Christchurch rower Joshua Brangan takes silver and bronze at the Munich Regatta

Former Highcliffe School pupil and Christchurch Rowing Club member Joshua Brangan has won silver and bronze medals with the England U19s at the Munich Regatta.

The double podium finish is all the more remarkable considering that Brangan and his Coxless Four and Eight teams had never raced together.

There are exciting times ahead for the young rower, who is part of the Futures England program to help young and upcoming sportsmen and sportswomen to achieve success in their chosen sport.

His final year in the sixth form at St. Edwards School saw great success in rowing at the Schools Head race, winning bronze and a silver medal in the National Schools Regatta at Dorney Lake.

Then it was off to the GB trials at the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake in Caversham, the headquarters of GB Rowing. After an impressive showing, he made the prestigious Coxless Four team for the U19 Junior World Championships on Lake Varese in Italy at the end of July.

The four trained together for three solid weeks, with a colossal scare halfway through when one of the boys came down with Covid. However, that did not hold them back, and they started with a comfortable win in the heats before winning the semi-final by a few lengths. The final saw an incredible piece of rowing with the boys winning gold with a margin of over five seconds.

Brangan will not fly off to Boston to start university at Harvard while rowing with Heavyweight Crew.