Perkins Rowing Staff

Chris started rowing at the age of 12 at Yarm School in the North-East of England.  During his time there, alongside his studies, he won national medals at the British Championships, National Schools’ Regatta, Schools’ Head and Home International Regatta.  Two months after leaving school and being talent-spotted by the GB Rowing Team, he was selected to represent Team GB at the Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney, and within two years he had competed at two U23 World Championships, and received an invitation to train with the Senior Squad at the National Training Centre in Caversham.

In his career as a lightweight rower, Chris competed in multiple World Cup regattas, two World Championships and two European Championships; the highlight being a bronze medal at the 2012 European Championships in the Lightweight Men’s Double which you can see here. After ending his career as a lightweight, Chris made the transition to heavyweight rowing based at the prestigious Leander Club in Henley.  He was Vice-Captain of Leander for two years, and rowed in three Henley Royal Regatta Finals.  He finished his competitive rowing by winning the Ladies’ Challenge Plate at Henley Royal Regatta in 2016 – the realisation of a childhood dream.

Chris joined SWPSBC in 2016 and has worked extensively with the Senior Squad.

Since becoming Head Coach at Perkins in January 2022, the Club has made a significant mark on the national and international rowing scene – five medals in Championship events at National Schools’ Regatta in three seasons, racing to three semi-finals of Henley Women’s Regatta (Junior 4x & 2x) as well as the quarter-finals of Henley Royal Regatta (Junior 4x).  In 2024, Chris guided the first Perkins athletes to ever be selected for the World Rowing U19 Championships, with our leading J16 rower winning a superb Silver Medal in the W4-.  Further international medals for Perkins rowers have come from the Great Britain U19 W2x at Coupe de la Jeunesse (European U19 Champs), and England’s WJ18 2x, 4x, 2- and 8+ at the 2023 and 2024 Home International Regattas.  As a former international oarsman, Chris is well-placed to support any athletes of this standard and with the necessary desire to target representing their country, through what is a challenging year-long trials process.

Chris is hugely passionate about the sport of rowing, and keenly combines his own experiences of navigating his schooldays as a rower with all that he has learned from a career in elite sport and junior-coaching, to deliver an excellent experience to all those at Perkins.

Natalie’s love for both rowing and coaching started as a junior at her local rowing club, and whilst at university she was a driving force in establishing Chichester University RC. After leaving university, she was Club Captain and Head Coach at Worthing RC before being recruited by Headington School, Oxford. Whilst at Headington, Natalie’s crews won medals at the National Schools’ Regatta, and several athletes that she had started off on their rowing journey were in the victorious JW8+ at Henley Royal Regatta in 2021.

Since joining Perkins in January 2022, Natalie has had growing responsibility for the day-to-day running of the club, as well as the welfare of the students from J13-15, and has worked hard to steer the Boat Club alongside the Head Coach, performing a huge number of unseen but crucial tasks in order to maintain the smooth running of all rowing operations. Initially in her role as the Lead Coach for J15s, Natalie’s crews regularly featured on the national podium, with medals at Schools’ Head of the River and National Schools’ Regatta, as well as some J15 athletes progressing to the Perkins Henley Royal Regatta boats whilst still in Y10! In 2023 and 2024, Natalie co-coached the first SWPS Eights to qualify for the Prince Philip Challenge Trophy for Junior Women’s Eights at Henley Royal Regatta – a truly momentous achievement! Natalie’s day-to-day coaching now sees her supporting our older rowers as they aim to chase the biggest dreams of all within the Senior Squad. In 2024 she was the England Rowing Team Lead Coach for Junior Women’s Sweep at the Home International Regatta, with her crews winning five Gold Medals!

Jonno’s coaching career has spanned the last eighteen years, and has involved working in some of the country’s top school rowing programmes.  The Lady Eleanor Holles School, Latymer Upper School and London Oratory had significant successes during his tenures, with his crews regularly winning national medals.  Over 30 athletes that Jonno has coached at some point during their school careers have gone on to gain international representation in the sport, and countless others have a passion for rowing engrained for life thanks to his boundless enthusiasm for the sport, and love for conveying this to young people.  Jonno has worked as Equipment Manager/Boatman alongside his coaching since 2009, and has a wealth of experience, setting him up well to maintain and organise a large fleet of top-level racing boats.  From 2018-2021 he was the England Equipment Manager, a role that supported the team’s performances at the Home International Regatta each year.  As the Lead Coach for J14s, Jonno inspires the youngest rowers of our club in their first year as full rowing members, which led to SWPSBC’s best ever J14 Octuple results at the 2022 National Schools’ Regatta and 2023 National Junior Sculling Head!

Michelle rowed throughout her time as a junior in South Africa, moving on to spend five years rowing and coxing at the University of Johannesburg. As Women’s Captain, she had significant responsibilities for managing the dynamics of the team and optimising its performance, under the coaching of London 2012 Olympic Champion, Sizwe Ndlovu. As a coach, Michelle has worked extensively with junior women across the U14-19 year groups in South Africa, with her U19 Women’s Coxed Four winning Gold at the 2023 SA Schools’ Rowing Championships, in a new national record time.

Her coaching experience extends across provincial, national and international involvement with major teams in South Africa – notably as an U16 National Development Coach for tours of the UK, and as the Recovery Therapist for the South Africa team at the 2023 World Rowing U19 Championships in Paris.

With an academic background in Biokinetics, Michelle has a wealth of knowledge regarding how our rowers can best prepare, utilise, and look after the amazing things their bodies can do, and is passionate about bringing her experiences of rowing in a different country across to us at Perkins with a balance of hard work and fun!

Harry started rowing at Durham ARC at the age of 11, after trying several other sports with mixed results. He had a moderately successful junior career, winning regattas around the North of England. Looking for a new challenge, he started rowing at the University of London Boat Club, while studying at Queen Mary University of London. In his 4 years there, he qualified for the Temple Challenge Cup and Henley Royal Regatta three times, and raced against some of the best student athletes in the world. He also led his squad as Men’s Captain to record placings at the Head of the River Race, their first ever Gold Medal in Intermediate Eights at BUCS Regatta, and the momentous achievement of qualifying three men’s eights at Henley Royal Regatta for the first time ever.

His experience coaching began while still a junior, helping out with the younger groups after his own sessions. In his last year at school he coached the WJ14 squad at Durham ARC to a 6th place finish at the National Schools Regatta, as well as Bronze Medals in the Coxed Quad and Double at the British Rowing Junior Championships. After school, whilst studying himself, he coached his university boat club, contributing to their best ever results at BUCS Regatta.

After university, Harry returned to the North East to help set up a new community rowing project, introducing thousands of young people in the Tees Valley to the sport of rowing. In his year at Infinity Boat Club he took the club to its first race, athletes won Gold Medals at both the British Rowing Indoor Championships and the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships, and the club was awarded ‘Club of the Year’ at the British Rowing Awards in 2024.

He joins Perkins ready to support the Boat Club as it reaches new heights, bringing both passion and knowledge to enhance the experience of every rower at the club.

Jack learned to row at the University of Surrey having caught the bug for our sport as soon as he tried it out! Despite a Covid-interrupted time at university, he developed his own training and racing alongside positions of growing responsibility, holding both the posts of Captain and Vice-President during his degree. Jack was involved in British Rowing’s Student Development Programme, and now he has finished his studies, is rowing at Molesey Boat Club to pursue his dream of winning an event at Henley Royal Regatta!

Megan started her rowing journey as a junior in Scotland, racing with distinction for Aberdeen Schools’ Rowing Association, culminating in selection for the Great Britain team at the 2019 World Rowing Junior Championships, in the Women’s Pair. She was then recruited by Southern Methodist University in USA on a rowing scholarship, where she gained her Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Megan continued her studies at University of Tennessee, where rowing again played a huge part in her daily life, and she was a key part of the crew which secured Tennessee’s best ever rank of third at the 2024 NCAAs. As Women’s Crew Captain at both SMU and Tennessee, Megan took a leading role in managing the training programme of the squads, and has been active throughout her rowing life in guiding rowers through their very first strokes on the novice programmes at each club she has been part of to this point.

Megan is currently rowing at Leander Club in Henley, and is an active coastal rower, featuring for the Scotland national team in this exciting and developing branch of our sport!

Addy is a Perkins alumna, and rowed as a committed part of the club throughout her school years. She built-up a hugely impressive racing CV whilst at SWPS – two National Schools’ Regatta Medals in Championship Girls’ Doubles, two Semi-Finals at Henley Women’s Regatta in the Junior Quad, Quarter-Final in the Junior Quad at Henley Royal Regatta, and Gold in the WJ18 Double at the British Rowing Junior Championships. Addy gained international representation in both of her Sixth Form seasons – Gold Medals in both the WJ18 Double and Quad representing England at the Home International Regatta in 2023, followed by selection in the Great Britain U19 Women’s Double at the 2024 Coupe de la Jeunesse. She is currently training at the prestigious Leander Club in Henley as part of her Gap-Year, ahead of continuing her studies at university next year.

In her last year at school, Addy led the pupil-body of the Club as Captain of Boats, and is now enjoying giving our younger rowers an insight into the exciting journey they can look forward to as members of our club!

Sam began rowing at Bath University, and quickly realised that she had found a sport in which she had the potential to excel. Her first GB selection was as part of a development Women’s Eight for the Windermere Cup in Seattle, USA, and this was soon followed by U23 representation in consecutive years. In 2014 she won a Silver Medal in the Women’s Eight, and in 2015 a Bronze in the Women’s Four, which provided a springboard into her career as part of the Great Britain Senior Team. 2019 saw Sam qualify the Women’s Pair for the Tokyo Olympic Games, and she was subsequently selected for Team GB for what would have been her Olympic debut. Sadly, the Covid pandemic, the subsequent delay of the Games, and a back injury meant that Sam missed-out on the rearranged Tokyo event. After rehabilitating from this injury, she spent a further year racing at the highest domestic level for Leander Club, during which time she was a mentor for younger athletes just starting out on their adult rowing careers. Sam has coached across the age-groups at SWPS, predominantly with our J15s, helping to guide them to everything from their first singles race to medals at National Schools’ Regatta! Sam’s biggest lesson from her own rowing was that the happier you are, the faster you go, and she is keen to pass that on to all the Perkins Rowers she works with!