Sport Features

Karen Margerison's team of eight 'Independent Women' are on a mission to beat the boys in Reading Rowing Club's Corporate Eights competition, in the grand finale held on 1 September.

Like all the other crews sent by local businesses in Berkshire, the women have no previous rowing experience.

Karen's the driving force behind the women's team, booking time out on the water and cajoling her crewmates into turning up at ridiculous hours of the morning.

But as she told us after one training session, it's all for a good cause, and one close to her heart.

"A cousin of mine was murdered in November 2003 by her husband, after he'd also shot down his son," she says. "He killed himself afterwards."

You may remember this well, because it's the story of Julia Pemberton, murdered by estranged husband Alan in the West Berkshire village of Hermitage.

The story made the national news and Karen, as Julia's cousin, was close to events as they unfolded.

"At the beginning I didn't tell anybody," she admits. "When it made the news and people were talking about it I'd say actually, yes, it was a cousin of mine.

"Our hearts always went out to Laura, the sole surviving member of the family, who was at university at the time.

"She's very well now. She's in South Africa working with children who have AIDS. She hopes to become a doctor at some point."

That's already one positive to have come out of those horrendous events, but now Karen is keen to raise money for a charity working to end domestic violence against women.

The rowing crew, and the competition, are her way of helping to ensure a similar tragedy never happens again.

"We're on the water for the first time at 5.30am, that's how committed we are," she says, focusing on the challenge ahead.

"Even though the men can be more powerful, it's down to technique, and the power will come. We're a power to be reckoned with because we intend to win."

The ladies' coach, Murray Eldridge, says he doesn't doubt his crew have the capability to win.

"They're pretty good. It took a while to get the whole crew working together but in the last couple of weeks they're really starting to go for it."

He admits, though, that when the women take to the water for the first time, there'll be one overriding emotion.

"Panic - and that's me, not the girls. No, they'll be fine. We'll try to build from the work we're doing on dry land to give them a stable environment in the boat.

"It's always interesting if all eight come forward and the boat falls to one side or the other. They think they're going to sink and it doesn't build confidence that way."

In the next instalment find out if the 'Independent Women' manage to stay afloat on the Thames for the very first time.