Former GB rower finishes in top 10 at Ironman world championships

A FORMER GB rower from Henley took part in the Ironman 70.3 world championships — little over a year after taking up the sport.

Natasha Harris-White, 27, finished ninth in the female 25-29 age category at the event at Lahti in Finland on Saturday.

The endurance challenge started with a 1.9km swim in Lake Vesijärvi followed by a scenic 90km bike ride and a half marathon run around Lahti.

Her mother Janice, who watched her compete, said: “Natasha was thrilled to get a top 10 finish in her first world championships, especially as many of her fellow competitors were experienced triathletes.

“She feels that she has learnt a lot from this competition that will help her progress further next year.”

Ms Harris-White, who lives in Fair Mile, used to row for Leander Club in Henley and Great Britain and won at Henley Royal Regatta.

She gave up the sport last year after a decade.

She said: “Doing triathlon had always been in the back of my mind as something that I wanted to do. I was okay on the bike and did cross-country and track for the county when I was at school. I hadn’t swum much before but was keen to improve.

“In my last month at Leander I started doing a light run after training. My first race was two weeks after Henley. It was at Dorney and I was nervous as I wanted to do well and I came second.”

She qualified for the world championships after winning the female 25-29 age category in her first Ironman 70.3 event in Aix-en-Provence in France in May.

Ms Harris-White said: “I enjoy triathlon as you can see your progress and the result of the hard work you have put in in. There are also a lot more opportunities within it than there were with rowing. I enjoy the running aspect the most.

“My training programme consists of doing between two and three sessions each day. It does take a lot of time out of the day as it is a lot more mileage.

“You have to be very self-motivated and it’s very hard in the winter. With three disciplines you constantly feel behind in one of them.

“You do get excited nerves before each race but you can’t get overanxious as it burns a lot of energy which needs to be stretched over the length of the race.

“I’m not on a special diet — you just need to eat enough every day and fuel correctly for each race. Lots of people eat rice beforehand but I don’t eat much, just something light like a gel and something when I approach the end stretch.”

Ms Harris-White attended Valley Road Primary School and Gillotts School in Henley and The Henley College before going to Newcastle University to study biology.

She started rowing at Upper Thames Rowing Club in Henley in 2012 and continued at university before graduating in 2017 and then joined Leander.

She represented the club for five years while completing a master’s degree in science with the Open University.

Ms Harris-White said: “I stopped rowing at Leander last year, having achieved many successes with them, including winning at Henley in a quad, as I wanted a new challenge.

“I did get a lot from rowing, though. I miss being in a big team, which maybe I took for granted before.”

She also enjoys skiing and walking her border collie-Labrador cross.

Ms Harris-White wants to become one of the top four triathletes in her age category and said: “Next year I would like to go professional.”

After competing at the weekend, she went on holiday with her boyfriend to Portugal.