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Brit Champs – 3 Golds!

Friday – Club Singles

Magnificent performances from Lizzie Webster and Teddy Sherman – on holiday from University – saw Leicester claim the singles sculls trophies for both women and men.

Lizzie

A good start in her 8AM time trial gave her the 2nd fastest time.
In her semi-final, her and her close rival and friend Jen Titterington from Newark, were neck and neck, well clear of 3rd place, for 1900m, before Lizzie put the afterburners on and shot clear to claim the win.
In the final, Lizzie went out quickly and established a length lead over the Newark sculler. Showing great poise and skill, Lizzie controlled the race, just staying a length up, cruising to the win, by just over 1.5 seconds at the line.

Teddy

His time trial was just after Lizzies and he flew down the course, posting the quickest time by 4 seconds.
Teddy’s semi final was a well controlled affair. After being slightly down at the 500 mark, Teddy kept his nerve and steadily sculled out in front to win by over 6 seconds.
Getting away to a solid start in the final, Teddy was in 3rd place at halfway, nearly 4 seconds off the leader. Steadily upping the pace and going from a long way out, Teddy started to put the squeeze on the scullers in front. Still 2.5 seconds down with 500 to go, he upped the rate again, getting closer and closer to the leader Jamie Coombes – a former GB U23 World Championship Lightweight sculler – who dug in and threw everything at it. Teddy was, however, making progress, and a final rating push saw him crack his opponent from Hereford, to win by over 4 seconds.

Saturday – W J18 Singles

Eleanor

I think it’s fair to say that Eleanor has not had the best of times in her single competing at the bigger regattas. In her time trial she really showed what she can do and flew down the course, finishing a brilliant 7th.
The semi final was always going to be a tough race, and Eleanor dug in and raced very well, but couldn’t quite get in the top 3 to claim an A final spot.
Eleanor really backed up the maturity she’d shown in her previous 2 races in the final. Always being in a tight 2nd place, she competed magnificently and managed to negative split her 2k race. Being under pressure from Newark, Eleanor pushed hard to the line, holder her length and rhythm really well, eventually finishing over a length clear of 3rd place.

Sunday – W Club Doubles

Lizzie & Eleanor

Lizzie and Eleanor, although they haven’t been out in the double since their Henley Women’s Regatta win, started the ball rolling in excellent fashion, storming to a 5 second win in their time trial.
In their semi final, the closest rivals on paper were the double from Warwick. A fast start from Lizzie and Eleanor, gave them a length lead after just 250m. Sculling with great poise and feel for the boat, they crept slightly more ahead and eventually winning comfortably by nearly 4 seconds.
On to the final. Demonstrating their fast starting, Lizzie and Eleanor once agin shot into the lead. The PDA crew from Nottingham were not going to let them have it all their own way though and were working hard, trying to apply pressure. From the bank, it looked like who would crack first; could Nottingham push on more, would Leicester hold them off. There was no doubt! Lizzie and Eleanor, showing a coolness under pressure and with great determination and focus, always had the upper hand and kept the lead through the to the finish line.

This rounded of a magnificent year for the girls’ Aspiration 2x champions at Henley Women’s Regatta and now British Rowing Club Championships, Club 2x champions! What a year!

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Henley Royal Regatta – Princess Royal Challenge Cup

For international standard women single scullers.
There was never any surprise that Lauren Henry would be entered or that she would pre-qualify. After setting the world of rowing alight with her incredible winning margins and her record times, HRR looked like just another stepping stone to be navigated. However, for Lizzie Webster, fresh from winning the Rosie Mayglothling Trophy for Aspirational Double Sculls at Henley Women’s Regatta, it was going to be a tough challenge.

Qualification

The first step for Lizzie was to qualify. 17 athletes entered, only 12 to compete and in the qualification round, she’d need to be in the top 4.

In very challenging conditions, with a strong head wind blowing straight up the course, Lizzie sculled bravely and showed great determination. Her coach Howard Marsh said to her as she boated, “it’s not going to feel great out there, but you will go fast, just keep working all the way!”
Jubilation for Lizzie she had qualified. Now on to the first round, on Thursday.

First Round

As Lauren is one of the seeded athletes, she sat this round out and wouldn’t be in action until Friday.
Lizzie came up against the Canadian Shannon Kennedy, who won the international standard quad sculls event at last years HRR.
It was a brilliant experience for Lizzie who, although didn’t manage to win, found the whole experience incredible.
Lauren was drawn against the very experienced Lithuanian, who won a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the single sculls.
After being side-by-side for the first 3 and a half minutes, Lauren steadily pulled away to take a commanding lead, eventually winning comfortably by 4 1/2 lengths.

The Final – F.S. Nielsen, DEN v L.R. Henry – Princess Royal

Watch again by clicking the link above

In one-on-one match racing, it can be a huge advantage to have a quick start and try and get up on you opponents and try to boss the race, to take charge and dictate terms.
After Nielsen took an initial canvas lead out to Fawley, Lauren started to apply real pressure. Showing a real composure under pressure, maintaining her length in the water, her connection at the catch and all-round brilliant rhythm, Lauren started to pull away. It was a length at 4 minutes it was 2 lengths by 6 minutes. The second half of the race was all Lauren’s. Coming from behind, she took an incredible 7 seconds off the old course record.

An incredible win, underscoring her huge ability, and a tribute to the sheer hard work and determination she puts into the sport.

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Henley Women’s Regatta

The Chairman’s Trophy – W4x

For Victoria Barker, Rhian Evans, Hazel Ward, and Lucy Cleaver – doing an excellent job of steering, just qualifying for Henley Women’s Regatta was an achievement etched in months of quiet determination. After previous years never quite happened for them, this crew worked tirelessly through the winter, building resilience and belief. Their qualification into the Chairman’s Trophy marked the culmination of that effort, a moment of quiet emotion for the squad.

Though they lost to Upper Thames by just 1½ lengths in the first round, the result never told the full story. For this crew, qualification itself was a gold medal moment, a hard-earned triumph that deserves immense pride.

Aspirational 2x – Duffy and Wadowska

Following internal seat racing for a seat in the quad, Kate Duffy and Nat Wadowska were the 2nd Leicester boat for the Aspiration 2x. Their build-up was solid, marked by competitive races and steady progress. Henley was always going to be a tough ask in such a stacked field. They missed qualification, finishing mid-pack among non-qualifiers – but their campaign reflected grit and determination.

Aspirational 2x – Lizzie and Eleanor’s Gold Rush

Across a boiling weekend in Henley, Lizzie and Eleanor brought showed just how much they had developed as a crew.  Navigating five races in three days with metronomic pacing and remarkable maturity.

Friday’s Time Trial (11:05): Under brutal sun, they launched a clean and composed run. No one knew it yet, but they’d posted the fastest time – a strong omen for the knockout rounds.

Saturday (1716): First heat against the Aussie crew from King’s College and University of Queensland. Ice shirts and cooling tactics were essential, but they made light work of it, taking clear water by the end of the island and cruising to a 3-length win.  See you Sunday morning!

Sunday Morning (10:24): The quarter-final against Thames.  Potentially 3 races, conserving energy was essential, but always be prepared to race the full course.  Another clinical display, clear water by the end of the island, control from stroke to finish, and a 4 length victory.

Semi-Final (1312): Up against USR Triton of the Netherlands.  Lizzie and Eleanor had another excellent start and led early but had to dig deeper to hold off a tenacious challenge. They crossed the line 1¼ lengths ahead, earning a place in the final with the faster semi time.

Final (1615): KSRV Njord of the Netherlands awaited. Both crews blasted off the start line, neck and neck at the island. Inch by inch, Lizzie and Eleanor edged ahead into what was becoming a really strong headwind – half a length at Fawley, one length by halfway. With the water turning messy and every stroke tricky, Lizzie expertly lowered the rate a bit, while maintaining a really strong press through the stroke, backed resolutely by Eleanor, just 17, but rowing like a veteran. Into the final 250m, they held firm through the choppy water, crossing two lengths clear to take gold.

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Lauren Henry wins Gold at Paris 2024 Olympics!

Lauren’s Journey written by her coach, Howard Marsh:

We are thrilled to announce that Lauren Henry from Leicester Rowing Club and her crew – Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson, and Georgie Brayshaw – have won Olympic GOLD in the Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x) at the Paris Olympics. Winning by the narrow margin of just 0.15 of a second, about 35cm! This incredible achievement is the culmination of years of hard work, dedication, and determination.

“Wow, that was a tremendous race. You really came back strongly; your determination and drive to get over the line first was fantastic. You really stayed in the race well and pushed and pushed, you never gave up! Amazingly well done!”

You could be forgiven for thinking that this was the response to Lauren after she won Olympic gold. However, this was some eight years earlier, the first ever race I coached Lauren in when she was a J14 sculler at Peterborough Summer Regatta in 2016.             

Could you tell then that there was a future Olympic Champion in our midst? Certainly there were many of the basic ingredients – determination, an ability to work hard – a real will to win – to never give up! However, anyone who thinks that it has been a straightforward journey from J14 singles at Peterborough in 2016 to the Paris Olympics in 2024 will be disappointed. The trend has been upwards, but there have also been some hard-hitting lows as well.  It just shows Lauren’s strength of character that she has kept fighting, kept her dream burning, kept pushing onwards, kept making progress.  I’d like to share a few of the highs that have been an absolute privilege for me to witness.

Lauren’s journey with us began eight years ago, and for six and a half of those years, I had the very great privilege of coaching her. Over this time, she has not only grown as an athlete but also inspired everyone around her. Here are some of the many highs from Lauren’s rowing career:

2016 Peterborough Summer Regatta
A tremendously gutsy row saw her win Women’s J14A 1x by 7 seconds beating the silver medallist at the JIRR regatta.

2018 British Rowing Junior Championships
A very mature scull in the final of the Women’s J16 1x, saw her come through to win by 4 seconds,

Junior Trials February 2019
A tremendous race over the 5k Boston course, used by all the GB squads for winter trialling, resulted in two wins for Lauren over the best of the junior women in GB at the time; by over 20 seconds on the Saturday in her single, and with her doubles partner Liv Morgan from Shiplake, 35 seconds on the Sunday. A truly dominant display.

Henley Women’s Regatta 2019
The combination of Lauren and Liv in the double was outstanding, winning all their races in Aspirational Doubles comfortably and setting a new course record in the final. Remarkable for a junior crew in a senior event.

2019 World Junior Championships – Tokyo
First world championship selection, a tremendous reward for all Laurens hard work.  Selected in the 2x With Liv.  Things didn’t go as well as we’d all hoped.  However Lauren fought hard over the coming years to make her dreams become a reality.

As many will remember, Covid hit during the next year and a half, which put paid to 2020.  Lauren took to her static bike in the garage at her home and cranked out several Tour de France mileages over the course of the lockdowns.

“Open” GB Trials May 2021
These were for all athletes not in the GB senior squad.  Lauren was the fastest overall women’s trialist, winning the A final, over 2000m, by over 7 seconds.

2021 U23 World U23 Championships
Selected to represent GB at the World U23 Championships in the single sculls at the tender age of just 19. Lauren finished 4th in a very, very strong field. This was the joint highest placing by any female GB single sculler at an U23 championships.

2021 Henley Royal Regatta
Forced to go through the qualification time trials, Lauren did a magnificent job in the international event, The Princess Royal Challenge Cup. In the 2nd round, Lauren, still aged just 19, kept her composure and, despite going down early on, beat the recently crowned Olympic Champion in eights, Andrea Proske. Lauren came through the semi-final beating the 4th placed American trialist.  In the final she sculled magnificently, again going down but showing that never-say-die spirit, sprinting hard to the line, and just losing – to her future Olympic teammate Lola Anderson – by just 3 feet. As a 19-year-old, this was truly remarkable.

Senior Trials 2023
Lauren, still training at Leicester Rowing Club, becomes the single sculls winner of the Senior GB Trials, by over 2 seconds. The first time this has ever been achieved by a non‑squad athlete.

On the back of this, Lauren was invited for further selection testing for the full senior squad. The result – bow in the women’s quad.

How the quad grew during the year:

    Since last September, Lauren has been full-time down at Caversham, at the National Training Centre. This year, after an initial blip at the first World Cup, it’s been gold all the way for her and the crew; gold at the Europeans, gold at World Cup 2, and a brilliant, brilliant win to be crowned Olympic Champions!

    Lauren, at the tender age of just 22, is believed to be the youngest rower to hold all three crowns at once; European Champion, World Champion and Olympic Champion, in any boat classification, male or female!

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    Lauren Henry from Leicester wins Senior trials

    The Great Britain Senior and U23 April trials, are the culmination of the trialling season. The winners are usually fairly predictable and always, always, come from within; within the realms of the GB Rowing Team, ie athletes from the National Training Centre base at Caversham; and never, in the case of open men or women, never an under 23!

    For this not to be the case, either shows that the talent at Caversham is not what it once was, or that a fluke performance occurred, or, someone of equal talent and potential to those at the centre has been discovered.

    The first of these premises can be firmly allayed. The GB rowing team is one of the most talented sports teams across the world, the training required to reach the top is substantial and relentless, the rowers at the centre are incredibly talented, competitive and professional. The results for the GB team at last year’s World Rowing Championships, coming top of the medal table: 7 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze, underlines that status.

    Maybe it was a fluke. Taken across this season’s previous GB trials, November and February, coming 2nd and 3rd respectively, would suggest that this result was no fluke, but was a fruition of competency and consistency.

    So we’re left with the last of the options: someone of equal talent and potential. This would seem to be the picture that is being painted, in ever stronger brush strokes. I think those of us who have witnessed at first hand the progress, have always known that success would come. From watching the way Lauren battled her way to first place over 1000m at Peterborough Summer regatta as a J14: through her first major win, at the J16 National Championships: dominating the national scene in the junior ranks and being selected to go to Tokyo for the World Rowing Championships in 2019: to then, after Covid and lockdowns, being the top U23 female sculler in GB and finishing 4th two years in succession at the World U23 Championships, Lauren has always worked hard, incredibly hard, to make her dreams come true.

    The fact that, Lauren has trained pretty much on her own, not part of a big squad, much of that time spent on a bike, hours and hours spent on a bike, in her family garage, speaks volumes about the determination and dedication she has. It’s not been all plain-sailing either for Lauren. A series of rib stress fractures over the covid era and into the 2021 season, have been incredibly tough tests for her. The fact that she keeps getting up and trying again, and again, is the spirit which will surely get her to the very top of the world.

    The trials

    They consist of a time trial on Saturday morning to broadly rank all the athletes: Men and women in their respective events in singles and pairs. Then in the afternoon the semi-finals take place to decide on the finals on Sunday.

    In the time trial, Lauren sculled a conservative race early race, finishing strongly, to place 3rd, comfortably qualifying for the A/B semi-final – these are the the top 12 ranked scullers.

    Saturday afternoons semis came round and Lauren was drawn with Hannah Scott who got to the final of the senior World Championships in a single last year and Georgie Brayshaw who was part of the World Champs silver medal quad.

    The top 3 were comfortable and finished with Hannah in first, Lauren 2nd and Georgie 3rd.

    The other semi final was very much a lightweight affair, with the two outstanding lightweights Emily Craig and Imogen Grant finishing 1st and 2nd with Liv Bates, from Nottingham another young promising talent, in 3rd.

    Onto Sunday morning and finals day. Who was going to grasp the opportunity from the finely balanced and what looked like, evenly matched field?

    Unfortunately, all we have to go on is the final positions. After chatting to Lauren, her aim was to be in the race, be part of the pack and then use her strengths, incredible endurance – all those hours on a bike in the garage – to best effect in the 2nd half of the race. All I can say is, the plan must have worked well, as she came home victorious.

    The official results were:
    1 Lauren HENRY *, Leicester RC & University of Leicester BC
    2 Hannah SCOTT, Bann RC / Leander Club
    3 Imogen GRANT (LW), Cambridge University BC
    4 Emily CRAIG (LW), University of London BC
    5 Georgie BRAYSHAW, Leander Club
    6 Olivia BATES (LW), Nottinghamshire County RA

    Many, many congratulations on your momentous win Lauren. Leicester Rowing Club are all so proud of your achievements. I’m sure it’ll not be long before we’re watching you on the TV representing the GB Rowing Team as a full international. All the very best of luck in your future endeavours!

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    AGM 2022

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    GB Rowing Team, Open Trials, Caversham, 22nd May 2021

    This years U23 and senior trials, took on a slightly different tone, with social distancing and masks worn at all times, unless on the water rowing. The racing, was, as ever, extremely competitive. Outside of the senior squad, over 140 of the top male and female rowers from across Britain came to Caversham seeking selection for the World U23 Championships and to get noticed by the selectors.

    In the women’s single sculls, having not competed for 18 months due to the pandemic and injury, Lauren Henry took to the water in good shape, but in slightly cautious mood, not knowing what the opposition might do. Before the event she said, “You never know what your opposition might do on the day, there are some really fast girls competing. I can only do my race and execute my plan to the best of my ability.”

    The trials were originally going to be a 2 day event, but were condensed into 1 day due to adverse weather predictions for Sunday. The format was to run a time trial in the morning, from which crews would be seeded into groups of 6 for the finals in the afternoon; top 6 go to the A final, 7th to 12th to the B final and so on.

    Starting 8th, in a field of 22, Lauren powered her way down the course in her time trial. Her coach Howard Marsh said, “I could tell she was going to have a good scull, she was totally focussed on what she had to do beforehand. I watched her come down the course, I was very impressed, she looked like she executed what we spoke about before the race really well. Talking about it before hand is one thing, but to actually do it is quite something else.”

    The result of the time trial could not have been better. Lauren won, and had a nice cushion in time over the next placed girl. Time trials can be funny things, and some people don’t always race them so well, so Lauren couldn’t afford to get too excited; there was still a final to race.

    In the A final in the late afternoon, the top 6 girls lined up on the stakeboats. As the starter called the crews over, Lauren looked very calm and collected. As the race began, everyone powered out of the blocks and it was a very even start across the field. One of the scullers was making a bit of a sprint of it and narrowly led through the 500m mark, but it was pretty even across all the other crews, with just 3 seconds separating all 6, with Lauren sitting in 2nd nudging her bows in front of the rest. By halfway, Lauren was beginning to push ahead of her rivals, who were all still very tightly packed, with little over a length separating 2nd to 6th. The rest of the field stayed almost in a line as Lauren, rating a powerful 34 forged further ahead. As the race came into the closing stages, it became quite clear there was only going to be one winner. Lauren, maintaining the intensity she had from the first stroke, crossed the line several lengths of clear water ahead of the chasing pack. A job well done!

    Afterwards Lauren said, “It was great to be back racing after all this time. I’m obviously really pleased to have won, but I’m especially pleased with the way the race went. We had trained well over the last few weeks, and I wanted to race the way I train; I felt like I did that today.” Her coach commented that he could see that Lauren was in a very good place mentally and that she was taking the confidence from her training into her racing. It was a real joy to see her push through against such a strong field and keep the focus all the way to the line. Even when things were tight in the first 500m, Lauren kept cool, stuck to her plan and raced all the way.

    There will be more testing to be done in regards to potential selection for the U23 World Championships, held this year in the Czech Republic in mid July. Lauren has, however, put down a clear marker to the selectors and shown them what she is capable of. Saturday could not have gone any better.