Liam wants to make his mark on '¨the water

From the small beginnings of a year seven rowing competition at the Kirton school, Bostonian Liam went on to represent the trust to which it belongs at the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships.

After coming ninth out of 195 students in the year seven boys race, 12-year-old Liam was invited to London Rowing Club for a demonstration day run by 2008 Olympic champion Mark Hunter.

Liam said: “It was a bit scary at first to row on the Thames, but then I got used to it and it was good that the school gave me the chance to do rowing.”

But Liam’s growing interest in rowing was really fired up when his performance at the national championships resulted in a VIP trip to the annual University Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge last April.

As one of the top scorers for the David Ross Education Trust (DRET) team, Liam watched the race from a speedboat which travelled alongside the rival universities and was then invited into the VIP areas as Oxford’s men and women’s teams were presented with their trophies.

Charlotte Manson, sports enrichment officer at Thomas Middlecott Academy, said: “Liam came first in the year eight boys’ DRET Indoor Rowing Cup in October, beating his personal best, and we hope to get a sports bursary for him as he’s shown a tremendous amount of potential in such a short space of time.”