Your Champions: Paul Turner nominated for Sporting Champion of the Year

Jul 2 2009 by Mark Dowling, Chester Chronicle

A SUCCESSFUL rower and rowing coach has been nominated for a Your Champions accolade in Sporting Champion of the Year category.

Paul Turner, who has represented Wales for almost a decade in competitive action, coached and competed in the first Welsh crew to win the Home Countries International Regatta for more than 40 years in 2008.

He began his coaching career in a project with five-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Steve Redgrave.

Since then he has coached at the Grosvenor Rowing Club, Dee Lane, Chester, where he has been a member for more than 10 years.

Tim Donovan, who nominated Paul, said the rowing coach had proved to be “an exceptional teacher.”

He said: “Leading from the front, as both head coach and its most talented athlete, Paul has managed a group that has seen Grosvenor Rowing Club men’s senior squad grow and develop.

“In the last three years the men’s squad has developed in both size and ability and has been more successful than at any time in the club’s history.

“The squad consistently provides athletes for the Welsh national squad and the infrastructure Paul has developed has helped integrate and develop new athletes to the sport.

“Paul is a talented athlete, an exceptional teacher and a person that inspires commitment.”