Lymington rower Joshua Brangan scoops second world gold for Great Britain

FORMER Highcliffe School pupil Joshua Brangan recently won gold for Great Britain in the men’s four at the U23 World Rowing Championships in St Catharines, Canada.

The 20-year-old, who learned to row at Christchurch Rowing Club, secured his second world medal with teammates Fergus Woolnough, Harry Geffen, and Jake Wincomb under the guidance of coach Kieran Clark.

In the year of the Summer Olympic and Summer Paralympic Games, senior categories are limited to non-Olympic and non-Paralympic boat classes.

He was part of a squad of 84 athletes with 27 support staff that were selected to represent Great Britain at the 2024 World Rowing Senior, U23 and U19 Championships.

Brangan, who grew up in Lymington before getting a scholarship to attend St Edwards School in Oxford, now has two world titles after a victorious showing two years ago at the world championships in Varese, Italy.

After many impressive performances about four years ago, multiple Ivy League universities reached out to offer him a place to study and row in the US.

After many online meetings and a successful academic assessment, Brangan enrolled at Harvard University in 2022.

While at Highcliffe School in 2017, Brangan learned to row at Christchurch Rowing Club and subsequently joined the junior squad.

Under the coaching of John Dodsworth, he grew into the sport and had success in various races for Christchurch in singles, doubles and the coxed quad.

Determined to keep his fitness up during lockdown, Brangan followed a strict training regime – even building a squat rack from scrap wood from his dad’s shed and using loaded plastic bags as the weights.