Guin’s inspiring story and presentation exceeded all of our expectations for the day, it was so well prepared and linked perfectly to what we were trying to achieve at corporate level. Guin also was seemless in her delivery, spoke with great passion and conviction that made the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. I also have to thank Guin for the preparation effort she put in to understand our objectives at work and how she could bring in and link our themes into her presentation. I spoke to many of the sales people after the event and words like “inspiring”, “confidence building “, “given me a new level of determination” were commonplace. Our meeting with Guin unfortunately only lasted 3 hours, we could have listened to her all day.
Biography
Guin won silver at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the quadruple scull with a team that included her elder sister, Miriam.
Guin achieves world firsts
Guin has continued to push the boundaries of possibility, achieving a number of world firsts, including: setting the record for the fastest solo crossing of the English Channel in a rowing shell – and in doing so also becoming the first solo female crossing – in a time of 3 hours and 14 minutes (eight minutes faster than the men’s record set by her friend Bob Gullett on the same trip); and skippering the first British women’s crew across the North Atlantic the ‘wrong’ way. Her stories about leading teams into the extreme provides some powerful insights into how female teams have survived and flourished doing the apparently impossible.
Guin is a Council member for The World Rowing Federation International Federation (FISA) where she leads the emerging disciplines of beach and coastal rowing, she is the first woman in 175 years to sit on the Henley Royal Regatta Management Committee and is Chair of the largest women’s rowing race in the world – the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race.
She has worked for the British Olympic Association, UK Sport and Sport England. In the last 12 years, Guin has been instrumental in the design and development of a range of cutting edge programmes for the Youth Sport Trust.