Upper III students were enjoying a fantastic taster session at Reading Rowing Club – when GB Olympic medallists Heidi Long, Eve Stewart and Lauren Irwin appeared unexpectedly to offer some inspiration!
Heidi, Eve and Lauren won bronze in the 8+ at the Paris Olympics last year, and are part of the women’s GB squad who have been training at Reading Rowing Club this week.
Richard Godfrey, Director of Outdoor & Experiential Education, said “the Reading Rowing Club Captain mentioned to me that three GB Olympic medal winning rowers were currently training at the venue and had a little bit of time. Would I like them to come and say hello to our students? Yes please!”
Our students were surprised and clearly in awe of the athletes, who gave an impromptu talk to the students about how they started rowing and what they enjoy about the sport. They were keen to inspire our students to take on challenges and find an activity that they enjoy doing, whilst clearly encouraging any interest in rowing that the girls might have. They also gave an opportunity for questions when we learned about how much training they do and what time they have to get up in the morning! The athletes were engaging, down to earth and keen to communicate with our students which was great to see. A really special moment that I hope our students remember.”
Jessica, Upper III said “it was amazing to see that a lot of them started at different times in their lives. In a lot of sport people begin when they’re around five but a lot of them only started rowing a few years ago, so it was cool to see that you don’t have to have been training your whole life to do it.”
Cara, Upper III shared that “I was quite surprised when they turned up and they were really nice! Some of them only started rowing when they were 17 and they’ve made it to the Olympics and come third which is inspiring…you can try new sports whenever you want.”
Steve Pratt, Captain of Reading Rowing Club, said he hoped the students “enjoyed meeting the GB girls!” They certainly did and clearly took away that it’s certainly not too late for them to achieve an Olympic medal.
