During my time in the north west I attended Lymm High school and then Priestley sixth form college where alongside A levels I developed an interest in Rowing.

Movement to Priestley changed my outlook on all aspects of my life. Having reached a good standard at county level athletics and rugby at school, I was keen to develop interest and ability in rowing, A few sessions of rudimentary rowing with a few other students, being led by my then maths teacher and I was hooked.

After the first few sessions I decided to take the sport a little more seriously so took a trip one Sunday morning to Warrington rowing club, where I would say it all began. There were four of us all around the same age and we started rowing together coached by Richard Sinnot of the club. These are some of my happiest memories to this day, and really believe that the things I learned and the friendships I forged really gave the foundations to build rowing to the part of my life it is today.

We had a great time learning to row. I found the physical element of the sport interesting. Pushing your body to its physical limits was one of the aspects I relished. Admittedly I found the technical side of rowing somewhat tedious and that remains to the present day!

As we gradually became more proficient we started to train more often and began racing in the 1996 season where we had a some success round the north of England. As we all got more involved with the sport our training became a little more structured. Regular evenings and weekends we would be out on the river heading up to woolston and usually racing one another back to the boat house.

Eventually time came round for me to go to University. I chose Reading for its proximity to The Leander Club, the oldest and most successful rowing club in the world.

After finishing university I decided to pursue Rowing as a career. Winning trophies from Henley Royal Regatta and a Commonwealth rowing gold medal in the 2002 season followed by a silver medal at the 2003 World Rowing Championships. 2004 was up and down through illness, which wrote off any chance of an Olympic place in Athens.

Starting the 2005 season visualising a four year programme, which would culminate hopefully at the Olympics in Beijing.