Peterlee's Olympic Rower Lauren Irwin at Chester-le-Street

Lauren Irwin, who grew up in Peterlee, was first introduced to rowing at her secondary school St Bedes when she was 13 years old. 

Her PE teacher wanted to form an indoor rowing team so they could compete against other schools in the area. 

Lauren Irwin (Image: NICOLA THOMPSON)

She was a swimmer at the time but was looking to try something new.

After winning events at the County Durham School Games she was invited to join the Junior High Performance Academy run by the Durham University coaches and students.

She joined Chester-le-Street Amateur Rowing Club later that year.

Lauren Irwin's bronze medal (Image: NICOLA THOMPSON)

Lauren studied at Durham University from 2016 to 2019 and was coached by Ian Shore and Wade Hall-Craggs.

During her time at Durham, she went to the U23 World Championships 3 times and won Gold in 2019 in the Women’s Four.

She moved away from home to Henley-on-Thames to row at Leander in 2019.

Lauren Irwin (Image: NICOLA THOMPSON)

Her coach, Ross Hunter developed her further as an athlete and prepared her for senior racing.

She was invited to row full-time as a GB athlete at Caversham in 2021 ready for the new Olympic cycle to start.

Since then she has picked up several international medals and achieved her dream of being selected to race at the Paris Olympic Games.

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At the Paris 2024 Olympic Rowing Regatta, Lauren won a bronze in the Women’s eight.

Earlier this week, Lauren returned to Chester-le-Street where it all began and brought her bronze medal with her. 

Inspiring the next generation of North East rowers, she was on hand to speak to people at the club, while having the bronze medal around her neck at all times. 

Images of her return were captured by The Northern Echo Camera Club's Nicola Thompson.