World and Olympic Medallists to race alongside fitness lovers at the World’s largest indoor rowing event
Over 45 GB Rowing Team athletes travel to Birmingham for British Rowing Indoor Championships
The GB Rowing Team are travelling to Birmingham to take part in the World’s largest in-person indoor rowing event – the British Rowing Indoor Championships (BRIC) on December 6th. Olympians, Paralympians, World Championship and World Cup medallists will be taking to the floor to row 2km at the National Exhibition Centre. After racing, several members of the squad will be presenting medals to winners from other races and hosting a meet and greet.
Louise Kingsley, British Rowing Director of Performance said: “The 2km race at BRIC will form part of the 2026 GB Squad trials process so we can expect the athletes to give their all and produce their best performances in the intense cauldron with cheering crowds to push them through the final kms.”
The winner of last year’s women’s 2km was Olympic Champion and 2025 World Cup winner, Lauren Henry. She’ll be back to defend her title. The Leicesterian is relishing the thought of taking to the BRIC floor amongst her peers: “This will be a good opportunity to test out our early season fitness. Everyone is going to want to put a good showing down and see where we can build through the season.”
Describing the atmosphere as “electric”, Lauren also enjoys the sports presentation at the event, “When I’m doing my 2km, I’m so dialled in that I don’t really see what else is going on apart from being on the machine. But BRIC is really cool because you can see how you’re placing. Normally we don’t know where we are until we finish, but here we have everyone’s scores live on the screens so you can see if you’re winning and how far ahead you are!”
Lauren has fond memories of attending BRIC as a junior and is looking forward to meeting with athletes from across the country: “It’s so nice to engage with the wider community because a lot of the time we’re just racing internationally. I remember attending BRIC in 2016 and I got some photos with members of the GB Rowing Team. The photo of me with John Collins and Jonny Walton is still on the wall at Leicester Rowing Club. It’ll be really cool to be on the other side of that!”
Olympian, World silver medallist and World Cup winner, Matt Haywood is also looking forward to coming back to Birmingham, with it only being a short distance from his hometown of Burton-on-Trent. “I’ve been doing this event since it was in the Velodrome in London, but I think that it’s great to be able to come to Birmingham and have the event in a city that’s more central in the country. It opens it up to so many more people and more clubs. Plus it’s great that my friends and family can come and cheer me on!”
The huge crowd is also something Matt is relishing: “BRIC is a rare opportunity to perform indoors in front of a large crowd. Having people facing you is a weird sensation, but it’s a good experience to see how we handle the nerves of having the crowd staring you in the eyes. If you can deal with that, then you can pretty much deal with any crowd and any environment! It’s also lovely to know that by being there we can help inspire the next generation in the sport. It’s a really positive thing to give back a little bit to the rowing community at large.”
The GB Rowing Team are travelling to Birmingham to take part in the World’s largest in-person indoor rowing event – the British Rowing Indoor Championships (BRIC) on December 6th. Olympians, Paralympians, World Championship and World Cup medalists will be taking to the floor to row 2km at the National Exhibition Centre. After racing, several members of the squad will be presenting medals to winners from other races and hosting a meet and greet.
Louise Kingsley, British Rowing Director of Performance said: “The 2km race at BRIC will form part of the 2026 GB Squad trials process so we can expect the athletes to give their all and produce their best performances in the intense cauldron with cheering crowds to push them through the final kms.”
The winner of last year’s women’s 2km was Olympic Champion and 2025 World Cup winner, Lauren Henry. She’ll be back to defend her title. The Leicesterian is relishing the thought of taking to the BRIC floor amongst her peers: “This will be a good opportunity to test out our early season fitness. Everyone is going to want to put a good showing down and see where we can build through the season.”
Describing the atmosphere as “electric”, Lauren also enjoys the sports presentation at the event, “When I’m doing my 2km, I’m so dialled in that I don’t really see what else is going on apart from being on the machine. But BRIC is really cool because you can see how you’re placing. Normally we don’t know where we are until we finish, but here we have everyone’s scores live on the screens so you can see if you’re winning and how far ahead you are!”
Lauren has fond memories of attending BRIC as a junior and is looking forward to meeting with athletes from across the country: “It’s so nice to engage with the wider community because a lot of the time we’re just racing internationally. I remember attending BRIC in 2016 and I got some photos with members of the GB Rowing Team. The photo of me with John Collins and Jonny Walton is still on the wall at Leicester Rowing Club. It’ll be really cool to be on the other side of that!”
Olympian, World silver medallist and World Cup winner, Matt Haywood is also looking forward to coming back to Birmingham, with it only being a short distance from his hometown of Burton-on-Trent. “I’ve been doing this event since it was in the Velodrome in London, but I think that it’s great to be able to come to Birmingham and have the event in a city that’s more central in the country. It opens it up to so many more people and more clubs. Plus it’s great that my friends and family can come and cheer me on!”
The huge crowd is also something Matt is relishing: “BRIC is a rare opportunity to perform indoors in front of a large crowd. Having people facing you is a weird sensation, but it’s a good experience to see how we handle the nerves of having the crowd staring you in the eyes. If you can deal with that, then you can pretty much deal with any crowd and any environment! It’s also lovely to know that by being there we can help inspire the next generation in the sport. It’s a really positive thing to give back a little bit to the rowing community at large.”
The expected athletes racing on Saturday 6 December are:
Women’s squad, clubs and hometowns:
Lola Anderson (Leander Club / Newcastle University BC) (Hometown: Richmond)
Poppy Baker (Nottingham RC) (Hometown: Derby)
Martha Birtles (Oxford Brookes University BC / Oxford University BC) (Hometown: Rossendale, Lancashire)
Eleanor Brinkhoff (Leander Club) (Hometown: Cheltenham)
Angharad Broughton (Molesey BC) (Hometown: Cardiff)
Annie Campbell-Orde (Nottingham RC / Leander Club) (Hometown: Wells, Somerset)
Katherine George (Leander Club / Princeton University) (Hometown: Oxford)
Imogen Grant (Cambridge University BC) (Hometown: Cambridge)
Lauren Henry (Leicester RC) (Hometown: Lutterworth, Leicestershire)
Lauren Irwin (Leander Club / Durham University / Chester-le-Street ARC) (Hometown: Peterlee, County Durham)
Jade Lindo (Molesey BC / Twickenham RC) (Hometown: Molesey/Cranleigh, Surrey)
Sarah McKay (Leander Club / Grosvenor RC) (Hometown: Stockport)
Cam Nyland (Leander Club) (Hometown: Warrington)
Vwairé Obukohwo (Twickenham RC) (Hometown: Brixton)
Juliette Perry (Leander Club / Oxford University BC) (Hometown: Petersfield)
Hannah Scott (Bann RC / Leander Club) (Hometown: Coleraine, Northern Ireland)
Megan Slabbert (Molesey BC) (Hometown: Richmond)
Amelia Standing (Oxford University BC) (Hometown: Helsby, Cheshire)
Eve Stewart (Leander Club) (Hometown: Amsterdam)
Fionnuala Stratton (Reading University BC) (Hometown: Cardiff)
Rebecca Wilde (Leander Club / Bath University BC) (Hometown: Taunton)
Lizzie Witt (Leander Club / Imperial College BC) (Hometown: Richmond)
Holly Youd (Molesey BC) (Hometown: Thames Ditton)
Men’s squad athletes, clubs and hometowns:
Matt Aldridge (Christchurch RC) (Hometown: Christchurch, Dorset)
Miles Beeson (Leander Club) (Hometown: Aberdeen)
David Bewicke-Copley (Oxford Brookes University BC) (Hometown: Lutterworth, Leicestershire)
George Bourne (Cambridge University BC) (Hometown: Cambridge)
Joshua Bowesman-Jones (Leander Club) (Hometown: Derby)
James Cartwright (Leander Club) (Hometown: Gloucester)
Cedol Dafydd (Leander Club / Bath University BC) (Hometown: Bangor, North Wales)
Callum Dixon (Twickenham RC) (Hometown: Tower Hamlets, London)
Archie Drummond (Leander Club) (Hometown: Twickenham)
Jamie Gare (Leander Club / City of Cambridge RC) (Hometown: Haverhill, Suffolk)
Douwe de Graaf (Cambridge University BC / Leander Club) (Hometown: London)
Dan Graham (Leander Club) (Hometown: Newcastle)
Matt Haywood (Nottingham RC / Burton Leander RC) (Hometown: Burton on Trent, Staffordshire)
Rory Harris (Leander Club / Reading University BC) (Hometown: Virginia Water, Surrey)
Toby Lassen (Oxford Brookes University BC / Great Marlow Swans) (Hometown: Marlow, Bucks)
Sam Nunn (Oxford Brookes University BC) (Hometown: Bexleyheath)
James Robson (Cambridge University BC / Leander Club) (Hometown: Bury St Edmunds and Newcastle)
Matt Rowe (Leander Club / Oxford Brookes University BC) (Hometown: Teddington, Middlesex)
Tobias Schröder (Leander Club / Oxford University BC) (Hometown: Nottingham)
Will Stewart (Newcastle University BC) (Hometown: Esher, Surrey)
James Vogel (Leander Club) (Hometown: Pinner, London)
Fergus Woolnough (Oxford Brookes University BC) (Hometown: Gloucester)
Para Rowing squad, clubs & hometowns:
Josh O’Brien (Molesey BC) (Hometown: Naseby, Northamptonshire)
Benjamin Pritchard (City of Swansea RC) (Hometown: Mumbles, Swansea)
