The hard work has paid off says Tokyo-bound Edwards

AUGHNACLOY woman Rebecca Edwards says last week’s confirmation that she would be rowing for GB’s women’s eight team
in Tokyo has given her a real sense of excitement and anticipation.

The former Royal School Dungannon pupil was in line to compete at the Olympics after gaining selection onto the GB women’s eight team earlier this year but seeing it down in black in white left her feeling emotional and excited that all her hard work and sacrifice had paid off.

“I’m so excited, really, really happy,” she said.

“I was feeling the pressure a little, you have to wait to it all becomes official. Doing all that hard work for years and years and now it’s paid off. I suppose I proved to myself that I could do it and that makes me feel a little bit emotional.”

Mind you for Edwards and her team-mates the hard work is only starting. Everything will now be geared towards peaking in Tokyo at the end of July.

Back in April the GB eight just missed out on a medal at the European Championship in Italy. The team had been scheduled to compete in a World Cup event in Switzerland but that failed to materialise and somewhat disrupted preparations.

However the programme has been adjusted accordingly and the team is now heading to Italy for three weeks of intense training. They then return to England for a 10-day camp before flying out to Japan for another 10 days to acclimatise to the conditions.

With selection confirmed, Rebecca said the full focus is now about making sure that the team is at the top of their game come the end of next month.

“Having the team named is one less thing to be thinking about,” she continued.

“The build up to Tokyo is going to be nerve-racking, exciting and a big challenge. We’ll have to keep our eye on the ball, keep progressing and making sure we get our preparation right.

“We’ll be doing everything we can and when it comes to the competition we’ll be giving it our very best shot.”

FULL STORY IN THIS WEEK’S ULSTER HERALD