First the Big C, next the world
For South African rower Lawrence Brittain the goal is gold
HAVING beaten cancer, Lawrence Brittain now wants to conquer the world.
Barely 13 months ago, the rower returned to light training after months of chemotherapy for lymph-node cancer.
Chubby and bald, he was initially forbidden from pushing his heart rate higher than 120 beats per minute.
He was the weakest of South Africa’s eight heavyweight rowers vying for a spot in the men’s pairs boat, but in just more than a year he has forced his way in alongside veteran Shaun Keeling.
He and Keeling are one of five SA crews that will compete at the World Cup regatta in Varese, Italy, from Friday.
“The goal is always gold,” Brittain said this week, referring to the upcoming competition as well as the Rio Olympics.
Four SA crews have qualified for the Rio Games in August and the fifth, the men’s heavyweight four, will bid to book their spot in Switzerland next month.
Brittain first worked his way into the fours boat last year before reclaiming the pairs seat he last held two years ago.
Brittain and Keeling had held the boat from 2012 until early 2014, when his form suffered as a result of the disease, which had not been diagnosed by then.
Keeling and Vincent Breet won bronze at the 2014 world championships. David Hunt replaced Breet last year and helped Keeling to qualify the boat for Brazil.
“Lawrence is so much stronger [than he was] . . . you can feel the difference,” said Keeling.
“It’s very exciting to see how we’re going to go now.”
In 2012, Keeling and Brittain failed to qualify for the London Games.
“We’re not even in the same ballpark as we were then,” said Brittain, a former world under-23 champion and a younger brother of Matthew, a member of SA’s victorious lightweight four at the last Olympics. “The times we’re putting out at training and the way we are rowing [now] is completely different.”
Brittain said he was in two minds about his return to form. “On the one hand this is where I should have been three or four years ago, and on the other hand, yes, this is amazing to be able to be putting out these performances again.” The key had been managing his return.. “For me it was about getting all the steps done, make sure we can start training again, make sure we can do all the miles again, then perform at the level that I was at and get faster and faster.
“Doing all of those steps has allowed me to be sitting here today again.”
Brittain’s triumphant return to the pairs boat has meant disappointment for Hunt and Breet, both key members of the fours boat. Hunt and Breet twice paired up to win gold and silver medals at the under23 world championships.
Jonty Smith is the rawest of the national squad, having started the sport only in 2013; Jake Green won his seat at the expense of Sizwe Ndlovu, another member of the golden lightweight four.
The rowers say the competition for seats is ruthless but beneficial.
“The battle between people — Jake and Sizwe, myself and Lawrence — has really lifted our entire heavyweight team and you can see that in our times,” said Hunt, adding that the coming weekend was a dress rehearsal for the Rio qualifiers.
“What we want is to get some racing experience against the top crews in the world . . . see where we are.”
In peak training, the heavyweights must eat up to six meals a day just to keep their individual weight up at 90kg.
“The lightweights are happy, they lose their weight,” said Smith.
Amid the rigours of training, important to find time for fun.
“I would really struggle to row if we didn’t have jokes and laugh the whole time,” said Keeling.
Added Brittain: “As the lightweights get closer to weight they get more and more grumpy, but it’s fun to give them a poke every now and then.”
The other crews are: Men’s lightweight double sculls (James Thompson and John Smith); women’s lightweight double sculls (Kirsty McCann and Ursula Grobler); women’s pairs (Lee-Ann Persse and Kate Christowitz.
The times we’re putting out at training and the way we are rowing [now] is completely different
it’s