JERSEY Rowing royalty Rick Rouille secured himself a sensational end to his racing year with two gold medals from the Borin Rowing Regatta in Trieste, Italy.
Rouille, a stalwart of rowing success in Jersey, returned to the picturesque coast of Trieste for a fourth time, taking home the winners’ plaudits in both the Masters Open Doubles and Masters Open Quad events.
In the quad event, Rouille competed alongside his familiar crew-mates, Tim Fenemore, Alberto Millo, Andrea Pareschi and cox Alessandro Lorenzon, the last three all being native to Trieste, while his doubles success came alongside the experienced Fenemore.
Competitors from across Italy, USA, Germany, Slovenia, Ireland and Great Britain took part in the race which saw a record 383 entrants tackle the scenic course over a 6km distance.
“This was the perfect way for us to end the year,” said Rouille. “This particular event has always been more geared towards the Masters events and we thoroughly enjoy competing in it. Tim (Fenemore) and myself have been rowing together for several years, but to get to share the boat with two international rowers in Alberto and Andrea was incredible, and they love racing with us too.”
The quad crews began all bunched together and, over the first half-a-kilometre, it remained tight before Rouille and his crew began to assert their dominance and pull away from the pack.
Rouille and his crew began to extend their lead untroubled, growing the advantage to over 90 seconds towards the end of the race, crossing the line to seal the gold medal with around a 400m gap to the chasing boats.
Rouille and partner Fenemore were then set to compete in the Masters Open Doubles, requiring a change of boat. However, the duo were last to make it to the line for the start of the doubles event, meaning they were fighting at the back from the off.
Despite crashes and packs building up throughout the course, Rouille and Fenemore used their years of experience and skill to navigate a safe route through the first buoy and maintained their excellent line to cruise past the pack into pole position.
The pair maintained their discipline and tight line around the course, pressing home their advantage to cross the line 26 seconds ahead of the chasing pack and securing a second gold medal.
Success capped off a hugely fruitful campaign for the duo in the boat following previous successes in England, Wales, Ireland, Monaco and, of course, here in Jersey.
Rouille added: “I have rowed with Tim all over the world now, he’s the most incredible guy. Not only is he a superb athlete, with his background in rugby as well, but extremely intelligent and we both just absolutely love the sport.
“Everything I do comes back to the incredible work that goes on through Project Gold within Jersey Rowing.
“This is a project I run myself and give hundreds of hours of voluntary work too each year, so it’s incredibly important to me and rowing in Jersey moving forwards.
“All the training myself and the other athletes involved go through is all accredited and discussed with British Rowing coach, James Walker, so we know we are offering the highest level of training to our athletes.
“As amazing as it is to get to travel the world and compete in the sport I love, I get just as much enjoyment, if not more, from the incredible younger performers we have out there from Project Gold returning astonishing results from across the world themselves.
“Ending the year both personally and for Project Gold with some international success is a massive boost and we will continue our hard work and dedication with renowned vigour coming into 2025.”
