In the first of a regular contribution in the JEP, Jersey rower Natacha Searson – who hopes to represent Great Britain in the new discipline of Beach Sprint Rowing in the next Olympic Games – shares the high and lows of her route to Los Angeles.
THROUGHOUT life you are constantly presented with choices. At the end of last summer, I was presented with a big one. Finish the last year of my medical degree or pause it to train full time for Beach Sprint Rowing, competing at the World Championships with the best of the best.
I passed my fourth year of medicine at Newcastle University, then spent my summer break battling it out with fellow British beach sprint rowers at GB trials to secure my place at the World Championships.
Beach Sprints is a fast-pace format of coastal rowing involving a run into the boat, 500m row around a slalom course and run to a buzzer on the beach. It has secured its place in the 2028 LA Olympics, with three boat classes: the men’s and women’s solo and the mixed double.
With one week to go before returning to my studies in Newcastle I was given the exciting news that I had been selected to race at the European and World Championships for Great Britain in the senior mixed double.
My overwhelming excitement quickly turned into ‘How is this going to work with uni and hospital placement?’. With selection came commitment to training camps in the UK and abroad with my doubles partner Cameron Buchan, who was based in Scotland.
After speaking to the university I came to the decision to put my studies on pause, and grasp the opportunity to row for GB with both hands.
I threw myself into the full-time athlete lifestyle. Training up to three times a day six or seven days a week. Taking recovery seriously, sleeping enough, eating enough, staying hydrated and staying on top of injuries. I travelled to Scotland and Spain all in the name of going as fast as possible.
The European Championships in Antalya, Turkey came around quickly. My doubles partner and I felt confident in our speed. We’d done everything we could in the six weeks since selection and were ready to race.
The Europeans didn’t quite go our way, with a few slip ups in our turns and entry to the boat we didn’t get the races we had wanted. After the disappointment, we picked ourselves up, dusted off and thought about how we could go faster next time.
With a month until the World Championsips we set to work. Our assets (our speed) and our weaknesses (turns and entry) were much improved. We knew that if everything went well we’d be in the mix for medals.
But as we all know, the sea can be unpredictable, and so it follows, can Beach Sprints.
Disaster struck not once but twice in our races. Not once but twice a stone got washed into the boat from the shallows of the beach and was stuck in the mechanism of the seat and its slides, popping it off completely.
Rowing uses 85% of the muscles in the body but is predominantly a leg dominant sport. But without a sliding seat, your legs become redundant and you’re left with just your arms, much smaller muscles. If you’ve ever used a rowing machine at the gym, imagine the seat being unable to move up and down the slide.
We didn’t get the result we wanted but we knew we had put in everything we could into trying to get it. Once again, it was time to pick myself up, dust myself off and go again.
Fortunately it was third time lucky for me.
Just three weeks later I was competing in the Commonwealth Beach Sprint Chapionships in Barbados, an event that would have been a qualifier for Beach Sprints in the 2026 Commonwealth games before the location was changed and events program reduced.
This time I was in the women’s solo representing Jersey.
Lessons had been learnt and with the help of my Boat Handling team (Joshua Watkins and my Dad John) who kept my boat stone free, ensuring a safe and speedy start and finish, I progressed through the knockout rounds and 15 minutes after a close fight with Scotland in the Semi Final, that I won on the run up the beach, I was lining up to race Australia in the A final, securing a silver.
Just like in everyday life, external factors can drastically impact results.
Beach Sprints can be a brutal game, but that’s what makes it so exciting. The better and more experienced you are, the more resilient you become.
Resilience. That ability to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and go again. That ability to create more luck and become better at dealing with the hand you are dealt.
Building this resilience takes a support system: family, friends, clubs, professionals and Island backing.
I have a real sense of pride being from Jersey and I think it’s important to show that we really can compete with the world’s best.
Since the 2025 racing season concluded, I’ve spent the winter training at the classic rowing GB Performance Development Academy in Manchester, before heading to the GB Coastal academy at St Andrews to train for the 2026 racing season.
I’m excited to discuss the trials and tribulations of the coming season and what it is like being a full time athlete in future columns.
Feel free to get in touch via email natachaseason@gmail.com or on Instagram.
Natacha recently won a silver medal at the English Beach Sprint Championships and, flat-water racing, took silver and gold at the Scottish Rowing Championships and gold at the Henley Women’s Regatta.
1 + 2 Natacha searson and Cam Buchan at the European Beach Sprint Championships.
3 podium at commonwealth beach sprint championships – silver
4 + 5 competing at the world championships
6 +7 training camp in Torrevieja Spain
