George Bourne
Squads
About George:
What course are you studying and what level?
MBA
Why did you chose that course?
To learn some business skills after four years of full time rowing!
When, where and why did you start rowing? And what do you love about the sport?
I started in my last year at school in 2016 at Bewl Bridge Rowing Club. However, my family were living in Cambridge at the time and so I did the bulk of my early learning at Isle of Ely Boat Club during a gap year between school and university. Isle of Ely boat from a landing stage directly opposite the Cambridge boathouse on the Great Ouse and it is cool to be back on the stretch of water this time learning sweep!
I love rowing because of the rewarding nature of the hard work: almost always, the harder you churn the faster you get. Rowing is a great opportunity to work on improvement every day and it provides really motivating opportunities to work hard towards this improvement.
What was your first rowing club and coach?
Bewl Bridge Rowing Club, Richard Poole
What or who was the earliest sporting inspiration you remember as a child?
Andy Murray has always been my biggest inspiration, I love his passion, his emotion and his perseverance as well as his refusal to ever give up. I was also big in to my triathlon at the time of the London Olympics and so I travelled to watch it in Hyde Park and see the Brownlee brothers take their medals.
How has rowing and being part of the Boat Race squad impacted your life?
I am immensely proud to be a Cambridge rower and I am incredibly excited to see what I can do in the Cambridge Blue! It is an awesome opportunity for me to work with Rob and Bill and I believe that this year will be immensely formative in the rest of my rowing career and life beyond.
If you weren’t a rower, what sport do you think you’d excel at?
I think I would probably be centre-back for Man United and score the winning header in the Champions League final.
What is your favourite non-academic book?
The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak
