The Tribune

EMILY Morley, 23, the first Bahamian to row in an Olympic regatta and president of the Nassau Rowing Club, will set the standard for Bahamian rowing once again as the first Bahamian to race at the World Rowing Championships.

The big event began yesterday in Sarasota, Florida, and Morley's first race is all set for today. She will race in the Women's Single Scull event, the same event in which she competed at the Olympics with athletes from 20 other countries.

Also competing is Felice Chow from Trinidad & Tobago, the only other Caribbean nation represented. Chow and Morley have raced each other before at the FISA Americas Olympic Qualification Regatta, held in Santiago, Chile.

"I am so honoured to be able to represent the Bahamas again," says Morley as she reflects on her rowing career which has spanned eight years. "It's exciting to be competing again, but I am more excited to see the up and coming Bahamian rowers who are coming through the elite training pipeline. I am humbled to be a role model to Bahamian rowers - especially the female rowers - and I hope some of them follow in my footsteps as they progress into more competitive programmes to fill out our elite squad in a few years.

Becky Robinson will accompany Morley as her coach. Robinson previously coached Morley for four years as head coach of the Ithaca College women's rowing team, who saw three NCAA appearances under Morley's collegiate rowing career. She was also the Bahamas team coach in Rio.

Robinson is excited to coach again at the international elite level, saying: "It's great to have a Bahamian and Ithaca graduate doing great things in rowing. She joins Meghan Musnicki as another elite rower who has come through the programme and continues to do great things."

While the top of the highly competitive field are expected to come from European and Canadian programmes, Morley aims to row the best race she can. As she looks forward to being back in competition, she said: "Just being back in the elite rowing world is very exciting. It will be a lot of fun competing with the world's top athletes again," she said.

"The founders of the Nassau Rowing Club aimed to build a pipeline and training structure to prepare top Bahamian athletes to compete at the international elite level. We are getting closer to achieving that goal."

• Results will be posted to www.worldrowing.com. Readers can also follow Morley's journey on the Nassau Rowing Club Facebook page: facebook.com/NassauRowingClub.