Joshua Bowesman-Jones

Josh learnt to row at Radley College when he was 13. He was a keen cricketer and rugby player prior to taking up rowing so unfortunately his budding career as a fast-pace bowler had to be put to one side.

His grandfather, who put a lot of effort into teaching him how to bowl and sadly passed away in October 2024, would be grinning if he knew about where rowing has taken Josh. Whilst balancing his academics and rowing at school, he also managed to fit in playing the trumpet (Grade 8!), piano and singing too so he was kept very busy.

After moving up the ranks at Radley under the guidance of John Gearing and Sam Townsend, Josh went to Oxford to study Chemistry. Despite his tutors’ insistence on not rowing, he rowed in the reserve crew, Isis, in 2019, 2020 and in his last year, 2022. During the pandemic in 2021, he was selected for the Blue Boat and got to race against Cambridge on their home turf in Ely where he sadly lost.

Later that summer he was selected for the GB U23 team and became World and European Champion in the Men’s 8+: He was told by the coach after the U23 European Championships that he was the only GB rower that year to hold both titles. In Racice at the U23 World Championships, his boat won their final by about a foot: to come out on the right side of that margin was quite simply, incredible.

After Oxford, Josh started training full-time at Leander Club alongside working as a Research and Development Consultant for Kane International and also coaching at Radley. Since leaving university he has had more time to pick up his musical interests again which is something he absolutely loves.

During the 2023-24 season and the start of the 2024-25 season, Josh experienced a particularly tumultuous period of his life, having to deal with everything from multiple family deaths to getting rhabdomyolysis at GB trials and ending up with kidney damage. In fact, he was at such a low that in December 2024 he very nearly quit the sport, but the coaches at Leander encouraged him to stick it out. As such, Josh now sees being part of the GB Rowing Team completely surreal and an absolute privilege.