Between the Buoys
Becky Wilde and Eve Stewart are Olympic, World, and European medallists. On Between the Buoys, they take you along for the highs and lows of life as a full-time athlete.
Between the Buoys
Henley Women's Regatta Special | S2 Episode 2
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Join Olympic bronze medalists Becky Wilde and Eve Stewart for their first-ever live show at Henley Women's Regatta.
This episode was recorded on the Saturday of Henley Women's Regatta 2026, in collaboration between JRN and HWR.
We would like to thank the HWR committee for their support in putting on our inaugural live show.
Note: Some technical challenges during the recording of this episode mean the audio is quite 'harsh'. However, you can still listen to Becky and Eve's conversation and their responses to audience questions.
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Hello everyone, hello and welcome. My name is Eve, and I'm Becky Wilde, and we are both Olympic medalists for Team GB, we're current roles on the Team GB, and we're recording an episode of our podcast live here today of Between the Boys.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so really excited to be here at Henny Woman's. Um it's always a highlight of the Rowan calendar, and just walking down here today, um, so nice to see so many faces we recognize and see so many crews out there competing. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Just minutes before we hit record, there were a whole bunch of people cheering in the background, so I think that's probably because their crews have done well, which is always great to see. But why are we here, Becky?
SPEAKER_00What sort of how did this originate? So this originated um as a collaboration with Henny Women's. We approached them um because we felt we had um good support for our podcast, so thank you so much, and we wanted to bring it out here live um with so many people that have supported it all the way through. Absolutely. So, yeah, brilliant to be here on Saturday afternoon with the racing still going on.
SPEAKER_02It is, it's very exciting. So if you hear the stuff in the background, that's what that is. And aside from anything else, it is also 50 years of women's rowing at the Olympic Games, which I actually didn't know this until a few weeks ago when someone said it to me because I thought I just figured it had been around for longer than 50 years.
SPEAKER_00I don't know about you, Becky, but yeah, 50 years is that's really not long when you think about it. Like 1976 was the first time women competed at the Olympic Games, and at that point it was over 1,000 metres. So really nothing compared to the 2K race that we use today or the 1500 that's raced at Henry Womans.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. And it actually only became 2,000 metres in 1988, which was 38 years ago.
SPEAKER_0038 years ago, and the same year that Henry Woman started. So we're approaching the 40th anniversary of Henny Womans. Very exciting.
SPEAKER_02That will be happening during LA 2028, so watch out for that. Next Olympics, obviously. Now, I think it's fair to say that Team GB in general is quite a powerhouse at the Olympic Games, and it was definitely an inspiration to me in my younger years of rowing, but the first medal by Team GB Women was actually only won in 2000, and that was in the women's quad, they won a silver medal. Again, you know, 26 years ago today. What's interesting about this to me is the fact that all of our role models are actually kind of from our generation. They were the first women to do what we've dreamt of, you know, dreamt of achieving, what a lot of the young girls and women here dream of achieving one day. Um, and I just find it shocking. I know women's sport has come along so far in the past sort of ten years, but it's crazy to me that that is really all it is. The first medals being won in 2000, the first gold medals for Team GB were only won in 2012, obviously during the London Olympics.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think um those women that we we know the names of this woman, we know that it's a Catherine Granger, Anna Watkins, Helen Glover, Heather Sanning, um, all so successful in their rowing careers and names that stand out not just in rowing but in British sport. But actually, those medalists and ourselves, we stand on the shoulders of the women that came before us and the women that started rowing for team GB. Um, the likes of Pauline Byrd, Diana Bishop, Claire Grove, Jill Webb, Pauline Wright, Lynn Clark, and Beryl Mitchis, who were the first women to ever compete for Team G B in the Cox Sport and the Coxas pair at the Montreal Olympics. Both not even Olympic events anymore.
SPEAKER_02Exactly, yeah. Mental. And of course, Olympic tradition spans beyond that and also into the current day because Henley Women's has been a host to Olympians for a very long time. Just this year, we actually have two Olympians rowing, Chloe Brew racing in the Thames 8, and Esther Brid Zamarano, yeah, racing for Oxford in the Champ Pair. So it's amazing to see them show out here. It shows, I think, the level of Henley Women's. Having Olympians race here every year is incredible. And they're not the first ones to do it. In recent years, we've had the likes of Imogen Grant, Lauren Henry, obviously, Dame Catherine Gager, Holly Dunford, my own teammate from the Paris Olympics, is also racing here. Sorry, Holly. Um, and you obviously raced here 12 months before you went to Paris.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I did. I was very lucky. I actually raced Holly in the quad that year, so we both raced Henning Women's the year before Paris. Um yeah, I was very lucky that I raced that year for Leander in the Championship Quad and previously raced for Bath in the single and the double. Um, but yeah, Henry Women's was a huge stepping stone in my journey to get to the Olympics. Um, and it's still those memories still are very special to me.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Now, just to go into a bit, we're not going to spend ages talking about our Olympic journeys, but it obviously wasn't the textbook route. And I think when I was younger, one thing that I expected was, you know, you see these athletes on television, the likes of Jessica Ennis Hill have talked about her a lot. She was a massive inspiration for me. But you only sort of see that end result, and obviously not all the mess that happens beforehand. And the fact that you were here 12 months and Holly was here 12 months before racing in Paris is maybe not what you'd expect because you actually weren't even on the GB type GB team at that point, were you?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think that's something we've both spoken about, how we haven't had um a smooth journey, either of us, to get to where we are today. We've had a lot of ups and downs, and yeah, one of those challenges for me was um having surgery on my forearm in forearms in September 2023. Um what, nine months out from the Olympic? Yeah, I think so. But I think um the one thing that I I wouldn't have got to where I am today without the sport that I had around me, and I had ten weeks from surgery to the Olympic trials. Um, but I had full faith in that 10-week programme that we sent out, and we couldn't take any backward steps, there was no room for error. But with the help of Rich Chambers, who was my coach at the time, um Leander Club, um physiologist Jack Brown, they got me to the Olympic trial start line, and if I hadn't got there, then everything that came afterwards, there was no chance of that happening.
SPEAKER_02There wasn't I actually think that's such an interesting point because okay, on the sort of topic of what a trajectory looks like or what a journey looks like, it's not linear. But in those moments, okay, you had a very specific amount of time, you had 10 weeks, but before that, you know, it was a year before the Olympics or two years, and this relates to anything, not just an Olympic dream, but maybe a job interview or a university application or whatever it is that you're aiming for. What do you think progress looks like?
SPEAKER_00Progress. Progress is never linear, right? Like you're always gonna have this dream, um, and whether that's in sport or like you say, anything in life. Um, but I think along the way, setting those goals and you might be able to get some of those goals, they might be achieved later than you think. But I think progress is ticking off those little things along the way to then make it to that big goal at the end.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I agree. And I also think obviously it's nice if you actually achieve the goal, but what what always kept me sort of ticking over was not necessarily thought that I would achieve it, but more that okay, I want to make sure I've turned over every stone, yeah, so that I'm not looking back going, oh well I was decently close, but I just sacked it in. It was sort of knowing that whatever the outcome was, I'd have peace with the effort I'd put into it.
SPEAKER_00So speaking about dreams and um the Olympic dream in particular, when did you believe the Olympic dream was possible?
SPEAKER_02I think well the real answer would be literally when we were in Paris, because it was such a turbulent up and down journey that I mean they always say you're not you're not there until you're sat with your bum on the start line, and that was really something that I embodied at the time, I think. Whether that was good or bad, I don't know. But one of the real pinchy moments was when we arrived in the Olympic village, because we weren't staying there because the rowing was classic, far away from the centre of Paris, stayed about an hour and a half out, but would go to visit the village before our racing. And I remember arriving there and seeing everyone in their Olympic kit, all these different nations, all these countries, and it it was literally a village, you know. There were a lot of people around, and I think it's so rare to be around so many people who are just filled with ambition and passion, and you know exactly what everyone has put in, you know, all the sacrifices that have been made, the aspirations they've had to get there. It was like palpable, it was in the air, and it it was emotional, and I'm a big loser, I cried at the time. But just stepping in there, I remember really tearing up, just just seeing these people walk around in the kitchen I was like, okay, gotta be cool, um, sort of wipe the tears away. But that was the first moment where I was like, Wow, I'm actually at the Olympic Games.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I think I had similar just being at the rowing lake and looking down the course and realizing this was it, this was the Olympics, and actually the way I did kind of try and keep it like real in my head or try and like calm it down was just it's another 2K lake, yeah. But at the same time, you're surrounded by like the logos, the Olympic logo, and the Paris 2024 branding. Um, but that's yeah, that's the moment I knew I was there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But at the end of the day, I guess like any race that you'll do, whether it's here or at Marlowe or at Met or anywhere that you go for the racing, like it is just a 2K race and it's what you train for, it's nothing new. You're just doing what you've practiced, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think practice makes permanence not perfection. That's something that sticks with me from my Olympic journey and since then, and it's all those strokes that you take in training, it's all those days that you turn up, the sessions you don't want to do, that's that's what when it counts. And these races here and bigger races to come, um that's all it is. It's just another stroke, another few hundred strokes. But you've done it all before, so this is the fun bit, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02And then this is a bit of a sidebar, but something that we were actually talking about while we were sort of saying, What are we gonna talk about here? Um, was your Olympic qualification because for those who don't know, Becky got onto the team around December 2023, I think, and the double hadn't yet been qualified for the Olympics because you pre-qualified that at world champs the year before. So first it was the fight to get into the double through, you know, testing matrixes and stuff, and then it was like, okay, well I'm in the double, but I still may not be racing because we need to qualify it, which then did happen at the FOQR or the regatta of death. I don't know if you've ever seen it branded like that online, but what going from not knowing if you'll ever race at the Olympics because the boat isn't qualified, to oh I'm qualified and I'm for sure going because now they can't change our seats, what was that like?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think I was I'd say lucky in some respects, but I would never want anyone to go through those three days. It was so stressful. Um but I was lucky in the respect that once I crossed that line in second place at FOQR, I knew that I'd realised my Olympic dream, whereas I know like everyone else in the team still had to wait for official selection and announcement. But yeah, crossing that line, I think few rowers get that moment where they know for certain they are going to the games, and that's like one of the memories that will stick with me forever, and it's so like yeah, crossing that line with Matilda and knowing what both of us went through that year in terms of Matilda coming back from having her son Freddie, it was so special, and um yeah, it's like so a goose fun moment.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and Freddie was so cute, he would come on all our training camps and stuff, and obviously it's a whole group of us sort of stressed out of our minds, tired, crying, tonsillitis, all of that sort of stuff. And then there's this cute little two-year-old toddler bobbing about the whole time on camp, which was just the most refreshing thing like, oh yeah, actually that's real life, and this is a dream we get to chase, but it's not life or death.
SPEAKER_00It's not life or death, no, and I think yeah, when the nerves are all consuming or the stress is all consuming, that's what we have to remember, um, no matter where we are in the world.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. So, okay, we're currently still athletes on the GB team. We're training to hopefully make it to the LA Olympics. Obviously, that's something for anyone who doesn't know, you even if you've well been to world championships in the three years prior, every year we were a new selection in the team. So you have to earn your seat every single year. So that's still on the horizon. But talking about current athletes and sort of looking back on our past 10 years in sport, what would we like the current generation or next generation to experience that maybe we didn't?
SPEAKER_00So this is something we've actually um spoken in depth about, and it's actually one of the themes of Hendy Women's Regatta as well, and that's female coaches. And I know you have had a couple of female coaches um in your career, but I could I can only name um I can only name Lauren Fisher, who coached me um briefly for European under 23s, and Helen Taylor who's coached me more recently, um, and both of them were incredible to work with. Um but I think that's definitely something I would like to see improving in the sport, and I I know it is, like there's the women's coaching group um that is really like pushing for more female coaches. Um but in the next 50 years um of women's rowing, I would love to see more female coaches out there leading programs. Um I know there's some fantastic coaches here today, the like Sir Katie Greaves, who's head coach of Wallingford, um Rona McCullum, Tidewaist Scholars, um, and a few more, but I would like to see more names out there who are female.
SPEAKER_02I totally agree. Right now, we while we were doing a bit of research, there's only 35% of coaches in British rowing that are women, which I mean it's it's increased a lot in the last 10 years, but it's obviously still not enough. And I think we see it more and more also on a global scale. Obviously, women are getting the jobs they deserve more, but it's still not equal. And we don't want to turn this into uh equality rant, but I just think it's so important to to still speak about it, right? And to acknowledge it, and to acknowledge the effort, but also to see how far we still have to go.
SPEAKER_00I think so, yeah. Like it's incredible to see just how much uh women's wearing has grown, um, and Henling Women's has been so integral to that. Just um just this year, it's like the second year running, there's been over 2,000 athletes competing here, which is incredible. And you when you think about how much has grown um in the last three, four decades, that's incredible. But yeah, we have still have some steps to go, I think. Just a race coming past us in the background here.
SPEAKER_02Um, yeah, we definitely do still have some grades to go. And that's where I think actually this is something that we kind of wanted to lay to those who are listening online, and obviously everyone sat in front of us, but whether you're a coach or an athlete or a volunteer or an umpire or whatever sort of role you have in the sport of rowing, we're all responsible for what it looks like in the next 10 to 20 years. That's completely in our power to build and shape that. And while women's sports is growing in the media, you know, you see more female athletes, even if it's stuff like collaborating with beauty brands or walking on a runway, like there's definitely more space for us. But I think even here at Henley Women's, you know, it may not feel like the biggest scale in the world, but we're the ones who will shape the future of rowing in the UK, and it's important to realise well the power that there is in that, I think.
SPEAKER_00It is, yeah. I think um before we move on to some questions um from the audience, I'd just like to give a few shout-outs. Um, London Aspirational B bummed into me and Henley yesterday. They're about to race in the eighth race in a few minutes. So they were sad to miss us, yeah. And also, I can't say this, um hopefully I say this right, Nautilus, who are a mixed crew with four women rowing around the UK, including the youngest woman to row around the UK unassisted, and that's Grace Churchill. That's a big shout out to them. I would props to them because I would not be brave enough to do that.
SPEAKER_02Right, so we had a few questions coming online, and then if anyone has any here, we'd love to hear them. The first one, which is obviously very, very relevant, was how to deal with the heat this weekend. Obviously, tomorrow is going to be 30 degrees, so it is really hot. Um we understand there's limited access to shade and things like freezers and all that, but it's it's really sticking to the basics, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00It is sticking to the basics, and I think controlling what you can control, and that's hydration, um, sun protection. Maybe if you minimise the time you're on the water, um warm up on land or in the shade if you can, and then get out there and do the final bits of prep. Um, and just trying to like yeah, stay out of the sun as much as you can.
SPEAKER_02There's no way around it. Like when we were at Worlds last year, it was in Shanghai, it was something ridiculous, like 38 degrees, and we would literally hide most of the time, and it's not always the most fun, but it it is effective.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely. You want to be able to get to the start line of the race and feel like you can race, not that you're sweating. Absolutely out of control.
SPEAKER_02And then a second question that we had come in from Megan, I believe, was how to get over injuries quicker.
SPEAKER_00I think that's that's a difficult one because every injury is different and your body will recover from it when it's ready to recover from it. But if there's one thing I would say, it's listen to your body and rest. Rest is what's gonna heal it the quickest, um, and not pushing it back too soon or not overdoing it in the training you're doing. Um, yeah, if anything's gonna get you back growing quicker, it's just giving your body that little bit of a break.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I agree. There's no magic potion. I mean, we've struggled with injury a lot in our careers, still do. Um, so if there was a way to recover quickly, I I would really like to know about it. But yeah, I think it is it's eating well, sleeping well, looking after yourself, and also giving yourself, you know, it's it's it's tough being injured, so being kind to yourself as well. Definitely be kind. Now, if anyone has any questions in the audience, yes, Flo.
SPEAKER_00So Flo said, Who were the female rowers that inspired you when you were growing up? Eve John of Start.
SPEAKER_02Well, very obvious one was obviously Dame Catherine Granger, just because of the sheer I don't know, grip that she'd shown. I still think it's amazing. We got to listen to her speak actually. We stayed in a hotel in Reading right before we went to Paris to sort of reduce infection and sickness risk and all that, and she came and spoke to us in this very small room, it was just the GB rowing team, and she stood up there, and I just find her such an inspirational woman still today. And the second one would actually also be Helen Glover, who I got to room with when she was still on the team uh in our January camp in 2024, and I just remember thinking, Mike, well, she's done this before, so I'm just gonna kinda try and really take in everything she says. And she was very chilled, very relaxed, like weren't sat on top of each other the whole time, but just actually really supportive. So I think getting to sort of first hand ask her questions um during Olympic selection was actually really useful.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I would agree like Catherine Granger is my biggest role model, and although I swam when I was growing up, um rowing still came to my attention, mainly through Catherine winning in London 2012. Um, but I think like two of my inspirations um are Anna Watkins and Vicky Thornley. I think Catherine and Helen sort um to some extent got the media attention, of course, like for all the right reasons. Um and but I think what's incredible about rowing is that you never cross the line as an individual unless you're single. And it is the ultimate team sports um in some respect, and I think um the likes of Anna and the likes of Vicky um probably weren't unseen in a lot of like the post-Olympics coverage, but their medals were incredible. Yeah, absolutely. Um tips on how to deal with start line nerves? This is a great question.
SPEAKER_02I think when I was younger I really tried to avoid no- I'm loving this dog walking through the audience by the way. Um cute poodle. Um when I was younger I felt like nerves needed to be avoided and I had to like control them and push them down, but I I sort of just let them happen. I think we talk quite a lot with our like sports physiologists about what to do with start-line nerves, and obviously if you're having like the thought of oh my god, am I gonna catch a crab, that's not helpful. And he always says it's like the pink elephant in the room. Like, if you say don't talk or think about the pink elephant, you're going to. So if you have any negative thoughts before a race, just like let them fly by and just focus on what you can. I often think about you know, having a deep breath. Are my shoes done up? Is my gait done up? Just trying to stay in the moment and think about what's actually going on in the first stroke. Because after that, like you've done it so many times, your memory takes over, your body knows what it's doing, so it's really just thinking about the one thing you have to do first.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think similar to Eve, just that that deep breath. Um, and then like I always know like the race plan, inside out, back to front, so like you know exactly what you're gonna do, you're just doing what you've done in training. But probably that first stroke, like the most important stroke is the one you're on, and when you're on the start line, that's the first stroke. So I think just yeah, remembering that you want to be that even though at the time is all that you want to run away, but deep breath and just yeah, focus on that first stroke. Yeah. How do you persevere during very difficult trap times when you're wearing? That's a good question.
SPEAKER_02I mean it's been a tough year for the road of us, so do you want to leave on this one? Yeah, I think because I know ultimately what I want, like I want to go to another Olympics, that's my goal. And obviously, at different points in my career, the goal wasn't necessarily go to the Olympics, it was compete at this race or you know, do eggs, get this egg score, whatever it was. Um, so even on days where I've I've sort of rolled from one injury to the next this season, and it's been really hard, that there have been days where I have not wanted to go training at all, like no bone in my body has wanted to be there. But I think it's just still showing up. Like it's such a boring answer, but it's just literally putting one foot in front of each other, almost letting your body and your mind separate a bit and being like, right, well, my body's gonna do this, I'm gonna get this session done. I may not feel the best mentally, but my my brain will catch up eventually. And often when you do the session, you then feel better anyway, because exercise, hormones, and whatever. I don't know if that does that help.
SPEAKER_00Don't know if you have anything to add to that. Yeah, I guess I would echo that, just like one step in front of the other, um, making those small goals along the way, and just trying to remember that you do it because you enjoy it, and I think that enjoyment is so key, like enjoying it even when it gets really, really tough, because that's that's why we do it.
SPEAKER_02And that's why you have your friends around you as well, right? Like get an ice cream after training, or bring some sweets for your friend if you know they're having a hard day, or sing a song. You know, there's so many ways that you can enjoy the sport without the sport itself always being enjoyable. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Any more questions? Anyone else? Okay, well, well to wrap up, I think um we were gonna finish with one piece of advice from both of us that we'd give to anyone out there, no matter what they're doing. Yes.
SPEAKER_02Mine And I think I've said this before, but it would have to be to believe in be comfortable with believing in yourself more than anyone around you does. And that includes your best friends, your partner, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your mum, your dad, your cousins, everyone. Because obviously your loved ones are always there to support you, but ultimately they can't do the job for you. And it's important to be able to stand on your own two feet and like have that belief in yourself and be comfortable, even if you're people think you're delusional, but you don't have to shout it, you know, but just believing despite what's going on that you can do it. And that could be an exam, a uni application. Again, it does it's not even necessarily related to owning, I don't think.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02What about you?
SPEAKER_00Um I would say no matter what you're doing, it's owning your journey. Um I think no matter what dream you're chasing, owning that journey that you're on and making it yours, not letting anyone else control it, and alongside that enjoying it, and I think the enjoyment comes from owning it. So own your journey and enjoy every step along the way. Thank you very much for coming.
SPEAKER_02Thanks so much everyone.