Students from Hartpury have powered to gold medals in two showpiece rowing competitions.

Following a rewarding training camp in Belgium, the students achieved notable successes at the Gent International Spring Regatta in Belgium and the Junior Sculling Regatta at Dorney Lake in Buckinghamshire.

The winners included James Mackman and Fergus Woolnough, who are both part of the Hartpury Rowing ‘Start’ programme, a unique joint initiative between Hartpury, the GB Rowing Team ‘Start’ Programme and Gloucester Rowing Club, aimed at identifying and developing the next generation of Olympic rowers.

In Gent, there were gold medals for Fergus Woolnough, Sam Sheppard and George Reed in the men’s under-18 quadruple sculls; Rhiannon Morgan and Charlotte Enright in the women’s under-23 double sculls; Alex Astbury, Tom Jenkinson, Sam Morgan and James Mackman in the men’s under-23 quadruple sculls; Alex Astbury and Tom Jenkinson in the men’s under-23 double sculls.

Ben Jackson, lead coach of the Gloucester Hartpury Rowing Programme, said: “The regatta in Gent was a great way to finish off an excellent training camp in Hazewinkle.

“The rowers all made lots of progress that they were then able to put into practice. It was our first regatta of the season so hopefully we’ll be able to find extra speed over the next few months.”

There were more golds for the team at the Junior Sculling Regatta, with Rhiannon Morgan and Charlotte Enright winning again in the women’s under-18 double sculls.
Ruth McAteer won the women’s under-17 single sculls and Fergus Woolnough won the men’s under-16 single sculls.