Cardinal Pole teenagers to be trained by Olympic rowers

Budding young rowers from South Hackney will be supported by top medal-winning Olympic and Paralympic athletes as they prepare for a race at the official Olympic rowing venue.

Charity London Youth Rowing (LYR) has partnered with EDF Energy to mentally and physically prepare 40 teenagers from five east London schools including eight young people from Cardinal Pole Catholic School one in Kenworthy Road.

Paralympic gold medallist rower Tom Aggar, Britain’s most successful Olympic female rower Katherine Grainger, along with lead and gold medal winner in the coxless pairs at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 Jean-Christophe Rolland, will work with the youngsters.

The teams came together this week to launch the programme at the EDF Energy London Eye.

Stephanie Ware, LYR coach at Cardinal Pole, said: “We had a great time at the launch. Cardinal Pole thought the kit was amazing but the highlight of the day was holding Jean Christophe’s gold medal.

“We had fun with the mini indoor rowing challenge and it was good to meet ‘the competition’ for the first time.”

The challenge culminates with a race at Eton Dorney Rowing Centre near Windsor.