The Under-23 World Championships were held in Brest, Belarus between 23-25th July 2010 and Imperial's Jamie Kirkwood, Henry Fieldman and Lottie Howard-Merrill donned GBR vests to represent their country and defend Imperial's honour, which they did in style.

Photo Courtesy of Lottie Howard-Merrill

The successes of Mr Jamie Alexander Kirkwood have been impressive this year, to say the least. When curly-haired Kirkwood turned up at the Imperial Boathouse in the autumn of 2010, with his interesting use of grammar and words that people born south of his native Newcastle had never heard before (Good luck to those born south of the Watford Gap), no one quite knew what to expect. Over the course of the year, Jamie has grown, in all but weight, to become one of ICBC's stars.

His wins this year have included Sculler's Head, BUCS Lwt Championship 1x, Duisberg International Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta, but these were not enough for the Northern Wonder as he and his marras (a.k.a. mates for those who don't speak Kirkwood) David Jones, Jonathon Clegg and Will Fletcher headed to Brest in Belarus for the U23 World Championships.

Kirkwood & Co. were faced with challenges from the start, and not just from the competition. On the first day of racing, the four were ready and raring to go on the start when the heavens opened and thunder and lightning filled the skies. The crews had to pull into the side and wait for the sheeting rain to subside, only to be told (after the rain had stopped) racing would be postponed until the following day. This forced the lightweight crew to remain at weight for a full four consecutive days - bring on more rumbling tummies and sweat runs! Despite this, they right royally smashed the competition in the face and into the ground as they soared through the heat, beating their nearest rivals, the Italians and the Japanese, by nearly 1.5secs. The domination continued in the semi-final, where the wonderboys won by another 1.4secs over the Danish and the New Zealanders. In the final (Game Time) the competition was tough. In the first 1000m, the boys were not in the lead for the first time in the event, trailing slightly behind the USA and the Italians. The Italians went off the start hard but the GB four held their nerve and waited for them to blow, which they did. At 750m to go, the Italian crew fell apart and the GB crew employed multiple "tigers" - Jamie described these as "ragging it at 3/4 slide and then 1/2 slide for 10" - to successfully row through the rest of the field, smashing and grabbing the gold medal as they moved into the lead and on to the top of the podium.

Photo Courtesy of Fraser Brent

After the hardest race of their lives, the four enjoyed the medal presentation, until Kirkwood was unceremoniously picked up by one of their Italian rivals and thrown in the water. In the midst of it all, Jamie clung to his gold medal for dear life but forgot to do the same for his brand new £250 oakley sunglasses, which now reside at the bottom of the Belarusian lake. Apparently, winning softened the blow.

Henry Fieldman, a veteran of last year's U23 World Championships in Roudnice, Czech Republic, was back in the cox seat in the Men's eight [Bow: Karl Hudspith/William Satch/Matthew Tarrant/ Calum Wright/Frazer Brent/Scott Durant/Anthony Locke/Michael Evans/Henry Fieldman (cox)]. The eight were the fastest in the first 1000m of their heat (also delayed a day due to the same weather as Kirkwood & Co.), but unfortunately lost by a whisker to the American crew who were 0.5secs quicker. In the semi-final, the Fieldman Express train was once again hot out of the blocks, with the quickest 500m time of the race but some sneaky German efficiency meant they had to settle for second again. Fieldman recounted the German war cry he heard at points through the race made a big impact: "Suddenly there'd be this big grunt come from the middle of the boat and then the whole crew would just cry out together, and they'd go from nearly level to half a length out in front". The final was a tense time for the GBR eight, with the same American and German crews who had beaten them in the heat and semi alongside. The Brits put in a solid performance but couldn't quite take them doon. Fieldman brings home another shiny U23s World Champs Bronze to add to his collection. That's Crackin' It!

Photos by Row2k.com

More crews entered this year's event and Fieldman felt the top end of the competition this year was of a much higher standard than in 2009, but this didn't stop the GB eight from being whimsical. A "Pirates of the Caribbean" style docking proceedure, in the style of Capt. Jack Sparrow, was perfected during the chamionships. This involved aiming at the landing stage, the crew easying at hands away and singing the theme tune while Henry perfected the angle so he could simply stand up and step on dock - very Johnny Depp.

Lottie Howard-Merrill, the Sport Imperial and female representative from the club, was in the 3 seat of the women's coxless four [Bow: Jenny Arnold/ Monica Relph/Lottie Howard-Merrill/Polly Swann]. The W4- were third in their heat but with only one crew (the Australians) straight through to the A Final, the girls were thrown head first into the repechage, which would determine their fate and the final that they would race in (first 4 to A Final, rest to B Final). In a close fight where only 3 seconds split the top 4 crews, (Netherlands, Germany, Belarus and GB) the girls were third and into the A Final. In a tough fight, the girls clawed with their fingernails and came fourth overall.

Photo Courtesy of Lottie Howard-Merrill

This year was one of  the best U23 World Championships GB has ever had with one gold (Lwt M4-), three silvers (M4-, Lwt M2x, Lwt M1x)  and three bronzes (M8+, M4+, Lwt M4x [coached by our very own Steve Trapmore]). With club representatives top, third and fourth in the world, Imperial has shown why it has been designated one of British Rowing's High Performance Centres.

 Libby Richards