Brives was always going to be a good location for producing fast exciting racing for both competitors and spectators. The water was warm and a beautiful blue, when rowing in the afternoon you couldn't help but smile as we pushed out one of the longest and strongest rhythms I have ever experienced. Oxford Brookes had managed to put forward an entire eight from a combination of a Visitors Henley winning four and silver medal coxed four from the U23 world championships. To represent Great Britain is always an honour but to be able to race as a tight-knit university crew makes it very special. We arrived on the 1st of September giving us two days till our first race, enough time to get settled and also to meet some of the other athletes such as Debbie Flood from the Olympic Silver winning Womens Quad.
When the entries came out we had another fourteen crews in our event. That was great, because we had come here to race hard and gain experience. Our Coach, Jim Macartney, who helped coach our Henley four was already making a great impact on our technical ability in the eight like a craftsman uses a lathe and chisel, Jim used his knowledge, keen eye and clear voice to shape us into the fastest Eight I have ever sat in. As anyone who has rowed knows, when you have an eight up and flying it really is a great feeling. To generate this speed we worked on pressing the legs faster and harder in the last part of the drive combined with snapping the backs open and maintaining the handle speed through pinning out the finish high in to the chest. Length was never going to be a real problem as I am easily the shortest in the boat at 6' 3"; it was more a question of developing a very strong rhythm in the water. The racing went as follows: In our heat we came a not so confident third, being just too slow in the first 500, giving away over a length to the Russians. In the semi we had a cracking row and had a great tussle with France who finished 2/3rds of a length to the good, and we beat the Russians by a second. This was pleasing and confidence boosting for all as the French had 6 members of their Olympic eight plus two of their top U23s. The final was a good row but not good enough; the French found another gear out of the blocks and proved to be too fast to stick with, the final finishing order was France, Netherlands, Estonia, Russia, Great Britain and Slovenia. All the same, a lot learnt and a good place to race, an even better place to party, we settled the final results with the French by an armwrestling/drinking competition. Lots of fun..