Cramlington rower set to compete in World Beach Sprint Finals thanks to support from Inn Collection Group

Ryan Glymond will cox for his country in Barletta, Italy at the end of September thanks to the northern pubco stepping up and covering the costs of his participation through its Give Inn Back fund.

Hotly tipped to become a future Olympic discipline, Beach Sprint is a relatively new rowing event, with head-to-head racing taking place in solos, mixed doubles and mixed coxed, quadruple sculls.

Raced in coastal boats, it begins with a run from the beach to the boat, athletes then sprint row to a buoy and back. The race ends with one rower from each team sprinting to a finish line on the beach.

Ryan’s talent in the Beach Sprints discipline of rowing was discovered back in 2021 when he was one of several members of the University of St Andrews Boat Club who travelled to the British Rowing Coastal Championships and excelled on their first attempts.

Since then, Ryan has been a member of the GB Beach Sprints Development Squad.

Cox in the mixed coastal quadruple scull at the 2022 championships in village of Saundersfoot, Ryan and his crew narrowly missed out on the medal positions after three days of intense competition but took pride in being amongst the top crews in the world.

The target for this year is undoubtedly to find those crucial increments that will propel them forwards and onto the podium.

Glymond said: “I’d like to thank The Inn Collection Group and the five coastal inns that have gotten behind me so I can take up the opportunity to compete at this year’s championships.

“Athletes are required to self-fund through sponsorship to get to the event and it has been great to find such a supportive group who very quickly said they would cover the total amount I needed to raise.

Lewis Hegarty, general manager at The Seaburn Inn said: “We’re delighted to be supporting Ryan and making sure he is able to make the trip out to the finals to compete.”