. Meanwhile the Sinkovic brothers
delivered medal number 50 at Zagreb, Croatia, as
reported by Row360 Editor Tom Ransley who has a
rummage around the World Cup I results.
Swiss insights can also be found in Tom
Ransley’s interview with Sofia Meakin. Meakin has
made the jump from lightweight to openweight
this Olympiad and battled injury woes to keep her
Olympic dream alive.
A less orthodox approach to Olympic
qualification comes via Scandinavia. Can you row
the Pacific and qualify for the Olympics in a single
season? That’s the question faced by Denmark’s
Tokyo 2020 medallists Joachim Sutton and
Frederic Vystavel as they press pause on their pairs

Tom Ransley
At Rio 2016, Tom added
Olympic champion to
his European and two
world championship
titles before retiring from
international rowing in
2020. He won a bronze
medal at London 2012,
his first Olympics.
An honorary lifetime
member of York City
Rowing Club he helped
win the club's first Henley
Royal Regatta trophy.
He holds multiple course
records from Sydney to
Henley-on-Thames. A
former Cambridge Blue,
Tom read Management
at the Judge Business
School, following a
degree in History of Art.

Rachel Quarrell
Rachel started rowing for
a bet in the summer of
1987, and was promptly
hooked, learning to cox a
term later. She coxed at
club, elite and at several
international regattas,
winning with over
thirty clubs, and won a
bronze medal steering
a Commonwealth New
Zealand M4+ which
included Mahé Drysdale.
Writing credits include
The Rowing Service
(web), Regatta magazine,
The Independent
newspaper and she
became The Telegraph's
rowing correspondent in
2002. She tweets as
@RowingVoice.

Emily Spiegel
Emily works as a
consultant in IT and
Research & Development
out of Boston. She
studied Biology at
Bryn Mawr College
in Pennsylvania, and
conducts research on
a number of topics,
including physiology,
psychology, ecology, and
marine biology. Emily
has been rowing for
over seven years, having
begun rowing as a sculler
in high school before
moving into collegiate
sweep rowing, which she
enjoyed despite only
getting to have one oar.

Martin Cross
Born in London, Martin
was educated at Cardinal
Vaughan Memorial
School. He studied at
Queen Mary University
of London, rowing for
the college boat club.
He won an Olympic
gold medal in the coxed
four at the 1984 Los
Angeles games with
Sir Steve Redgrave.
His autobiography,
Olympic Obsession, was
published in 2001. Martin
writes about rowing
for The Guardian and
co-commentates for the
International Rowing
Federation on the world
rowing cup and world
rowing championships
events.

Editor
Benedict Tufnell
E: ben.tufnell@row-360.com
Editor
Tom Ransley
E: tom.ransley@row-360.com

project while Sutton races from California to
Hawaii onboard Ocean Warrior.
Elsewhere in this Issue 48 David Schary
uncovers the power of purpose, and Australian
cox Stuart Sim dusts off his 2021 Olympic
training diary while watching his alma mater race
the Windermere Cup.
(Our full in-print coverage of the Varese
regatta and Henley Royal Regatta will be in Issue
49 of Row360. If you can’t wait check out online
for our daily reports, at row360.com.)
The loss of Peter Spurrier tinged this year’s
Henley Regatta with sadness. The godfather
of rowing photography passed away aged 77,
after suffering a heart attack earlier in the year.
The Row360 team have written a heartfelt
commemoration.
Welcome to Issue 48, we hope you enjoy it.

Production Editor
Kitty Sparks
E: kitty.sparks@row-360.com
Publisher
Rod Sparks
E: rod.sparks@row-360.com
Writers
Tom Ransley
Rachel Quarrell
Stuart Sim
Chris Dodd
David Schary
Benedict Tufnell
Photographers
Ellen de Monchy
Benedict Tufnell
Zach Franzen
Katie Lane
Scott Eklund
Catherine Shakespeare Lane
Steve McArthur

Ben Tufnell and Tom Ransley
Co-Editors

Telephone
+ 44 (0) 7825 005365
Address
Row360
288 Upper Street
London
N1 2TZ
www.row360.com

Christopher Dodd
Christopher covered
rowing for The Guardian
and Independent, was
founding editor of
Regatta magazine and is
co-founder of the River
& Rowing Museum. His
many books include
Henley Royal Regatta
(1981 and 1989) and he
recently co-authored
with Hugh Matheson
More Power, a biography
of Jürgen Grobler.

Steve McArthur
A fifth generation New
Zealand horticulturalist,
Steve is New Zealand’s
most published and
travelled rowing
photojournalist. The son
of a rower, husband to
a rower, father of four
rowers and unknown
for being four-seat
of an eight for a few
seasons, where everyone
in front (including the
cox) competed at the
Olympics. Steve is now
focused on capturing the
run-up to Tokyo 2020 in
images and words.

Dr Valery Kleshnev
Valery has worked as
the biomechanist for
both the Australian and
British Olympic teams
and is considered the
world expert in the field
of rowing biomechanics.
Kleshnev won a silver
medal racing in the
heavyweight men’s
quad for Russia at the
1980 Olympics before
gaining a PhD in rowing
biomechanics.

For advertising enquiries
please contact
kitty.sparks@row-360.com
Row360 is published by
Rowing World Limited.
Copyright Rowing World
Limited. All rights reserved.
Reproduction or transmission by either electronic or
mechanical means, including
photocopying, recording or
any information storage and
retrieval systems is prohibited without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
Row360 aims to ensure
that the information
contained herein is accurate
and properly attributed.
Please let us know of any
errors or omissions at
editorial@row-360.com.

ROW360 // ISSUE 048

03

MY WORD

02

Editors’ Letter
Welcome to
Issue 48

COACHING

Denmark’s Diversion
Tokyo to Paris
via Hawaii

04

ROW360 // ISSUE 048

06

Bulletin
Bits and pieces from around
the world of rowing

26

Planning for Paris
Great Britain’s Paul Stannard
and Andrew Randell

OCEAN

START LINE

80

PSYCHOLOGY

GALLERY

08

Sinkovic Brothers 50th
Celebration
Photo by Benedict Tufnell

10

GALLERY
Cardinal Conquers
on the Cooper
Photo by Katie Lane

32

The Power of
Purpose and Sacrifice
Ingredients for success

PROFILE
Journey into
the Unknown
Meet Sofia Meakin

90

COVER FEATURE
2023 European Rowing Championships
Fire and brimstone on Eastern
Europe’s favourite lake

40

GALLERY

12

Golden Bears
Score Perfect Sweep
Photo by Zach Franzen

NEWS

14

World Rowing Eases Ban
Belarusians and Russians to
compete as neutrals

70

HISTORY
Kaput for the Master Class
Chris Dodd revisits East
Germany’s collapse

COXING

98

Forever Close
A stalwart, steward of swing
rewinds the clock

16

EVENT
2023 World Rowing Cup I
A Sinkovic half-century,
on home water

OBITUARY
Peter Spurrier
Renowned rowing
photographer

106

NEWS

110

Pink Palace Partnership
Colgan Foundation gets on
board with Leander

112

FINISH
Last Word
Daisy Bellamy

ROW360 // ISSUE 048

05

Bulletin
 Oakley’s

HSTN show-

cases progressive design
and heritage features in a
gender-neutral sunglass
with striking, modernised
circular lenses. These
lifestyle-friendly, sportspec sunglasses are Prizm
equipped, the brand’s
proprietary lens technology. They are incredibly light
to wear and perfect for
on-water training sessions.
The frame came to life after
Oakley’s team of designers
worked closely with friends
of the brand in search of
the next fresh take on lifestyle eyewear. The trigger
stem (the wiggly bit on the
side) adds an ‘80s flourish
to these sensational steampunk-esque shades.

BUCKET HATS

6

ROW360 // ISSUE 048

Rowing Blazers

Peak Performance

Fractel Jet

Sporting the Rowing Blazers

A classic bucket hat with excellent

Adventure and running headwear

signature house stripe motif, which

breathability provided by ventilation

specialists, Fractel, are Australian

was inspired by a vintage Jacques

holes. Made from a lightweight,

born and globally worn. Their

croquet wicket, this eye-catching

windbreaking fabric, the detachable

bucket hat has UPF +50 sun

croquette stripe cotton twill bucket

and adjustable drawstring helps

protection, recycled panels, and

hat is perfect for Henley Royal. It is

secure the hat when the wind picks

is highly breathable, quick drying

made in Portugal and costs £50.

up.

and moisture-wicking.

GOOD
MONTH
MOTHERS DOUBLE

NEWS

It’s a date
Hollywood news outlet, Deadline, reports that The
Boys in the Boat is set to hit US theatres on Monday
December 25th, 2023. The George Clooney directed
MGM film is the most highly anticipated rowing film
in years and features Callum Turner as Joe Rantz
and Peter Guinness as George Pocock. According
to Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro the studio was
ecstatic over the test scores and landed on the
Christmas release date to attract family viewers. The
film is based on Daniel James Brown’s non-fiction
bestseller about the 1936 University of Washington
rowing team who competed for gold at the Summer
Olympics in Berlin.

The 2023 World
Rowing Under 23
Championships
took place from
19 to 23 July in
Plovdiv, Bulgaria. It
is the third time the
venue has hosted
the championships
since 2015. Photo by
Benedict Tufnell.

New mothers Brooke
Francis and Lucy Spoors,
who have recently
returned to full-time
training, have competed
for New Zealand in the
women’s double scull at
the World Rowing Cup
III regatta in Lucerne,
Switzerland.

‘JUMBO’ EDWARDS
Gavin Jamieson releases
Water’s Gleaming Gold,
the story of the 1932
double Olympic gold
medallist who survived
ditching his RAF bomber
off the Cornish coast, and
later coached Oxford to
success after a string of
Boat Race defeats.

IOC DELAY
The International Olympic
Committee postpones
their announcement on
whether beach sprints
will be included at Los
Angeles 2028. The
announcement was
expected to come on
the 20th June but has
been delayed until midSeptember 2023.

Patagonia Wavefarer

Jams World

Designed to wear both on and

Another Rowing Blazers

off the water. Lightweight and

number, the “Painted” Corduroy

packable, the Wavefarer is made

Bucket Hat comes from their

from 100% recycled nylon and

collaboration with Jams World, a

is treated with a durable water

Hawaiian surf brand. Made from

repellent finish to add even more

soft corduroy, this kaleidoscopic

protection.

throwback is a nod to the ‘90s.

BAD
MONTH
ROW360 // ISSUE 048

7

GALLERY

Sinkovic Brothers 50th Celebration
Photo by Benedict Tufnell

The crowd roars as Martin and Valent Sinkovic, rowing’s beloved
brothers from Croatia, cruised to their 50th international
medal in May on home water in Zagreb. By chance, having
unexpectedly failed to medal in Racice at the 2022 World
Rowing Championships last September, the brothers got to
mark the special milestone in front of an adoring home crowd,
thanks to the venue for the opening round of the 2023 World
Rowing Cup being on their home water in Zagreb. ROW360

GALLERY

Cardinal Conquers on the Cooper
Photo by Katie Lane

The Stanford Cardinal women’s
crew team were crowned Division 1
US collegiate national champions in
May on the Cooper River in Camden
New Jersey. The team from Stanford,
California won gold in both the varsity
and junior varsity eights and finished
fourth in the varsity four to claim
the overall trophy. The Washington
Huskies from Seattle finished second
overall with two silver medals from
the eights events. Princeton finished
third overall with a bronze medal in
the varsity eight. ROW360

GALLERY

Golden Bears Score Perfect Sweep
Photo by Zach Franzen

The University of California’s Golden Bears, coached
by Scott Fransden, won the men’s collegiate national
championships in style in June with four golds from the
four heavyweight events on offer. In the blue riband men’s
varsity eight event Cal had to fight all the way to hold off
the chasing Washington Huskies, finishing in a quick 5:31.7
ahead of Washington who took silver with 5:32.9 while
Princeton rounded out the medals in 5:34.8. ROW360

NEWS

BELARUSIANS AND RUSSIANS TO
COMPETE AS NEUTRALS

W

orld Rowing have eased
their ban on Russian
and Belarussian athletes.
They will allow “a limited
number of eligible athletes, holding a Russian
or Belarusian passport,
to compete as individual neutral athletes in a
limited number of boat classes” at four events
this season, including the 2023 World Rowing
Championships.
Third party background checks and an
independent “enhanced anti-doping control
process” will be part of the eligibility criteria
by which returning athletes will be judged,
according to a World Rowing media release.
Background checks are intended to ensure
reinstated athletes are not associated with, or
publicly supporting, the war in Ukraine.
Those deemed eligible will follow the principle of absolute neutrality, meaning no flags,
colours, anthems, uniforms, emblems or recognition of any sort.
World Rowing said, “The principle of depriving certain athletes – who are not associated
with or supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
– constituted a major dilemma for World
Rowing”.
The decision follows the IOC issued recommendations published on 28 March 2023.
"Facing a highly complex situation, I believe
we have found a solution that allows rowing to
play its role in building bridges between people
and nations," said World Rowing President
Jean-Christophe Rolland.
“Following thorough consultations with
our various stakeholders, and with different
opinions on this sensitive matter being expressed and discussed in detail, our Executive
Committee reached a decision that aligns with
our shared principles of inclusion and placing
athletes at the centre of our decisions. It also
avoids punishing rowers for the actions of their
governments.”
The four 2023 World Rowing events include
the Under 19 Championships in Paris, France,
the Under 23 Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, the Coastal Championships and Beach
Sprint Finals in Barletta, Italy, and the 2023
World Rowing Championships in Belgrade,
Serbia.

14

ROW360 // ISSUE 045

WORDS TOM RANSLEY

World Rowing
Eases Ban

“The principle
of depriving
certain
athletes –
who are not
associated
with or
supporting
Russia’s
invasion of
Ukraine –
constituted
a major
dilemma
for World
Rowing.”

At Belgrade, Russians and Belarusians will
only be able to compete in the single sculls
or pairs, with Para and lightweight rowers in
singles only. At the Under 19s in Paris, they
will be permitted in every event except eights
and coxed fours. Only singles sculls and pairs
will be allowed at the Under 23s in Plovdiv.
Solos only will be permitted in Bareletta for
the Coastal Championships and senior Beach
Sprint Finals, with solos and doubles availa-

ble to the reinstated rowers at the Under 19s
Beach Sprint Finals.
World Rowing also reaffirmed its "severe
condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,
and of the support provided by Belarus," and
said they will continue their "strong support"
for Ukrainian rowing.
The Russian Rowing Federation were
approached for comment but they did not
respond. ROW360

ROW360 // ISSUE 045

15

2023 WORLD ROWING CUP I

WORDS
TOM RANSLEY
PHOTOGRAPHY
BENEDICT TUFNELL

ZAGREB

A SINKOVIC HALF-CENTURY, ON HOME WATER

EVENT

18

ROW360 // ISSUE 048

es, the
entries were
low – 115
crews from
27 countries
compared to
Belgrade’s
208 from
36, at last
year’s season
opener –
and, yes, World Rowing’s top brass are
probably scratching their heads as to
whether to scratch the World Cup Series
(or more likely adapt the structure in the
not-too-distant future). Regardless, the
Croatian crowds cared not a jot because
Zagreb hosted a joyous event! Even tennis
superstar, Marin Čilić, came to watch –
there was love all around Lake Jarun.
The Sinkovic brothers won their 50th
international medal and cemented their
legendary status within the sport. Winning
number 50 on home water (perhaps) provided a silver, or more aptly, a gold lining to
their fourth-place finish at Racice in 2022.
But beyond the brotherly medal factory
there were many cracking races, including six photo finishes, and history-making
performances from the likes of Spain, Chile,
Thailand, India and Iraq.
Switzerland swaggered home as the top
performing nation. They won a medal in
every event in which they entered, except
for the women’s quad. Their impressive
haul of five gold, two silver, and two bronze
medals easily topped the medal table, and
they bagged 57 points, making them the
overall World Cup leaders, with Spain in
second place (45 points) and Czechia (27)
in third.
Spanish strength was found via a mini
armada of small boat successes. Virginia
Diaz Rivas became Spain’s first ever women’s single sculls World Rowing Cup gold
medallist and her Tokyo 2020 teammate,
Aina Cid, topped the podium in a new
pair combination. Spain took silver behind
Chile’s historic gold in the women’s four (a
first World Cup win for Chilean women’s
rowing). And the Spanish men claimed a
bronze in the lightweight double and silver
medals in the openweight double and pair.
Despite an ongoing war at home,
Ukraine’s five crews produced three
podium performances – a gold in the

women’s quad, a silver in the men’s quad
and a bronze in the men’s four – tallying 25
World Rowing Cup points. The Ukrainian
gold in the women’s quad was the first
since 2012, a nod to their former dominance in this event.
Czechia also has pedigree in the quads.
Their men’s quad gold medal was another throwback, their first since 2006. “We
didn’t expect to win, and it feels amazing,”
an emotional Marek Diblik told World
Rowing after the race. “We were sick for
most of the winter... it wasn’t perfect, but it
happens. We managed to overcome it.”
The first 2023 World Cup medals were
awarded on the second day of the regatta,
to the non-Olympic lightweights. In the
men’s lightweight singles Slovenia won
their first and only medal of the regatta.
Heat times indicated it might be a close
battle between Switzerland and Slovenia,
and the explosive A-Final did not disappoint.
The experienced Hungarian, Peter
Galambos, was quickest off the start-pontoon but Switzerland’s Andri Struzini
tracked close behind. Struzini, the fastest
A-Final qualifier, stole a half length advantage over the chasing pack, before pushing
away, by almost clear water, at halfway. If
not for the incredible efforts of Slovenia’s
Rajko Hvrat, the cowbell-ringing section of
the crowd might have had their first Swiss
gold medal to celebrate.

“Beyond the
brotherly
medal factory
there were
many cracking
races, including
six photo
finishes.”
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Hvrat piled on the pressure and the stroke
rate – battling away above 40spm – and the
race for gold distanced the pack. As the red
buoys beckoned, Hvrat found yet more rate
and speed. Struzini’s last-gasp effort missed
the mark and gold went to Slovenia by less
than half a canvas. Sub-seven-minutes for
the top two scullers, and 0.41s over for Hungary’s bronze medallist.

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By contrast the margins between the
women’s lightweight scullers were big: as
their preliminary race suggested it might
be. Tosca Kettler, the only Dutch athlete
competing at this regatta, had the tall task
of overturning a seven second deficit from
the day before between her and Czechia’s
Kristyna Neuhortova. Kettler started well
and was first to 500m, but a smooth-scull-

Above The Sinkovic
brothers shine in Zagreb

“We will surely
remember this as
one of the most
beautiful races in
our lives.”

ing Neuhortova bided her time before
attacking through the middle thousand. The
two frontrunners enjoyed a big margin over
Croatia’s Dora Dragicevic who led Thailand
and Hong Kong.
Margins stretched in the second kilometre, and despite a higher stroke rate Kettler could not bridge the gap to Neuhortova.
Kettler settled for silver, three seconds off
gold. Local supporters were pleased to celebrate Dragicevic’s first World Cup medal.
Croatia’s Damir Martin had less fun after
failing to qualify for the A-Final, and he
dialled down his efforts early in the second
A|B semifinal. The triple Olympic medallist
delivered a crowd pleasing win the following
morning, in the B-Final.
Martin climbed from third place to first
place in the last 500m while Slovenia’s Isak
Ivam Zvegelj slipped to sixth after leading for much of the race. Moldova’s Ivan

Corsunov took second ahead of Hungary’s
Bendeguz Petervari-Molnar who was less
than 0.4s ahead of a blanket finish between
Bulgaria’s Emil Neykov and Finland’s Olli-Pekka Karppinen.
In the A-Final, Olli Zeidler continued his
unbeaten run on Lake Jarun. He hopes to
win a hat trick of World Rowing Cup gold
medals this season. So far, so good. Thirty
strokes after the start the German world
champion pulled alongside Denmark’s
quick-starting Sverri Nilsen, and then proceeded to build an open water lead which
he held through to the finish.
Spaniard Gonzalo Garcia Ferrero briefly
kept these battling-giants company but
paid dearly for his early effort, finishing in
last place 23.5s behind the winner and 11s
behind fifth place Bastian Secher. Secher,
racing as Denmark 1, will likely need to find
a new boat class (and teammates) for the
remainder of the season.
Nilsen and Zeidler had their own private
battle at the front but the fight for bronze
was a close one with Serbia’s newly acquired sculler, Nikolaj Pimenov, getting the
better of Bulgaria’s Kristian Vasilev.
“I’m very happy with the win today,”
Zeidler told World Rowing after Sunday’s
race. “I really didn’t know what to expect
when I came here because I’ve had ups and
downs... This year I want to collect more
racing experience, with the different conditions, on big lakes like Bled and Varese.”
One of the few Swiss athletes to leave
Zagreb without a medal was Pascale Walker. Walker was pitted against the dual national (Swiss and German) Aurelia-Maxima
Janzen in an internal selection battle for the
vacant women’s single sculls spot following
Jeanine Gmelin’s retirement.

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Walker twice missed qualification to the
A-Final before comfortably beating Hungary
and Thailand in the B-Final. Diana Dymchenko
might have provided tougher opposition but
withdrew prior to the race for medical reasons.
Walker will likely find a spot elsewhere in the
Swiss team; watch this space.
Janzen, on the other hand, continues to
light-up the rowing world, two Macons at
a time. Zagreb was her World Rowing Cup
debut and she qualified directly to the A-Final.
Alongside Czechia’s Lenka Luksova, Janzen
led early despite a fumbled catch at 400m in.
She pressed on at halfway but was unable to
shake a determined Luksova. Spain threatened a length behind, and there was overlap
between the trailing three scullers.
With 750m to go, half a length separated
first and second, and second and third. Janzen’s lead initially shrank as Luksova attacked
in the final quarter, but Janzen found another

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gear. Bulgaria and Spain closed-in, sensing a
podium opportunity from the aftermath of the
Czech-Swiss battle.
With 300m to go Janzen unleashed her
sprint finish, snubbing the Czech and Bulgarian threats. Her lead briefly stretched to almost
three-quarters of a length before succumbing
to a charging Virginia Díaz Rivas. The Spanish sculler’s timing was sublime: she snuck
through to finish first on the surge of her final
stroke. Luksova won bronze ahead of Bulgaria.

On the podium, with her coach in the crowd,
jumping for joy, an emotional Díaz Rivas became
Spain’s first women’s single sculler to receive a
World Rowing Cup gold medal.
“The race was tough. It was close until the end
so I had to push hard until the last stroke but I am
very happy because I felt great for the first race
of the season,” said Diaz Rivas after the race. “We
want to keep improving until the Worlds. Last
year was amazing for me in the final. I’m really
motivated to keep improving.”

It is a sentiment echoed by her Tokyo 2020
teammate Aina Cid, who along with Esther
Briz Zamorano, won Sunday’s first A-Final,
a three boat women’s pairs race. “This pair
is brand new. We just got together a month
ago. This was a test race.”
Sadly for the locals, Croatia’s Jurkovic
sisters were unable to get a foothold in the
race. Spain blasted out at 45spm with the
Czech combo clinging to their coattails. In
the closing stages steering issues hindered
Spain and a brutal fight for gold ensued.
Spain still held on with the Czechs less than
a second behind. Upon crossing the line
Zamorano fell back, utterly spent.
Spain are still learning and Cid believes
a better connection with the boat will yield
more speed. “We did fairly well [but] there is
a lot of room for improvement.” Looking to
the season ahead she wants, “To battle for
the medals and try to fight for gold. That’s
the aim.”
It was also a new pair that denied the
Spanish men, who won silver at Racice last
season, a gold in Zagreb. Switzerland’s
Roman Röösli and Andrin Gulich beat a field
that included half of the Tokyo 2020 M2A-Finalists. In Zagreb, they won the heat and
– despite mid-race steering issues and errant
swans – led the A-Final from start to finish.
They were one length of clear water ahead
of Denmark’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze
medallists who denied Croatia’s Loncaric
twins a podium finish. “We got that half
length lead after 250m and it was just about
maintaining that all the way to the finish,”
said Switzerland’s Andrin Gulich, who was

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EVENT

happy with the result. He revealed the
pair had only been decided a few weeks
before the World Cup. “Unfortunately,
both of us were ill for a week, so it was
only two of three [weeks]. Now we go to
Varese training camp... back to basics.”
It will be on camp, at the foot of the
Sacro Monte di Varese that Switzerland’s
head coach Ian Wright makes his selection for the European Championships.
Lisa Loetscher and Fabienne Schweizer
were two athletes that raised their hands
in Zagreb. “We had a really good race
on Friday and we wanted to double it,”
said Schweizer on their approach to the
women’s double A-Final.
Another Swiss duo, Sofia Meakin
and Salome Ulrich of Switzerland 2, set
the early pace but faded in the second
quarter, allowing Austria’s Katharina and
Magdalena Lobing to take a half-length
lead. Like all the Austrians, the two
sisters wore black ribbons on their all-inones throughout the regatta, in memory
of the late Christoph Seifriedsberger,
who passed away earlier this year.
During the mid-race Loetscher and
Schweizer pressured the Lobnigs, while
South Africa, in third, led Ukraine. It
was a tenacious, well-timed effort by
Switzerland 1 who raised their rate and
power to open half a length of clear water in the final few hundred. “We made a
good finish sprint,” said Loetscher. “We
just told ourselves to enjoy the race and
have fun. It was great. ... We gave it our
all, we gave everything to every race.”
Austria settled for a silver medal and
Cambridge Boat Race winner, Paige
Badenhorst, won bronze from the bowseat of South Africa’s new double.
Forty minutes after winning bronze,
Badenhorst and Katherine Williams
watched their teammates in the men’s
four take silver. Two crews, two medals:
it was a small but efficient team from
South Africa.
Despite a strong finish, South Africa’s
men were unable to prise gold from
Switzerland, whose crew contained
three of last year’s quad. “It went pretty
well,” said Switzerland’s Patrick Brunner.
His teammate Kai Schaetzle admitted
it was a “big change” to transition from
sculling to sweep.

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An internal selection battle between
the two Swiss lightweight women’s
doubles – which included a Rol cousin
in each boat – added extra fizz to an
already buzzing contest. They met for
the first time in Saturday’s repechage
which resulted in a Swiss one-two. The
long-established combination of Patricia
Merz and Frederique Rol (Switzerland
1) looked the smoother of the two, and
both boats took chunks out of the rest
of the field. “We didn’t manage to do
such a good heat so it was good for us
to have the rep,” said Frederique Rol.
Confounding expectations, or at least
those of the commentary team, Switzerland 2 led to the halfway mark in the

“World Rowing’s top
brass are probably
scratching their
heads as to whether
to scratch the World
Cup Series”
Above Damir Martin

A-Final. Another tenacious battle between the two Swiss doubles stretched
deep into the third quarter. Again, the
experience of Merz and Rol won out.
Sensing a spent force, Spain
attacked mercilessly for the bronze
medal, but Eline Rol and Olivia Nacht
of Switzerland 2, held on by a slender
0.03s. Austria’s Louisa Altenhuber and
Lara Tiefenthaler slipped between the
two Rol cousins to win a silver medal
and Spain’s heat winners were relegated to fourth place.
Last year’s Asian champs, LW4x
silver medallists Matinee Raruen and
Parisa Chaempudsa, secured a win for
Thailand in the lightweight women’s

double sculls B-Final against Hong
Kong – it was the first time Thailand
had scored points at a World Rowing
Cup.
Iraq also got on the points board
courtesy of Ezzulddin Haayali and
Mohammed Al-Khafaji who produced
an incredible performance to win their
B-Final 3s clear of the Estonian lightweight men's double sculls.
In the A-Final it was the Swiss
who led the way. “I think it is coming
together nicely,” said Swiss bowman
Jan Schaeuble who was particularly
pleased with the third 500m. “We are
happy to be back racing after a good
winter full of training.” Schaeuble and

his teammate Raphael Ahumada Ireland
withstood early pressure from Spain and
Czechia before rowing away from the
rest of the field to win gold. The Czechs
secured second place, while Austria’s
Ironman was unable to prise the bronze
medal away from the Spanish.
The biggest roar of the day went to
the Sinkovic brothers as they secured
medal number 50 on home water in the
highly anticipated men’s double A-Final.
Spain’s dogged double of Aleix Garcia
Pujolar and Rodrigo Cande Romero
maintained overlap with the hometown
heroes for almost a kilometre, but the
2022 world silver medallists were unable
to spoil a much-celebrated Croatian victory. Spain took silver and Serbia 1 beat
Estonia to bronze.
“It’s a phenomenal atmosphere, we
could hear the crowd the whole way
down. It was great. We are really happy
with our performance, the whole weekend was absolutely amazing, a dream
come true,” said Valent Sinkovic. “Like
my brother said, an amazing weekend,”
said Martin Sinkovic. “We want to maintain this form. We need to work a bit on
our technique, it is going much better
than last year but we can do more.”
Later, the brothers took to social
media to show their gratitude. “Thanks
to all the fans at Jarun, we will surely
remember this as one of the most beautiful races in our lives.” ROW360

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25

COACHING

WORDS RACHEL QUARRELL // PHOTOGRAPHY BENEDICT TUFNELL

PLANNING
FOR PARIS
GREAT BRITAIN’S HEAD COACHES PAUL
STANNARD AND ANDREW RANDELL

COACHING

ust over two years
ago, in late August
2021, Britain’s Olympic
rowing team was in a
very different place.
Explosions of rage
and frustration at the
Tokyo Games, both real
and extra-heightened
by pent-up pandemic
emotions, had spilled
out into the public arena to be picked over by
tabloid vultures.
An erratic semi-competitive year
dogged by travel restrictions and
continued lockdowns had been struggled through with a stopgap coaching
arrangement which bred confusion
over matters as minor as travel plans or
sharing the gym at Caversham or away
on training camp. And to cap it all GB
brought only one silver and one bronze
medal away from the Olympics. Though
six crews were fourth (and the Paralympic team bagged two golds), it was
little consolation for a team knowing its
funding would be cut for missing the 4-6
Olympic medal target.
Inevitably given the troubles and
ineffectiveness of the then system and
evident distrust between the national
team and the Lower Mall management,
resignations and changes followed. The
CEO and Performance Director left, and
rebuilding began. Louise Kingsley was
made Performance Director, a canny
move by British Rowing which has
steadied the ship and restored common
sense and efficient order to Caversham.
Paul Stannard, the quiet but confident
architect of the historic M4x silver medal
in Japan, was created head coach of
men’s sweep and sculling while Australian Andrew Randell was recruited in
February 2022 to lead the women’s side.
They face one challenge in common:
demonstrating that the fourth-places in
Tokyo can be turned into medals and

J

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that new recruits are rapidly filling the
gaps left by a fair number of post-Japan
retirements. Some of that answer was
given last summer when a relatively
small team claimed two golds for each
squad and a useful sprinkling of minor
medals. But the foreshortened Olympiad
leaves them with very little time to boost
up their less successful crews, try and
qualify a full slate of 14 crews for Paris,
and simultaneously bring on the eager
newcomers now haunting the Caversham hallways.
“We’re busy, very busy,” said Stannard,
sparing a few minutes to look into his
crystal ball after April trials. “Lots of hard
work, the athletes are training very hard”.
Of course, he has been a stalwart of the
GB system for many years now and so
there are no signs of a wholesale change
in training methods, just using tried-andtested routines allied with high expectations to bring out the best in his athletes.
This shows in his attitude to the
thorny problem of a lightweight men’s
double, being built from scratch for its
last-hurrah Olympics before the inevi-

Above Paul Stannard
(left) and Andrew
Randell (right) talk to
their crews at World Cup
II in Varese.

“Randell has
introduced a
new training
programme,
starting last
year midseason but
now after a
full winter it is
bearing fruit.”

table loss of funding. His ally in this is
Edinburgh University head coach Colin
Williamson, being brought even closer
into the GB fold as his student squad is
supplying the material to try and create
a new LM2x. “Massive credit to Colin up
in Scotland, it’s fantastic, he’s worked
so hard on this project,” says Stannard.
“Edinburgh Uni paid for him to come
out on our camp in Aviz, and Scottish
Rowing helped pay for the two athletes
to come out to the camp, so we had the
three of them with us.” However, Stan-

nard is unsentimental about the options
if the crew doesn’t go quickly enough to
be able to perform on the international
circuit. “If it’s not the standard then we
won’t send [the crew to the Europeans],
it’s our shout. Having finished fifteenth
in Bled there is no lightweight double in
Varese, and it remains to be seen if they
will get another go.
On the women’s side Randell has a
world-beating lightweight double and a
promising support single in Olivia Bates,
so his bigger concerns are trying to

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COACHING

spread resources around to qualify each category. That includes a
women’s eight for the first time since
Tokyo. “Absolutely. Unequivocally,”
he says when queried. The European draft went well though not close
enough to Romania to convince that
they will finish fifth or higher at this
year’s Worlds, so for Varese’s straight
eights final they are being kept busy
doubling up into fours and pairs too.
The sculling side has been beset by
more injury and illness but with new
talent Lauren Henry coming in after
her senior trials win, and obvious
strength in more experienced athletes, he is optimistic.
“We know we’re in good shape
from the erg scores we’ve produced,” he says, hinting that 60% of
his athletes got PBs on lactate step
tests in the Spring.
Randell has introduced a new
training programme, starting last
year mid-season but now after a
full winter it is bearing fruit. The
part most often commented on by
athletes is his predilection for racing
pieces to break up the inevitable
steady state. The Australian twang
deepens as he explains.
“That’s more to keep them a bit
focused. You can paddle up and
down, that’s what the Dutch do and
it’s what the British have traditionally done. But for me if you want
the group to thrive, try not to give
them too much too boring, try and
spice it up a bit. You can do that
a couple of ways; you can change
the environment. I like the fact they
actually have to think. Timed piece,
2 minutes at this and 4 minutes at
that, then they’re occupied. You’ve
got to be mentally alert. That for me
is important.”
He also altered the training camp
routine, spending their winter camp
in crew boats which meant the W1x
trials saw athletes dropping into
their singles rather late. “That was a
deliberate ploy because we’re not
really looking for a single sculler,
we’re picking a quad and a double,”
he says. Realistically singles this year
may be racing spares and/or devel-

“If it’s not the
standard then
we won’t send
the crew to the
Europeans, it’s
our shout.”

Left Paul
Stannard poses
for the camera in
Varese, Italy.

oping athletes on both sides of the
team, though if an unusually strong
sculling talent emerges who isn’t
needed in the crew boats, then don’t
rule out a late bid for a Paris spot.
For the rest, Randell is not making
big changes. “It would be silly not to
build on the medal boats we had last
year. We’ve got a gold medal boat,
we’re going to try and build a gold
medal boat and make it stronger.
You don’t have to be Einstein to
figure that out. And with people like
Helen Glover coming in you’ve got
a good chance of making it stronger.” He appreciates the GB club
system where skills develop until an
oarswoman is ready to try and beat
team oarswomen. “That’s good for
all of us, keeps the squad people on
their toes.” And he’d like to restore
the connection started under former
Performance Director David Tanner
and fostered by Kingsley when she
was running development, between
the Under-23 team and students
from the UK currently rowing at US
universities.
Meanwhile Stannard is also tweaking rather than making wholesale
changes, as can be seen from his
first regatta entries. “We will put our
resources in the best place possible
to boost the chance of having crews
able to achieve. That’s the intention,
to build on last year,” he says. ROW360

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31

PSYCHOLOGY

WORDS DAVID SCHARY

THE POWER OF
PURPOSE AND
SACRIFICE
INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESS

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Rowing is not for the faint-hearted.
The level of dedication, hard work
and sacrifice required to excel is
immense. Rowers must commit
to long hours of training, both on
and off the water, and must be
willing to put in the effort required
to achieve success. In this article,
we will discuss how having a clear
sense of purpose and being willing
to make sacrifices are essential
ingredients for success in rowing.

Purpose: The Key to Success
The role of purpose in rowing cannot be
overstated. Without a clear sense of purpose, rowers will likely lose their focus and
motivation, and may struggle to maintain
commitment over the long term. Purpose
augments the drive and determination
necessary to keep going through tough
winter workouts and to overcome pain
and adversity.
Your purpose is personal. It cannot
come from your coach, parent, teacher,
teammate or friend. Nobody
else besides yourself can give you a
purpose that will
pull you through
difficult times.
This is important because
from erg tests
to early morning
practices, a degree of difficulty
is inherent in the
life of a rower.
For many, their
sense of purpose comes
from a desire to achieve a
specific goal or set of goals. This might
include winning a particular race or
championship, setting a new personal best
time, or simply improving their technique
or fitness level. Whatever your goal, it is
the sense of purpose that will drive you
to keep pushing yourself regardless of the
conditions or circumstances.
In addition to providing the drive and
motivation, purpose also helps rowers stay
focused on the task at hand. With a clear

“Your purpose
is personal. It
cannot come
from your
coach, parent,
teacher,
teammate
or friend.”
sense of what you are trying to achieve,
you are less likely to get distracted or
lose focus. This allows you to maintain
concentration over long periods of time
like a two-hour practice or conditioning
session. This is especially important in a
race, where even a momentary lapse in
concentration can result in a loss of speed
or momentum.
If you do not know your purpose, or
are struggling to identify it, here are some
questions that should help jump start your
thinking:
• What made you start rowing? What attracted you to it? Why do you love it?
• How does rowing challenge you? What
are the goals that you set for yourself?
What are the skills that you want to
improve?
• How can you make an impact? How do
you want to contribute to your team,
community or rowing in general?
• What legacy do you want to leave behind when you finish? How do you want
to be remembered by others?
Once you have your purpose, write it
down and revisit it often. Put it in a place
where you will see it every day like your
bag or locker. Your purpose serves as a
vital reminder of why you endure the more
grueling aspects of the sport.

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PSYCHOLOGY

Sacrifice: The Price of Success
Along with purpose, sacrifice is also an
essential ingredient in the performance
of a rower. But what does it mean to
sacrifice? The definition of sacrifice is to
give up something valuable or important for the sake of something else that
is more valuable or important. In other
words, you only have so much time and
energy, so you need to invest them in
ways that will make you better.
And rowing demands a great deal of
time, energy and dedication. You must
be willing to make sacrifices to achieve
your goals. You need to sacrifice the
things that are holding you back from
reaching your full potential. This might
mean sacrificing time with friends
and family, scaling back time on other
hobbies or interests, or even (at the elite
level) putting a career on hold to focus
on training.
Whether you admit it or not, you
are already sacrificing. Since you do
not have unlimited amount of time and
energy, every decision you make is a
sacrifice. Doing this one thing means
sacrificing all other things. If you want to
get better, you need to make sure you
are making the right sacrifices.
As a rower there are several areas
that may require sacrifices if you want
to reach your potential. One of the
most significant is diet. Rowers should
maintain a diet that ensures they have
the energy and nutrients necessary to
perform at their best. This may mean
adjusting what you eat to ensure you
are getting the right balance of nutrients
for your body. There is no best diet, it
will vary by person and circumstance
but the important thing to remember
is what you eat matters to your performance and recovery.
Another sacrifice rowers may have to
make concerns their social life. Again,
depending on your situation, it may be
necessary to sacrifice some of the social
activities enjoyed by others, like late
nights out with friends. This can be difficult, especially for those who feel like
they are missing out on important social
experiences. A boat club, however, does

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“Consider
what tasks are
necessary to
achieve your
goals and
what tasks
take up time
and energy
without
contributing
to your
long-term
success.”

provide its own social life built on a mutual sense of purpose and sacrifice.
Perhaps the most significant sacrifice
is time. Rowing requires a tremendous
amount of time and dedication, and
you must be willing to put in the hours.
This may mean waking up early in the
morning to train before work or school
or spending time each week in the gym
to improve fitness.
Despite these examples, sacrifices,
like purpose, are personal. Here are two
strategies you can use to find areas of
your life that you might need to sacrifice:

• Prioritization. Evaluate your daily
routine and prioritize the tasks based
on your goals. Consider what tasks are
necessary to achieve your goals and
what tasks take up time and energy
without contributing to your longterm success. By identifying and eliminating non-essential tasks, you can
free up time and resources to focus on
your purpose.
• Reflection. You can also reflect on
your values and personal beliefs to
identify areas where you can make

sacrifices that align with your purpose. By identifying your values, you
can gain a deeper understanding of
yourself and your purpose and identify
areas where you may need to make
sacrifices to stay true to your values
and beliefs.
Remember, sacrifice is not a punishment. It is a privilege. It is an opportunity to grow and improve. It is a sign of
commitment and dedication, proof of
the love and passion you have for this
sport.

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PSYCHOLOGY

“Remember,
sacrifice is not a
punishment. It is
a privilege. It is
an opportunity
to grow and
improve.”

Putting It Together
Sacrifice and purpose are intimately connected because purpose often requires
sacrifices to be made. When you have a
clear sense of what you want to achieve
in life, you must make choices about how
you spend your time, energy and resources. These choices may involve giving up
things that you enjoy or that are comfortable in the short-term, but that do not
contribute to your long-term goals. Sacrifices may also involve taking risks, facing
your fears, and pushing beyond your limits
to achieve your purpose. Without a sense
of purpose, sacrifices can feel pointless or
even painful, but with a clear understand-

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ing of what you are working towards,
they can become a meaningful part of the
journey.
In conclusion, rowing is a sport that requires immense dedication, hard work and
sacrifice. The key to success in this sport is
having a clear sense of purpose and being
willing to make the necessary sacrifices to
achieve your goals. Purpose provides the
drive and motivation to keep going, while
sacrifice ensures that you invest your time
and energy in ways that make you better.
Rowing’s unparalleled reward is a sense
of accomplishment, personal growth and
camaraderie that is rarely, if ever, found
elsewhere in any other sport. ROW360

An Associate Professor
of Exercise Science at
Winthrop University in
South Carolina, David
Schary teaches and conducts research on sport
psychology and health
promotion. He also
serves as the Director of
Mental Health and Performance for Winthrop
Athletics and is currently
completing a degree in
Clinical Mental Health
Counseling. His rowing
roots run deep, after
rowing at UC Davis, he
spent a number of years
coaching across college,
high school and master
level.

EVENT

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WORDS
RACHEL QUARRELL

PHOTOGRAPHY
BENEDICT TUFNELL

2023
European Rowing
Championships
FIRE AND BRIMSTONE ON EASTERN EUROPE’S FAVOURITE LAKE

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EVENT

ake Bled: rowing heaven. A pool of
limpid blue water snuggled between
the Balkan hills, and one of the
most beautiful venues in the sport.
Oval-shaped, it carries in its navel
a small island — the only one in
Slovenia — featuring a picturesque
and tiny white pilgrimage church
past which crews dash from the
town-centre start towards a wilder
forest finish line.
It first hosted the European
Championships back in 1956, when
what was then Yugoslavia was
tucked well behind the Iron Curtain
and the rowing world champs didn't
yet exist. At that point Bled was a
favoured spot for wealthier East
Germans to sun themselves and
make merry, just as a wider group of
tourists now flock to its calm shoreline. After that it hosted the world
championships four times between
1966 and 2011, matched only by Lucerne, only to have a planned 2020
Worlds cancelled by the antics of
the wretched coronavirus. Bliss to be
back, albeit three years late, to the
chocolate-box perfection of Bled.
This was an historic occasion: the
first time that Bled had hosted a
World Rowing Paralympic competition over the full 2km course. When
the Worlds last came to Slovenia in
2011 the para-events were 1000m,
though 2000m was being flirted
with as an idea. Sadly the impossibility of having temporary floating
pontoons in a natural lake meant
that instead of a start at 1000m
gone on the full course, using the

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Left GBR M4x,
Right SLO M2at Lake Bled

normal finish line, the adaptive
crews in 2011 had to race from the
town fixed start to an ignominious
mid-water line, their families far away
on the winding shore. Summer 2023
was therefore notable for being the
first time that para-rowers could be
properly cheered home to victory in
Bled along with all the other crews.
Coming only nine months after
the previous mega-Europeans in
August 2022 and limited only to the
continent, this was never going to
be a huge regatta. It's easy to forget
how many rowers come from outside Europe nowadays: the biggest
entry was in the men's singles, with
23 scullers. But this led to a series of
typically intense European contests:
many running only two opening
heats from which the first finalists
qualified, and six straight finals. It
was good practice for the Olympics
and Paralympics where those who
perform immediately get better
lanes and draws for the rest of the
week.
The events needing semi-finals
were cut-throat, and the finals cauldrons of fiery competition. No easy
victories here. The Dutch and British
did carry off 21 of the 63 medals on
offer, but Romania as usual had an
impressive Midas touch, converting
five of their nine medal chances to
gold with only one minor medal and
the Irish, who underperformed in
several events, will be back.

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W1x
WO ME N ’S S IN GL E

After last year it felt like no particular
surprise either for Karolien Florijn
to win another gold (this time with
a different Dutchman claiming a
matching victory to celebrate with
her on the raft), or for her to do it
by the Bled equivalent of a country
mile. Whilst there were plenty of
quality entrants in the racing, Florijn
simply outclassed them, brushing
aside even Swiss prodigy Aurelia-Maxima Janzen, who had cheekily
gone faster than the Dutchwoman
when both won their respective
opening heats and semi-finals. The
wildcard in the entry was Lithuania's Ieva Adomaviciute, who had
returned to racing last summer after
serving a suspension for doping (a
banned compound she said she had
inadvertently consumed). A former
small-boat specialist, she returned
after her three-years break into the
quad last summer, but after they
won the B-final it seems this year

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NED
SUI
SRB
BUL, LTU, ESP;
DEN, CZE,
SLO, GRE, LAT,
HUN; POL

she is giving the single a go, sticking
like glue to leaders Florijn and Janzen and showing every sign of being
back on form.
With no Alexandra Foester in evidence (and no German W1x entry),
it was the Janzen-Florijn show, the
Swiss youngster initially zooming off
in fine form, but the calm Dutchwoman utterly unconcerned and
continuing her long relaxed sculling
to pull back fairly quickly alongside and edging into the lead a few
strokes before the first timing marker. Serbia's Jovana Arsic was next in
line but already dropping clear water
back from the leaders, and during
the next 500m it was Florijn who
made the most running, steadily piling on the pressure and edging out
inches each time she took a long,
sweeping stroke.
By the time they were passing
1000m gone the positions were all
but set barring some disputatious
needling between Arsic and Bulgaria's Desislava Angelova, and the
margins barely changed between
there and the finish line. Everyone
was sculling really carefully, wobbling about at times in the erratic
wind, Janzen's eccentric macon use
looking like quite a decent choice
in the unpredictable breeze which
was hitting the larger hatchet and
fatblade spoons and throwing the
scullers off-balance.
But Florijn wasn't bothered, serenely continuing alone to the finish
line, Janzen a full five seconds behind and Arsic claiming third place
with a tidy sprint, one stroke ahead
of Angelova while Adomaviciute
beat Spain's Virginia Diaz Rivas for
fifth. This is one event we expect to
swell in competition as the non-European countries join in, but Florijn
is already building an iron-hard
reputation which will help her defeat
anyone lacking utter conviction of
their own ability. It's a bit too early
to compare Florijn to the greats of
women's sculling, but that may be
something we are doing come Paris
next year if she can put together
another season as good as 2022.

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EVENT

M1x
M E N’S S IN GLE

Germany's Olli Zeidler has to face
the fact that a pattern is emerging.
Nine months after flunking the Europeans test on his home water, the
2021 continental champion travelled
to Bled to see if he could pull off
a second gold in a less pressured
environment. But again he fell short,
finishing third despite having spent
much of the winter practising his
technique on bumpy water.
The road to the final had
been a good one for most of the top
scullers, only Kristian Vasilev from
the 2022 field having had to work
his way through the repechage after
being unlucky to draw Olympic hero
Stefanos Ntouskos in the first round,
with one sculler per race through.
Accompanying him through the second-chance races was Lennart Van
Lierop, the Dutch sculler who spent
last year in the NED double but has
been switched directly with 2022
European champion Melvin Twellaar.
It will be interesting to see whether
that is changed back, but meanwhile
Van Lierop had a fantastic regatta, runner-up to old-timer Sverri
Nielsen in the heat, posting the second-quickest repechage victory time
on day two, and sneaking into the
final behind Zeidler and Ntouskos on
day three. Meanwhile the top names
qualified without trouble and Vasilev
won a near-photofinish with Italy's

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Davide Mumolo in the semi to claim
an outside lane in the medal race.
Elsewhere the Irish were disappointed to have Brian Colsh finish 14th,
and there was a shock early exit for
Norway's off-form Kjetil Borch, shut
out by Nikolaj Pimenov (the younger
and Serbian version) in a blistering
repechage.
By the time the Olympic
singles took to the water for their
final, the hot sun was being eased
by a wind which had already caused
much trouble in the later stages
of both Saturday and Sunday. The
breezes do something weird in Bled,
the lump of the church island making the wind swirl and swerve just in
mid-course when the crews are least
visible from the bank. It was fractionally better on Sunday but not much,
and Zeidler's rough-water training
certainly came in handy. But despite
going into an early lead, Zeidler was
quickly having to lift the rate a notch
to hold off first a cheeky early push
from Van Lierop and then some
pretty pressure from Ntouskos.
Halfway down the course,
with baby whitecaps starting
to show on the water, Ntouskos
knocked it up another notch to make
the point that he was just behind
Zeidler, entering a ding-dong phase
when the two swapped the lead
repeatedly in consecutive strokes.

NED
GRE
GER
DEN, BUL, LTU;
ITA, BEL, ESP,
SRB, CRO, HUN

Suddenly the story was changing,
from Zeidler in full calm control, to
Ntouskos barging through to claim
and hold the lead, and then he in
turn was ambushed by a demon
in orange who carved past both of
them, Van Lierop inexorably picking
off the two champions in turn and
soaring to the line past a lively
crowd sitting on the hillside stands
beside his outside lane.
"I really can't believe it!" he said
afterwards. "Melvin won last year, it's
my turn this year, maybe we have a
special trick!" It remains to be seen
whether he's the better sculler —
after the more garlanded Twellaar
and Stefan Broenink finished with
bronze in the doubles — or whether
the Dutch will be content to have
created two likely Olympic-qualifying crews this year before rerunning
selection next year.
"I think it was one of my better
races in tough conditions," said
Zeidler. "The conditions especially
on the last thousand have been
very challenging, I don't know why
because the wind's not actually that
strong today. I couldn’t really find a
rhythm because of that. In the end I
go home now with a bronze medal
and that's a good thing." Ntouskos
was so exhausted he could hardly
speak. "It was very nice, a little bit
of wind from different directions,"
he said. "I'm trying to do my best
from the start, to keep going, keep
pushing, and in the end I'm very
proud."
It is a strong field for the men's
singles in Europe, though at present
less clear who else might be joining
them. Nielsen finished a close fourth
to the medals, and can never be
counted out, particularly at making
it hard for anyone having a bad day.
As for Zeidler, maybe he just can't
match the turn of speed Ntouskos
and Van Lierop were able to pull
out for the second half of the race,
technique improvements or not. Or
maybe he will surprise us all and
return to the nonstop flying form
of his first successful season, which
was also an Olympic qualifying year.

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EVENT

SUI
GBR
ESP
LTU, ROU, SRB;
NED, DEN, ITA,
CRO, POL, FRA;
SLO, HUN,
GER, GRE,
MDA, CZE

M2MEN ’S PAI R S

Right: Great
Britain’s Ollie
Wynne-Griffith
(bow) and
Tom George
won their
semifinal but
were narrowly
beaten by the
Swiss in the
final.

A relatively big event, the men's pairs were initially
dominated by Romania, Britain and Switzerland in the
opening rounds, with Spain also close on their tails at
the semi-final stage. The question was whether the
form guide would hold in a medal race. What most
watching may not have realised was that for three of
the oarsmen it was a rerun of the 2022 men's Boat
Race, in which Roman Röösli from Switzerland had
been in the Oxford crew which defeated Britons Tom
George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith who were racing for
Cambridge.
Leaving all that aside, it was the Brits and Spanish
taking on the race at first, Romania's Marius Cozmiuc
and Sergiu Bejan too far back after doubling up as
anchormen for the Romanian men's eight. Switzerland
was stalking along working out when to go, content
initially to let the British make the running and biding
their time. Approaching the island with less than two
minutes to go it was still Britain leading, but with
230m to go the Swiss let loose with their biggest

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guns, grabbing back distance with a sustained push
just as Britain thought they were going to break clear.
The Swiss sprint was a better one, but they had to
work for every inch, Lithuania closing up rapidly on
the far side, the Spanish hunting hard and Britain still
ahead on nearly every stroke. It went to the line, the
slightly higher rate just clinching it for Röösli and his
partner Andrin Gulich on the very last catch, while the
Brits stayed just ahead of Spain but losing the gold by
0.1 seconds.
"We had quite a few incidents throughout the
race, after 400m we had a little crab, it was really
bouncy," said Röösli. "But after the crab we found a
new rhythm, came back, this gave us confidence and I
knew if we could stay like that we'd have this last joker
of the sprint which we have always, so we could use
it." "Actually three-quarters of it was really good," said
George. "We didn’t have a great run in, that's fine, we
knew that, but we wanted to win here even without
the best prep.”

ROU
NED
ESP

W2-

CRO, GBR,
GER; IRL, CZE,
ITA, FRA, POL

WO ME N ’S PA I R S

In the women's pairs Ioana Vrinceanu proved that she
can do it just as easily with Roxana Anghel as with her
old partner Denisa Tilvescu. A reshuffle of the British
women's squad is focusing more on big boats at this
point, so Emily Ford and Esme Booth were doubling up
into the eight and won't have been too disappointed
to finish fifth this time in the pairs. But up the front the
contest was between Croatian sisters Ivana and Josipa
Jurkovic, who were early leaders, and the Romanians,
Dutch and Spanish.
The field moved into a perfect echelon headed
by the experienced Dutch duo Ymkje Clevering and
Veronique Meester, Romania stalking along behind
them until they dropped the hammer at five minutes

gone. Whether they just pace themselves better
than others, or have more fluid technique in tricky
conditions, you would never have guessed that it
was Anghel's first international pairs final, as they
mercilessly started to take the Dutch apart passing
the island.
Behind the Dutch the Spanish successfully
preyed on fading Croatia, and the run into the finish
was pretty close in the conditions, Romania dashing
into the final 200 metres with a shorten-and-go,
blasting to gold in one of the best sprints of the
day. "It was a good race for us, not the best but the
wind was not a problem for us," said Vrinceanu.
"We pushed hard but we pushed good."

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GBR
NED
FRA
ROU, POL, SUI;
GER, ITA, UKR,
IRL, AUT

M4MEN ’S FO UR S

Yippee, France have found a fast four, taking the bow
four of a previous eight including twins Thibaud and
Guillaume Turlan, and making a new unit which found
its feet after the heats to win their repechage in short
order and qualify for the final. Something to do with
Jürgen Grobler’s training programme perhaps? Meanwhile heat leaders Romania and Britain — are you surprised? — had swanned straight through to the medal
race but were raring to go and prove themselves.
Romania’s oarsmen had been in the eight which lost a
nailbiter to the Brits the day before, so the needle was
out and ROU were quick to capitalise on some slightly
dodgy GB steering and take an early lead.
However, that wasn’t on the plan particularly for the
watchful but calm GB stroke Freddie Davidson, and
without a fuss his foursome stepped it on and added
heft to their technical skills to take a clear water lead.
There were wobbles aplenty out there on the exposed
water, and since they didn’t go above 39 in the race to

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the line Romania did manage to close it down to three
seconds, but as a display of collected and well-applied
power it was masterful.
“It was a bit scrappy out there, rather windy and
bouncy, but we dealt with it quite well. But there’s definitely more speed to find,” said Matt Aldridge (GBR).
“I looked down [at the strokecoach] and we were
going quite a lot faster than I was expecting, so that
was good,” said Davidson. “I think the way we went
about it allowed us to learn quite a lot, we could quite
happily have sat in the middle of the course and had a
dogfight into the line, but we told ourselves if we were
up we were going to go for as much as we can. We
put together a first 1500m which hopefully could be
competitive with anyone. Now the focus is to take this
and go to the next World Cup with no expectations,
race again and see where we end up. That’s been our
ethos all along: enjoy our rowing, enjoy our racing and
see what we get out of it.”

ROU
GBR
NED

W4-

DEN, IRL, ESP;
POL, FRA

WO ME N ’S FOUR S

An event rapidly becoming a classic in the list, the
women’s fours, was pepped up further this year by the
Redgrave-style return of double Olympic champion
Helen Glover to the GB squad after she told everyone
in 2021 that the Tokyo Olympics, where she finished
fourth, would be her last. She is a serious racer, never
flustered but able to both withstand pressure and rise
to the occasion, a useful addition to an ambitious team.
Coach Andy Randell has chosen to use her in the four,
sitting at three behind her usual pairs partner Rebecca
Shorten, and it does look like a good plan in an event
where top seven will be needed to claim a ticket to
Paris.
The eight-strong field didn’t have a hard time weeding out Poland and France to get to the final, but once
there it was obvious that any of four crews could be
on for medals with Ireland and Spain having a tough
weekend. As usual Romania were doubling up, their entire four topping up the pair and double to make their
eight. Also as usual, they made it look completely normal, and whatever they do to cope with such a workload, other countries would like a share of. They’d been
much quicker than GB in the opening heat (though
pressed much harder by the Danish than the Brits were
by Ireland), but both leading crews remained unknown
quantities as the start buzzer went.
The Danes leapt out, bow Julie Poulsen’s back
showing before anyone else’s, but the rest apart from
a struggling Ireland caught up without much delay,
Britain offering spectators a textbook top-crew performance, sweeping through into a solid lead of ¾ of
a length and threatening to move away in the second

500m. In the bigger boat Glover’s relatively short
height — technically she was half an inch too short
to make the five-foot-ten minimum to be spotted
for the London Olympic development programme —
stands out, but her bladework is as precise as ever
and she connects the four together well. 1000m gone
and it really looked as if the British were going to
walk away.
But Romania’s stroke Amalia Beres had different plans. Refusing to allow the gap to widen, her
quartet dug-in hard, and began to take back distance,
quickening further as they felt their push having an
impact. 100m after this effort had started they were
nearly alongside GBR, pushing the British to raise
their rate to match the 42+ strokes a minute that
the blue, yellow and red blades were flicking in and
out of the water. Another 100 and they were in front,
positively accelerating and lifting yet again. GB’s rate
had to go up too, but it was gold to Romania by close
to half a length, GBR silver and the Dutch pipping the
Danes to the bronze medal after a patient struggle
through the leaders’ wake.
“We stuck to our race plan and in the last
750m tried to step through the gears,” said GBR bow
Heidi Long. “It was a great race to the line, Romania
had a fantastic performance, it was just gutting to
come on the other side of it. Obviously, we would
have liked to win, but in a way it was a bit better than
I thought. I think if we raced that tomorrow we’d race
a different race, we hadn’t really spoken about being
that far up and I think that probably we got a bit lost,
expecting ourselves to be closer.”

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EVENT

CRO
ITA
NED
IRL, ESP, BEL;
ROU, FRA,
GER, MDA,
SRB, LTU; SWE,
EST, UKR, POL,
HUN; DEN,
BUL

M2x
MEN ’S D O UBL E S

Martin and Valent Sinkovic (CRO) have had a similar
tendency to win when it counts – apart from the 2022
Worlds when they faded to fourth, falling prey to a
massive French performance from Matthieu Androdias
and Hugo Boucheron. This time it was the Frenchmen’s
turn to slip up, coming through the heats okay but
then coming a cropper in the semi-finals and finishing
second in the B-final.
That left the final a tiny bit less overwhelming for the
rest, though with Croatia, a feisty young Italian crew
and a new Dutch combination of Melvin Twellaar and
Stefan Broenink, nothing was going to be easy. Belgium produced a vintage fly-and-die, Croatia moved
through them but then hit the wall of Italy’s high-rating
never give up attitude. Matteo Sartori kept a careful

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eye on the Croatian bowball as he sat just ahead of it,
Luca Rimbaldi valiantly matching every rate rise and
holding the Sinkovics off for hundreds of metres.
But the power was in the Croatian boat, the experience also, and eventually both told, with Martin and
Valent claiming half a length in the final fifteen strokes.
Very close for Italy, not quite able to claim victory, but
the leaders’ sprint made the Netherlands, 2.5 seconds
behind, look way off the pace.
“I feel very confident in this boat now, and I feel surprise,” said Rimbaldi. “Because a lot of other athletes in
this class have a lot of experience, a lot of medals. But
we have nothing to lose. So our race was start strong,
continue the course stronger, and we haven’t practised
the last 200m metres, so next time.”

ROU
LTU
NED

W2x

FRA, GER, IRL;
SUI, ITA, GBR,
UKR, CZE

WO ME N ’S D OUBL E S

Great Britain’s
Kyra Edwards
(bow) and Saskia
Budgett finished
third in the B-Final.

Both openweight doubles events are currently reigned
over – in European terms at least – by doubles which
scull to the limit every time they go out, and are very
hard to beat. But reigning world, European and Olympic champions Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis were
put on the back foot by Lithuania’s Donata Karaliene
and Dovile Rimkute, the assistance of Gianni Postiglione in the LTU coaching starting to show. Chomping
along at 38-39 strokes a minute the Lithuanians ate up
the distance and by 1400m gone had pretty much a
full length advantage and showing no signs of relenting.
Ancuta and Radis found themselves in a European
sandwich, clinging onto LTU but with talented Dutchwomen Roos de Jong and Laila Youssifou hounding
them hard. Finally however with 250m to go the natu-

ral laws of physics asserted themselves and Lithuania’s
early efforts left them with nothing to lift as the world
champions sprinted back at them.
The last few strokes involved a Lithuanian fumble
which gave Romania their defending victory. De Jong
and Youssifou could only take bronze but a long way
ahead of France, while Germany beat a disappointed
Irish double, Sanita Puspure and Zoe Hyde, to fifth.
“We got tired in the bumpy water,” said Karaliene,
explaining the clumsiness which led to nearly dropping
the blade handles at times. “We didn’t hold our oars
properly and we couldn’t manage it a few times, we
didn’t manage the finish right.” Despite the predictable ROU victory this one looks set to run and run,
with more good doubles expected to join the party, so
watch this space.

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M8+
M E N’S EIGH TS

World Rowing split the eights this
time, the men having their final on
the Saturday, the women wrapping
up the event on Sunday. Whether
this was conveniently encouraged
to help Britain out of a fix wasn’t
entirely obvious, but it certainly
worked when GB men’s cox Harry
Brightmore fell ill before Saturday,
leaving Henry Fieldman, now coxing
the women’s eight, to do double
steering duty and a whole new set
of outings. Thankfully both were
straight finals.
The small but perfectly-formed
men’s eights final saw the usual suspects line up: Poland, Italy,
Germany, Romania, Britain and the
Netherlands. To put it in context the
Dutch and British are the most experienced outfits, the Germans still
in full rebuilding mode after losing
most of their Tokyo eight, and the
Romanians early-season are always
the most competitive in the field,
particularly at a Europeans for which
they do taper.
It was a corker of a race, the usual
dash off the line seeing the Romanian bow show, followed quickly by
the British bowball next to them,
starting to eat up the yards in a

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GBR
ROU
NED
GER, ITA, POL

fashion reminiscent of the 20132016 Olympiad. Romania had been
pushed into third by the Dutch
in a rather quick and competitive
‘race for lanes’ two days earlier, so
this was game on, with the slightly
rattled British crew piggies in the
middle of the battle.
As the GB bow remained — just —
in front nearing the island at 1500m
gone, both the Dutch and Romanians started to bang away at them,
a quicker stroke rate from ROU and
a lot of heft from NED doing quite
a lot of damage. Still GB stayed
up, with a canvas at most. But now
ROU cox Adrian Munteanu called his
men even higher, rating 45-46 with
200m still to go. Sprint-tastic, ROU
then GBR then NED but everyone
throwing the kitchen sink at it, go
go go with nothing to lose. Stunning. Romania appeared to have it
until the last two strokes, when the
shorter higher strokes Britain had
started taking put them in front on
the surge as the line was reached.
Classic sprintology. Gold to GBR
and their substitute cox Fieldman by
0.05 seconds, silver to Romania, and
the Dutch only three seats further
back and plenty of time to improve.
Germany beat the Italians and Polish
to fourth, but were not in the race
to the line, ending two full lengths
further back.
“Kept it exciting for everyone,
didn’t we?” said GBR stroke Tom
Ford afterwards. “Probably not our
best row, but it’s in the sport to try
and win on your worst day and we
managed to do that. Engage the biceps, was the call. We stuck together
and held the line, which I’m proud of.
It was just grit and determination, we
want to show we’re the leading boat
in the field to the Europeans and
people outside coming to the next
World Cup, we want to set a marker
early doors. Henry did an excellent
job today but it changes the challenges thrown at you, which if we’re
looking to try and win the Olympics,
we’ve got to be able to win when
these are thrown at us. But definitely
work left to do.”

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EVENT

W8+
WO ME N ’S EIGHTS

GBR cox Henry Fieldman’s real focus
this year is a revived British women’s
eight, a couple of stalwarts of the
squad doubling up to help strengthen a crew which is aiming firmly for
Olympic qualification above all else.
Fieldman’s experience and new head
coach Andrew Randell’s interesting

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ROU
GBR
ITA
GER

new ideas for training have reinvigorated the squad, and this was to be
their first proper test, a much more
serious entry than last year.
Up against them were three of
the other five entries from last year:
no Danes or Dutch this time, but a
substantially experienced Romanian
eight along with Germany and Italy.
And guess what, the finishing order
for the four was exactly the same as
last year, as long as you ignore the
absence of the Netherlands.
It’s interesting how much of a
stranglehold Romania has established in early-season European racing on some events, particularly the
women’s sweep boats. On Sunday
they signed off on a complete clean
sweep of pairs, fours and eights in
a manner reminiscent of the early
2000s when Elisabeta Lipa was still
racing. But to do it now, when so
many countries have got their technique, racing and training together is
remarkable.
They took their time to bother to
push past Britain, who had a very
good start, but once they swung
into the lead it was downhill from
there for everyone else. Italy and
Germany were another five seconds
back each in third and fourth, but
the 6.5-second gap between gold
and silver says everything about
a race which was never in doubt
and suggests the British have quite
some work to do to be sure they can
qualify for Paris. Meanwhile Fieldman
did claim a silver to add to the men’s
gold the previous day, and it was not
a slow outfit, just possibly not yet
quick enough to manage top five
this year.
We’ll have to see if the Romanian
powerhouse can keep their top spot
on the advent of the further-flung
countries (probably not) but they’re
a very dangerous outfit, even with
their top pair having to double up to
make it work, and will certainly be
trying to qualify. Further down the
list it’s looking difficult for Germany
to get an eight into the 2024 Olympics: they haven’t managed it since
London 2012, when they came last.

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EVENT

SUI
ITA
GRE
CZE, UKR, IRL;
ESP, POL, GER,
NOR, POR,
DEN; BEL, TUR,
GBR, AUT, EST

LM2x
LIGHT W EI GHT MEN’S D O U B LE S

The ever-competitive light doubles, now definitely
in their penultimate year as a top event, was a total
bunfight, featuring a lot of good oarsmen. The latest
Italian incarnation is Gabriel Soares with the evergreen
Stefano Oppo, who won the heats along with Switzerland and Ireland. The latter featured Hugh Moore here
alongside Fintan McCarthy because Paul O’Donovan
has only just finished his medical exams and wanted to
go to his graduation.
After a slight delay due to alignment difficulties
the crews were off, Switzerland’s Jan Schnaeuble and
Raphael Ahumada Ireland immediately grabbing a
good lead and nipping out away from trouble where
they could watch the rest of the field. The crew which

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will have first caught their eye was Greece, Petros Gkaidatzis and Antonios Papakonstantinou hefting it along
neatly on the far side, and slightly surprisingly it took a
while for everyone else to close the gap.
For Italy the third 500m was a crucial point, where
they stealthily closed up to match Greece, edging
into second just as the 1500m marker came past. But
could they get past Switzerland? The answer turned
out to be no, though they gave it a very good try, and
although the entire field tightened, by the end Switzerland had just over a second’s lead, a big enough gap to
be confident but close enough to have to sprint a little.
It may turn out to be a different story when O’Donovan
is back where he belongs: in the Irish double.

GBR
GRE
FRA

LW2x

POL, IRL, SUI;
ITA, AUT, ESP,
GER, DEN

L I G H TWEIGHT WO MEN’S D O UBL E S

Swiss celebratory cowbells were also in action in the
lightweight women’s doubles, though to lesser effect
— not that the noise made by spectators has ever
determined the outcome of races. This one featured
the Frederique Rol racing with Patricia Merz, but they
turned out not to be in the same class as the Greeks,
French, Irish, Polish and British in the end.
There have been some serious rivalries in this event,
so it wasn’t surprising to see Emily Craig and Imogen
Grant (GBR) trying the upper-hand tactic, putting in
plenty of early effort to get a substantial lead on opponents Greece (Dimitra Kontou and Zoi Fitsiou), Poland
(Martyna Radosz and Katarzyna Welna) and France
(Laura Tarantola and Claire Bove).
The potential trouble with that strategy is the way
that contesting for the minor medals brings others
back on the leaders who have no such motivation. But
Craig and Grant are psychologically incapable of doing
anything less than their absolute best, and pushed
themselves to the limit even before the rest started
to close up. As they squeezed the last effort out of

themselves the Greek double (young and with plenty
of fire in their bellies) came romping up to the line,
taking a solid silver behind Britain and slightly ahead
of a peeved French double.
“We talked a lot about staying loose and staying
together, and making the most of the good bits then
making sure we didn’t lose anything in the bad bits.
It was bouncy out there, quite like the Tideway which
we’re both familiar with,” said Grant. “Coming into it
was a real challenge for both of us, coming in from
an unbeaten last season, a place we’ve not been in
before,” added Craig. “We’ve had some really difficult
and honest conversations with each other and ourselves.” “We had some questions before this regatta,
asking if we’d peaked too early in the first year of an
Olympiad, and I think that shows we’ve got more to
give,” said Grant.
Unlike O’ Donovan, on an earlier timeline in Ireland,
Grant’s medical degree runs into June and until then
she’s on medical placements distracting her from
sculling.

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EVENT

POL
NED
ITA
GBR, ROU,
UKR; NOR,
GER, LTU, SUI,
CRO

M4x
MEN ’S Q UADS

Who thinks they can beat the Polish world quads
champions? The Netherlands do, that’s who, and this
year was no exception given the quick opening heat
time they posted, thanks perhaps to their two Olympic
champion crew members. Things were a little different
in the final, where Poland who had needed to qualify
via the repechage grabbed the race by the scruff of
the neck and coolly swung into a commanding 2/3
length lead.

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The danger seemed to come from the Italians in the
next-door lane, but that wasn’t ruffling Polish feathers,
the top 2022 crew squeezing on a little harder and
consolidating ahead of a tasty push by the Dutch, who
managed to eke their way past Italy and into second.
While Britain’s quad, who don’t yet have the speed of
the biggest names, were trying desperately to get on
terms — and failing — Poland simply kept trucking to
the line, and got revenge on last year’s Italian win.

UKR
NED
GBR

W4x

ITA, GER, SUI;
ROU, NOR,
FRA, POL, CZE

WO ME N ’S QUADS

For the women’s quads, a rather shifting affair with
crew changes, reshuffles and reselections in the big
teams, it was the Dutch and British who copped
straight qualification to the final while Ukraine
were marginally the quickest of those who had to
go via the repechage. Fresh from altitude training
the Dutch stuck the orange canvas of their custom-coloured boat in front, and then had to wait to
see what the big guns of the quads were willing to
fire at them.
Ukraine were first to make a move on
them, coping better with the water but leading the
Brits and Dutch into a stronger position away from

the minor places. For a while they were alongside
but then the attacks began, both Ukraine and the
Netherlands putting in pushes while the British, deprived through injuries of strong scullers who would
compete for places, did well to end with bronze.
“To be honest that probably wasn’t our
best race today,” said Hannah Scott. “But we can
walk away saying ‘that’s what we can do today’.
Everything was right but the wind changed direction
just before the race so we were going into a headwind while we were in a tailwind for the warm-up. It
made it quite slippy for us. But I don’t think anyone
underperformed, it was just what we did today.”

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EVENT

FRA
ITA
SUI
SLO, DEN, GER;
HUN, POL,
NOR, POR, AZE

LM1x
LIGHT W EI GHT MEN’S SI NG LE S

As the Olympics approach the lightweight singles
take on a strange perspective, those competing
usually either spares for a double or unable to find a
good enough partner. This year it's Niels Torre in the
Italian single, beaten by Hugo Beury of France by 0.55
seconds while Andri Struzina from Switzerland once
again took bronze. Former star Peter Galambos (HUN)
was relegated to winning the B-final while Rajko Hrvat
delighted the local Slovenian crowd by being very
competitive but was still beaten into fourth place in a
rerun of his 2022 result.

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LW1x
L I G H TWEIGHT WO MEN’S SI NGL E S

ROU
GRE
CZE
IRL, TUR, SUI;
POL, GBR,
FRA, NOR,
CRO, HUN

Romanian Ionela Cozmiuc may be one of those who
would prefer to be in an Olympic crew, but she still did
a stalwart job winning gold again in the lightweight singles, adding further to the extraordinarily gold-heavy
tally of her team. Her nearest rival was this time Evangelia Anastasiadou, not yet able to conquer Cozmiuc's
long-limbed strength and speed, but putting up a good
fight to stay ahead of Kristyna Neuhortova of Czechia
who is an interesting prospect in the category. Swiss
lightweight Eline Rol came last in the final, matching
her cousin Frederique's result in the light doubles.

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EVENT

PR1 M1x
ITA
UKR
GER
ISR, GBR, NED

Para-singles

PR1 W1x
NOR
ISR
FRA
GER, UKR, SUI;
NED

This year the PR1 para-singles had straight finals
courtesy of low entries, the women dropping Dutch
sculler Eva Mol in the repechage and the men enduring
the monotony of an exhibition race which gave away
two days earlier exactly what was going to happen in
Saturday's final. Nor were there any surprises in the
results, the golds going to Giacomo Perini (Italy) and
Birgit Skarstein (Norway) who defended their 2022
titles without dropping a stitch.
In the men's race it was a rerun of last summer for
the medals with one difference, the absence of Britain's
Benjamin Pritchard giving an opening to German sculler
Marcus Klemp, though he was nearly half a minute back
from runner-up Roman Polianskyi. Polianskyi looked
defiant and determined on the start, but although he
closed the margin to Perini a shade more, to 5 seconds,
the Italian never looked likely to fail to defend his title.
In fact it was in doubt whether Perini pushed all the
way or allowed Polianskyi to close the gap at the end,
having been much further ahead earlier on.
The Italian certainly seems to have the knack at early-season World Rowing events, though Polianskyi did

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the business at the 2022 Worlds. "It was a great race,
with Roman again," said Perini. "I did my race, trying to
slowly move away from him, and this time it worked."
Behind the two of them Britain's developing para-sculler Callum Russell finished a creditable fifth well ahead
of the Dutch entry.
The women's race was an absolute corker, for the
first time in ages Israeli Moran Samuel taking a firm
lead over Skarstein in the first few minutes, though
there was a brooding sense that this might not last.
Skarstein started turning the screw in the fifth minute
and built a steady surge through the next few hundred
metres, pushing through into the lead before 1250m
gone. But where she had previously dropped Samuel
like a hot potato, this time the Israeli sculler wasn't
backing down, and this stood her in good stead as
Nathalie Benoit (FRA) came stampeding up to try and
take silver.
The fight between these two took their bowballs
back within range of Skarstein's stern, and Samuel
clinched second place by a bare 0.4 seconds, a brilliant
finish.

PR3 Mx2x
FRA
UKR
GBR

Para-crews

ISR, ESP, ITA

PR3 Mx4+
GBR
GER
FRA
ITA

PR2 Mx2x
GBR
NED
UKR
POL, IRL, FRA;
ITA, GER

The introduction for Paris of a PR3 mixed double has
boosted this category, which as a result is now a Europeans event. This one had a straight final alongside the
ever-speedy mixed coxed four, but the PR2 mixed double remained the hyper-competitive event it has always
been with eight entries and a proper repechage.
The PR3 doubles had the ever-likeable Laurent
Cadot and his new partner Guylaine Marchand take
the first ever European title in their category, Cadot's
Olympic experience and Marchand's unquenchable
enthusiasm carrying them through a nail bitingly close
race to triumph over Ukraine and Britain who had led
them early on. At halfway there was barely a length
between the two leaders, but it was in the third 500m
that Cadot and Guylaine stepped on the gas, cleaving through to level and eventually pass both rivals. A
good bit of bowball-to-bowball racing in mid-course
reminded us how far para-sculling has come since the
early days, when changes of lead or narrow margins
would never be thought of. Britain eventually faded but
Ukraine held France to a two-second margin.
The mixed coxed fours was also a close one, five
seconds back to Germany being the closest result for
the victorious British four for some time. The Brits have
had a torrid 12 months with cox Erin Kennedy diagnosed with breast cancer on 25 May 2022, then racing

most of the season including the Europeans before
bowing out to spend several months on chemotherapy
and then having mastectomy and breast reconstruction surgery. She only got back to full training relatively
recently, so it was obvious the Brits, featuring new rower Morgan Fice-Noyes in place of previous stroke Ollie
Stanhope, were relieved to have managed to defend
their winning record for Kennedy.
World champion PR2 mixed doubles rower Lauren
Rowles has a new partner, former Army commando
Gregg Stevenson taking over the stroke seat after the
retirement of double Paralympic champion Laurence
Whiteley. There's no doubt Britain has found a new
star, after he and Rowles stormed through, blades
flying, to capture another gold for Rowles' cabinet and
a new world best time, leaving Cornelis de Koning and
his own new partner Chantal Haenen floundering in
their wake. "We've just had so much fun rowing together, honestly it's been an absolute blast," said Rowles.
"We've said it before, we just have the determination
and perseverance to make this boat go faster. It's given
me that lease of life to do the same. [Gregg's] been
in the toughest of environments, he's one of the most
resilient men I know." Stevenson tried (indoor) rowing
for the 2012 Invictus Games and though his water skills
are still a tad untidy, he's learning very fast indeed.

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69

KAPUT FOR THE
MASTER CLASS

WORDS CHRIS DODD

WHEN THE BERLIN WALL FELL 35 YEARS AGO, THE COLD WAR CAME TO
AN END. CHRIS DODD WITNESSED EAST GERMANY’S COLLAPSE AND
CHRONICLED THE CRUMBLING OF THE DDR’S ROWING MASTERY

HISTORY

The Berlin Wall Game
It’s 35 years since the sudden collapse of what was fondly known as
the Deutsche Democratise Republic
signalled the end of the Cold War, crippled the Warsaw Pact of Eastern Bloc
countries under the influence of the
Soviet Union, and destroyed the federal
entities of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia
and the USSR itself.
I was reminded of this by Göran
Buckhorn, the editor of an anthology
of rowing writing due for publication in
October (The Greatest Rowing Stories
Ever Told, Lyons Press). He has seen in
his wisdom to include my account of
the fall of the greatest rowing nation the
world had ever seen.
In the autumn of 1989, I was writing
The Story of World Rowing (Stanley
Paul, 1992), and found myself in the
right place at the right time to witness
the end of an era. In November of that
year, I interrupted a tour through the
rowing gems of Mexico City, Havana,
Buenos Aeries and Rio to attend the
World Rowing [then known as FISA]
coaches conference in Indianapolis.
Such conferences are excellent occasions to gather material because the
venerable attendees are not attending
to their crews, thus lowering their guard
when it comes to sharing information.
And so, on the evening of 9 November
we were enjoying a USRowing reception at the Columbia Club, a pleasure
palace drawing much of its membership from the corn growers of Indiana
whose sporting entertainment is usually
hollering for the Hoosiers baseball team
or going deaf at the annual Indianapolis
500.
The party was in full swing when a
liveried flunky wheeled a large TV set
into the marbled hall and suggested to
the company in general that we may be
interested in what was showing on the
screen. He tuned in to a jaw-dropping
scene of men and women with picks
and shovels on top of the hated Berlin
Wall, intent on destroying it.
Since its erection in 1961 the Wall
had been a symbol of the division of
Germany after defeat in the 1939-1945
war and had divided the city’s east zone

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(the Democratic Republic, controlled by
the Soviet Union) from the west zone
(American, British and French sectors in
Berlin, constituent parts of the Federal
Republic). It was equipped with watchtowers to catch Easties escaping to
West Berlin and prevent residents on the
east side moving to the west.
Wilfried Hofmann, president of the
East German rowing federation and
director of Dynamo Berlin, the police
sports club, was wedged in an armchair in pole position before the box. I
watched his jaw drop to an unprecedented depth as his ginger complexion
turned white. By breakfast time on the
next day, Hofmann had vanished, faster
than the Ost Deutsche that he had
served diligently for most of his life. All
of us in the Columbia Club in Indianapolis on 9 November 1989 learned that the
world would never be the same again.
Zing was in the air.

Buhl in a china shop
Fortuitously, I had already planned to
follow up my investigations in South and
Central America with a visit to the two
Germanys early in the New Year. The
collapse of the Wall gave my visit added
poignancy, as did a news item quoting
a Leipzig university professor admitting
that DDR sport had a doping programme. My Guardian colleague John
Rodda urged me to go and find Dr Buhl
because he was the first East German
to make this admission while still in post
at his medical laboratory. All previous
doping allegations had come from
people who had crossed the border to
the West.
So, in March 1990, I found myself
in East Berlin and Leipzig. Hofmann’s
austere office was in the German Gymnastics and Sports Association in East
Berlin. It was furnished with a large, bare
desk and a heavy-duty bookcase along
one wall. I think there was a framed portrait of the head of state, Erich Honecker,
hanging on the wall.
The atmosphere was bleak and made
bleaker by our mutual lack of common
vocabulary. I asked the man who had
presided over East Germany’s rowing
federation since 1974 what contribution

“All of us in
the Columbia
Club in
Indianapolis on
9 November
1989 learned
that the world
would never
be the same
again. Zing
was in the air.”

Top to bottom Leipzig
station, Leipzig University
gymnasium, Belin Wall,
Leipzig station all taken
in 1989.

the Deutsche Democratise Republic
(DDR) had made to the sport, and what
did he think the future held? Hofmann
paused before he answered. ‘The training
system is no good for the new political
system,’ he said. ‘There will be less time
for training, less money, new motivation…
coaches, sportsmen and functionaries
must find another way.’ Another, longer
pause followed. ‘The old system is finished.’
Then Wilfried wept as he gestured to
the bookcase, the closed glass doors of
which somehow signified an era’s end.
‘The whole history of DDR rowing and its
achievements is in that case,’ he blubbed.
‘The West Germans will destroy it.’
I found a much happier scene beside
the Spree at the yard of VEB boats (Volkseigene Betrich, meaning ‘publicly owned
enterprise’). A British trailer was loading
racing shells. Klaus Filter of the DDR’s
research lab for development of materials for sports equipment (Forschung
und Entwicklungsstelle fur Sportgeräte)
shook my hand warmly across his desk,
its top as devoid of objects as Hofmann’s
but for a fat marketing manual in English.
The portrait on the naval architect’s wall
was of Che Guevara, the revolutionary
guerrilla leader in Cuba.
Here was a man who already knew
that his creations at the old Pirsch boat
builders’ yard were marketable. He took
me off to a posh tearoom on the eastern
side of the Brandenburg Gate to celebrate being able to go to a posh tearoom
without having to show his Socialist
Unity (SED) card, the Communist party
card that he never carried.
At Grünau, the headquarters of the
DDR’s eight high performance rowing
centres and scene of the 1936 Olympic
regatta, I found Helmut Pohlentz, chief
doctor to the rowing federation and a
member of FISA’s medical commission
in the Liebig Cafe. He was pleased that
in future he and his family would be able
to visit relatives in Hamburg, and they
will be able to drive anywhere they fancy
in their new second-hand Volkswagen
Golf instead of the Trabant on order on a
ten-year waiting list. But his professional
life was in jeopardy because the Federal
Republic did not recognise East Germa-

ny’s medical qualifications.
On 18 March I took the train from
Berlin to the gloomy cavernous station
at Leipzig where newspapers from many
cities and countries jostled on the newsstand, while in the street outside a couple
of youths were tossing free bananas to
passers-by from a truck. The eighteenth
was what you might call a red-letter
day in the DDR because East Germans
were voting in the free poll to ascertain
whether they favoured joining a united
Germany.
I and my photographer colleague
checked into the Hotel Am Ring in KarlMarx-Platz before setting off to find the
university. The custodian at the college
gate searched his directory before declaring that there was no such person as
Professor Herman Buhl, but from where
I stood, I could see at least four Buhls on
his list. We thanked him and fleet-footed through the main entrance to look
around.
First stop was the education faculty
that enjoyed miles of twilight corridors
hung with several hundred paintings
of sportsmen and women running and
leaping and kicking balls and pulling oars
and doing what they do best. The spaces
unoccupied by artworks were doors,
each neatly labelled with the name of the
occupier. Thanks to typical German order
and method, the task of locating one’s
prey was made easier. All we had to do
was tour the halls of the huge Leipzig
campus until we found DR H BUHL on a
door.
At lunchtime we noticed that many
occupants buzzing round one building
wore white lab coats, and this turned out
to be the medical laboratory. The first
white coat I engaged was a middle-aged
woman who listened to my explanation
of where I was from and what I wanted
before asking ‘the Guardian? Is that the
Manchester Guardian? I used to take it
every day before the War!’
‘Well,’ I replied, ‘you can get it again
at the station newsstand.’ She went to a
nearby office and came out with Dr Buhl.
I’m sure in her excitement she didn’t say
that I wanted to interview him about
doping. When I explained my quest to
him, he replied that he was very busy. I

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73

HISTORY

said I was in Leipzig for four days. He said please
come back at five-o-clock, when he might have a
little time. When Catherine the photographer and I
returned at the appointed hour he took us by tram
to his lovely home for dinner and talked freely of
his laboratory’s work.
His laboratory and its 70-odd scientists began
work on the nervous system in 1971 at the behest
of Erich Honeker when he took over the party
leadership from Walter Ulbricht. Buhl told me:

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‘Honeker and the party decided that the DDR
should be the first in the world. I had my orders. It
is not possible to show you a piece of paper… the
order is not written…’
The research institute worked directly with all
the Olympic sports except rowing, which had its
own medical centre in Grünau. The scientists spent
fifteen years investigating the central nervous
system, the respiratory system, muscle fatigue,
the hormonal system and related matters. Their

“The party
decided
that the
DDR
should be
the first in
the world.
I had my
orders.
It is not
possible to
show you
a piece of
paper…
the order
is not
written.”

cannot say what the dosage is.’ Buhl was quite
clear that dope had been a contributory factor
in some DDR medals, although he could not
speak for rowers. ‘I don’t know what a coach
does with his athlete… it is a problem. When I
get my orders, I must make the research and
make the knowledge known. As a physician I
would say: “No, I shouldn’t do this”.’
Buhl reiterated that the laboratory never administered drugs – that was the responsibility
of coaches. Was there any research or advice
on side effects? No, he said, that unfortunately wasn’t in the government’s remit. I asked
him what would have happened to him if he
refused this work. ‘If I don’t do this work I can
go into the hospital or rural clinic as a general
practitioner, but my job at the institute is at an
end,’ he said.
Dr Buhl came over as a high-minded scientist who was aware that his work had been
abused. I felt sympathy for a highly talented
man. I felt that the Nazi mantra ‘I was only
following orders’ was a shadow not far from
his lips. When I asked what he hoped for in the
new, soon to be united Germany, he said that
his family, including his disabled son, looked
forward to using the pool at the university
where he worked.

The DDR’s sporting chances

knowledge of performance-enhancing substances
enabled them to give an athlete a map of how his
or her body performed and how stimulants might
change that performance.
‘We can say how an athlete’s insulin or cortisone
or testosterone level changes when he trains in a
such-and-such way, and so his physician or coach
has information about the regulation of his system.
After that the coach can give him a special programme with substances and medicaments. But I

The body and soul of East Germany changed
rapidly between the fall of the Berlin Wall
on 9 November 1989 and the free poll taken
in March of the following year in favour of a
uniting with the Federal Republic. The drama I witnessed on TV in Indianapolis and the
interviews conducted in Berlin and Leipzig in
March 1990 feel to me like recent monumental
events. But looking back from 2023 I realise
that generations have never experienced living
in the all-pervading Cold War that arose as a
consequence of the defeat of Germany and
Japan in a hot war.
The victors of the 1939-45 war, the Soviet
Union in the east of Europe and the United
States and its western allies set up opposing
alliances – the Warsaw Pact in the east and
the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
in the west – and engaged in building rival
‘deterrent’ nuclear arsenals. The USSR and its
satellites, including the DDR, were divided from
western Europe by an Iron Curtain, and Berlin’s
concrete wall, courtesy of the DDR, imprisoned the inhabitants of the post-war Soviet
military zone from their friends, relatives and
fellow-Germans living in the American, British
and French sectors of the city.
So, when the economies of the Soviet satel-

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HISTORY

lite states ran into trouble in the 1980s
their populations grew nervous, and
there was a feeling that trouble and/or
enlightenment was to come. A Guardian
leader on 11 November 1989 described
the fall of the Wall two days beforehand
as ‘one of those very rare, electrifying
moments when the ordinary lay people
take over and all the professionals –
from prognosticators to border guards
– get quietly out of the way’.
The paper dared to suggest that this
was the end of the Cold War in Europe
and the beginning of advance planning
for decommissioning the deterrence
machine. It pointed out that West
Germany has developed the most prudent of democratic credentials where
economic credentials have subsumed
national rivalries, and the military has
been reduced to ceremonial. ‘It is very
important not to encourage, in appearance or reality, a situation where East
Germany simply joined the “Western
Camp”.’
Two days later in the same newspaper Ed Vulliamy described his experiences on the streets of Berlin. ‘The
anthem of the reunification of Berlin
established itself in the west of the city
over the weekend, and it was neither
a political speech nor a verse from
Deutschland Uber Alles. It was the
amicable, scooter-like chugging of thousands upon thousands of little Trabant
cars, brim-full with families map-reading
their way through the busiest weekend
party of the twentieth century.’ Two
million East Germans invaded West
Berlin. Each visitor was given the sum of
DM100 as a gift from the government to
spend in the western retail outfits.
Expectations and excitement were
still evident in Berlin and Leipzig when
I arrived there in March 1990. German
politicians were hard at work to find
their desired paths to the future, and
in many cases unification. In the DDR
the man in charge was Hans Modrow.
He took over the leadership of the Socialist Unity party from Erich Honecker
four days after the fall of the Wall and
reigned until the ‘unification’ poll in
March 1990. He was the last communist
prime minister of the DDR.

“One of those very rare,
electrifying moments when the
ordinary lay people take over
and all the professionals – from
prognosticators to border guards
– get quietly out of the way.”
THE GUARDIAN, 11 NOVEMBER 1989

The short and complex history of the
DDR is full of contradictions and is
difficult to penetrate. For our purposes
there are three major factors: the DDR’s
love-hate relationship with the USSR, a
federal power in the midst of perestroika
(reconstruction) and glasnost (openness) under Mikhail Gorbachev; a lovehate relationship with its closest neighbours in the Federal Republic, headed by
Christian Democrat Chancellor Helmut
Kohl when the Wall was breached; and a
competitive love-hate relationship with
the rest of the world.
The Red Army of the Soviet Union
endeared itself to Germans, and particularly Berliners, by raping and pillaging
its way into the capital at the end of the
war. Long after the western allies had
relinquished much of their grip on their
zones, the Soviets controlled everything
they could lay their hands on, looking
over the shoulders of border guards and
officials at the Passcontrolle between the
east and west S-Bahn stations and the
Invalidenstrasse car and foot checkpoint.
The Soviets also stripped their part of
Germany of its technological enterprise
and industrial power by moving factories
to Russia. The Soviets strongly resisted
the wish of the Easties to become a
country in their own right.
Relations with neighbours such as
Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia and
with the Western allies were fraught, no
more so than with the Federal Republic.
It was a game of one-up-man-ship, a
struggle between socialist and demo-

cratic creeds. The fathers of the DDR
pursued Marxist and left-wing policies
via the dominant communist Socialist
Unity Party (SED). Traditional German
traits were found in the new DDR as
in the Federal Republic and the Weimar republic before them – hard work,
technical education, thoroughness and
discipline. And to police this society they
created a massive all-reaching secret
service, the Stasi, to spy on their citizens
and make mischief with their enemies.
Walter Ulbricht, Socialist Unity Party
boss when the DDR won recognition
as a state in 1949, had a problem.
His fiefdom of 17 million was small
fry compared with its neighbour and
dominant superpowers, and if it was to
make a mark it must find an activity in
which it could excel. Ulbricht was a keen
sportsman, and his solution lay on the
sports field, especially after the DDR was
able to compete under its own flag at
world championships from 1966 and the
Olympics from 1968. Thus, it set about
storming the medal podium by investing
in facilities, equipment, coaching, schools
and higher institutions for athletes,
athletic talent and, as we have seen,
how the body works and how stimulants
and other substances worked, across
the Olympic sports. Particular attention
was paid to Olympic sports with smaller
entry quotas that offered statistically
more opportunities for delivering
medals. Rowing was one such, having
far fewer entries than it does today.
The high-performance clubs in Berlin,

HISTORY

“Particular
attention
was paid to
Olympic sports
with smaller
entry quotas
that offered
statistically
more
opportunities
for delivering
medals. Rowing
was one such.”

78

ROW360 // ISSUE 048

Potsdam, Grünau, Rostock, Leipzig,
Dresden, Chemie Halle and Magdeburg
soon showed that professionalism,
thoroughness of preparation, kilometre
upon kilometre of rowing and full-time
athlete support, including the provision
of flats and cars, paid off.
Theodore Körner created the training
and selection system. In the 36 years
of competition in DDR colours, the
combined total of men’s and women’s
medals won in European, World and
Olympic regattas is 153 of the 334 golds
on offer, plus 74 silver and 42 bronze.
The last DDR oarsman to cross a finish
line was Hans Sennewald in the stroke
seat of the ‘Germany East’ eight at the
world championships at Lake Barrington on 4 November 1990. The Democratise and Federal republics had merged
a month previously, but World Rowing
(then the Fédération Internationale des
Sociétés d’Aviron, FISA) allowed the deceased DDR rowing federation to race
under a flag of convenience one more
time because preparation for the world
championships in Tasmania began before the Wall came down.
Demonstrations broke out in Dresden
in October 1989, the first physical signs
of unrest. Hans Modrow advocated
dialogue between the demonstrators, the state and the church. When

Modrow took over the leadership of
party and state on 13 November that
year, he brought a tolerant, innovative
approach and a lack of dogmatism to
the table. He formed a coalition of five
parties and set out to reform the command economy, introduce new ideas
of education and dissolve the Stasi. In
1987 he had exchanged views about the
DDR’s situation with Mikhail Gorbachev
in Moscow, during which talks the Soviet
leader dropped his opinion that he saw
no objection to a merger of the two
Germanys.
On 1 February 1990 Modrow proposed
a three-phase unification process and a
new constitution for a unified Germany
drafted by a ‘Round Table’ of significant
political forces in the DDR that aimed to
protect lives, jobs and communities. But
Chancellor Helmut Kohl was hell bent on
a rapid merger. Kohl rejected Modrow’s
proposals and found much support
for his own policy. Thus safeguarding
rights and achievements of the DDR in a
unified neutral state bit the dust. As for
Modrow, he became a member of the
Bundestag and, later, an MEP. ROW360
Chris Dodd’s account continues in Issue
49 and will be published in full by Lyons
Press in October 2023 in The Greatest
Rowing Stories Ever Told.

360

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360

The Art Of Rowing.
ISSUE 010

UK £5.99 // JAN FEB 2015

ISSUE 004

ZIKA VIRUS

CUTTING EDGE

Biting gold medal
chances in Rio?

Inside the Hudson Boat
Works factory

THE BOAT
RACES 2016

C.R.A.S.H.-B.

MAR 2016

Patriot
Games

FEB

AMERICAN
DREAMING

US lightweight
Andrew Campbell

Julien Bahain

SAN DIEGO
CREW CLASSIC

SEAN
BOWDEN

The season starts here
COACHING ON
THE KNIFE-EDGE

Roger Barrow on South
Africa’s prospects

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JÜRGEN
GROBLER

MARTIN
CROSS

Master of the
Goldmine

BIRGIT
SKARSTEIN
Climbing through adversity

THE FONTANA
BOATHOUSE

The importance of foot
placement in the stroke

One of Frank Lloyd
Wright’s lasting legacies

FABIANA
BELTRAME

NARROW
MARGINS

All 14 Olympic
events reviewed

The unique
agony of almost

Looking ahead to the
Head of the Charles

APR

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RIO
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Why now?

Ilse Paulis

Josh Dunkley-Smith

Tom Terhaar

Pete Reed on Retirement

Holland’s Golden Girl

Guide to Pulling a 5:35.8 2k

Keeper of Dreams

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MAY 2017
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NEW
CYCLE

ben lewis:
THAMES RISING

Catching up with
Hamish Bond

Winning Henley while
working the 9 to 5

PSYCHOLOGY
AND FOCUS

REBECCA CHIN:
GAME CHANGER

Want to row better?
Pay attention

From Paralympic discus to
the GB women’s eight

OCT

SEP 2017
AUG

Valery Kleshnev
takes another look

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MOE
SBIHI

boat
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Royal Canadian
Henley Regatta

Master of his
own mind

TAKING
STOCK

ISSUE 042

PUTIN’S WAR
Rowers impacted by
the war in Ukraine

ALL TOGETHER, NOW! WIN!
An attempt to unravel an
Olympian dilemma

first look

svetla otzetova

C2’s BikeErg

Architect of dreams

STANDING STRONG

DOPING PHYSIOLOGY

SYSTEMIC FAILURE

GIANNI POSTIGLIONE

Ukraine at the
Head Of The Charles

Stimulants, steroids
and scandal

What happened
to Germany?

A coaching
odyssey

ISSUE 045

2022 BOAT RACES
Honours even as race
returns to Tideway

DRAWING LEVEL

BROOKE MOONEY

VARESE, ITALY

PHYSIOLOGY

Jeannine Gmelin

Emily Spiegel and Amanda
Kraus on gender equality

Discusses breaking the
women’s 2k indoor record

2021 European Rowing
Championships coverage

The polarisation of
athletes’ body types

ISSUE 046

Order and
Chaos
Meet Martin
Mackovic

Caileigh
Filmer
Big Wheel’s big
ambition

Reviewed
2022 World
Rowing Cup I
and II

Chris Dodd
A triple
draught of
Henley

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NOV / DEC 2022
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Anchored in
economic uncertainty

TWO MEN WENT TO RIO
Ireland’s colourful
rowing history

GOLDEN GOODBYE
Grace Prendergast
bows out

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MAY / JUN 2022

VINCENT’S VISION
WORLD ROWING’S NEW
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

STAYING AFLOAT

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RAČICE
BOAT RACE 2022
ANTICIPATION BUILDS
ON THE TIDEWAY

Donata Karaliene

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2022

YOU ONLY
RETIRE TWICE
HAMISH
BOND

Behind
Blue Eyes

HAPPY
DAYS

JAN / FEB 2023

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mike teti

America’s most wanted

JUL / AUG 2022

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sarasota 2017

World champs review

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Australia’s Josh Dunkley-Smith

MARK DAVIES
THE CHAIR OF BRITISH
ROWING OPENS UP

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NOV 2017

135 years
strong

AUG

ISSUE 019

MOE

What is it like to
train at altitude?

Henrik Rummel

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into
thin air

Legends of the Lagoa

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The Great Eights
previewed

SEP OCT 2015

prepare for
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Paralympics report
from Rio

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Rachel
Quarrell

AMERICA’S
FINEST

MAY / JUN 2021

The Head of the
Charles 2016

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Donna
MCLuskie

A look at life
after rowing

360

crossing
the line

On the state
of the Union

RACHEL
QUARRELL

THE NEXT
FIFTY YEARS

Leading the Brazilian
charge for 2016

OCT

NOV 2016

DECADE of
DOMINANCE
The US Women’s Eight

THE SYMMETRY
OF SWEEP

SEP 2016

ISSUE 014

20 years at the top

360

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360

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World Indoor Rowing
Championships

From the horse’s mouth

Tom
George
Emerging

JOSY VERDONKSCHOT
IN CONVERSATION WITH
SARA HENDERSHOT

www.row-360.com

2022
YEAR IN
REVIEW
with Chris Perry + Camilla
Hadland-Horrocks

PROFILE

WORDS TOM RANSLEY

DENMARK’S DIVERSION

TOKYO TO PARIS
VIA HAWAII

he 2023 season is in full swing. Big
teams are making big decisions.
Selectors are pouring over internal
results, coaches are fine-tuning lineups, and athletes are bedding-in
boat skills. Years of planning,
strategy, and hard toil will soon fall
into place, or fall by the wayside.
The rowing world is marching,
inexorably, towards the 2023 World
Rowing Championships and a first
shot at Olympic qualification.
And then there’s Joachim Sutton.
At the time of writing, the 28-year-old Dane
is in a four-man boat off the coast of California.
The other half of Denmark’s Olympic-medal-winning men’s pair, Frederic Vystavel, is not.
“Fred is going to love it,” laughs Sutton.
I caught up with Sutton twice before he embarked on his ocean crossing: via Zoom before
the season opener in Zagreb, “chilling at home
between sessions,” and again – briefly – with
Vystavel, lakeside, at Bled, Slovenia, at the
2023 European Rowing Championships.
“He's a very chill guy. The nicest guy you
are ever going to meet. And I'm a complete
a--hole when I'm rowing. I'm sure Fred is
going to enjoy one and a half months of
peace!”

T

PROFILE

While other elite, flat-water pairs
sharpen up at Varese, Henley Royal,
and Lucerne Regatta, Sutton and Vystavel will follow divergent paths. As a
sleep-deprived Sutton slogs for 2,800
miles to Hanalei Bay in Kauai, Hawaii,
Vystal will cross-train alone, mostly on
the bike.
Sutton and his ocean-going crew
left Monterey, California, on June the
12th, with the hope of making landfall
about four weeks later. They are
aiming to become the first Scandinavian boat to row across the Pacific
Ocean. (Fans of Anders Svedlund
a.k.a ‘The Crazy Swede’, an ocean
rowing pioneer and naturalised New
Zealander who was born in Sweden,
might point to Svedlund’s 191 day solo
row, in 1974, from Chile to West Samoa via Tahiti. Fortunately, Svedlund,
himself, was never much into records
and achievement instead preferring
to concentrate on the spiritual and
philosophical gifts afforded to one
alone at the oars.)
It’s an atypical approach to Olympic qualification. Sutton’s seems unperturbed: “No one makes the rules.
There's no one that says, ‘You can't
row a Pacific Ocean and then qualify
for the Paris Olympics’. I will try to
make my own rules.” Anyway, Paris
was never part of his plan.

Second act
“You made a good first album: you
should have called it quits,” said Sutton, grinning as he succinctly sums
up the risks of a second Olympic

campaign. If he’s phased, he doesn’t
show it. But does his Olympic medal
raise the stakes for Paris?
“I feel free. It sounds stupid but I
have my medal, no one can take that
away from me. And it’s the one that
counts. I’m good, I feel set. I know
who I am. Win or lose, it will be ok. I'm
comfortable with what I'm doing.”
For many, the grind of international
rowing loses its appeal once an Olympic medal is slung around one’s neck.
“We did what we wanted; we got a
medal. Great! I was satisfied.”
After Tokyo Sutton dived back
into his academic work, completing a
Business and Organizational Anthropology Master’s (his thesis was
on recruiting diversity at a C-suite
leadership level) and the corporate
world of venture capital and recruitment beckoned. “I was satisfied doing
something else.”
Six months later, “Fred suggested
we have another go at it, a second
run at the Games. At first I said no.
I was doing ok; I had a job and Fred
didn't.” But, admits Sutton, “I might
not be the type to sit at a desk,” and
he jumped at the chance to row the
Pacific.
“I said yes to the ocean project
and I thought there’s no way I’ll keep
rowing; impossible.”
Sutton under-estimated Vystavel’s
persistence. “He put the pressure on
by telling everyone he’d only row if I
did. An article came out [in Denmark]
saying, ‘If Joachim wants it, then
Fred’s all in’. I thought, ‘If you want to

“There's no one that says, ‘You
can't row a Pacific Ocean and then
qualify for the Paris Olympics’. I
will try to make my own rules. ”

row, just f---ing row! You don't need
me!’”
Inspired by Ross Edgeley, the extreme-endurance athlete who swam
around the coast of Great Britain,
and “folks you read about who make
up their own rules,” Sutton gradually
came around to the idea of attempting an Olympic comeback alongside
the Pacific row.
“So we are back at it.”

Past performance does not
guarantee future results
Before 2021 Sutton had only featured
in two A-Finals. His best international
result was a fifth place finish, in the
M4-, at the 2017 World Rowing Championships. The following year, in the
same boatclass, the Danes beat Chile
in the D-Final to dodge last place by
less than a second.
This Olympiad the Danish duo
hope to enjoy “how good we are or
how good we've been”. “We were
constantly trying to make it before
Tokyo and by the end we had some
real swag going on. Everything
clicked for us right before qualification and Tokyo; we were on a complete high.”
“I still want to do well in Paris
though,” cautions Sutton. “I feel
like we can go and win the thing.
People might disagree; they probably will, they definitely will. I’m sure
the GB boys [Tom George and Ollie
Wynne-Griffith] will, and they should!
But we are good and we are doing
what we enjoy. A couple more years

PROFILE

“I feel free. It sounds
stupid but I have my
medal, no one can
take that away from
me. And it’s the one
that counts.”
of that, and no matter which way it goes we
will have a good time doing it.”
How do the pair feel compared with before Tokyo? “I've been trying to figure that
out. Physically we are super well off. Boatfeel-wise I think we are getting back into it
but have a way to go.”
“We’ve done something a bit different
this year, in terms of our workouts. At the
beginning of the year we did a couple of
months of super lower intensity, like five
hours every day. Then we moved to threshold stuff, and now we are doing at least
some race pace most days. I don't know
how well we will respond to it. This is a trial
year.”
Sutton’s return to international competition began with a World Cup bronze medal
at Zagreb, Croatia, and was followed by an
eighth-place finish at Europeans in Bled,
Slovenia. It wasn’t the result he had hoped
for: “If we don't make the A-Final at the
Europeans I'll be stressed out. You'll be able
to see me shaking down there”.
Fortunately, he was not a quivering wreck
when we met, the day after the Euros final.
“The field might be a little deeper than
before, but the main boats are about the
same. Mostly I'm looking at GB, Romania,
and Spain as benchmarks. Romania is
always up there.”
But for now, there’s the small task of
rowing the Pacific Ocean.

84

ROW360 // ISSUE 048

Right Frederic
Vystavel and
Joachim Sutton
win Olympic
bronze in Tokyo
(photo by Steve
McArthur).
Below Ocean
Warrior prepares
to cross the
Pacific.

ROW360 // ISSUE 048

85

PROFILE

Ocean warrior
“I've gone into it with the mentality of:
If I want it to happen, it will happen.”
What’s the closest thing you've done to
this? “Oh I don't know, walking to the
grocery store! I haven't done anything
like this.”
Sutton’s training in the men’s pair has
limited his time with the Ocean Warrior
crew. “We've done the mandatory stuff,
like sleeping on the boat and rowing
when it is dark but that's not difficult in
Denmark, it get's dark at like 3pm!”
How was it? “Not super comfortable
and there's nothing to do. For the row
I'll download all Tolkien's writings and
listen to those.” Sutton expects the team
to follow a daily pattern of two hours
on, two hours off, switching to four-hour
shifts at night.
“I’ll stick to the routine and if we win,
we win, and if we don’t, we don't. I'm not
going to kill myself; I’ll try not to go to
complete failure. That's what my coach
[Jen Vilhelmsen] is most afraid of, that I'll
get super competitive and go crazy for
30 days. I told him I'll be doing 3x12 minutes sessions out there; get the others
off the oars and row solo for 36 minutes!
He was like, ‘Don't!’”
Joking aside Sutton is confident of his
physical capacity: “I’ve worked harder
this year than ever before; I've been
grinding”. He’s enjoyed the longer, endurance-style training, for example nonstop ten-hour rows and 200km sessions
on the static bike but admits extreme
expedition rowing is unknown territory.
“I've had nights on camp where I'm
like, 'What am I doing!? This sucks. It is
hard enough to qualify [for an Olympics]
in and of itself but doing this other thing:
this is so stupid!’ I try to remind myself
that it is a good space to be in. If something freaks you out a bit, it is probably
healthy, probably a good thing; or at
least interesting. It motivates me.”
“I don't fear big sea,” adds Sutton.
“As long as I'm strapped on to the boat
then for all I care it can tilt over. I don't
fear anything, actually, but that could
be straight ignorance talking. I don't feel
frightened. The only thing I fear is that
my body breaks down prematurely and

86

ROW360 // ISSUE 048

to a greater degree than I expect.”
A key risk for Sutton (and the Danish
M2-) is the potential for weight-loss and
physical deterioration. “I'm interested
in seeing how big of a toll this is on my
body. Lasse lost circa 50lb on one of
his trips. I think it will be different if you
are used to eating 8000 calories a day,
and you are used to wear and tear. Most
people aren't.”
“It is going to be pragmatic the whole
way,” said Sutton, reiterating his priorities; don’t lose weight, don’t go too
hard, and get as much sleep as possible.
“Just to make sure this stupid thing can
resolve itself because I would feel terrible
if we don't qualify. For Fred mostly.”
Has he consulted specialists? “You
know what, now you say it, that would
have been a good idea – to speak to
a nutritionist or sports scientist – but I
haven't. I haven't talked to anyone about
it,” he laughs. “You should have told me
last year!”
A saving grace might be Hansen’s “super, super talented chef” from Denmark
who makes “the nicest trail food in the
world” which is packed with calories. “I
will probably eat better out there than
I do at home,” said Sutton, before mentioning all the stowed Snickers, Mars bars

and other candy. Sugar highs aside
what will Sutton enjoy most? “Getting ashore! Besides that, I really look
forward to the nights: sitting under the
stars, listening to Pink Floyd.”
“One of the guys, Andreas, is my
childhood friend. We have a complete
bromance. We have been going at it
for like 20 years. I can sit and chat with
him all day, all night. He is kind of my
anchor out there.”

“It has become more like a wall to
climb, or a mission, as opposed to
some big, meaningful experience.”
Perhaps, having the Paris qualification helps reduce the pressure on
the ocean row? “It feels like a minor
thing that I have to get out of the
way, before the real stuff: in that way,
it doesn't feel, mentally, like a huge
endeavour.”
Pōmaika’i! ROW360

Main Ocean Warrior
tests the waters.
Top Expedition
supplies are checked
and rechecked before
packing.

ROW360 // ISSUE 048

87

GENERATION

Wycliffe Junior Rowing Club “A” [U4.22]
Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup Finalist
Henley Royal Regatta 2023

#beashark

PROFILE

WORDS TOM RANSLEY

Journey into
the Unknown
MEET SOFIA MEAKIN

G

rowing up as one of four siblings the
young Sofia Meakin could not always
rely on “taxi mummy!” Conveniently,
D'Aviron Vesenaz Rowing Club was
just 10 minutes by bike from her
family home in Geneva, Switzerland,
and her twin brother, David, added
extra inspiration after returning from
boarding school in Durham, England,
having discovered the “cool” new
sport of rowing.
It is from her family home in Geneva where Meakin logs in for our interview, before driving the four hour
journey back to the training centre in
Sarnen. Buoyant and brimming with
energy Meakin is fresh from her day
off but also buzzing with renewed

enthusiasm for the sport having
made the jump to openweight. The
last time we spoke was in Sabaudia,
Italy, after Meakin won a world cup
LW1x bronze medal. It was 2021: the
year her Tokyo dreams crumbled.
Over the course of an hour, the
business management student,
discusses how best to keep rowing
relevant, protect its position in the
Olympics, and shares her sporting
journey which she hopes to conclude, centre-stage at the five-ringed
circus.

Life in the team
With Paris 2024 on the horizon,
life as a fulltime Swiss rower is an
all-consuming existence. Meakin
lives at the training centre with her
teammates and admits “me time” is
a rarity. “I’d like a bit more time to
myself but thankfully I get along with
my team.”
She used to live in Lucerne, a
40-minute round trip to the training
centre, but moved because, “those
40-minutes are precious! Since Ian
[Wright, Switzerland’s head coach]
arrived most of the team live at the
centre because we train so much”.

PROFILE

Wright led Switzerland to Olympic
gold at Rio 2016 before coaching in
Australia. He returned to Switzerland
post-Tokyo. “He is known internationally as being a hard coach,” says
Meakin but believes Wright’s approach is nuanced. “When he arrived,
he was aware that he had a really
young team and I think he gradually
built the load.”
“There's no secrets in rowing,
you just have to do the work,” says
Meakin with almost religious fervour.
A typical day at Sarnen starts with
25km on the water, regardless of
boat type, and, with the exception of
lifting weights, alternative modalities
are generally eschewed in favour
of more time rowing, either on the
water or indoors on the erg. Week in,
week out, triple-session days spawn
a monastic approach to mileage.
“It is very repetitive. Honestly, for
the mind and the head it is tough.”
So, the cross-country skiing camp in
January, in San Moritz, was something of a team treat. Likewise, Meakin giddily recalls a land-based camp
in December at one of Switzerland’s
multi-sport Olympic centres.
“The infrastructure is insane.
There's everything that you could
possibly need, swimming pools,
athletic tracks, football pitches, basketball courts, everything you can
imagine. It was cool, a real alternative
week. We erged for two hours in
the morning every day. Then, in the

“I was trying to
rush the rehab,
but I quickly
understood that
wasn't going to
happen.”

Main Sofia Meakin
celebrates on
the podium at
Sabaudia, Italy.
Left At the start
of a long, slow
recovery postsurgery.

afternoon, we would usually do a fun
session like water polo, basketball
or volleyball, and in the evening lift
weights.”
The thought of a two hour erg
elicits an involuntary yelp and I practically feel my spine quiver! “It makes
me laugh when you say, ‘Two hours
of erg!’ because, yes, it is insane, but
we try to make it as fun as possible,
like themed playlists. Once we did
an hour where all of the songs had a
connection to Paris.” Oh là là!
Meakin’s preference is for short
interval sessions. “Unfortunately, we
didn't have much of that during the
winter but now it is starting to come.
We are starting to get into the fun
stuff.”
She’s earnt it. If not for the long
winter then for last year’s missed
season. Meakin was forced to sit out
the summer due to carpal tunnel
syndrome, surgery, and a protracted
recovery.
“The coat of the muscle would not
expand enough: that was the initial
problem but when they operated
they realised there was a nerve problem with one of my arms, so it took
longer to rehab. I was trying to rush
the rehab and get back for Worlds
but I quickly understood that wasn't
going to happen.

ROW360 // ISSUE 048

93

PROFILE

“I had time, that doesn't happen often in
rowing! I realised I had time to come back
from it and I thought, ‘Don't mess it up
because if it continues next year then that is
really going to be annoying’.”
She spent time rebuilding fitness by
running, swimming, and cycling. Meakin
watched the team progress without her,
“[It] gave me the fire in my belly to keep on
training”.
Fast-forward to this season and Meakin has found her way back into the Swiss
team, as stroke of the women’s quad. “We
have more testing in June because new
people are coming back from the States,”
says Meakin who knows their early season
results will influence crew selection later in
the summer.
“The goal of the season is to qualify for the
Olympics. The Swiss team has to qualify as
many boats as possible, so that as many girls
as possible can go to Paris. It is a team goal.
Next year I will tell you, 'I want to be in the
priority boat for Paris' but this year, of course

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I care where I am, but even if I am not in
the priority boat, the goal is to qualify.”
How big a motivation is Paris 2024?
“Honestly, we think about it every day. I
work well with short term goals but all
these goals lead to Paris. The world stops
after Paris. My whole life is based around
rowing at the moment, all my daily decisions, everything I do is Paris-related.
Geneva is just a one hour flight from the
host city and Meakin says she can already
feel local anticipation. “I can feel the build
up. Everyone I see from outside of rowing
are talking about Paris, ‘Yes, I've booked
my tickets!' For them it is really soon. For
the athletes it is soon but also a very, very
long time away because there are so many
steps before getting there.”
“It is a dream!” She catches herself douses her excitement – and then continues more cautiously, “Maybe we don't get
to go. It is a terrible thing to say but that's
sport. You never know. Honestly, anything
can happen, look at 2021.”

Road to Paris 2024
Meakin called time on her lightweight career
after the wreckage of her Tokyo dreams. “It
was impossible to imagine doing that for
another three years to Paris.” A push-pull decision was “almost made for me” by doctors.
They said it was, “unhealthy and that I might
not be able to have kids if I continue [as a
lightweight],” says Sofia Meakin.
With a height of 183cm Meakin is very tall
for a lightweight and found it increasingly
hard to make weight: “I would diet the whole
year, and as the years went by it became
harder and really unhealthy.”
The lure of the Swiss Olympic Team drove
Meakin on. She won a gold medal in the
lightweight women’s double at the 2019 Under 23 world champs and Meakin was riding
high “on my little cloud” before a “reality
check” several weeks later at senior Worlds.
At the time the expectation was that
Tokyo would be the last Olympics to include
lightweight rowing. “In my head it was like,
'Okay it is only a year, I can do this’. But that

“There are
no secrets
in rowing,
you just
have to do
the work.”

year became two because of the postponement. It was a long time.”
“It is a bit complicated,” says Meakin
describing the selection process for the
Swiss women’s lightweights. “It is not like
other countries where they trial four girls.
Unfortunately with this project it is really
two against two.”
The longstanding Swiss lightweight
double of Patricia Merz and Frederique
Rol – who train independently of the
squad – were, and still are, the ones to
beat. Ultimately, Meakin missed out. “Tokyo
year was a rollercoaster,” she says, shards
of frustration and sadness still present in
her voice. Meakin caught Covid at just the
wrong moment.
“I was doing really well but at trials I got
Covid. The team decided they would postpone the trials for me. When we had to do
trials again one of the other girls broke her
rib and there was no time to trial again.
Just before Tokyo they said, 'well, we know
that this double works because they have

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95

PROFILE

“We think
about it
every day.
I work well
with short
term goals
but all these
goals lead
to Paris. The
world stops
after Paris.”

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been rowing for years.' Honestly, I could
see it coming because I knew that the
more we waited to retrial the less chance
there was for me to get into the boat.”
By the end of the year she felt, “there’s
something missing” and decided it was a
good moment to press pause. She completed a six-month marketing internship
with the newly founded International
Swimming League, before coming back to
try her luck as an openweight. (Her father
is a former international swimmer.)
“My erg was good as a lightweight and
I knew I could improve on that by going
heavyweight.” During the Covid lockdowns Meakin smashed nine lightweight
world records on the Concept 2 (she still
holds most of them).
Another plus for Meakin was the extra
seats available as an openweight. “There
are so many more opportunities in the
heavyweight group,” says Meakin. “What
really motivated me was that the openweight group started developing. More
and more girls were improving and it
was like there was this group calling me,
waiting for me.”
She has no regrets. “I'm rowing in
different boats and with different people.
It is super exciting,” says Meakin. “It is very
different. I feel like I've started a different
sport.” Does she miss the lightweight
single, a boatclass in which she became a
world cup winner and European medallist? “Now, if I had to chose between a
single and a crew boat: it’s a crew boat a
thousand times over, no question!”
Meakin will be 30 years old come Los
Angeles 2028. She admits the likely lack
of lightweight events also influenced her
decision to go openweight, and the shorter course appeals.
“The fact that it is 1.5km is really
interesting for me. I am better at the
shorter distances. For now, it is hard to
see beyond Paris. I know I have to finish
my studies after Paris, but we will see.
Maybe I will miss the sport so much that
I’ll want to do it for another three years.
It depends on who continues in the team
and how my love for the sport evolves.”
The phasing out of lightweight events
has left it mark in other ways. “I'm just

scared that the IOC starts by taking out
lightweights and then it will be the pairs
because you already have doubles and
fours, so you don't need the pairs, and
then it will be the quads because you
have eights and fours. You know what I
mean? I'm scared it will go in that direction.”
Meakin remains unconvinced by longer
coastal competitions – “I don’t know who
will watch?” – but welcomes the “evolution” of Beach Sprints. “It’s fun, entertaining, and short. That’s what people like to
watch. It is on the beach: there is a bit
of running on the sand and it has a cool
atmosphere. A chill environment: That will
attract more people.”
Having peered into the abyss – shock,
horror a world without rowing! – Meakin
moots ways to save the patient.

Are you not entertained?
“For me, it is okay because it is my sport
and I love it, but if you don't know the
sport, you don't care. Rowing is cool for
rowers but even my parents, who watch
me - their daughter! - get bored. If you
don't know the sport, it is so boring. We
need to make it a bit cooler, and attract
more spectators and young people.”
How? “There are a lot of things we
could change to make this sport more
attractive. Firstly, the distance. Why can
swimmers and runners do multiple events
at a world championships, but we can't?
Max it’s two: when people jump into the
eight for example.”
Meakin suggests a “sprint Worlds”, held
immediately after the world championships.
“Different and shorter distances could
be a lot more interesting and bring more
people into the sport: it would be much
cooler to watch. Seven minutes of racing
is too long, and of just the same movement!
“There are so many new sports that are
becoming trendy. For example, kitesurfing which will now be at the Olympics: A
super fast sport with foils and adrenaline.
We have to find new ways to make rowing
more attractive otherwise it is just going
to [peter out] ...” ROW360

WORDS STUART SIM // PHOTOGRAPHY SCOTT EKLUND OF RED BOX PICTURES

FOREVER
CLOSE
A stalwart, steward of swing rewinds
the clock at Windermere

COXING

Back in a boat but not on the rudder,
Stuart Sim, a Tokyo 2020 Olympian and
University of Washington alum, revisits
the Windemere Cup. The Windermere
Cup is an annual series of rowing races
hosted by the University of Washington
in Seattle, Washington.
As a freshman cox Sim steered the
UW Freshmen Men’s 8+ to an undefeated regular season and won the Pac-12
and IRA National Championships. In the
2014 and 2015 seasons he coxed the UW
Varsity 8+ to consecutive wins at Pac12 and the IRAs, before taking a year
out to pursue an Olympic campaign with
the Australian M8+. He returned for the
2017 season and won the Schoch Cup,
Windermere Cup, and Pac-12 Championships. Sim retired after Tokyo 2020
and now works in the US at Frabrica, a
digital real estate start-up.

t’s race day and
I’m watching
the clock count
down. 7:35am. I
said I’d be at the
dock at 8am, I
can’t be late. I’m
not even racing
but the timeliness of crew has
been imprinted
so deep in my
psyche that it
still makes me
anxious.
I quickly wrap
up my chicken rice and egg burrito on
the stove and throw it in some foil and
huck it into my bag. I’m trying to put
as much weight between me and my
former coxswain self. Looking outside I
can’t read the weather. I think it’s raining, classic Seattle, but actually maybe
it's not. Still, I grab a spare pair of pants
because I don’t want to be spending
the day on a yacht tied up on the log
boom at Windermere Cup, watching
UW take on the Australian National
Team and all the other races while

I
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wearing wet pants. Damn, I’ve gotten
soft. A stark contrast to being OK sitting as a coxswain in freezing temperature, on a cold winter row, where
icicles form underneath the riggers. In
those sessions, you just know it’s going
to be cold, and you are good with it.
You sit still and once the practice starts
the cold disappears. You don’t realize

your legs are numb until the boat pulls
back to the dock at the end, and you
somehow fall upwards out of your seat
onto a wet dock. The guys try to find
their slides or sneakers in as few steps
as possible to avoid wet socks, but you
are already soaked so who cares.
Leaving my apartment, I quickly
find a Lime Bike and head on over to

“7:59am and
I’m on the dock,
perfect. Just on
time. I breathe
a sigh of relief.”

the old ASUW Shellhouse at the start
of the Montlake Cut. A has-been of a
building, a shadow of its former self.
The Boys in the Boat movie is meant
to come out this year and paint a lively
picture of the home base of one of the
greatest sports stories in American
history – even as an Australian the story
hypes me up…but maybe that’s my UW

rowing bias – here it is, still standing,
but standing quite a bit past its glorious best. Coach Callahan wants to do
something about it. Him, the school,
and the rowing stewards are trying
to restore the building, give it some
energy, give it some life. There’s hope
for the building to make a comeback.
Maybe there’s hope for me too.
7:59am and I’m on the dock, perfect.
Just on time. I breathe a sigh of relief.
Weird though, I can’t see anyone else
who is meant to be on the yacht.
Maybe I’m the only one taking this time
thing seriously, or did I get the time
wrong? Nope. I see Sam Dommer and
Eric Ledbetter arrive in two dinghies to
ferry us to their boats. I won national
championships with both of these guys
at UW in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Dommer is an Olympian too. We catch
up every couple of months for a 3 mile
walk around Greenlake. Inevitably, these
pre-work chats turn into much-needed
therapy sessions about both our Olympic experiences. We both won a lot at
UW, but our national team experiences
left much to be desired.
In the lead up to Tokyo I knew we
were slow. I think about some of the
recaps we did during that campaign. I
look at my notes from May 25th, 2021,
about 10 weeks before the Olympics
were due to start:

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101

COXING

“All of this winning in
my career and that's
the last time I race? An
ass kicking in multiple
ways. A sore loser?
You betcha.”
“Honestly, the last couple of weeks
(since World Rowing Cup 1 simulation
in April) have really made me lose a
long-term perspective and outlook,
along with confidence. I'm trying not
to be in a frantic survival mode which
would lead to a result like the Beijing
Aussie 8+. I think the quality of the
rowing has dropped and is starting to
move away from an obvious signature
and the stroke is becoming more and
more complicated. Right now, looking
back 6 months from now I would love
to be saying something like "How f---ing
good it was that we were able to push
through a pretty average campaign to
come together and race really well when
it mattered the most. In parts, having
a fun time together on the water. We
stayed mature and did what we had to
do". I think we are on a good page with
each other personally and hope that
there isn't anything obvious that we haven't addressed or missed looking back
on things.”
But we didn’t address it. We saw it
and didn’t address it. Damn. I know the
Beijing 8+ guys were hurting 12 seconds
off of the gold medal in 6th place. We
came 6th too. To the uninitiated, that
means we came last. Our margin at Tokyo was also 12 seconds off of gold. History repeats and rhymes in this case. All
of this winning in my career and that's
the last time I race? An ass kicking in
multiple ways. A sore loser? You betcha.

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So, I jump in with Eric and we hover
around the dock as some other friends
from the class of 2015 finally arrive and
jump in. Putting to the yacht we have
the warm-up course to our port side; I’m
trying to recognize if these are the UW
boats warming up.
Just three days before I made it down
to watch the UW guys at a practice.
Sit in the launch and come up with the
occasional thing to say to them. Give the
guys some confidence that they can win
it all (because they can!). As we were
wrapping up the session, we rowed by
the big tug barge that installed the log
boom. It’s got one of the biggest American flags I’ve seen hanging from it. To
me, this is the big sign of the Windermere Cup and the closing stages of the
season. I grab the megaphone from the
floor of the launch and start an impassioned speech to the guys about how
much my life sucks being stuck behind
a computer all day. Yeah, I’ve got some
great colleagues, but we exist a world
apart through the few Zoom meetings
where we get to interact. I’m only 30
and not too far removed from all the
rowing but I feel removed. I’m searching
to find something to clutch onto. It feels
good to be here though. Lucky enough
to come out and watch them train.
They’ve got it good, and I want them to
really appreciate where they are in their
life. Here they are, nine young men in the
pursuit of excellence. Forging a bond

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103

COXING

“Maybe that’s all I’ll ever be
aren’t careful. Always clos
whatever that n
around a common goal of winning a national championship. A goal that few will
understand the lengths you have to go
to to win, and that even fewer will reach.
We make it to the yacht and I’m
greeted by some familiar faces. Alex
Bunkers from the class of 2013, he was
captain in my freshman year and his wife,
fellow Australian and 2014 Husky rower
Maddie Cordner. Alex was a talented
and hardworking rower. We share some
stories about my freshman fall when we
did some mixed lineups, and he stroked
the boat. Callahan asked him after if I
was any good and Bunkers was quite
complimentary. I always feel seen when
he shares that. Bunkers didn’t go to the
Olympics. After college he tried his hand
at a startup or two before ending up
coaching at Brown for a couple of years
before starting a new job at a tech company last year. We’ve traded phone calls
over the years, discussing the transition
of rowing into “real life” and how difficult
it can be.
My story isn’t too far off that of Bunkers’, instead of becoming a coach I was
able to get back into the sport. Midway
through UW I trialled my way into the
Aussie Men’s 8+ in the lead up to Rio. We
didn’t qualify at the Lucerne last chance
regatta but got knocked out by the US Dommer was the bowman in that boat.
I came back to UW for my senior year
of school and for rowing, then joined a
local startup in Seattle for a couple of
years, headed by Howard Lee, a former
UW rower. At the end of 2019 I got the

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invite back to the Australian team to see
if I’d add anything to the Tokyo boat. I
didn’t even know if I wanted it. I hadn’t
coxed since 2017. It was a gamble for
me to go back. I had a good life here.
Great friends and a well-paying job. But
one of the guys messaged me “If you’re
half as good as you were back then, we
could use you.” So I packed up my life in
Seattle and headed back to Australia to
try and make the team in December. A
7-month Olympic campaign, I thought.
How good? Good in theory but I had
to be careful when I got back though. I
didn’t want to lie to the guys and say I
hadn’t been in a boat for years now. You
aren’t going to make any friends with
guys who have spent the last 3 years at
the training center (and many years before that) if they don’t think you deserve
to be there. I made the team in March of
2020. One week later they sent us home.
All of a sudden my 7-month campaign
turned into something much longer. But
I made it.
“You know any guys in the boat?”
Bunkers asks me as he watches me unwrap my foil burrito with curiosity. I said
only one of the guys was at the training
center in 2021 and was a spare for Tokyo.
A couple I kind of knew by name but
they were mostly younger guys trying
to make it onto their first senior teams
so not really. “What’s the margin going
to be?” he continued. “Ten seconds,
UW win,” I answered without hesitation.
Carlos Dinares, a Spanish rower and now
co-host of the Rowing Revolution had

sent me a text asking the same question,
not that I needed much time to think
about it then either. I was really excited
when I heard the Aussies were coming to
Windermere this year. After Tokyo I came
straight to the US to avoid the ongoing
lockdowns that were still happening in
Australia, so I hadn’t really seen many of
the guys since. Great Britain sent their
best guys in 2013, New Zealand sent
their real 8 in 2014. But the Australians,
not this year I guess. It’s strange how
rowing is. You spend much of your post
high-school rowing career at the training
center, training day in and day out on the
same body of water, 3x a day 6x a week.
You get invited to compete at the biggest 1-day regatta in the world and the
national team doesn’t want to give those
guys the reward to go. I guess it's a risk.
You don’t want your best guys getting
beat by a “college crew” who row half as
much and go to class all week.
All of a sudden we hear the blaring of
the first few boat horns. Racings started.
The first 1500m is lined with yachts. This
year the scheduled rain definitely scared
a few off from coming but it was still an
impressive turnout. Waves after waves

e and who we ever are if we
se to being the next thing,
next thing is.”
– STUART SIM

of masters and high school racers start
coming down the course. Just three
minutes apart in some cases. It’s quick.
In some cases it’s hard to tell which race
is which as a leader catches a struggling
boat from the race before. Only four
lanes into the last 500 meters of the Cut
which is walled on both sides. But some
races have five boats! You hope some
boats are going to fall back.
I find a Corona in the cooler. It’s just
after 10am and it's only 60 degrees. But
it’s Windermere Cup and I’m a spectator,
so I guess that’s what I should do. It’s
probably my only drink for the weekend.
I don’t even like it.
All of a sudden there are even more
horns blasting everywhere. Bunkers
found a safety horn on our boat and is
giving that a good go as the UW JV and
3V race by in the same race. It’s close.
Oof, it’s always a good race when two
competitive boats from the same program get to have a go at each other on
race day when it means something. Our
yachts at the 1000m mark. JV is in the
lead just. They zoom by.
Now it's the UW Varsity Women vs
the Aussie Women. UW looks in control

early on. They beat Cal pretty handily
the week before in the Duel. This race is
settled. UW women win, good first step.
There’s finally a chance for a breath. The
spacing between races has increased to
10 minutes so they can let the wake from
the few official boats following the race
die down.
Here come the men. I pull out my
phone to see the live timing. 1:19 UW
goes through the first 500m with the
Aussies in 1:21. A good start we all think.
Maybe on the too fast side even. I like
that they’re in front. The phone goes
back in the pocket. This is live now baby.
Somehow, I’ve finished my drink. The
quickest morning Corona I’ve had in my
life. Everyone on the boat starts knocking each other's arms. “We got em,”
they’re saying. They pass us at the 1000,
UW in 2:43.0 and the Aussies 2:47.4.
Closer than I thought. Maybe I should’ve
told Bunkers the margin was going to
be less. Hedge my bets with what I told
Carlos. Why do I need to be right? I
think. It’s just a race. But there’s something more here. I’m struggling with my
identity as a winner at my time at UW
and my crushing defeat with the Aussies
at Tokyo. When I got back to Seattle
after the Games I had so much support
from people who didn’t give a sh-- about
rowing. But they saw me on TV and were
like, “I know him!” to their friends. They
tell me this and I’m never sure how to
feel. Humbled that they think I’m one of
the top “athletes” that they know. Embarrassed that we came dead f---ing last.

Who am I? Am I a Husky or an Australian Olympian? Can I be both? Half the
national team hate guys who make the
jump across to the US to get a degree
and try to come back. UW came back
strongly against Cal the week before in
fast conditions. Are they going to pull
away here? 4:12 to 4:19. It looks like it.
We hardly can see anything happen in
the Cut. But we can hear it. Even more
cheers and what sounds like some
cannons fired off from the Seattle Yacht
Club boats. 5:39 to 5:48. UW Wins. Nine
seconds the margin. I was close.
And maybe that’s all I’ll ever be and
who we ever are if we aren’t careful.
Always close to being the next thing,
whatever that next thing is. For some it’s
Damir Martin at the Rio Olympics close
to a gold medal, to others it’s making
it out of your high school 3rd eight.
Maybe it’s that promotion you’ve been
hoping for or you’re close to getting
that excuse you need to quit your job.
Or maybe it should be close to people.
Your friends, family and loved ones. You
are close to them, and they don’t see
you with the critical eyes that you see
yourself with. They know you and see
you and that brings you close. You see
them back for who they are and for all
the good things they’ve accomplished,
even if they think they’ve failed. We can
look at all the momentum we had. All
the good times with good crews that
we had. Riding a crest of an invisible
wave that makes the boat swing like
Pocock said. ROW360

ROW360 // ISSUE 048

105

WORDS ROW360 // PHOTOGRAPHY ELLEN DE MONCHY

Peter Spurrier
Obituary

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There have already been many obituaries
of Peter Spurrier, the renowned rowing
photographer who died aged 77 in mid-April
2023 after heart problems. This is a joint
commemoration of the great man from the
Row360 writers, athlete-turned-editor Tom
Ransley, and contributor Rachel Quarrell, who
knew Pete for thirty years.

R

unning through
our thoughts
is the fact that
Pete himself
would have been
surprised at the
fuss. His whole
modus operandi
was unassuming, calm, contained.
Although he fully knew his worth as
a top-class rowing photographer, he
wasn't impressed by showing off,
so he didn't do it himself. As others
became noisier and showed off
more, he became quieter and more
reserved. Not in any way shy, but
reserving judgement, not competing
for space.
Rachel Quarrell first met Pete
Spurrier after being adopted by the
massed GB rowing hacks in 1993.
Thanks to Dan Topolski and Hugh
Matheson, members of a badly
behaved bunch of OUBC alumni
whom she occasionally coxed in
masters races, she was invited to
join the press boat, to cheer her up
when as the Observer and Independent rowing correspondents
they were following the Boat Race
crews just after she'd been binned as
a trialling cox. Membership of BARJ
(the British Association of Rowing
Journalists, of which Spurrier was
later treasurer) followed. Amongst
the flamboyant talents of Topolski,
Matheson, Geoffrey Page, Chris
Dodd and Mike Rosewell, Spurrier
was always there, getting on with his
job in the background.

While others moaned histrionically
about bad FISA Wi-Fi connections,
results errors or not understanding new technology, Pete quietly
mastered new cameras and digital
photo editing. He had his share of
great stories from the circuit, but
tended to tell them only when with
close friends, rather than trying to
cap anecdotes at dinner with others.
For him, actions spoke much louder
than words, and actions were what
he photographed. He had particular
friends on the international rowing
circuit, not necessarily all photographers, and was widely known and
respected by a large range of rowers
and coaches, past and present, from
many countries.
In the late 2010s, when Chris
Dodd and Quarrell founded the
Rowing Voice online magazine in
an attempt to encourage a new
audience for independent UK rowing
coverage, Spurrier did them the
most enormous favour by agreeing a
laughably low rate to use his photos.
Articles on the state of international rowing, coverage of the ins
and outs of what was then called
the Amateur Rowing Association,
top events including the Beijing and
London Olympics were all enhanced
by Pete's shots. Games, Worlds,
Boat Races, Henley, international
events at dozens of famous venues:
he was always there. His Intersport
Images online galleries are full of
candid land-side pictures of famous
rowing figures captured often

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107

OBITUARY

apparently without their knowledge,
which summed up the person. Coaches
deep in conversation with their crews,
luminati of the World Rowing community snapped while watching great racing:
he always had a picture and always a
good one.
And that wasn't even counting his
uncanny ability to find the right place to
stand or sit for the perfect angle. It was
a standing comment amongst writers
that every time he discovered a new
perspective from which to shoot rowing
action, within hours the rest of the
snapper pack would have copied him.
Many a time he eschewed the bunfight
at the start pontoon or finish line raft in
favour of a side-on or hillside viewpoint,
where with top-class camera equipment
and the experience of decades, he still
captured brilliant pictures of everyone
on his list.
Born in the filmstock era, Spurrier
learned his trade back when getting the
right shot straight away was a premium
skill. This translated even into the digital
decades, and he was a master at shooting just one or two frames to get his
high-quality pictures. Even better (for
editors) he weeded out any duff ones
from his galleries, and often managed to
catch the same type of shot both portrait and landscape, a boon when trying
to lay out a good-looking page. Finding
a top-class ‘Pete shot’ involved just a
quick scan through a handful of classy
pictures, all fully labelled, albeit he had
a charmingly idiosyncratic approach
to spelling names which hopefully the
custodians of his photographic legacy
won't change.
For many years he was the official
photographer for the GB Rowing Team,
overlapping with Row360 editor Tom
Ransley's rowing career. Synchronising a
men's eight is no easy task, on or off the
water. Invariably podium photos have at
least one pair of eyes looking elsewhere.
But, fortunately, the GB crews big and
small had Peter Spurrier.
Someone in the crew would spot
Pete's friendly, familiar face. "All eyes on
Pete, now". It was a bit of a habit really.
They'd always make sure Pete got his
crew celebration shot and before racing
it was always nice to see "their" pho-

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tographer on the start pontoon. In New
Zealand, Spurrier, trying something a bit
different, laid prone on the podium floor
to capture another classic, the men's
silver-medal eight embracing in a circle
above him, grinning down at his lens.
A search on Intersport Images finds

images from Ransley's rowing days,
from training, camps and events. Spurrier captured the terrible haircuts, the
tedium of team announcement days,
and all the other highs, lows and pressure-cooker moments of international
competition. Pete was there for all

“Pete himself
would have been
surprised at the
fuss. His whole
modus operandi
was unassuming,
calm, contained.
He wasn't
impressed by
showing off, so
he didn't do it
himself.”

those moments and likewise for many
other athletes around the world from
years before and since.
Since switching from athlete to writer
Ransley got to know Pete more. He was
a welcome face in the media tent – but
more often than not they caught up out

by the lake or river rather than under
cover or behind a desk. Spurrier was a
calming force, grounded by nature, who
always had a smile and a quiet word to
say. His well-worn, been-there-done-that
presence was the best (and a welcome)
antidote to the stresses of looming
deadlines and general media-madness.
Unassuming and unpretentious, Pete
was a good guy. Down to earth and
always nice to be around.
Quarrell remembers her last full
evening with Spurrier. Having found
themselves at the Lucerne World Cup
2022 in early July, just after the utter
madness of the first six-day Henley
Royal Regatta, they arranged to go for
dinner together on the Saturday night.
The evening was an oasis of calm and
common sense in the eye of the frenetic
Lucerne storm, and Pete was at his best.
At the end of an excellent dinner they
said they'd do it again this year. It never
occurred to anyone that he wouldn't be
there in 2023.
We'll be raising glasses to you Pete.
Thanks for your company and for your
support: you are much missed. Rowing
has lost an absolutely stalwart family
member.

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109

FEATURE

WORDS BENEDICT TUFNELL

Pink Palace
Partnership
COLGAN FOUNDATION GETS ON
BOARD WITH LEANDER

Rowing clubs, regattas and rowers from New
Zealand to Philadelphia have benefited from
the philanthropic work of the Colgan Foundation since 1995. In June the foundation
announced its latest partnership – with the
world's oldest rowing club.

F

ounded in 1995 by ex U.S. lightweight international Sean Colgan,
the Colgan Foundation has grown
to support several causes globally with a focus on conservation,
education, athletics and mentorship. The Colgan Foundation
endorses the sport of rowing in particular, it
says, “because it teaches fundamental talents
of success in life”.
Leander claims to be the most successful rowing club in the world, with its athletes
winning 127 Olympic and Paralympic medals
since 1908. The club sent 23 rowers and one
Paralympic rower to the most recent games in
Tokyo.
Unlike any other rowing club in the UK,
Leander operates as a limited company but
remains a not-for-profit enterprise. Leander’s
rowing budget is funded predominantly by the
club’s membership and hospitality offerings,
and their high-performance rowing programme
feeds the GB Rowing Team with new talent.
Leander says its members and sponsors help
support aspiring athletes who have often put

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their careers on hold to pursue Olympic glory.
The five-year deal between the Colgan Foundation and Leander is targeted directly at the club’s
high-performance programme, supporting the
development of young rowers in their pursuit of
international success.
“The goal of the Colgan Foundation is to assist
young people to reach their full potential,” said
Sean Colgan, a Leander Club member since 2005.
“Excellence in an endeavour like rowing can easily

“Excellence in
an endeavour
like rowing
can easily
translate into
excellence in
other areas of
life... winners
are always
winners.”

translate into excellence in other areas of
life like business, medicine, etc. Winners are
always winners.”
Leander Club President, Mike Sweeney,
welcomed the creation of this partnership,
saying, “The objectives of Leander Club
and of the Colgan Foundation are a perfect
match. Both organisations seek to promote
individual development and encourage the
search for excellence. I am very much looking

forward to working with the Colgan Foundation during the next five years”.
John Collins, Leander Club Captain, said,
“This support from the Colgan Foundation
to Leander will be felt throughout the Club.
Their generosity gives the athletes a brilliant
opportunity to perform both on and off the
water. We are all grateful to Sean and his wife,
Dr. Bibi Colgan, for bringing their values and
support to the Club.” ROW360

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111

LAST WORD

Having made her international
debut at World Rowing Cup III
in Sabaudia, Italy, Bellamy went
on to stroke Great Britain’s
women’s four to a gold medal at the 2021 World Rowing
Under 23 Championships. The
following year she won a silver
medal in the eight. She learnt
to row at Marlow Rowing Club
before studying and rowing at
Oxford Brookes University and
now represents Leander Club in
Henley-on-Thames.

You started 2023 with a training camp in Sierra Nevada,
Spain, your first time at altitude. How did you find it?
It was a good return to training after
the Christmas break but talk about
baptism of fire! It certainly lived up
to the hype.

and this event was our main goal.
In the final we raced University of
London. We were a length down at
Fawley and our cox called a move;
against all odds we walked through.
It made the win feel all the more
epic.

Worst race?
World Rowing Cup III, Sabaudia, Italy
2021. We finished third in our heat
and decided to change our race
plan. Our aim was to win a silver
medal, but we ended up coming
fourth. It was gutting at the time,
but the experience gave the crew
lots of lessons and helped us move
forward.

Biggest strength?
My mental resilience. I’ve had some
major setbacks and each time I’ve
been able to reset and continue
to work on consistency of performance.

Why rowing?
The prospects of being England’s
number 10 were looking slim! In all
seriousness though, I started rowing
after a conversation I had with
Olympic champion Anna Watkins
about her career. Anna was my
Brownie leader when I was younger as she was volunteering for the
Girl Guides at the time. She was a
great role model and really inspiring.
Afterwards I felt a pull towards the
sport and decided to give it a go.
But who knows, maybe I’ll be taking
Raheem Sterling’s spot for the next
FIFA World Cup.

Favourite place to row and
why?
Varese, Italy. The scenery is incredible, and I’ve always loved the sun.

What would you like to be
better at?
Developing my strength on the erg.
This has always been an aspect of
my rowing which I need to work on
and improve.

Favourite session in programme?
Coffee break! I also enjoy crew boat
pieces as there’s always a lot of chat
and laughter.

Least favourite?
Anything to do with core or upper
body strength.

If not a rower, which sport
would you play?
Speed skater. Their training programme looks very cool.

Best race?
The Island Challenge Cup at HRR in
2021. It was the first year that women were able to compete in a university event. For my crew – Oxford
Brookes – it was the culmination of
years of hard work. We trained in
isolation throughout the pandemic

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Unusual talent?
I came fourth in the National Youth
Championships for chess in 2012.

Best piece of advice?
Don’t let other people’s doubts dictate your own success. ROW360

Q&A

Last
Word
Daisy
Bellamy

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