Brett Taylor

Nationality

GBR/TPE

Height

1.87m

School/High School

The Perse School Cambridge

Club

CUBC

Undergraduate/Graduate

Undergraduate

Undergraduate course

Medical Science Tripos

What is your Cambridge College?

Queens’

Why are you studying your course?

Because I want to be a doctor

Year you first started rowing?

2011

First rowing club?

Rob Roy Boat Club

Why/How did you get into rowing?

My school at the time had just gotten some rowing machines and had started an indoor rowing club that year. The following summer I did a learn to row course with RBBC and have been rowing ever since.

Name of first rowing coach?

Enya Meadows

Who is your rowing idol?

Greg Searle

How do you balance rowing and academic life?

Rowing and study usually happens at different times so it’s more a case of getting enough sleep to be able to cope with both.

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

After I started sculling with RBBC, I mostly trained in the single as well as a double. In the early days I was generally racing a year or two up but even at national level we did pretty good. I did my first international event (Asian Juniors) after I turned 15 and competed at the 2018 and 2019 WRJCH in the single for TPE.

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

I don’t watch enough rowing to make such a team.

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’?

Yes, I have rowed with a couple people at ‘the other place’ whilst a junior.

Your favourite race so far?

Repechage 2 of the JM1x 2019 WRJCH as that was my fastest and hardest fought for race.

What is the best place you have ever rowed?

Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan. The water just feels so vastly different to other places I’ve rowed due to the wash created by big tour cruisers moving about on the other side of the lake resulting in this bouncy feeling that really caught me off guard the first time I rowed there.

Where would be your dream place to row?

As long as I am able to get out on the water with relatively little traffic, that is good enough for me.

Obviously, it’s long hours and hard work – what inspires you to keep rowing?

Everyone else in the team and the desire to get faster and fitter with each stroke.

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

I feel like being able to compete internationally is something a lot of people aspire to be able to do but honestly, I feel more pride whenever I’m helping to coach juniors or novices and see them making an immediate change that gives an instant speed boost.

What has been your most embarrassing/funny rowing moment?

Falling asleep in a single and capsizing shortly after.

What is your favourite sports quote?

“Something about it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, as long as you’ve given everything you can be proud of that.”

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

Long hours and highly repetitive.

What is your favourite movie about sports?

I don’t watch enough movies.

How does being an athlete make you a better person?

It’s made me realise that if I put my mind to it, I can do anything really.

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

I guess having to be really organised so that you get everything that needs doing done. And then the fact everyone gets tired at the end of the day.

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

I guess really trying to push myself further as well as using everyone around me as motivation to put in a little more effort even when I probably shouldn’t be working so hard.

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 probably think I’m a little crazy to be rowing in the first place. It does make me a little sad that I can’t always hang out with them, but I don’t really mind because frankly by the time they want to go out, I am ready for bed.