Meet the new women of FISA

Great Britain’s Guin Batten takes over as chair of the Rowing for All Commission. This commission encompasses many forms of rowing including touring, fitness, recreational, coastal, traditional, and ergometer rowing. Batten comes to this commission from FISA’s Youth Commission and has also been on FISA’s Athletes Commission (from 2004 – 2008).

An Olympic medallist Batten still rows and continues to amaze with her unique rowing feats. She holds the record for rowing across the English Channel in an Olympic class single (2003). Then last year Batten rowed the 60km Zero Degree Channel in the Maldives becoming the first to row it in a single. She did this to promote rowing in the Maldives.

Batten also recently became a coastal rowing participant winning gold at the 2009 and 2010 World Rowing Coastal Championships. In her professional life Batten is the head of research and innovation for Britain’s TOP foundation which works in education and sport for young people.

Batten is currently replacing Denis Masseglia (France) who stepped down from his position. She will stand for election for the full term of appointment at the 2011 FISA Congress which will be held at the end of the World Rowing Championships in September this year.

Tone Pahle has taken over from the retiring Peter Morrison as chair of the Master’s Rowing Commission. Pahle, from Norway, knows masters rowing intimately through her active participation in masters racing (favourite boats: double, quad and eight), as well as being a member of the masters commission since 2000.

A former Olympic rower, Pahle started rowing in 1973 and rowed at the 1976 Montreal Olympics as well as two World Rowing Championships. Pahle’s profession is anaesthesiology and she currently works as a senior charge nurse in Oslo.

“I would like to promote masters rowing to the younger rowers so we don’t ‘lose’ them when their competitive days are over,” says Pahle who is motivated to keep rowing as a lifelong sport.

Pahle’s favourite masters rowing story is about 80 year old Norwegian rower, Thor Ahlsand; “He is one of the best in the world at his age, still training and still being coached by his coach from the old time, Thor Nilsen. For me he is a role model for younger rowers; polite, competitive, idealistic, interested, hard training and when I am so lucky that we can manage a trip on the water together he always finishes our cooling down with a poem. He is a former Olympian, is a very good cross-country skier, indoor rower and has been good in athletics too.”

Media and Promotions Commission member since 2006, Patricia Lambert of Belgium was voted in as the chair of this commission late last year. This sees Lambert take over from former chair Arno Boes of Germany. Lambert’s voice has become well known at World Rowing events as the announcer’s voice at the medal presentation ceremonies as well as a race commentator at many World Rowing and other international rowing events. Apart from a background in rowing, Lambert has a passion for rally car racing and she is a regular participant in the historic Monte-Carlo Rally.

In her professional life Lambert works in communications for the European Commission, joint research centre in Brussels. She is knowledgeable in technical aspects of web communications tools and is fluent in several languages including Flemish, Dutch, French, English and Italian.

Her commitment is for one main purpose: to give rowing and its athletes the visibility they deserve and which she sees as still too weak.

All three new chairs attended their first council meeting at the end of January during the annual World Rowing Coaches Conference in Great Britain.