Meet the mother of four who beat the GB Rowing Team at last year’s British Rowing Indoor Championships

Fergus Mainland caught up with indoor rowing legend Elizabeth Gilmore to chat all things ergos and plans for the 2025 British Rowing Indoor Championships

The Gilmore household is a busy one. While studying for a Certified Financial Planning exam in November 2025, World Champion and two-time Versa World Champion Elizabeth Gilmore is also looking after her four sons. In between all of this, the American is also trying to squeeze in some training for this year’s British Rowing Indoor Championships.

This will be the second time that Elizabeth has made the trip across the pond for the event in Birmingham. Last year, it was a rewarding trip as Elizabeth, who rows for a number of clubs, returned home with medals of every colour.

During the inaugural Super Sprint Sunday, Elizabeth won silver in both the 100m and 250m while representing ‘Small Person Union’ (SPU), the team she races for in the monthly Cross Team Challenge. 24 hours earlier, she took bronze in the highly competitive Women’s 2000m race behind Great Britain’s Lauren Henry and Vwairé Obukohwo. However, her best race came in the Women’s 4000m relay.

Elizabeth joined forces with Tereza Horejsova, Anna Kuoppala, and Rachel Fisher from Erg Power Series.  The quartet beat the Great Britain team and stormed to the gold medal, finishing 14 seconds clear of the field.

“It was a magical moment,” said Elizabeth, who currently holds 21 World Records on the Concept 2 website.

“We knew that they probably had us on conditioning, we just needed to be really smart with timing and transitions, and just how long each of us was on the rower for. Communication was a big thing as well, but we thought, ‘Let’s go and beat them!’ Sometimes when you have that doubt, you need to be super focussed on that, and it was really nice seeing everything coming together.

“Last year was my first time racing, and a lot of the racing seems to be going back to a virtual format. I think the indoor rowing community is really appreciative of BRIC for continuing to offer a single location on a single weekend where people can come in person, race, and then go out for a beer afterwards and catch up on things. US Rowing is making an effort as well, but the US is huge, and they have four satellite locations, and it’s a very different vibe. I really enjoyed BRIC last year.

“Last year, it tied in nicely with doing my taper. I was coming off my head race season, I was in really good 5km shape, and I added some sharpening sessions. I headed over to England a few days early and stayed with a friend in London. I got to see a little bit of London and kept training a little bit, but the volume was not there with the travel, and it felt like that worked out really well.”

While preparation for this year’s event has been something of a juggling act, Elizabeth is still managing to balance time on the water with time on the rowing machine. When not racing for SPU, the American is in the boats for Capital RC based on the Anacostia River, not far from her home in Virginia.

“Yesterday I raced twice, and I was hoping to get some studying done in between races, but I ended up taking a nap instead! It was the Occoquan Chase, a local race with lots of Masters, Universities, and kids. It’s a lot of fun.

“On the water, I race in the larger boats, and so it’s much more of a team. We’re in head racing season, so it’s fun picking off the boats in front of us and trying to take seats. On the erg, it’s just you against what you can do. You have your splits and you have to be dialled in on doing the best you can.”

At this year’s World Rowing Indoor Championships, which were held virtually, Elizabeth won the 40-44 women’s age group for 2000m, just outside the record in a time of 6:46. 4. 2025, then is bookended by blockbuster racing. With a plethora of racing taking place across two days at the NEC in Birmingham, there is plenty for Elizabeth and our international competitors to get stuck into. With more than 20 countries already represented, BRIC is set to be a global celebration of indoor rowing.

“I’m continuing to train, but the volume and the intensity aren’t quite there, and I don’t think I’ll have time for a full block of training between the exam and BRIC. I think I’m just going to go and have fun. I’m not expecting PBs or anything like that,” concluded Elizabeth.

The British Rowing Indoor Championships will take place 6-7 December 2025 at the NEC in Birmingham.