“Junior rowing is pretty epic.” In conversation with a pair of World Champions
On The End of The Island Podcast, Fergus Mainland spoke with Alp Karadogan and Patrick Wild about their golden performance in Trakai as well as their time at St Paul’s School with Bobby Thatcher
Credit: Benedict Tufnell
Having spent all season, and all of their junior years on boats, you’d be forgiven for thinking that a pair of World Champions might head to a landlocked country or somewhere far from water for their summer holiday. Quite the opposite for Alp Karadogan and Patrick Wild. Whilst reflecting on their successes, they were docking in Turkey just a few days after crossing the finish line ahead of the rest of the world in Trakai.
For Alp, this was his third appearance at the U19 World Rowing Championships. The win in the Men’s Pair completes his trio of medals across the sweep events, having won silver in the Men’s Four last year and gold in the Men’s Eight on his debut back in 2023. Similarly, for Pat, this was his third year in the famous hoops of Great Britain. Two years after racing the Men’s Pair with James Pollock, he returned to the same boat class with his 6ft 9 schoolmate, with whom he won silver last year in the Four.
As the two head off to Harvard University and Cambridge University, they have an enviable trophy cabinet that many of the finest rowers in the world can only dream of. It’s stacked full of red boxes, national titles, as well as tales of conquering the US at the Head of the Charles. Over the last few years, as the two have spent time anchoring St Paul’s first Eight, they’ve been under the guiding eye of Bobby Thatcher, fitting then that he oversaw their campaign in the pair, their final race as juniors.
It’s been an amazing few years,” explained Alp.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted to this season in the Eight, so I think it was very satisfying to cap it off with a result that did go the way we wanted. It was so fun because we know Bobby really well, and he knows us really well, so we know how to get the best out of each other. We just had a great time over the past three weeks. It’s been a really great summer,” he continued.
The thing with Bobby is, we’ve had him for probably three years, and Alp for four years. So, he knows us really well, and we know him really well, and we know exactly the style that we want to row,” said Pat.
“We’re not making massive technical changes, because we already know what we’re doing, we know how we want to row. I’ve only ever rowed at St Paul’s, so that’s the way we row. We know what Bobby wants, we know that style, and we just do it. It wasn’t huge technical changes. It was pretty relaxed, to be honest,” he added.
Despite heading to their third World Championships, there was still an air of the unknown. Fresh competition came from across the World and presented a number of challenges. While Serbia topped the table at the U19 European Champs and Greece had reached the A Final of the U23 World Championships, it became clear in the heats that Australia would be Great Britain’s biggest rival as the competition progressed.
In the opening heat, just 0.5s separated the two crews, and in the semi-finals, it was Australia who beat the Brits by around 2.5s. As is so often the case, it was the Poms and the Aussies oceans ahead of the rest of the world, setting the stage for a belter of a final.
“I think it helped bring out the best in us,” said Alp.
“We get instant feedback on how well we’re rowing. You can see the difference between the heat and the semi-final result. We felt like we rowed better in the heat versus the semi-final, and we can see that with the result as well. It’s helpful to have that feedback and a fast crew that you can compare yourself to.
“Around 600 metres out from the finish, I heard Pat say, ‘Yeah, let’s win!’ Up until that point, we’re following our plan, but we’re still more than half a length down. So I was unsure of what the outcome would be. But then I heard Pat say, ‘Yeah, let’s win.’ So, I was like, ‘Hell yeah.’
“I think the rate went up by two, and we started putting down a lot more pressure. I felt the rhythm improve, the boat stabilised, and it just started moving. Then I looked over once, and from me not being on their stern, I was back on their stern. Then I was like, ‘Hell yeah.’ We kept going, kept sprinting, and then we were level, and up by like half a length. So yeah, I think it was initiated by Pat, but then we both sort of got onto it and started going.”
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Pat and Alp leave behind a legacy of excellence at St Paul’s School BC. Since 2015, when the school won the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup for the first time in 18 years, the Hammersmith-based programme has won the event on three other occasions. Alp was in the boat for two of those victories.
However, when discussing the season that has just unfolded, adversity is the word that springs to mind. Back in March, St Paul’s won the Schools’ Head of the River by seven seconds over Shiplake College. In the following weeks, their bowman, Arthur Hamill, suffered a stroke, and the crew and club had to come together stronger than ever.
“We came together as a team and adapted with that. For Nat Schools, I think we realised, ‘Okay, we’re not maybe going as well as we should have been at this point in the season.’ Then, we really tried to get that rhythm back, to get that mojo back, but then we weren’t really able to,” said Alp.
“He’s [Arthur] taken it well, and I think he’s a really strong person. We got to see that a lot. He’s stayed really positive, even though he was medically unable to row. He was there for us the whole Henley campaign and during Nat Schools.
“I remember we said that we were no longer a boat of nine, we were a boat of 10, because we’re all just supporting each other and he’s there for us and we’re really good friends with him.”
While Pat emphasised that everyone would experience adversity and that no crew will enjoy a perfect season, he also explained that junior rowing in the UK continues to have new standards set year after year.
“For me, the standard gets higher every single year. I’ve done this like for three years now with St Paul’s, and every year, like feels like we get in the boat in January, February, and every year, it feels better. It’s like, ‘Oh, this is super-fast.’ Then you get to Schools’ Head, Nat Schools, and you realise that everyone else is faster as well. I honestly think that over these past three years, the speed of the crews just goes up and up and up and up, and you must keep finding more speed.
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Amongst the victories and triumphs, there have been some core memories made by both young oarsmen. One of the perks of the Tideway is that you can row, uninterrupted, from Richmond Lock right the way into the heart of one of the world’s great cities. During long outings, Bobby would sometimes take the crews right into the city centre, passing Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament before spinning and heading back to their boathouse on the Championship Course. It made the 19-minute pyramids that bit more bearable.
As this chapter of their rowing comes to an end and the two World Champions get set to write their next, their advice to the next generation of athletes training in the shadows of Hammersmith Bridge is simple. It stands true for any junior at any stage of their rowing journey.
“Take time to enjoy the small things and the slow moments,” said Alp. “Just look back and realise how lucky you are to be able to row because it’s a really fun sport. It’s a sport I love doing, and I think just enjoy it and find the fun in every moment.”
Despite previously suggesting that athletes should get stuck in and train hard, Pat laughed and said, “That’s a much better answer!”
“Have fun, enjoy the small things. That’s huge. It will be over before you know it, and that’s something that was said to me in the 2024 season when we thought we were going to have a really fast crew. People were saying to enjoy every moment because it’s going to go by in a flash. That’s massive because it’s really fun and junior rowing is pretty epic.”
Listen to the full conversation here.
