Durham Olympian Jess Eddie looks at the North-Easterners preparing to represent Great Britain at the European Rowing Championships

FIRST up we have Kat Copeland (Stokesley).  Most of you will remember Kat as our ‘golden girl’ from London 2012, winning the lightweight double sculls race.

After a tough seventh place in last year’s World Championships, Kat is back and racing in the light double sculls once again. She is teaming up with a relative newcomer in Charlotte Taylor, an exciting new combination that will certainly be a force to be reckoned with.

Will Fletcher (Chester-le-Street) has had a bit of a roller-coaster of a year, missing a large chunk to injury and facing a possible season off in the face.

His gritty and determined attitude has shone through. He not only got back from the injury in time to race at our British trials, he finished in a very strong second place. He will be in the lightweight men’s double scull, alongside Northern Ireland’s Richard Chambers, a World and Olympic medallist. High hopes again for this punchy twosome.

Tina Stiller (Yarm) is returning to race in the women’s quadruple scull in what will be her third consecutive summer in the boat class.

Tina has shown her class and skill throughout the season to place herself in this competitive group of rowers. They will be lining up against some stiff competition in the form of dominant World champions Germany, but GB has a long history in this boat class and these girls are ready to take them on.

Jamie Kirkwood (Cambois) had an absolutely stunning race to win British trials last month and would have been competing in the lightweight four, but unfortunately an injury has ruled him out of the Europeans.

Nathaniel Reilly-O’Donnell (Durham) became a world champion last year, but his chief coach, Jurgen Grobler, has shuffled the pack and he now moves from the eight to the four, which has always been one of the British team’s flagship crews.

Testing went well, and the final line-up is very similar to the 2013 four, when Noddy finished fifth at the World Champs. As bigger and stronger athletes, they’ll be hoping to challenge higher up in the rankings.

Zoe Lee (Richmond) will be sitting alongside me in the women’s eight. We rowed together last season, and trying to assess what happened in our World Championship final (finishing sixth) has forced us to take a long hard look at ourselves.

It wasn’t what we wanted, or had come to expect after a successful season, and coming into this Olympic qualification year we really do have the bit between our teeth.

I’ve had a very good season so far, pushing the envelope of my physiology to really see what my body can do. The eight still has some seats to finalise, but it’s looking strong and the crew is excited to get racing.

We’ll be looking forward to the European Championships to see how everybody else’s winter training has gone. The standard of racing is very high across Europe and I’m sure those across the pond and Down Under will be keeping a watchful eye on what happens in Poznan.