With the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro just months away now, the first GB Rowing trial of the 2015/16 season takes place this weekend. University Of London Boat Club athletes will be trialling for either eventual selection to race in Rio or for the British Teams being formed for the U23 World Championships and FISU Regatta (World University Championships) next summer.

ULBC heavyweight men Ollie COOK, Paul BENNETT and Nathaniel REILLY-O’DONNELL are racing in pairs combinations with fellow GB Senior Team members. BENNETT and REILLY-O’DONNELL were both crowned World Champions in 2014 and 2015. Fran HOUGHTON, already a double Olympic silver medallist, races in the open weight women’s single, while 2015 World Silver medallist Emily CRAIG races in the lightweight single.

A large number of current students are also racing, including World U23 Silver medallist Rich CLARKE (Brunel), Junior Worlds Bronze medallist Charlotte HODGKINS-BYRNE (Royal Holloway) and lightweight James RICHARDS (King’s College London), who won elite pairs at the Pairs Head Of The River earlier this month. Other current ULBC athletes this weekend come from University College London, Birkbeck, Goldsmiths and BPP University.In addition, last week three UL athletes were named as part of the new squads competing for Oxford & Cambridge in the 2016 Boat Races. Jamie COOK, who won the Boat Race last year with Oxford returns chasing a second victory, while new comers Isa VON LOGA and Alice JACKSON will compete for Oxford and Cambridge’s women’s squads respectively.

ULBC is a designated High Performance Programme for GB Rowing and consistently provides a pathway to the Great Britain U23 and Senior Teams.