CAERNARFON coastal rowing star and current British champion Jerry Owen is excited to be representing Great Britain again at the World Coastal Rowing Championships.

And he’s hoping to make the most of a home advantage as the world’s best head to Saundersfoot.

Owen, from Fishguard Rowing Club, has competed at many international competitions, previously winning bronze as part of a coxed quad crew at the Shenzhen World Championships back in 2019, and won gold at British offshore championships earlier this year, also hosted in Saundersfoot.

His latest competitions have seen him in action at the Home International Regatta in Scotland, but Saundersfoot will no doubt represent the biggest moment so far as he competes very much on home turf.

The World Coastal Rowing Championships 2022, with the likes of two-time Olympic champion Helen Glover competing, will bring together two exciting formats of rowing across the two weekends in Pembrokeshire.

On the first weekend, underway on October 7, the top club coastal rowers from around the world will compete in a course along the Saundersfoot coastline, followed by the beach sprint rowing the following weekend. 

Tipped to be a future Olympic rowing discipline, the beach sprint finals will be an exciting and fast-paced spectacle where the best of the sport will be celebrated in Wales.

Reflecting on the excitement building as the World Championships near ever closer, Owen tipped Pembrokeshire to be the perfect setting.

He said: “I’m really looking forward to competing in Saundersfoot – I won’t have to adjust to any jetlag, for a start!

“Wales has quite specific water, and I’m hoping it’ll take others a little while to adjust, whereas I’ve been training here all my life and it’s what I’m used to.

“I think people will really enjoy how close the sport is, and the fact anything can happen in a race.

“It’s so exciting as a spectator, and I know Saundersfoot will represent such an amazing competition.

READ MORE:

Suspended sentence for Anglesey woman who breached order by making 999 hoax call

Gwynedd care home boss up for award after soldiering on following husband’s death

Caernarfon great-grandmother, 91, reunited with long-lost family

“A World Championships coming to Pembrokeshire is a big moment, and I’m hoping to make the most of it. 

“I started six or seven years ago as a junior, with those big, traditional fixed sea boats.

“When I first saw a coastal scull, I thought: ‘How do you not just capsize!’ The sport has progressed so much, which I’m so proud to be a part of.

“In 2018, I remember doing Commonwealth trials, thinking: ‘I’m way too young to be here, it’s just a bit of racing experience so it doesn’t matter,’ and then I won!

“I thought at that time maybe this is my thing, and it’s just gone from there.

“Winning at the British Championships, and then going on to compete at the World Championships and coming away with a medal, it’s so enjoyable for me and the environment is just brilliant – whether you’re winning or not.”

As boats are made available across Wales for grassroots coastal rowing clubs to engage more and more participants, Owen sees a bright future for the sport – and a new generation inspired by a World Championships coming to Wales.