Last month, the upcoming future of GB rowing headed back to Boston, Lincolnshire, for round two of this season’s Team GB trials. Building on their strong start to the process back in November 2021, the senior women’s sweep triallists were once again out in full force.
Rowan McKellar & Rebecca Shorten
Fastest 5k of the day this time around came from the novel combination of Leander’s Rowan McKellar and Imperial College London’s Rebecca Shorten. After making her senior debut in the 2017 season, Rowan claimed World Cup silver in the Women’s Eight in 2018. She was then selected again in the eight for the 2019 season, where she made her mark on GB women’s sweep rowing with a European silver and World Cup bronze. Rebecca is also a household name on the women’s sweep scene. Her first international outing with the GB Rowing Team senior squad came in 2017, where she occupied the stroke seat of the women’s eight, and she has since been a regular squad member. With their collective experience and composure under the pressure of GB selection, it comes as no surprise that Rowan and Rebecca rowed themselves to the top of the pack this time around.
Sam Redgrave & Caragh McMurtry
Second place in the pair was claimed by rising star Samantha Redgrave and established GB sweep standout Caragh McMurtry, hailing from Leander and Southampton Coalporters ARC respectively. Caragh got into the sport through British Rowing’s Project Oarsome scheme in her hometown of Southampton, and has previously won a trio of European Championship medals in the GB senior squad. It is very exciting to see her back in action, and this instalment of trials has demonstrated that she is once again a strong contender for sweep selection. Her exciting pairing with Sam certainly appears to have paid off. Having learned to row at university, where she was scouted for the GB women’s development eight, Sam is now firmly established in the senior scene. This performance certainly builds on her first-place finish on the water at November trials, and is certainly setting herself up for success.
Meg Saunders & Heidi Long
Coming in third was the young yet dominant pairing of Tideway Scullers School’s Meg Saunders, and Leander’s Heidi Long. Meg’s previous pair-mate at November’s trials, Hope Cessford, has since announced her retirement from the sport. While she will be sorely missed on both the national and international sweep scene, I am nonetheless heartened to see that Meg is continuing to achieve a standout performance at trials in her new pairing with Heidi. Both up-and-coming seniors with some exceptional sweep performances so far this season, as well as excellent national and GB U23 track records, Meg and Heidi are continuing to making a great name for themselves as selection draws ever closer.
Others
Beyond the top three finishing crews, mentions must be given to additional prospective GB sweepers Emily Ford, Sara Parfett, Lauren Irwin, Alice Davies, Alexandra Watson, Rebecca Edwards, Juliette Perry, Alice Baatz, and Annie Campbell Orde. These athletes are also well on track to selection in the summer. All the senior women putting themselves through the trialling process are proof that the calibre of high-performance athletes this season is nothing short of exceptional. The final selection decisions will undoubtedly be extremely tough to make.
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