The beginning...

So I've been asked to start a blog, but where to begin?!  I will start with the background information;

I grew up in Guernsey, went to Cambridge University 2006-2009 and started rowing in 2008.  Pre rowing I was a high performance high jumper and heptathlete but retired in 2008 due to impact related injury.  Luckily for me I turned out to be more talented in the rowing department :) I left university in June 2009 and made the decision to give my life over to rowing and see where it might take me.  In the early days of my rowing I was very fortunate that several individuals recognised my talent and what I was trying to do, and provided me with the means to buy my own boat, a Filippi single scull, in April 2009.

In October 2009 I found corporate support from top FTSE 100 company Man Group plc in the form of a kit sponsorship deal, which they have continued into my 2011 season.  My first year out of university, training full time, was tough to find work that would fit around training but I saw immediate benefits in my rowing.  At the end of the first year of full time training I was selected to represent Great Britain in my single at the World University Rowing Championships in Szeged, Hungary.

I am now based in Reading and am absolutely thrilled to have just been named a Rising Star, as part of the Guernsey Sports Commission's new initiative to help Guernsey's sporting elite.  The funding and support that I benefit from as a result of the Rising Stars initiative will be instrumental in my future successes.  Rowing is an exhausting and intense sport which demands a full time training schedule.  Becoming a Rising Star will enable me to put my training first, cut down on my working hours and put my financial worries aside.  This is such an exciting, humbling and inspiring prospect!


So, I think that is about it for now.

Erica