Guin Batten awarded British Rowing Medal of Honour for outstanding contribution to rowing
Four individuals to be awarded the medal of merit as part of the 2025 British Rowing Awards
Medal of Honour
Guin Batten
Guin Batten serves as Chair of World Rowing’s Coastal Rowing Commission and has been instrumental in developing beach sprints and coastal rowing as emerging disciplines. She was the driving force behind beach sprint rowing being added to the programme for the LA 2028 Olympic Games.
Outside of her distinguished career as an athlete, Guin has served the sport in so many other ways. Guin led the Organising Committee of the Women’s Eights Head as Race Coordinator from 2010 through to 2023 and as a British Rowing umpire, who gained her multi-lane endorsement in 2018, is regularly seen officiating around the country.
Guin has also sat on the Management Committee of the Henley Royal Regatta, a position she held for over a decade before stepping down at the end of this year.
Medals of Merit
Nick Hubble
Nick started his rowing career in 1984 in Peterborough as a junior, and was a committed member of Peterborough City RC for many years, holding the roles of Course Chairman, overseeing the strategic and day-to-day running of the 1k rowing lake there, Club Director and Race Committee Chairman of all events.
Nick has been an umpire since 1993 with a multi-lane endorsement since 2001. His other rowing commitments include a position on the National Umpiring Committee and the National Umpiring Appeals Panel.
Nick worked as a volunteer at the 2006 World Rowing Championships, served as a key member of the Organising Committees for the 2011 Junior World Championships, the rowing test event for the 2012 London Olympics and the 2013 Eton Dorney World Rowing Cup Regatta. He was a National Technical Official at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and can be found most weekends alongside some water somewhere in the UK where there is a rowing event.
Most recently, Nick has stepped down from the British Rowing Board, having offered his significant wisdom and expertise for seven years.
Michael Laing
Not only is Michael the foundation of St Leonards School BC, he has also been Chair of the Northern Rowing Council and is currently Chair of the Durham Regatta committee.
Michael started his lifelong involvement in St Leonards School BC and the sport in 1978 as part of a very successful junior crew. For the past 45 years he has made a huge voluntary contribution to the club. He is passionate about providing access to rowing to a wider group of participants, and particularly to young people.
Maggie Phillips
Maggie completed her 15-year tenure as volunteer Editor of the British Rowing Almanack (2011-2025) when the latest edition was published in March 2025. She also substantially supported the previous editor Keith Osborne in producing the 2010 edition so that he could complete 50 years in the role.
Since taking over, Maggie transformed the accuracy and completeness of this essential permanent record of domestic and international results and the British Rowing Yearbook. This included the transition from ARA to British Rowing, the ongoing digital transition in data sources and publishing technology, and flexibly structuring a 2-year edition in 2022 following the pandemic. She also took many of the photos featured in past Almanacks, often alongside umpiring duties, providing much-appreciated coverage in the years before professional photographers did this. Compiling the Almanack is a mammoth task, which involved year-round work that swelled to being full time in the final two months before going to press.
Alan Sherman
Alan ‘Woody’ Sherman has had an impressive career, coxing elite crews in all the most important races in and beyond the UK, and won. A lot. In 2026 he will be celebrating 50 years since he coxed a Thames Tradesmen RC Eight to victory at Henley Royal Regatta in the Grand Challenge Cup and won the Prince Philip Challenge Cup with a Tradesmen Coxed Four, helping to put the club on the map and several crew members into Team GB. In the years to come, Woody would cox GB crews at World and European Championships as well as the Paralympics in Beijing in 2008, securing medals for the country of all metal types.
Woody stuck with Thames Tradesmen RC when times got hard. Today, the club is mainly a recreational club, taking part in Masters rowing events. Woody’s commitment and high standards are unchanged; he is still coaching both at Thames Tradesmen RC and at other clubs; not least University College London BC, where he has coached for 25 years. UCL’s Ian Bates credits Woody for having “quite literally taught thousands of students and brought them into our community of rowing.”
Lifetime Achievement Award
Chris Morell MBE
Chris Morrell MBE has dedicated his life to developing young people through sport. 2025 represents a whopping 50 years of service to the The Windsor Boys’ School BC. Chris is known as ‘the godfather’ of WBSBC, having inspired countless students to take up rowing and achieve success at every level.
As a dedicated teacher and mentor, Chris has always seen sport as a powerful vehicle for education. His ability to inspire students to strive for excellence on the water, on the field, and in the classroom has changed countless lives. Former pupils often credit him with helping them find confidence, purpose, and lifelong friendships through sport.
Awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2011 for his services to youth sport and education, Chris’ recognition is richly deserved. Yet his greatest legacy lies in the community he built and the lives he transformed. His dedication, humility, and unwavering belief in the potential of every student embody the very spirit of British Rowing.
Mike Pugh
Mike has been rowing since childhood and still displays endless enthusiasm for all aspects of the sport.
He played a role in re-establishing the Lancaster Regatta and the Head of the Lune races which are now ‘go to’ events for North West rowers.
On 5 December 2015 Storm Desmond wrought havoc in the North of England. As Chair of Lancaster John O’Gaunt RC, Mike oversaw both the immediate cleanup operations and managed the recovery plan. Rowing restarted within a few weeks but it took till the next summer before the club was back to normal. Mike led on the decision to install a series of removable temporary flood barriers.
2017 was the 175th anniversary of the founding of the club. Mike led the organisation of the club’s celebratory events & arranged a ‘row past’ at Henley Royal Regatta. Still as Chair of JOG Mike oversaw and helped keep the club going during the COVID19 pandemic.
Richard Sinnott
Richard was one of the founding members and the first ever Captain of Warrington Rowing Club, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2026. Since then, he has dedicated his life to volunteering with the club.
Richard has enjoyed great success with coaching and has been directly involved in coaching numerous rowers who have rowed for GB and also several Olympians including Ric Egington and Lucy Glover.
Richard was a founding member and the real driving force behind All Aboard Youth Rowing, a charity initially based out of Warrington Rowing Club when it first started in 2016, which now serves six locations in the North West with further plans to expand.
Not only does Richard support the students within the programme and the club, but he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Liverpool John Moores University in 2024 for his role in providing placement opportunities for the University students at the rowing club, allowing them to hone their skills in Nutrition, Strength and Conditioning and Sports Science with the squads that he continues to coach alongside his very busy role within the charity.
The British Rowing Awards 2025 winners have been published! Find out who won here.
