Giant steps towards 2012
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This new, Olympic year brings with it hopes for Britain’s aspiring sportsmen and women. The country’s top talents are building up their training regimes for the summer’s games. For some athletes, like Medway’s Rachel Clayton, the Beijing Olympics will come too early but she has her sights firmly fixed on making the women’s coxless four team for London 2012. |
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Rachel, the former Walderslade Girls School pupil, was selected for the World Class Start and Potential Rowing Programme in October 2007, after impressing selectors during last year’s Sporting Giants initiative, set up to unearth potential Olympic talent for 2012.
The part-time Territorial Army worker is stepping up her training in 2008 ahead of the national championships and Great Britain selection events due to be held in the autumn.
She trains two to three times per day, seven days a week with a rest day once every three weeks.
Rachel took part in the Concept2 British Indoor Rowing Championships, her first-ever rowing competition, in November 2007, after only three weeks of training. She covered the distance of 2,000 metres in seven minutes and 40 seconds and came 36th out of 150 competitors.
Rachel now steps up her training regime to hit her targets for 2008. She wants to qualify for the national championships, row in the Henley Women’s Regatta and progress from the development squad to the full Great Britain squad.
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Medway Council would like to wish Rachel all the best for her 2008 season. The Sporting Giants scheme, jointly organised by UK Sport and The English Institute of Sport, ran across the UK in early 2007. The roadshows searched for Britain’s tallest people who had the potential to excel at rowing, handball or volleyball. More than 3,800 men and women were discovered and the best of these are now in strict training regimes in preparation for the London 2012 Olympics. |
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