My Passion: Julian Pearce. of Leeds-based brand consultancy Propaganda, talks about his passion for rowing.

As a native of the Isles of Scilly, I’ve always been comfortable around boats and water. Sailing wasn’t really for me so rowing was the obvious choice. I fondly remember the long summers pottering around local coves and rocky islets, in my formative years.

Gig racing is the ‘national’ sport of the Islands. These six oared boats are remarkable relics of a distant era, whereby locals would row pilots out to meet incoming ships. The boat I first raced was built in 1873, and was used, for these commercial purposes, by my distant ancestors. More recently, my dad and granddad raced socially, so it was little surprise I followed in their footsteps.

As soon as I arrived at Leeds University in 2003, I immediately sought out their rowing club. I travelled five times a week or more from Leeds to the club’s base in York, and the time commitments ramped up when I progressed to club captain in my third year.

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Whilst very proud of my achievements there, it’s fair to say I was no Steve Redgrave.

I took a break from the sport between 2006 and 2009, when I returned to racing with Leeds Rowing Club, based at Roundhay Park. The club was small, but rapidly growing, and the team element I had enjoyed at university was the ultimate draw.

As a part of the men’s senior squad, our coach set about giving us more and more rigorous training regimes. Hours toiling away on the indoor rowing machine and in the weights room are the less glamorous side of a sport, where races last anything between 20 minutes to six and a half minutes. The training to competition ratio must be the most extreme of any sport.

For the past three years, I’ve competed in the men’s top crew and raced at Henley Royal Regatta and on the Olympic lake.

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I also hold the committee position of development officer. Our current focus is raising funds for a new £1m clubhouse in south Leeds, which is under construction. We’ve been granted lottery backing, and my old university club will share the facility with us. We are now looking to secure the final funds to help fit and furnish the new facility, which will help us grow the sport in the region.

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