Rebekah Knight
Llandaff Rowers took all three of Wales’ Senior Medals at the Home International Regatta, of competing nations of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, at Strathclyde Park, near Glasgow, on Saturday 27th, July.
Llandaff Rowing Club’s para-athletes Rebekah Knight and Miguel Ferreira De Lima won the senior women’s single and senior men’s single titles, on the 2k course at Strathclyde. A fantastic feat for the Llandaff based club. They have now been asked to trial in November for Team GB for the next Para Olympics in Los Angeles.
Miguel Ferreira De Lima
Their coach, Llandaff’s Professional Coach, Damian Hammond, former Senior GB Coach and former Wales’ National Coach and Welsh Coach of the Year said “This is truly amazing, as Rebekah and Miguel both beat athletes who are on the GB Pathway for the next games in Los Angeles. Our Club Captain, Laura Starrs, and Club Chairman, Trevor Wing, are delighted with this success for Llandaff Rowing Club, as we cater for all levels of rowing, from complete beginner to High Performance, from 12 years old to 80 plus – we are a club for everyone. We would like to thank Welsh Rowing for their support, including giving Rebekah her own racing boat for the year, and also The Para Rowing Foundation, for selecting Rebekah from Para athletes all over the world for a week’s training camp in Portugal, at the beginning of the season.”
“Rebekah and Miguel’s triumph shows what can be done with dedication, hard work and the right support. Rebekah was talent spotted by Penarth Rowing Club and came to Llandaff to transfer to sculling only 18 months ago. Miguel, who started his rowing at Cardiff University, only decided to transfer single sculling this year. Rebekah’s win was all the more remarkable as she won against a GB Pathway athlete who had beaten by her ten seconds at Henley Women’s Regatta just a month ago. We have worked hard together on certain aspects of her racing, looking to turn around the result, as we knew there would be a rematch. Rebekah turned the ten second loss into a seven second win. This was remarkable, as a 17 second improvement would normally take a full season of hard training.”
“Our next medal for Wales came from Llandaff rowers in the Men’s Pair with GB World Junior Champion, Osian James and GB rower, Kai Schlottman, who won the world famous Henley Royal Regatta in the coxless fours event earlier this month. At Glasgow, they had to sprint through all the other nations to take the win in a tight finish. A true testament to their coach, Kai’s father, Ole Shlottman, Llandaff’s Head Junior Coach, who has coached many athletes to Welsh and GB International honours.”
Osian and James Welsh
Llandaff also had three other athletes selected to row for Wales at this event: Ellie Postlethwaite in the women’s double scull event and the women’s quadruple scull. Also Will Stradling and Bo Hughes, in the men’s double scull, and quadruple scull, where they finished second.
