Ahead of this weekend’s Red Bull X-Row in Switzerland, we caught up with one of the competitors, UK rowing star Toby Garbett…
Red Bull X-Row is in Lucerne. Do you have happy memories from rowing here in the past?
Yes, I remember Lake Lucerne very well – perfect calm water and a great win, beating the Germans by a couple of lengths in the 2001 World Championships. From my recollection, its name is the Lake of the Gods…
You’ll obviously be used to carrying a boat, but does running with it between the lakes in Red Bull X-Row take practice and co-ordination with seven other rowers?
We have had a short practice, and it’s one of the most uncomfortable things I’ve ever done, due to the boat digging into your shoulder – especially when you get out of step with the other rowers – so I am not looking forward to that particular part of the event!
Who do you think will be your strongest challengers at Red Bull X-Row?
I think the strongest challengers will be the crews that have practised the most together, therefore making them slightly more efficient at being able to stay in time for longer when they get really tired.
If you hadn’t been a sportsman (and then made a business from Pilates and PT), what direction would you have taken – some other kind of entrepreneurship, perhaps?
It would have to have been outdoors and sporty, so maybe a sports teacher, as I enjoy giving back to children.
You were once a pretty handy at rugby and judo. What made you switch to a boat instead?
I was playing county level rugby while rowing at Leander Club in Henley-on Thames [Henley is an English riverside town world-famous for its annual rowing regatta]. Before rugby turned professional, it was quite relaxed in that you trained twice a week and once at the weekend, so my improvement was minimal, compared to rowing which was seven days a week and took me from schoolboy rower to senior GB rower within a couple of years. Hence I chose to drop rugby – but I would like to think that if I’d applied myself to any endurance sport I could have done well, as it’s the mental application which is important…
'I would love to be involved in the 2012 Olympics, but have decided on a different career path'
What’s been the biggest challenge of your career? Was it the injury or your other illness in the late 1990s?
I would say after coming fourth in my first World Championships and then coming down with a prolapsed disc and glandular fever just before the World Championships in the two following years which meant I missed my place in the Olympic Eight in Sydney 2000.
Will you be involved with the British Rowing team as we head towards the Olympics in 2012?
I would love to be involved in the 2012 Olympics, but have decided on a different career path as I want to face new challenges in my day-to-day life. The transition has been hard and exciting, but I enjoy running my own business www.tobygarbett.com and giving back my fitness expertise to many different types of people and helping them reach their goals.
What has been your finest career moment?
Finest career moment was winning the 2001 World Championships on Lake Lucerne…
You’re involved in charity work with UK athletics legend Dame Kelly Holmes –who else do you regularly keep in touch with from the British set-up?
I love being part of the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust and part of their Steering Group. It is great meeting other athletes through this from all different sporting backgrounds. I always meet up with all my rowing friends at the Henley Royal Regatta every year.
What do you see yourself doing in five or 10 years’ time?
In five to 10 years’ time I hope to be running and being a part of a worldwide fitness business…
See what Toby faces in the short-term at our Red Bull X-Row event page
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