James Cox

James started rowing at the age of 9 in 2014 on the River Dee in Chester inspired by his older sister Emily who he had watched race at all the national, regional regattas and head races in the north west.

After being taught to row by his Dad and sister, he joined his secondary school rowing club, Queen’s Park Chester RC (formerly Queen’s Park High School RC). Being one of five state schools in the UK with a rowing club at the time, the rowing club still aims to make rowing accessible to as many kids as possible through the Love Rowing charity.

From J12 through to J16 he was part of a group of ten lads, who didn’t take rowing too seriously, but they turned up and had fun. Heavily influenced by their coach Ben Newell who made sure every session was fun and worthwhile. This was where James saw the immense enjoyment you can have out of rowing and he could see a future for himself in the sport.

After GCSE’s he made the choice to try and take rowing further, having joined his school sixth form, he found he had more free periods which meant more rowing! His sixth form coach, Michal Parlamazcuk hugely accelerated his on-water sculling technique within a whole season. He then joined Warrington RC a year later under the guidance of John McQuillian who gave him multiple opportunities to compete at the highest level. Ben, Michal and John will always be a big part of his time as a junior.

Moving onto adult life, James made the move to Manchester in 2022 for university and was recruited by Will Stockton for the North West Performance Development Academy at Agecroft RC. From 2023 he was coached by Clare Holman and Leticia Muziol who accelerated his boat speed, physiology and mindset to a whole new standard.

When finding Beach sprints in early 2022 after seeing something online about an early ID trial, James was keen to try it out. Being from Chester and close to the North Wales coast line, James was able to hone his Beach Sprint specific skills with Welsh Rowing coach Will King out of Bay of Colwyn RC. Since then, James has won two international medals in the format – so is confident switching to beach was a wise choice!

At the end of the day all of this wouldn’t be possible without the unwavering support of his parents, Richard and Julie and his sister, Emily, who have taken and supported at competitions up and down the country.

When he stops rowing, he hopes to use his Sports Coaching and Development degree to become a well renowned rowing coach. He has already coached a bit at school and a lot in Manchester with the All Aboard Youth Rowing programme, which has given him the fuel to want to progress it further. He feels pure enjoyment and excitement from coaching people who wouldn’t usually get the chance to row, like myself (coming from a state school rowing club), to just get faster and better.