NEWROSSBOATCLUB

Following on from the international performances of Luke Sutton and Shona Tierney, it was Laura Brown’s turn to represent her country at the recent Coupe de La Jeunesse.

This is the European championships for rowing’s top Juniors, and this year Ireland played host to the prestigious event.

Laura was selected in the single scull and had been training at the National Rowing Centre high performance centre in the lead up to this event. The regatta was run over two days with medals up for grabs on both days.

On Saturday, Laura took to the water for her heat where she raced a really strong 2k race. She held second place for all of the race behind the Denmark representative and held off the pressure from the Spanish sculler.

This placed Laura in a good lane for the ‘A’ final. Unfortunately, the weather turned quite nasty and all racing was cancelled for the day. Results from the heats stood which saw Laura finish a fantastic fourth, just three seconds off third place.

Day two of the regatta saw perfect conditions for rowing, with an action-packed day of racing in store.

Laura was the first of her team to take to the water. Laura came from behind in the race and had a really strong last 500m, moving her into second place again behind the Danish sculler but still qualifying for the ‘A’ final.

Laura raced a fantastic final, giving it her all, and finished in fifth place.

This was an amazing achievement for Laura who has only switched to the single scull this year. To make the qualifications for this level alone was a fantastic achievement, and to place fourth and fifth in Europe over the two days is just reward for all the hard work and training she had put in over the year.