Durham rowers Jess Eddie and Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell are writing a series of exclusive diaries for The Northern Echo charting their preparations for the 2016 Olympics in Rio. In today’s opening installment, Jess looks back at the British team’s training camp in Brazil and explains why the Games in two years time look certain to be memorable

“678”. 678 days to be more precise. 678 days until the Olympic regatta starts in Rio. These were the words that greeted the GB rowing team upon our return to training a few weeks ago.

Maybe before I start I should fill you in a bit. My name is Jess Eddie, and I’m an Olympic rower. I have rowed for my country for the past 14 years, right from the first rung of GB junior 16 racing, through to two Olympic finals.

After finishing a disappointing fifth in London 2012, repeating my fifth place at the Beijing Games, I took the difficult decision to carry on and pursue my dream for another Olympic Games.

Right now you’re joining us two years into that challenge, and by ‘us’ I mean myself and World champion oarsman Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell (we find that a bit long winded so he answers to ‘Noddy’). We are bringing you inside and giving you a little glimpse of what we’re up to. We are both passionate North-Easterners and tell anyone who will listen about our hometown of Durham city.

We both live in London now after attending the same University (of London) and train centrally with the Great Britain Rowing Team at our very own lake in Caversham. Each season we trial and race to earn our places within the team and ultimately be selected for the World Championships (taking place once a year except in Olympic year) and the Olympic Games (every four years).

Having returned from the World Championships in Amsterdam in sixth place in the women’s eight, my crew and I have some serious work to do this season. Paul, our chief coach, knew the emotion he would evoke in all of us by walking in and declaring we only have 678 days left to make our impact. It may sound like a lot, but believe me this is the start of the countdown.

Think of ‘Super Saturday’ in London 2012, Kat Copeland declaring “We won the Olympics” in disbelief, or Jess Ennis’ tears after winning Heptathlon gold with so much pressure and expectation on her shoulders. 802 days ago. We are closer to our own ‘Fantastic Friday’ in Rio than many of those special and outstanding moments of the London Games.

To kick-start this season we went away on a training camp to Rio. Now I know how that sounds, and don’t go thinking we get to go to such exotic locations on a regular basis, because we don’t! This was about taking us to the Olympic venue to get a feel for the city, orientate ourselves and get some training done in the same heat as the 2016 regatta.

The Northern Echo:

Wow! What a place. Many of us watched the 2014 World Cup and could see through our TV screens the passion and energy this city and country exude. I can tell you first hand that they will hold an Olympic Games like no other. Sport is in their veins, we saw tiny kids kicking around footballs like mini Neymars, beach volleyball players floating the ball over the hundreds of nets on Ipanema. This city loves sport.

Like every city it does have its problems. The famous favelas cling to the hillsides of Rio, alongside some of the most expensive and affluent neighbourhoods of the city. They are beautiful in their own right, and whilst we were there we heard many positive stories about these vibrant areas.

We were fortunate enough to be hosted by the Flamengo Football Club, the best supported football team in the whole of the country (I like to think of it as the NUFC of Brazil!). Traditionally they are a rowing club, but when football became more popular, they took over and became the main breadwinner for a club still officially called Clube de Regatas do Flamengo.

One the perks of being hosted by a major football club was the chance to watch a match in the famous Maracana stadium. Swapping my black and white stripes (not before I got a picture inside the stadium) for black and red ones, the atmosphere was exhilarating. The fans stood chanting on their feet for 90 minutes, all the while encouraging this odd group of Brits to join in. It was just like St James’ - but with ice cream and popcorn!

The Northern Echo:

Back in Blighty we have swiftly returned to normal life, getting our teeth into some hard winter training. British Champs are next up, taking place over two days this weekend in Nottingham.

I’ll sign off now and leave you in anticipation of Noddy’s column. I hope you’ll join us in our journey.

@jesseddie @nrodtweets

If you would like to support Jess and Nathaniel in their road to Rio you can contact them here: about.me/jesseddie about.me/nrod