Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

ANDREW T. HODGE

Why do I love rowing? That's a fantastic question. There's a beauty about the sport. It's hard to describe. But it's when it comes together, you feel the boat run, you feel the team work together-- it's quite irreplaceable.

ALAN CAMPBELL

It really is the best feeling in the world. You can feel what's happening in the water. And you can feel how you're affecting it, how you're gliding on top of it. And there's just like a really nice sigh and really nice rhythm.

KATHERINE GRAINGER

And the boat just ignites and just flies. That is a feeling-- I don't think I'll find anything else in my life, the rest of what I do.

PETE LAMBERT

That's basically one of the reasons why I row is because of that feeling.

POLLY SWANN

Once you get that click, the feeling of the boat is amazing. That's what you want to come back to every time. So you're making the boat just soar underneath you.

HEATHER STANNING

You can almost hear, like, a little kind of sizzling. I think you'd kind of liken it to a frying pan. And it's just the water running alongside of the hull.

MATT GOTREL

It just feels like a machine. Feels like you're in a machine.

PAUL BENNETT

Elegant and precise but powerful and delicate but strong.

WILL SATCH

And you can just inch away from the crew behind you.

ANGUS GROOM

It's a really special feeling. It's a real buzz.

TOM AGGAR

First and foremost, when I first started, it was just to be out on the water.

SCOTT MEENAGH

I love being out on the water and being free.

IMOGEN WALSH

Having that sense of open space-- it's just something that I love doing.

RACHEL MORRIS

We had a day the other day-- it was a really frosty morning. There was a mist over the water because the sun was coming up. And it was just stunning.

HEATHER STANNING

And you are totally out there with nature and no one else around. It can be totally silent, other than the noise of us dropping the blades in the water.

PETE REED:

I'm so happy that I found rowing, and rowing found me. And I love the team atmosphere and work with your crew. And they help you get better. You help them get better.

PAMELA RALPH:

What you get is more than the sum of the individual athletes. And that's something that's really, really special.

GEORGE NASH

You form these really strong bonds with everyone that you row with, kind of almost as soon as you join the sport.

SIR DAVID TANNER:

I get my thrill from walking the shop floor with those people trying to live their dreams, but also the ambition that people have. It's a heady mix, and it gets you really.

GRAEME THOMAS

And it really does become something that you want to keep doing more and more and more.

RICHARD CHAMBERS

Because as soon as you get into a boat, and you start to learn to row, you can always improve on what you're doing.

ALEX GREGORY

It is addictive.

MOHAMED SBIHI

It's one of those sports that you do get better with every stroke that you take.

NATHANIEL RILEY O'DONNELL

If you push through the feet, it comes up through and out through the hands.

WILL SATCH

It's exciting. It's aggressive. It's dramatic. I just love it.

SAM TOWNSEND

You're working really, really hard. But you don't feel like you're working hard.

ALEX GREGORY

I like getting up every day. I like training seven days a week. When I stop rowing, I'm going to be in trouble.

KAT COPELAND

I just do it because I love it. And that's something that can carry me through every day.

ANDREW T. HODGE

And you're able to share those moments with people that you'll be friends with-- share those memories for the rest of your life.