Two islanders have been selected to represent Great Britain at the World Rowing Beach Championships following a competitive series of trials across the UK.
Chris Thompson and Natacha Searson are set to travel to Antalya in Turkey to compete from Thursday 6 to Sunday 9 November.
Searson will be half of the Olympic class mixed doubles on her third World Championship appearance, and was also recently selected to compete at the European Championships at the same venue.
She said: “Beach sprints is a new Olympic sport and in LA 2028, so to be selected to row in the Olympic class boat this year is amazing.
“Going in to the Beach sprints trials, I wasn’t too sure how I’d do, but the training paid off and trials went better than expected, so I’ll be rowing in the Europeans for the first time this year, and then in the Worlds.
“I’m really enjoying rowing with Cam Buchan. We won gold at the British Championships and I’m looking forward to seeing how we can do on an international stage.”
Thompson will be in the men’s quad in his debut season of beach sprint rowing.
He said: “I’m really proud to be selected to represent Great Britain. It has been the goal since I started training for this season 12 months ago.
“My target was to make the quad, so it’s rewarding to see that work come to fruition.
“Balancing training with full-time work as a data engineer at The Summit has been tough, so it feels especially rewarding that the effort has paid off.”
He added: “It’s great to have two athletes from Jersey Sport’s Performance Sport Programme in the GB setup this year – their support has been immense, both in creating more opportunities off-island and in providing support services here in Jersey.
“Thanks to everyone at the rowing club who’s built up the beach sprints programme in Jersey, together with Oak Group, who’ve supported us from the start. Without them this simply wouldn’t have been possible.”