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Commissioned and written as a World Championships preview for the Daily Telegraph, August 2005, UK. Slightly edited for Rowing Service publication post-Worlds, on Monday 5th September 2005.
Picture the stereotype boatful of rowers. Most people's mental image probably includes eight oarsmen and a cox (possibly dressed in blue), the athletes lunging back and forth while the midget in the stern barks "Stroke! Stroke! at regular intervals. Leaving aside how obsolete modern technology has made this Victorian vision, the experience for Britain's top women's quad is very different.
Katherine Grainger and Frances Houghton are stern pair of the crew which left Britain in mid-August hoping to go one better than the silvers won in Sydney and Athens. Joined by equally talented fellow medallists Sarah Winckless and Rebecca Romero, their new campaign to convert second place into first class took them to the Nagara River in Gifu, Japan, where they achieved the quad gold the team has been promising for several years.
Nearly all the quads they raced there include at least one former medallist, but nobody had the pedigree or consistency of the British. Their last warm-up regatta in Lucerne was clouded by Romero's sudden back spasm, which left the boat carrying a spare and trailing in second behind former underdogs Russia. "Lucerne was bitter-sweet, we came away wanting more, which is healthy", says Grainger. Thankfully Romero's problem was temporary, but although World Cup champions and considered favourites by the rest of the world, the British were spoiling for revenge in Japan.
The partners are two of our strongest athletes. Calm and capable, Scotswoman Grainger is by a whisker Britain's most successful female rower ever. The 6ft-4inch Houghton stands eye to eye with half the men's squad, and the junior indoor record she set in 1999 has yet to be beaten. The only time the two rowed the Worlds together was in the 2001 women's eight, but they have a natural affinity. They recently trained as a double with Houghton stroking while Romero was injured. "It built up our confidence, brought us together as stern pair, and now I know what Frances is thinking", says Grainger of the 3-girl who usually watches her back.
You sense that Grainger, to whom crew chemistry has always been important, feels solidly supported, especially by Houghton. "In races Sarah will do tactical calls while Bex relates to other crews", she explains. "Frances won't say masses, but they're incisive, pertinent things which I really need to hear. We've done some great finishes, with Frances calling the last 500 metres. It's incredibly clear, very precise. You suddenly have that immediacy behind you of someone saying 'I'm with you, just go".
Where does this come from? Houghton sometimes plays it low-key in press conferences, preferring to give others the limelight first. But her reticence hides passionate drive and a champion's instinct for seizing the initiative. "There are times in a race when a moment comes you can't miss, or that will be it", she says. "It's not something I plan, but I wouldn't be able to hold back."
Grainger nearly quit in September. "I didn't enjoy much of last year. The fun, when you get out on a beautiful day and the boat is flying, was lost." Several months off included proving herself with second place in the BBC's 'Superstars' series, (she is an amazing all-round athlete, with an un-rower-like skill for basketball), and she returned with renewed enthusiasm to win April's highly competitive trials.
Houghton was expecting a year away from competition while getting her first real job, but a recreational paddle reminded the girl who started the sport aged fifteen just how irresistible it was. "I thought, I love rowing, why not do both? You only get one shot at life. I can sit on the river and truly say I would not want to be anywhere else." Grainger is finishing her part-time PhD in forensic science, and both have found it invigorating to spend time on interests outside the sport this year. Houghton thinks it helps make the rowing mean more. "The most disappointing thing that can happen at the end of one or four years training, is that you get the result you always wanted and think it wasn't worth the effort."
That was never likely, as theirs is definitely a crew which loves to race. "It comes alive, we're all so passionate", says Grainger. A top quad such as theirs is efficiency in motion: nearly as fast as an eight, but quiet, smooth and highly disciplined. The synchronisation and symmetry makes it hypnotically beautiful to watch, a speed machine stripped down with its engine on full view. Nobody in Houghton and Grainger's pedigree crew shouts about their achievements though. As they crossed the line in Japan on Sunday, becoming world champions in the flicker of a second, they finally threw up their arms and celebrated publicly. This time, there was something huge to celebrate.
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