W4 GBR1 - European Rowing Coastal Endurance and Beach Sprints Championships 2025

Published 13:35 on 15 Oct 2025

On Tuesday last week after months of training, we finally find ourselves in Türkiye to meet the tail end of Storm Amy , which made the shore break huge and the seas wild. All training was cancelled and the heats moved from Wednesday to Thursday. No chance to get a feel for the course, a cox we'd never rowed with and beach sprint end to the race. This was not on the race plan!

However 2 mornings later the wind had eased, the turquoise sea gently rolling and the shore break settled. We stuck to the plan: Breakfast at 6am, ergo at 8 a.m., Peter's warm-up, collect the GBR1 boat sticker, and sign out on the water at 9.30 for a race start at 10.00. We were nervous and excited.

We lined up with 11 other boats from all over Europe for our heat, both the W4 and masters W4 boats were racing together. We nailed the start and reached the first buoy after 800 m in 3rd place. The Spanish crew were on our heels loud, determined, and chasing us hard for the next 3 km. We held them off until, with 500 m to go, Jo in bow lost an oar (note to self: always check the gates before leaving the beach!). The Spanish slipped past, and we crossed the line in 4th happy, gritty, and seeded 6th for the final. The Masters gold medal suddenly felt within reach.

Day 2: Race Day.
Same routine early breakfast, ergo, focus. This time 18 boats lined up. The intimidating German crew sat right on our shoulder, we had also battled them the day before and they seemed to be stalking us around the start line.

This time our start was tougher we rounded the first buoy behind the 3 Spanish and 3 Irish crews but level with the Germans and Czechs, then hit the most incredible downwind surf for nearly 2 km. Strength, power, and technique came together we were flying, rating 38 strokes per minute at times, carving through the waves. We left the other crews for dust.

We now had the Spanish crews in our sights, and although we dug deep into the red zone, they proved the stronger boats on the day. We crossed the line 7th overall , and 2nd Masters crew, just 8 seconds off the win.

A massive thank you to all the amazing rowers who've shared the pain of our training sessions and of course to Peter, who gave us his time, knowledge, and unwavering support.

Jo, Rowena and Liz.

Last updated 13:54 on 15 October 2025