Pembrokeshire student to compete for Team GB at Portugal Rowing Coastal Championships
She's had to pay for her journey to the competition herself
Last updated 28th Sep 2021
Swyn Williams, a student from Pembrokeshire, will be competing at Portugal's Rowing Coastal Championships 2021.
The South Wales athlete is flying out today alongside her team-mate Tom Brian to represent Team GB in the Mixed Doubles category.
Coastal rowing is a more extreme form of the sport that involves rowing over rough water in a more robust boat, instead of in a straight line on flat water that is more traditionally seen at events such as the Olympics.
The boats in coastal rowing are designed to be more durable in big offshore waves. They are also very manoeuvrable and can launched from sandy beaches.
With the sport being less recognised, the National Governing Bodies provide no funding for coastal rowers, which means Williams has had to find her own funds to support her rowing and pay for the journey to the event herself.
She hopes that the sport will be seen on the same level as rowing in the Olympics so that it can receive proper funding:
“We’ve always had to pay our own way to get to world championships and national and international championships. We know that’s part of the process, we know that’s part of the deal, but it can get quite costly. Especially this year because we have to pay for Covid tests to go out there and come back.”
Williams is also relishing competing for Team GB, and said she's both nervous and excited for the Championships to get underway:
"It's definitely exciting to be back in that environment and to be back with all these rowers from all over the world, but there is a bit of nerves because we don’t know what to expect.
We don’t know what level everyone is at. So it’s that sense of the unknown, but I'm definitely looking forward to it."