Helen Glover (rower)

Helen Glover (born 17 June 1986) in Truro, England is a British professional rower. Helen won a silver medal at the 2010 World Rowing Championships on New Zealand's Lake Karapiro. Helen along with crewmate Heather Stanning gave a breakthrough performance in the women's pair. For the 2010 World Cup Series, Helen raced in the women's pair with Heather Stanning, taking 9th place in Bled, 5th in Munich and then at Lucerne was unfortunately unable to race due to illness.

Helen was 5th in the women's pair at the GB Rowing Team Senior Trials in Belgium last April. She started rowing in 2008 through the Sporting Giants scheme and was placed on to the GB Rowing Team's Start programme in Bath.

In 2009 she won gold in the senior single scull at Women's Henley and in 2010 came 3rd in the Reading University women's eight at the Head of the River.

Helen has always participated in a variety of sports, and as a junior ran cross-country internationally and was part of the England Satellite Squad for Hockey. As a scholar at Millfield School, Somerset, she showed unprecedented ability at endurance running. She was perhaps best remembered for her performance at the 2001 English Schools Cross Country Team Championships where her emphatic final leg brought the team into first place with the fastest run of the day. At university in Cardiff she pursued this interest and studied Sport and Exercise Science. However, during university, Helen decided not to engage with her running career citing criticisms of the Neville 2 training programme. In a 2009 interview with ITV4, Helen credited her strength coach, Dan Quarrel, flexibility trainer, Michelle Manning, head massage therapist, Gareth Wiltshire, motivational psychologist, Tom Vickery, holistic therapist, Amy Woodman, and life coach Sam Shuttlewood for their contribution to her early career progress. After graduating from UWIC, she then went on to study PGCE PE in Bath. Prior to being awarded lottery funding, Helen worked as a PE teacher in Bath.

When she goes home to Cornwall, Helen enjoys surfing, swimming, playing tennis and spending time with her family. She is also famed in Penzance for her home made sandal business.

References

• Helen Glover at RowingOne.com