Milford rower Sol Chamberlain-Hyde earns Team GB world championships spot

BRITISH Rowing has selected Lymington rower Sol Chamberlain-Hyde to represent Great Britain at the World Coastal Rowing Beach Sprints Final in Genoa, Italy.

Chamberlain-Hyde (17), the youngest of Team GB’s U19 rowers, made his presence known early in this year’s Beach Sprints season.

He won the U19 English Beach Sprints Championships before jointly winning the Four Nations Championships and collecting a silver medal at the U19 Welsh Championships in Colwyn Bay in August.

Additionally, he just missed out on bronze. He placed a credible fourth place in the European Beach Sprints Championships in Poland in June, competing in a mixed double with 18-year-old rowing partner Leah Saunders from Evesham Rowing Club.

Sol, who lives in Milford, joins a South Coast heavy team in the GB squad, with Christchurch Rowing Club athletes Tom Walker, Xavier Jebb and Caitlin Lockey all selected as part of the World Championships U19 contingency.

The four athletes make up just under half of the junior GB team.

Chamberlain-Hyde is competing again with Saunders in a mixed double scull and will be rowing fiercely against 21 other junior mixed double crews from across the world.

Initially placed after two time trials, the top 16 crews will go on to the knock-out round of the championships with increasingly brutal back-to-back racing through the quarters, semis and then finals.

Chamberlain-Hyde and Saunders have been training hard throughout the summer at the British Rowing Coastal Academy based in Studland under the expert coaching of British Rowing coach Lucy Hart.

To facilitate his GB journey, the talented teenager is looking for sponsorship. Although British Rowing provides coaching, he must supply his own blades and pay for his international trips to race and represent Great Britain.

In addition to his A-Levels and working as much as he can at Lymington Sea Water Baths and Solent Rib Charters throughout the summer, training six days a week has meant his time is stretched to the maximum.

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