Josh West

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joshua West (born 25 March 1977 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States) is a British rower who attended Yale for his undergraduate degree. At Yale, he learned to row under Freshman Coach Justin Moore and Varsity Coach Dave Vogel. He participated in the 4-mile Varsity Eights version of the Harvard-Yale Boat Race his senior year (1998) but lost to Harvard.

In 1999, Josh attended Cambridge for graduate school and simultaneously earned a spot in the Blue Boat for The Boat Race against Oxford. Earning a seat in Cambridge's Blue Boat every year through 2002, Josh and the "Light Blues" bested the "Dark Blues" twice in those four years (1999 & 2001). In 2000, Josh lined up against former Yale teammates Alexander Reid and Eirik Lilledahl, who were the stern pair of the victorious Oxford crew. At 6 ft 9.5 in, Josh is the tallest recorded oarsmen to participate in The Boat Race.

Building on his Cambridge successes, Josh eventually became a member of the British National Rowing Team and twice won a silver medal with the British Four at the World Rowing Championships (2002 & 2003). He is training to represent Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, and plans to row with Kieran West (unrelated) in the British Pair. [1]