Gold at World Rowing Masters Championships

Nick Cowan, retired Cockermouth GP, and Sam Ayers of Bodyfit Cumbria, both from Eaglesfield have recently returned from Banyoles in Spain having won gold in the World Masters Rowing Championships. They are both members of the Lakeland Rowing Club on Derwentwater. Three other members from the club were also in Spain.

Banyoles was the venue of the 1992 Olympic rowing where Matthew Pincent and Steve Redgrave won gold. The event is held annually and this is the fourth time Sam and Nick have won a gold at the World Championships. 

They race in a double scull in the mixed Masters category.  People from 27 years old can qualify to row as a Masters rower and they compete in 5 year age bands against crews of approximately their own age. This year more than 3,700 athletes from 747 clubs from 54 countries took part. All races are over 1,000m. There were nearly 80 other competitors in Nick and Sam's category.

There were 5 days of racing and both raced in their single sculls. They joined Celia Whittam and Gordon Jack, also members of the Lakeland Rowing Club in quad, a four person boat. The boat went well and came in a very close second to an Australian crew.

Nick and Sam have both been plagued with injuries in the past 18 months and have only been getting back to competing again since Easter '25. In their race they were ahead from the start and won by just over a boat length.

Asked about their gold winning performance, Nick said "We'd worked very hard to get back on track in the past few months and to get this result we were absolutely delighted but it was still something of a relief.  In fact we both feel that we just about got away with it.  We know how the boat feels when it is going well and it wasn't our best row.  It does mean that we have work to do so next time we hope to go faster."

Beginners, or returning rowers, coxes, coaches or prospective sponsors who would like to know more about opportunities at Lakeland RC can visit www.lakelandrowingclub.com or find the club on Facebook – just search for Lakeland Rowing Club.