TEENAGE rowers, identified as having the potential to represent their country at the next Olympic Games, have each won medals at a prestigious international regatta.

Lucy Burgess, from Northwich Rowing Club, was part of Team GB’s women’s four that finished first in the final at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival.

“At last, a gold medal,” she said afterwards.

“And in a sweep boat too, it’s been a truly amazing experience.”

Burgess, 18, has raced in Great Britain’s colours at the past two World Junior Championships in a scull – a boat in which each rower has two oars – placing seventh on both occasions as part of a quad.

She will return home tomorrow, Monday, with two gongs after helping the women’s eight to a bronze medal too.

Grange School’s Emily Ford was in the same crew.

Earlier the same day she went one better with Team GB’s women’s quad scull, which placed second behind an Australian crew from New South Wales.

Ford, also 18, was congratulated by her school’s headmaster Chris Jeffrey, who posted a message on social networking site Twitter.

He wrote: “Great news from Australia overnight that Emily Ford has won a silver and bronze medal. Huge congrats from all at The Grange...”

Ford was also fifth in the women’s single scull final, while Burgess narrowly missed out on a medal after placing fourth in a pair with Bethany Bryan (Tees RC).

Ed Grisedale, a clubmate of Burgess at Northwich, scooped a pair of bronze medals in a men’s four and later in the eight.

The 19-year-old, a student at Oxford Brookes University, came close to a hat-trick of third places after clocking the fourth fastest time in a pair with Tim Grant.

Together they contributed to Team GB’s medals haul of three golds, four silvers and three bronzes.

“I am pretty pleased,” said team manager Richard Boulton at the end of a regatta during which each rower raced in three different disciplines.

“Every rower will goes home with at least two medals.

“The men’s four [which included Grisedale], have taken a step on down here, while the women’s four [the boat Burgess helped to gold] have also taken the next step.

“We were fastest in the heats of both eights, but could not convert that in the finals.”

The festival, held every four years at the same venue in Sydney that hosted the Olympic Games in 2000, attracted more than 1,500 athletes to compete in 17 sports.

Team GB claimed 66 medals in total over five days, 19 of them gold in colour.

To read what we wrote when the trio was selected, click here: http://bit.ly/T0OJf3