We were delighted to welcome double-Olympic medallist Debbie Flood to Tyne United recently. Debbie won silver in the Women’s Quad Sculls at both Athens and Beijing Olympics, and participated in the London 2012 Games and Torch relay.
She was in the North East on behalf of Christians In Sport, and dropped in to lead the Friday evening training session. She started with a bit of a background about how she got into rowing aged 17, and was told soon after by her coach that she would never be more than a good club rower. Undeterred, she persisted with training, and the rest, as they say, is history. Following this motivational talk, the Juniors warmed up, and then were led in a training session, concluding with four teams of five competing in an Erg relay over a distance of 3000m.
After some stretching, we all went over the clubhouse for donuts and juice, and had a 30 minute question-and-answer session, with Debbie highlighting some simple, yet key aspects of successful training, including remembering always to have your water bottle with you, and the need to arrive promptly to training sessions so you do not delay your team mates. The evening finished with lots of photos of the group with Debbie and her Olympic medals and torch.
It was a great evening, thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended, and was a perfect start to the Autumn training sessions and the Head Season.
