ROWER Natacha Searson has been selected to row for Great Britain in the World Rowing Beach Sprints Championship in Italy next month.
The 21-year-old medical student is set to row in the mixed ability and mixed gender para double, alongside Scottish para athlete Colin Wallace.
The announcement follows a successful weekend at the Swift British Rowing Beach Sprint Championships in St Andrews, where Searson picked up three medals – a silver in the women’s doubles and bronze medals in both the mixed doubles with Wallace and the women’s single.
Although Searson and Wallace had rowed together in the recent GB trials, they hadn’t raced together before.
They had intended to get some race practice in at the British Championships – which involved a time trial and knockout races – but their result – a bronze medal in an open class – exceeded their expectations.
Searson said: “We were practising for the build up to the world championships and, when the opportunity to compete came up, we thought we’d give it a go.
“Beach sprints races are fast and furious – with athletes sprinting from the beach to their boats, slaloming 250 metres out to sea around a series of buoys, and then rowing hard back to the beach. You then have to jump out of the boat as it reaches the beach and sprint back up as fast as you can to hit the buzzer.
“It was the first time we’d raced the beach sprint format together and we were really happy with the result, considering we were racing as one able-bodied and one para athlete and it was in an open event.”
Meanwhile, Searson’s partner Wallace added: “I’m amazed that we got a medal in our first race.
“I came with the expectation of gaining race experience and am blown away to get four races and come away with a medal in an able-bodied event, despite being a para rower. And I had so much fun.”
Wallace rowed competitively from 1999-2011 as a junior and senior, winning many British and Home Countries titles before becoming a rowing coach then a PE Teacher.
He added: “In 2018, at the age of 32, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
“Having spent most of my life doing sport I then looked to para sport to help me deal with my diagnosis. I initially took up para cycling as a member of the GB foundation programme, then moved to para triathlon where I had a number of successes as a member of the GB team.
“Following a reclassification in triathlon, and missing out on going to the Paralympics in Paris, I turned back to my sporting roots of rowing.’
“I’m so excited to be racing at the World Championship in a month’s time.
“Last weekend at the British Championships I was blown away by what a positive community beach sprint rowing is, and picking up a medal was an extra bonus. I’m excited to keep on progressing and see where our training can take us when we line up on the start line in Genoa.”
While competing with Wallace, Searson had also teamed up for races in the women’s doubles, with Eva Barrellon-Kendall.
It was the first time the pair had rowed together and they also had to overcome technical difficulties in the time trials.
“A last-minute opportunity opened up that meant that I could row in the women’s doubles with Eva,” Searson continued.
“We hadn’t raced together before but we made improvements with each race.”
“We were delighted to make the A final, and, although of course we would’ve loved gold, just to be in that final was a major achievement and we were happy with our silver.”
The following day Searson competed in the solo event.
She progressed through the knockout rounds to the semi-final, where she had a tightly fought battle against Scotland’s Heather Gordon.
The athletes were neck and neck for most of the course, with Gordon pipping Searson to the buzzer by 0.9 of a second.
Searson added: “The semi-final was really close. I missed out on the A final by less than a second.
“I was gutted but, considering the number of races that I’d done already, I was very happy with the overall results from the weekend.
“I did 12 races in total, eight of them on Saturday, meaning I was a bit tired going into the singles, but I’m happy with the overall results and I’m feeling very positive going forwards.
“I’d like to thank everyone who’s supporting me on this journey, especially those at Jersey Rowing Club and Oak.
“I’m looking forward to competing in Genoa next month and the weekend’s races were a good starting point for our training, because the World Championships are our main focus.”
