Press Coverage from today

Daily Telegraph ran a spread in the sports section today.  Here are two articles published online -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/rowing/8506148/Great-Britains-mens-eight-may-be-made-up-of-believers-boffins-and-sceptics-but-they-are-pulling-in-same-direction.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/rowing/8506626/Great-Britain-mens-rowing-team-man-by-man-guide.html

Team Announcement

Today is the formal announcement of the GB Rowing Team for the first World Cup.  I am really pleased to have been selected for the GB men's Eight - I will be sitting in the "two seat" (see photo below) and can't wait to get this season's racing underway. 

We have been training as the Eight for the past week or so and I'm really enjoying to be back in larger crew boats.  The Eight is such a big machine that it takes time for everyone to be working as one - in total unison - but when it does come together it is such an electric feel.  Communication, honesty and mutual respect are big themes; we work hard to engage each other and ensure no stone is left unturned as we progress this project forward.

The rest of the crew ahead of me are World Championship silver medalists from 2011 and the guy behind me (Alex Partridge) is a multi-time World Champion and Olympic silver medalist - so a pretty strong group of guys to be rowing with!  The team is very competitive and seats are very hard to gain - and ever harder to keep.  My tasks over the coming weeks and months is to prove I have something to continually bring to the Eight, to keep improving and most of all - enjoy it. 

The first World Cup is the weekend of the 28th/29th May and it will be in Munich [Germany].

As always, thank you to all those that help and support me, I couldn't do it without you; in particular my friends, family and sponsor (Atos Origin).

442 days to go...

[copyright credits to Peter Spurrier @ Intersport Images]

Team Announcement Tomorrow

 (I'm far left, talking to Peter Wiersum - the Dutch national cox)

It's been a few days since I've updated the blog, apologise for that.  I've been training hard, trying to recover from some tough racing and working on a few projects.  Tomorrow will be the public announcement of the GB Rowing Team competing at the first of three World Cup races.

The World Cup Series is held in May/June/July each year.  Generally held in Europe, it consists of three separate events (roughly one each month and usually culminating at Lucerne, Switzerland).  Last year I won a gold [Bled] and bronze [Munich] medal at the first two events.  For a round-up of last season you can view a previous post by clicking here.

I will post in more detail about selections tomorrow.

Now on Twitter

I'm now on Twitter, find me @nrod2012.  For those of you not on Twitter, you don't need to join to be able to see what I put up, the last five tweets I make will be on the Twitter feed on the left.  What's the difference between Twitter and the Blog?  The blog will give way more detail, Twitter will just tell you how often I'm #verytired.  As I've mentioned before, you can receive my blog updates via email by filling in your address to the bar on the left.

No other major news so far this week.  Just getting back to basics with my training, long miles and heavy work.  As there has been no let up since some racing pieces last week, I'm feeling fatigued and diabetic.

Shout out to all at Atos Origin, thanks for continued support!