Talented young rowers join Olympic medallists to tackle Tide
10th March 2009Three rowers who train at the University of Bath teamed up with Olympic medallists Katherine Grainger and Cath Bishop to compete in the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race on the Thames on Saturday (7th March).
Minerva Bath rowers Gemma Akers, Helen Glover and Vicky Thornley were members of a composite eight that finished third in the gruelling four and a quarter mile race that follows the traditional Tideway course from Mortlake to Putney.
The trio are members of the ARA’s World Class Start scheme, which is sponsored by Siemens and backed by the National Lottery. They are coached by Paul Stannard.
They were in illustrious company in the composite Marlow/Minerva Bath/Reading University/Thames boat, which was stroked by Katherine Grainger, winner of silver medals for Team GB at the Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Cath Bishop, who competed at the Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympics, winning silver with Grainger in the women’s pair in Athens, also featured in the boat.
Caroline O’Connor, who coxed the GB women’s eight to fifth place at the Beijing Olympics and to bronze 2007 World Championships, steered the boat.
The Bath trio trained with the rest of the crew for a week leading up to the competition.
“It was absolutely unbelievable,” said Akers. “It was such a fantastic opportunity for us to be chosen to row with such legends.”
Thornley added: “It was pretty surreal and an amazing opportunity. We’ve learned so much from it and from being around people who have done so much in the sport.
“They were really down to earth and answered all of the questions we put to them.”
O’Connor said she has been impressed with the calibre of the three World Class Start rowers. “Helen (Glover) has only been rowing for a year, Gemma (Akers) and Vicky (Thornley) have only been rowing for 15 months or so now, but you wouldn’t have thought it – they’ve done a great job,” she said.
Their Marlow/Minerva Bath/Reading University/Thames boat came third, completing the course in 18 minutes, 53.33 seconds. Another composite boat, the London/Hollandia/Thames/Marlow/UL crew completed the gruelling course in the fastest time – 18:28.27, with a Leander crew coming second. They were less than a second quicker than the Marlow/Minerva Bath/Reading University/Thames boat in 18:54.60.
The Bath University Boat Club B boat came 136th in 21:33.95, with a Bath University/Minerva Bath boat coming 232nd in 22:40.69 and the Bath University Boat Club C boat coming 284th in 25:34.90.