Well… After a hard season, and proving myself on many occasions I had finally did it.. I got selected to represent Great Britain at the U23 World Championships held in Trakai, Lithunia!I was going to be part of the Womens 8, ready to take on the rest of the World!

We were up against The United States, Germany, Netherlands, and Belarus. Because there were only 5 crews, we had a straight final, but would have to take part in a race for lanes for the final.

The race for lanes was very exciting, as we had been training all the way up to this point, but had not had an opportunity to race other crews. It was very exciting but also a daunting experience as I had never raced at a World Championsships before. We got lined up, and before we knew it the light was green and we were off. We had a fast start and lead the World up until the 1000m mark. This is where it began to hurt, and the other crews started to fight back, the Americans managed to push through, which left us in a battle with the German Crew, it was literally stroke for stroke all the way up to the line, and we had been pipped at the post, leaving us in 3rd position going into the finals, infront of the Netherlands and Belarus. However, nobody could be underestimated going into the final. We had learned from the race, but what was done was done and it was time to focus on the final.

Finals day was here, and we were ready to race! We had prepped for this the whole year, and it all came down to this one race, the conditions were good, and everyone was ready to go out there and give it everything.

We got up to the start warmed up, gone through our well practiced routine and got attached to the start. We were off again, and again we were up in 1st place off the first 500m, the Americans again managed to push their way through, and maintained 2nd place all the way up to the last 500m, the Germans and the Netherlands began to close in either side of us, and we were all going stroke for stroke up until the line. The Germans got half a length in the end, finishing in 2nd place, 5seconds behind the United States, closely followed by the Netherlands who were 1 second away from the Germans, and Great Britain finishing in 4th position infront of Belarus by 18 seconds, but nail bitingly close to being on the medal podium finishing 0.8 of a second behind bronze. We had given it everything we had, but in the end was not enough. I definitely learned from the experience and although the outcome was not exactly what we wanted, but the experience we gained from it was invaluable! Next year we will be ready to go out there again, and stand on the podium!

Final Stop of the season, Home Countries!