Sutherland grabs gold and silver follow-up
TRENT Rowing Club’s Alison Sutherland came back from the British Indoor Rowing Championship with gold and silver medals – matching her tally from last year’s event.
She was among several athletes from Trent who madev the trip to London for the event, staged in the National Velodrome within the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
The championship attracted a record entry and is the only one hosted by British Rowing to use rowing machines rather than boats.
Sutherland, competing in the 55-59 ladies’ category, went into her first race, the 2,000 metres, looking to better her silver medal from last year.
Having had a good start, she settled in and spent most of the race in the silver medal position, just behind Nicki Glen from the Isel of Ely Rowing Club.
She made a hard push in the closing stages, finishing in a time of seven minutes, 56.9 seconds – but Glen hung on, winning by 1.2 seconds.
Sutherland returned later in the day with renewed determination to defend last year’s gold medal over the 500m course.
She set out with a simple race plan – give it everything – and powered into an early lead, holding on to it comfortably to finish in one minute, 44 seconds, beating the second-placed woman, from Tideway Scullers, by six seconds.
There were no other medals for Trent but others from the club did register personal bests in their events.