Grace Prendergast

Nationality

NZL

Height

183cm

Club

CUBC

Undergraduate/graduate

Graduate

Previous university

Massey University

Undergraduate course

Bachelor of Business Studies

Graduate course

Master of Philosophy in Planning, Growth and Regeneration

Cambridge college

Queens’

Why are you studying your course?

I am interested in expanding my base of knowledge particularly when it comes to sustainability.

What is the most interesting part of your course?

Learning from lecturers who have a range of past experiences and interests.

Year you first started rowing

2008

First rowing club

Villa Maria Rowing Club

Why/how did you get into rowing?

I played netball throughout the winter in New Zealand and was looking for a sport to do in the summer. A few of my friends had taken up rowing the year before and convinced me to give it a go.

Name of first rowing coach

Jack Collins

How do you balance rowing and academic life?

I have found it to be incredibly busy but by being proactive and knowing the times of the year that I will be really busy with rowing I am able to use the quieter times to get ahead. I also find communicating with my lecturers and coaches to be a massive help.

Who is your rowing idol?

Kerri Gowler

Who would be your dream team eight to row with from everyone in the history of rowing?

I am 100% biased but there is no one I would rather row in an eight with than the New Zealand women’s eight from the Tokyo Olympics (Caleb Shephard, Jackie Gowler, Beth Ross, Kerri Gowler, Kelsey Bevan, Lucy Spoors, Emma Dyke and Ella Greenslade).

What is your rowing history, and what has been your biggest achievement so far?

I started rowing at the age of 15 and made my first New Zealand team in my last year of school where we won gold in the junior women’s four. I continued to row for New Zealand after leaving school. My most successful years were 2014 (gold U23 women’s pair and gold elite women’s four), 2017 (gold elite women’s pair) and 2019 (gold in elite pair and eight). My biggest achievement was the Tokyo Olympic Games where I won gold in the pair and silver in the eight.

Have you raced in the Boat Race before? If yes, when?

No

Have you ever been at school/university/on a team with anyone at ‘the other place’?

No one in the current team.

Your favourite race so far?

Final of the women’s pair at the Olympics and final of the women’s eight at the 2019 world champs.

What do you feel is your greatest achievement through rowing, be it accolades or something more personal?

Winning an Olympic gold medal.

What has been your most embarrassing/funny rowing moment ?

It’s funny now but was probably more terrifying at the time but Kerri and I went out to do a 4km pre-row before a race back home in New Zealand on Lake Karapiro. It was dark so we didn’t realise how foggy it was and as soon as we had rowed for a couple of minutes we lost all sense of where we were and then spent the next 30 minutes paddling in all different directions trying to find our way home. Looking at our GPS trace after we were probably never more than 1km from the boat shed but it is a weird feeling having no sense of where you are on a lake. Eventually we found a bank, but Lake Karapiro is a big lake so even then it still took us a while to figure out which side of the lake we were on and what direction we needed to go. After that we refused to go out in the fog again!

What is the best place you have ever rowed?

Bohinj (Slovenia) for training and Lucerne (Switzerland) for racing.

Where would be your dream place to row?

Bled (Slovenia)

What is your favourite sports quote?

This isn’t a sport quote as such, but our coach sent it to us in the lead up to the Olympics and it resonated quite a lot with me and my team. “One day all of us will get separated from each other. We will miss our conversations of everything and nothing and the dreams that we had. Days, months and years will pass until this contact becomes rare. One day our children will ask ‘Who are these people?’ And we will smile with invisible tears, and you will say‚ ‘It was them that I had the best days of my life with’.”

What is your favourite movie about sports? Why?

The Last Dance (the Michael Jordan documentary). It was interesting to get an insight as to how he approached sport, training, and life.

How does being an athlete make you a better person?

It has taught me how to cope in high pressure environments and how to use setbacks and disappointments to improve.

How would you describe the sport to a non-rower?

A sport that rewards hard work and is won in the training leading up to a race.

Why do you think someone outside of the sport can relate to your career as an athlete?

I have had to be very patient and persistent to achieve my goal of winning a gold medal at the Olympics. Years of work and a lot of tough times came before it so maybe people outside of rowing could see that certain goals take time and all the setbacks along the way will ultimately help you to achieve them.

What are your strengths, as a person and as an athlete?

I think as a rower I am someone that is adaptable which allows me to fit into different crews and row with different people. On and off the water I am usually a pretty calm person which has been helpful because we are often operating in high-pressure and competitive environments.

What do your friends think of your athletic success? How do you handle missing out on activities with friends because of your athletic schedule?

My non-rowing friends are very supportive and have travelled all over the world to watch me race. I think they probably still find the success that I have had a bit hard to believe but so do I! I have always felt very privileged to do what I do so try to think about all the amazing opportunities that I have had because of rowing rather than thinking about the things that I have to miss out on. I have also grown to be very good friends with the people that I have spent the last few years rowing with so essentially, I am also very lucky that I get to hang out with my friends every day anyway.

Do you think you can win the Boat Race? Why?

Yes. I think that the squad seems to have the motivation and dedication to be able to boat a really good crew that can win the Boat Race. There is also a good mix of women that have competed in it before which is always an added benefit.