Rachel Clayton
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Sport: Rowing Age: 21 Club: Minerva Rowing Club, Bath Key achievements: Qualifying for the Great Britain Development Squad via the Sporting Giants programme. Sporting ambition: To compete at the London 2012 Olympic Games. |
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Rachel Clayton has only been a rower for a few months. She took advantage of an opportunity to become a Sporting Giant in February 2007 and has not looked back since.
The Sporting Giants initiative searched the country for men over six feet three inches and women over five feet eleven inches.
Anyone meeting these entry criteria was then assessed for their suitability for rowing, handball and volleyball.
Rachel was one of 500 applicants to make it through the assessment and was then one of 60 rowers to qualify for a further assessment day at the lake at Holme Pierrepont, the National Watersports Centre near Nottingham.
In October 2007 Rachel learned she had been successful as one of 20 rowers selected for Britain’s World Class Start and Potential Rowing Programme.
Rachel, who had been a keen horse rider and rugby player for Cheltenham Ladies, had never done any rowing before attending the Sporting Giants roadshow. The initiative’s aim was to find hidden talent like Rachel who had never had the chance to try rowing before the roadshow.
Rachel has been training with the squad for a couple of months and is looking forward to the 2008 season, when she will be aiming for the national championships, the Henley Regatta and then the full GB trials in October.
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