Guin Batten

Chair, World Rowing & Former Head of Strategy and Development, British Canoeing

Guin Batten

Guin Batten

Guin is an Olympic silver medalist in the quadruple scull, world record holder for the fastest solo crossing of the English Channel and skippered the first British women’s crew across the North Atlantic. Her stories about leading teams into the extreme provide powerful insights into how female teams have survived and flourished doing the apparently impossible.

Themes

Leadership in Uncertainty
Resilience and Wellbeing
Teamwork

Travels from

London, UK

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.

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