China Blue

Interview: Cliff Caswell
Picture: Steve Dock

ARMY rowing ace Capt Al Heathcote is predicting that Olympic gold is “not out of the question” as he enters the final stages of preparation for the Beijing Games.

The Blues and Royals officer, who has managed to balance a demanding training regime alongside his military career, told SoldierSport that he was relishing the opportunity to compete in China after securing his place in Team GB’s eight-man boat.

And with his place at the world’s greatest sporting event assured, he is committed to the final stages of training.

“I’m about to go to an altitude training camp in Austria and will spend three weeks there. The team is really going to be putting in the miles there and I know that it is going to be very hard work,” said Heathcote, who has only just recovered from a stress fracture to his ribs.

“Then we’re back in the UK for a ten-day camp at the Redgrave-Pinsent Rowing Lake in Caversham before we fly out to Beijing. I think we have a good chance of getting a medal, and a gold is not out of the question.”

Competing at the Olympics is the pinnacle of sporting achievement for Heathcote, who has been one of two Army officers fighting for a berth with Team GB.

His friend and colleague, Lt Robin Bourne-Taylor (LG), has been selected to row in the pairs event with Tom Solesbury (see below).

The two men met when Heathcote was posted as a gunnery instructor at Lulworth, Dorset, where Bourne-Taylor was undergoing officer training. Both decided to try for the Olympic team.

Heathcote said: “My regiment has always been really good to me with the rowing – they have seen it as a good recruiting opportunity. Although after a few months the Army released me and I have been in training on a full-time basis with Team GB.

“I don’t know anybody that could train at this level and work at the same time,” he added.

“We are in the boats seven days a week with no holiday.”

The tough regime is essential for Beijing, where the British squad will find themselves up against the world’s best, including a Chinese Olympic rowing squad for the first time.

“They are an interesting opposition team and I’m keen to see what they come up with,” Heathcote admitted. “As a team they have had a good start, winning a few gold medals, but their form did drop off a little bit at the World Championships.”

Ironically Heathcote, who first took up oars while studying at Eton College and later Newcastle and Oxford Brooks Universities, started his Army rowing career on Op Telic 5 when he was based in a volatile Basra city.

With his helmet and body armour close by, the officer trained on a rowing machine, often pushing himself to the limit in the early hours of the morning to avoid the searing heat of the day.

“I was at the Old State Building with the 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards, and rowing was the most sensible option to stay fit – being in such an enclosed space you could not go out for a run.”

But Heathcote, who has also completed a tour of duty in Bosnia, added that he had decided to call time on his Army career, and would take his life in a new direction after Beijing.

“I feel now that I have done everything the Army has to offer, from exercises to operations and sport, and I’m ready to go off and try something new,” he continued.

“It has been a really good seven years for me, and I don’t have any regrets.”

Carrying the dreams of a nation will mark his departure from the military in style. But with hopes high for a medal from the eight, the pressure is on Heathcote and his teammates.

David Tanner, Team GB’s rowing team leader, summed up the élite squad’s feelings.
“Everyone will be trying to peak at the right time and on the right day, including our

Chinese hosts who have emerged over the last four years to be a formidable force in our sport,” he said. “We go to Beijing confident, but we are aware of the task ahead.”

Pair-shaped

A LAST-MINUTE shuffling of Britain’s Olympic pack left Lt Robin Bourne-Taylor heading to Beijing in the unfamiliar pairs boat.

The Household Cavalry officer was in contention for the eight alongside Heathcote, but has been moved to the two-man event alongside Tom Solesbury.

Despite the unexpected announcement leaving him with just three weeks to get up to speed in the smaller boat, Bourne-Taylor was defiant and determined in his desire to put on a good show in China this month.

“We have had to put this boat together at the very last minute, so instead of a four-year preparation we are trying to do it in three weeks,” he told SoldierSport from the British squad’s Austrian training camp. “Nonetheless we are both trying our best to make the most of it.”

The British duo will have to overcome some strong crews to achieve success in Beijing, including the defending back-to-back world champions from Australia.

The military athlete is under no illusion as to the size of the challenge he faces and has set himself and Solesbury a target of securing a top-six finish by qualifying for the A final.

“The pairs is a strong event and it’s hard to tell at this stage who will be the best,” he added. “This is the hand we have been dealt and I would be really pleased to make an A final.”