Rowing pioneer receives honour

A PIONEER of women’s rowing has been honoured with an MBE.

Miriam Luke, 60, received the award from the Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday last week for services to the sport.

Luke, who lives in Chiltern Close, chaired the Henley Women’s Regatta for nearly a decade, and was previously part of the first British women’s crew to win an Olympic rowing medal.

Along with Dame Katherine Grainger, Gillian Lindsay and sister Guin Batten, she won a tightly contested silver medal in the quadruple sculls at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney.

The crew narrowly beat its Russian rivals with a photo finish at the end of the 2,000m course.

Across her career, Luke competed in three Olympics, also rowing in Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996.

She also won two World Championship medals in the double sculls with Lindsay, winning a silver in Lac d’Aiguebelette in 1997 and becoming world champion in Cologne the following year.

The pairs’ victory in Germany marked the first time a British women’s crew secured a World Championship title in an Olympic rowing event.

Following her retirement from international rowing, Luke led the women’s regatta from 2012 to 2021.

She became a steward of Henley Royal Regatta in 2016 and is the current president of Henley Rowing Club in Wargrave Road where she previously helped to coach the junior girls’ squad. Luke still continues to row and is an active member of Upper Thames Rowing Club.

She lives with husband David, a teacher at Wallingford School, and  two daughters, Della, 22, and Rhiannon, 19.

Previously, her daughters attended Gillotts School and have followed in her footsteps by becoming keen rowers, first starting out at Henley Rowing Club.

The girls are currently on rowing scholarships to universities in the USA with Della studying at the University of California in San Francisco and Rhiannon studying at the University of Texas in Austin.

Luke was joined at the palace by her husband and sister Guin and Rhiannon. She said: “It was a real privilege. It’s lovely to go to Buckingham Palace, to drive in through the gates and to park in the middle rather than just walking around outside.

“And then obviously to meet so many other people who were receiving awards for many, many worthy causes and achievements.

“It was really interesting. They do it so well. They make you feel so welcome when you get there. It’s not stuffy at all.”

Luke mentioned that it was not her first time meeting Princess Anne, who has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1988.

She had previously encountered the princess while working for the British Olympic Association and during her time as a member of Team GB.

Luke described going to the palace as very special after recently being given the all clear from oesophagal cancer, with which she was diagnosed with two years ago.

To treat the cancer, which is known to be aggressive, Luke underwent surgery to remove her oesophagus and now attends check-ups every six months.

She said: “I haven’t done very much since the diagnosis because I’ve been quite poorly. A lot of people are not allowed the surgery because they won’t survive, it's really quite invasive.

“So it was really nice to get the all clear and then to go to Buckingham Palace and pick up my MBE with my nearest and dearest.”

During her treatment, Luke was unable to row but said she would try and go on a walk every day to get out of the house.

She said she had been touched by the kindness of her friends in the local community.

Luke said: “There are amazing people in Henley. The Hart Surgery was fantastic and I had great support from the Royal Berks and from the Churchill Hospital in Oxford.

“There’s lots of people in Henley that are so helpful and supportive and helpful with all sorts of little things. Walking the dog or coming around with food parcels for my husband or giving my daughter a lift.

“We live in a really lovely place and it has such a sense of community.”