Aughnacloy's Rebecca Edwards calls pair 'very intense boat but really quite special' ahead of Team GB push

​Edwards (women’s pair), Belfast’s Rebecca Shorten (women’s four) and Hannah Scott (women’s quadruple sculls) of Coleraine will each be in the water under Team GB colours this summer.

Having also been selected for the Tokyo Olympics, it marks the latest landmark moment for the three close friends.

"The three of us are really good friends and on the same training programme obviously so travel home together if a few days off,” said Edwards. "If one of us is having a bad day we catch up and look out for each other, so it's really great to have them.

"Hannah and Rebecca are two brilliant and world-leading athletes...I'm always joking I'm their biggest cheerleader.

"They're both great and I'm really happy to have them as a support within the team.

"I'm really excited, it's like a home Games for us really and my family are hoping to come out and watch so it'll be really good to share that experience.

"I just love rowing and feel very fortunate to be in this position, to be honest."

Edwards, who took up rowing at Queen’s University, views her greatest strength as determination – a drive which has taken a desire to “do something different” on to the pinnacle of her sport.

"I don't think there's a river in Aughnacloy,” she laughed, when looking back on those early days. “I went to the Royal in Dungannon so no rowing clubs...it was playing hockey and football.

"But when I went to Queen's I took up rowing in my first year.

"I wanted to do something different at uni and rowing is a hard sport but almost the ultimate team sport as well and I loved going to the team sessions.

"The coaches would tell me I was strong and I made some great friends so couldn't wait to go back.

"You always dream and I remember having a conversation in the boat house with one of the coaches asking did he ever think I could be on a team going to a World Championships or something.

“He told me if I worked hard enough I could do anything...and here I am.

"I'm not the tallest and some are very, very strong like you wouldn't believe but I think I'm more an all-rounder but feel my biggest attribute as to why I've been able to get this far is I just never give in.

"You have to be so resilient and no matter what sport you are in it's constant assessments and trials and knockbacks, injury, illness...but you just have to keep turning up.

"But I live by that idea of if I work hard enough I can achieve what I want to achieve."

After taking part in the women’s eight in Tokyo, Edwards will team up with Chloe Brew for the women’s pair this summer.

"Me and Chloe were the youngest members of the eight in Tokyo and (now) quite a good combination in the pair,” said Edwards. "We live together and our first rowing camp together would've been, I think, as far back as 2015.

"Chloe studied in America so was away for a bit then I was in Belfast and over in England but we’ve come back together through the years and it's really nice."

She added: "The pair category is really high quality (in Paris) and our biggest aim is to make that A final, that top six.

"If you're not in that final then you're not fighting for medals so we'll do the heats and semis to make it into that top six...then it's game on.

"We both just really want to go out there and when the light goes green know we've done everything we can possibly do to be in the best position.

"For me, I'll have great satisfaction if I've given my very best.

"It's easy to fixate on the result and you can kind of get lost on the way so in sport it's very important to take each step as it comes.

"We've good support staff and great coaches, with people looking after us sorting out the logistics around the edges - so we just have to turn up and train hard!

"It's funny because most rowing events like the World Cups or World Championships there's still an element of having to get yourself organised but with the Olympics it's the biggest event so a lot of things are taken care of for you.

"Which is great as you want to put all your energy and effort into making your boat as fast as you can, not worry about how I'm going to get to the airport...we're very lucky."

The combination of shared friendship out of the boat and shared goals in it can prove tricky waters to navigate at times within the high-pressure world of high-performance sport.

"The pair is a very intense boat but really quite special and you have to have that good partnership,” said Edwards. "It's quite a cool thing to be doing this with a good friend, I feel very privileged and am enjoying it.

"Most people with a best friend you do all the fun things then support each other through thick and thin but not really going through it together.

"With us, if we're having a bad day we're both having a bad day and it's about what can I do to help you or what do I need you to do to help me?

"Then it's about being able to say to the other person that wasn't very helpful then okay how can we look at it in another way.

"You're not just working on your rowing, you're working on your communication as well.

"It's not always easy but when you get the balance of it right you can bring out the best in each other really well.

"We're very good at those tough conversations when needed and not allowing that to carry over into the friendship but it all comes down to trust.

"I know if we are having a hard time or someone says something we both always come back to the fact that it's all in the best interest of us going as fast as we can.

"As long as you have that as the bottom line then you know it's always coming from a good place whether it's hard to hear or the best thing in the world.

"The pair is so different...I love the women's eight but, to be honest, I love the women's four too, I love all the boats for different reasons.

"But in the pair you can be very exposed but I feel excited for us to show what we can do.

"You're very accountable to yourself and the other person but when you get it right it brings such great rewards."

Overall, Edwards is relishing a return to the “wonderful festival of sport” and happy to look back on tales from Tokyo – plus a pre-Paris training camp in Italy – to help maximise the next few weeks.

Italy offered an opportunity to fine-tune the focus together before the official adventure.

She added: "Experience is invaluable.

"You learn so much by competing and we picked up so much from Tokyo.

"The Olympics is so big, a wonderful festival of sport with a lot of hype.

"But, on the day, it's just going to be me and Chloe going out to row our boat.

"From Tokyo we know to expect lots of other things.

"But, ultimately, we just have to focus on us and it's quite an important thing to learn."