City graduates sticking their oar in for Britain!
ROWING
FOUR Newcastle University graduates make their international senior debuts at the 2017 World Rowing Cup series in Belgrade this weekend.
Tim Clarke, Tom Ford and James Rudkin will be part of the men’s eight, while Sam Arnot will be in the second pair.
The regatta has attracted rowers from 26 nations, the largest numbers of oarsmen from the Netherlands, Poland and Great Britain.
Ranking among the medal prospects are athletes who won gold at the Rio Olympic Games.
Rudkin, recently named as the most promising under-23 male rower in the UK by GB Rowing, said: “All four of us are delighted to be selected for the crew in Belgrade.
“It is amazing I started with these guys at university five years ago and now we are in the eight together.
“This is the senior debut for all four of us and indeed most of the crew so we are incredibly excited to get out there and go as fast as we can.
“It is the start of a new Olympiad so we don’t know how fast we are or the opposition - but all nine of us in the boat are ready to get stuck in.”
Clarke added: “It is very exciting to be selected for the first World Cup in Belgrade, especially with three other Newcastle University alumni.”
Ford, Arnot and Rudkin were winners of the Prince Albert Challenge Cup for Newcastle in 2014.
All of them represented Great Britain at under-23 and/or Universities World Championship level while studying at Newcastle.