Ransley’s debt of gratitude to York

When he moved from Kent to York in 2004 to start his degree, Tom Ransley feared his days of rowing would come to an end.

Not just because university life is about beer and pizza, Fifa tournaments on the Playstation and accruing debt, but because rowing is predominently a southern sport and if you want to compete at the Olympics it is better to have an affilliation with a club south of the Watford Gap.

What a wide-eyed Ransley found, though, on the banks of the River Ouse was a club that not only allowed him to keep alive his Olympic dream, but also propelled it down river.

“My time at York was massively important,” says Ransley, a key member of the men’s eight who hope to row for Olympic gold on Eton Dorney next summer.

“If it hadn’t have been for York City Rowing Club I would have probably had to quit rowing. I was looking for a club that matched the intensity of training I knew down south and they were the ones.

“It also had a great community atmosphere. I spent three excellent years there capped by a victory in the Henley Regatta. There was a whole group of guys that helped me settle in York.”

Ransley is still a regular visitor to the city, such are the friendships he built in his three years there. Despite continuing his education at Cambridge University and basing himself full-time at the Great Britain training base at Caversham, he still rows for the highly-regarded York City club.

And he is now a York rower with two world championship silver medals to his name. But when training at a camp where images of Sir Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent adorn the walls, it becomes apparent that second best is not good enough.

“There were plenty of positives to take away from it,” says Ramsey of the silver the men’s eight won at Bled, Slovenia, last month. “But the aim was to win gold. Having won silver the year before the shine was taken off it.

“It was still a massive achievement. But immediately afterwards the end result was we had been beaten by the Germans again and that was disappointing.

“All that makes you more hungry for victory at London 2012. Ask any rower and they will gladly trade a world gold for an Olympic gold.”

By finishing second, Ransley and his seven team-mates qualified their boat for next year’s Olympics. Yet that achievement is only half the story. From working together, he and the likes of Greg Searle, James Clarke and Mohamed Sbihi now have to compete against each other to secure their spot.

“There’s an atmosphere of competition and co-operation because there’s a limited number of seats,” says Ransley. “It’s really important to have team work and synchronicity and it’s also important to recognise everyone individually.

“It keeps you honest, and everyone’s goals aligned. I worked in a business environment recently and it’s something I discussed with my colleagues, that in no other walk of life is the one common goal the same as everyone else’s.

“When we walk through that door at Caversham, everyone is working towards one goal – Olympic gold.”

Olympic Factfile

Tom Ransley

Age: 26

Born: Kent. Affiliation: City of York Rowing Club

Discipline: Men’s Eight

Trains: Caversham, Berkshire

Olympic record: Debut. He is a double world championship silver medallist