Rowers excited to compete at world championships

TWO rowers and a coxswain from Leander Club are hoping for success at this year’s World Rowing Championships in China.

Nearly 900 athletes from 56 delegations will compete in 23 boat classes in Shanghai from September 21 to 28, in the hopes of winning gold.

Rebecca Wilde, 27, who lives in Henley and won bronze in the double sculls at the 2024 Paris Olympics, is in the quadruple sculls with Lola Anderson, Hannah Scott and Sarah McKay.

Jack Tottem, 24, who lives in Henley, will cox the women’s eight, which also won a bronze medal last year, and Cedol Dafydd, 24, will row in the men’s quadruple sculls.

Wilde initially pursued competitive swimming but “fell out of love” with it and set her sights on being on the water rather than in it.

She was inspired by the London 2012 games and joined a talent identification programme at the University of Bath in 2017.

Wilde said: “We will all be nervous sitting on that start line but, ultimately, we’ve all raced before and it’s just another 2km race, except this time in China.”

The team recently returned from training camp in Versei, Italy, which she described as the “toughest part of the year”.

Wilde said: “There’s no shying away from the fact that it was pretty brutal at times, but once you complete it you’re so full of confidence.”

To combat pre-race nerves, she listens to Harry Potter audiobooks or switches off by reading about other sports.

She said: “If I can’t sleep at night because I’m nervous, I’ll always put on my audiobook, which helps me sleep, and I try to switch off by reading about other sports.”

Tottem began rowing in 2015, progressing from Monmouth School to Oxford University and now the Great Britain team in March this year.

He said: “It has been a steep learning curve being in a different environment in Caversham, where the team is based. It’s my first full season on the team but I think it’s been a fairly natural progression.

“We’ve had to tread a tightrope of enjoying the novelty and naivety of it being the first year for myself and some of the others. We’ve learnt from returning Olympians and those who’ve been in the system a long time and not lost the enthusiasm.”

He said his style of coxing needs to be authentic, allowing his personality to shine through.

Tottem said: “My style is definitely altruism. I always see the role as trying to alleviate the pressure off the other athletes as much as possible.

“That can look like a lot of different things on the day, whether it’s sitting in the boat steering and coaching or ensuring there’s a group crew dynamic, which is rewarding.”

New progression rules mean the competition heats are critical, adding pressure to perform well from the get-go.

Tottem said: “We have to get it right the first time round but I think that’s a good pressure as pressure builds diamonds.

“I think we want to be in a position where we hit the first one really hard. If we’re not able to do that we’ll probably leave the competition with a result that wouldn’t have fulfilled our potential.” Dafydd was an international long-distance runner and also a member of Swim Gwynedd performance club in his teenage years before he passed a stand during freshers’ fair, enticing him to become a rower.

He said: “I’ve come from quite a sporty family with a sporty childhood, which meant it was quite easy to go from one sport to the other.

“Knowing how to train multiple times a day, how to prepare and being used to being strained and still pushing your physical limits is what young sports taught me. Rowing is no different to any other sport in those terms.”

The hardest part of learning the physical techniques of rowing was when Dafydd made the switch, frequently falling in the river and having to trust the process.

He said: “It’s easy to row most times a day but if I can’t sit in the boat without falling in, what’s the point? Quite early on, I made sure to commit fully to and listen to Dan Harris, my coach. There were a lot of people saying, ‘This is what you should do’, and I found it quite hard because you go into regattas with a whole head of ideas, but none are yours.

“You should have the mind of a beginner and just go there and experience it for yourself.”

Dafydd said tough races this season had hardened him for the test to come, which he is excited for. He said: “The very first race of the season was maxed out from start to finish. That was very interesting, as I very quickly realised that is the standard for every race.

“Whether we’re up by three lengths or we’re down, you’re going as hard as you can from the start to the finish. There’s never a moment where you can relax.

“I’m very excited to start racing at my first world championship. I’m sure once we fly out there and see the course and team, the nerves will set in but for now, I’m quite relaxed, until I have 11 hours on the flight to think about it.”

“For me, taking part simply isn’t good enough. I want to be able to show why I’ve woken up super early and sacrificed social and family events. There’s a part of me that wants it bad enough and is willing to do whatever.”