EMILY Ford has said making her senior debut for Great Britain's rowing team has fuelled a motivation to get better.

The former Grange School student contested a final at the European Championships earlier this month as part of a women’s four that finished sixth overall.

A new combination, they have been presented with another opportunity to impress after being named in a squad for the second World Cup of the campaign at Poznan in Poland.

They intend to take it.

READ > Ford siblings have chance to shine at World Rowing Cup

“We were straight back to the grind from the moment we got home,” the 24-year-old told the Guardian.

“It was important to crack on because we had a list of things to work on or that could be changed.

“Hopefully we can put those into practice and take another step forward at the World Cup.”

Ford joined forces with Sara Parfett, Caragh McMurtry and Rebecca Girling in Lucerne, and with little more than a week’s preparation they were satisfied with what they achieved.

 

 

Netherlands took gold after a dominant display in the final that saw them set a new European best time for the boat class.

In stark contrast to the British, their crew has competed together for the past couple of years.

“There had been no expectations put on us, although among ourselves we wanted to get to the final," said the Leander Club member, who was captain of the rowing team while at the Hartford school.

“We reached that goal, and we improved too as the regatta unfolded.”

Ford and company were third in their heat, but struggled for rhythm after rating too high.

They corrected that to triumph convincingly over Russia in a repechage the next day.

“We were very excited and got carried away,” said Ford, reflecting on their first race.

“Instead of focusing on what we were doing, we tried to keep up with everybody else.

“The repechage was so much better because we weren’t fazed and rowed with much more control than previously.”

READ > Former Grange student wins medal at European Championships

An entry list for the World Cup, published this week, includes more than a dozen entries in the women's four.

Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand and USA join the leading European crews.

Selectors for the British team have also entered a second boat featuring Polly Swann, who won silver with the women’s eight at the Olympic Games in Rio three years ago.

However Ford said she wouldn't take too much notice of who is, or isn't, competing.

She added: “We’re just excited to race again, regardless of who else is there.

“We’ve not talked yet about what success would look like for us, and for now we’ll just focus on going faster than we did before.”