Heather Gordon says she will be going for gold when she competes for Great Britain for the first time at the World Beach Sprints next month.

The Inverness Rowing Club athlete and coach has been selected in the squad to compete in the mixed quad race in Genoa, Italy.

Gordon (23) has been concentrating on beach sprint rowing for the past 12 months with the aim of being selected to race for Great Britain.

After competing for Scotland previously, she says being selected for the Great Britain squad is a major milestone in her career.

She said: “It is the first time that I have been selected for Great Britain, so it is even more special for that. All the hard work and training has been worth it.

“I have been competing as far back as at junior level. While I represented Scotland, I have never represented Great Britain. So to do it at senior level is great.”

An accomplished rower on flat water, Gordon says she has been concentrating on beach sprints and rowing at sea.

The race starts with athletes sprinting towards their boat and then rowing out to sea to reach a buoy before heading back to land.

Gordon says she has had success competing in beach sprint in British competitions and is now looking forward to taking on the best in the world.

She said: “For the beach sprints we do, it is different to flat water rowing.

“The boats will be different and we will have to sprint to our boats, we will weave 250 metres out towards a buoy do a 180 degree turns and then jump out the boat and sprint to the finish line.

“I have had more experience on flat water, but my soul focus has been on beach sprints.

“I have competed in trials for Great Britain,and I was at the British Championships two weeks ago and came away with a gold and two silvers.

“I have had a good run of competitions and at the English Championships I got a bronze. So there has been a good run of competitions so far.

“Obviously the distance is completely different. In flat water it is two kilometres and beach sprints is 500 metres of rowing and 200 metres of running.

“Sprints uses different systems in your body so different training is required. It has been nice to switch up things, do more rowing and sprinting.”

Gordon is set to meet up with the Great Britain squad in Italy at a training camp before competing on Saturday, September 14 and Sunday, September 15.

She is hoping that her crew will be in contention to win the race or at least get a place on the podium.

She said: “We would really like to get on the podium this year.

“Looking at the past quads Great Britain has put in the last couple of years, they have had the potential to do well, but as a team we are looking to get on the podium.”

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