Caius oarswoman wins double GB Gold

  • 20 May 2015
 
Congratulations to Caius oarswoman and triple rowing Blue Melissa Wilson, who with her pairs partner Holly Hill (Downing College) won two gold medals for Great Britain at the Essen International Regatta last weekend. Melissa, who begins her final exams this week, took a break from the library to talk about the competition - and explain how she manages to combine rowing and revision...
 

Caius undergraduate and double rowing gold medal-winner Melissa Wilson (left) with GB under-23 pairs partner Holly Hill

Melissa (centre left) with pairs partner Holly Hill (centre right) and GB team-mates, Essen International Regatta

Last time you featured on our website you were about to row for Cambridge in the Boat Race. Tell us about rowing for your country.
 
My pairs partner Holly Hill (who sat in front of me for this year’s Boat Race) and I raced at Essen International Regatta, winning Gold in the Under-23 pair and the Under-23 four by convincing margins. We also came third in the senior pairs event on the Saturday. As Holly’s first experience of international racing, and my first time competing in a combination of Senior and U23 events it was a very significant opportunity. 
 


How did the race itself go?

We’re really pleased with the outcomes and our performances; it was great to be up against some unknown competition from countries like Germany, Poland and Argentina, but also other Senior British pairs who we’ve previously raced at the GB trials. We executed the plans we’d sought to try out, so would have come away happy anyway - but the results with the gold medals left us on a particular high!
It's couple of months since the Boat Race, the first time the women's event took place on the Tideway. Cambridge lost - how do you feel looking back on the race? 
 
Very positively; it was a phenomenal part of history to be part of, I was so proud to be part of the team I was in, and I left the water feeling that we had executed our best race on the day. Losing is always difficult, and winning would have been a very different experience, but it feels like the specific outcome was only one component of a day that I will always remember. Being able to shift focus into the pair has definitely been rewarding, and building on so much of what Holly and I learnt in the Boat Race preparation has helped us achieve the outcome of the Essen weekend.
 
Your finals are just days away - how have you been fitting work in?

Our hotel room walls in Essen were covered with three very substantial mind-maps! I’ve also taken to recording quotes, so that I can listen to them on bus journeys and during land-training on the erg or watt-bike. Poor Holly had to put up with some recording sessions whilst we were away in Essen...

 
What's next after graduation?

Throughout this year my belief has been that staying “present" is going to put me in the best place to take the next step. Rather than worrying about what happens after the summer, I’m throwing all I have at my current work and my rowing, so that once exams finish (at the end of May) and the U23 World Championships happen (at the end of July) I can look back and know that I did the best job of those two focuses. Outcomes on both fronts will then determine the next chapter!

 
 
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