Lauren Irwin

Lauren was first introduced to rowing by her PE teacher at her secondary school, St Bedes in Peterlee aged 13 years old. 

After winning events at the County Durham School Games she was invited to join the Junior High Performance Academy run by the Durham University coaches and students. Wade Hall-Craggs and Harriet Tebbs were her mentors and guided her into the sport.

She joined Chester-le-Street Rowing Club later that year, after lots of capsizes, she started loving the sport more and more and really got hooked. Coaches Arran Lewcock and Steven Thompson developed her as a junior athlete and coached her to her first Great Britain vest at the Junior World Championships in 2016. She was so inspired after racing at her first international event and watching the 2016 Olympic Games that she wanted to see how far she could push herself in the sport.

Lauren studied at Durham University from 2016-2019 and was coached by Ian Shore and Wade Hall-Craggs. During her time at Durham, she went to the U23 World Championships 3 times and won Gold in 2019 in the Women’s four. She moved away from home to Henley-on-Thames to row at Leander in 2019. Ross Hunter coached Lauren to make the step from U23 to Senior and gain selection for the GB Rowing Team. She was invited to row full-time as a GB athlete at Caversham in 2021 ready for the Paris Olympic cycle to start.

Since then Lauren has picked up several international medals and made her dream come true by securing a Bronze medal at the Paris Olympic Games. Lauren is the first and only Olympian from her hometown in Peterlee and takes great pride in representing County Durham and the North East on the International stage.