WE’VE just got back from one of our hardest training camps of the year. Noddy (Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell) previously wrote about the men’s training camp, they were stuck indoors, we were mainly stuck outdoors….on bikes! It was a brilliant camp out in Majorca, but please don’t think we were kicking back with sangria in hand, catching some winter sun. 

We went out there to rack up some serious hours out on the road, whilst keeping our eye in by erging and lifting weights. Our chief coach, Paul Thompson can be safe in the knowledge that we’ve put some miles in the bank, which we can cash in when Rio comes round.

The Northern Echo:

We certainly hit home with a bump, and it seems the temperature has gone from “Brrr it’s getting chilly” to “Have Sunderland won the cup?!”

Winter is most certainly coming, and now I’m a bit of a Southern softie, I struggle through trying to keep up the pretence of my Northern resilience to the cold.

One of the coldest weekends of our year is approaching fast. We are heading to the freezing Fenlands of Lincolnshire, racing our long distance trial in Boston. We race over 5 kilometres, in our singles to gain a ranking. We are pitted against current team members, but it’s also a chance for new rowers to take a pop at us.

I’ll let you into a little secret.  My favourite distance is something like 250m. So a 5,000m race is a pretty daunting challenge for me!  Noddy will be racing in a pair, in a highly competitive men’s event. I’ll face fellow Northerner Zoe Lee (of Richmond) in the single, Kat Copeland will be hoping to cement her position of top dog in the Lightweight women’s single. Will Fletcher (of Chester-le-Street) will be flying the flag in the Lightweight men’s single.

I was really disappointed to miss the Northern Echo Local Heroes awards last week. I have heard great reports from the night and I was over the moon to see my boat club, Durham Amateur Rowing Club, won the award for junior club of the year. It is more than a sports club, a brilliant community of people with sport at the heart of it. The juniors have had an outstanding year, winning 70 events regionally and nationally.

Wrap up warm and I’ll be in touch in the New Year!