A TEENAGER who hopes to be selected to row for GB in the Olympics in the future is appealing for help so she can buy her own boat to continue her training during the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.

Nicole Dunn, 17, who lives in Exbourne, had been due to take part in trials for competing in rowing internationally after winning gold in a prestigious competition — the National Scullers Head Meet — in December.

However her hopes of training towards competing in Team GB at the Olympics further down the line have been interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘Sadly, with Covid-19 I have been off the water since March.

‘I have also missed my Team GB camp we were due to attend in April which is where we would have been training for the World Championships,’ she said.

‘I had been so excited to go and represent my country but sadly, for this year, it wasn’t to be.’

Nicole, who is studying for her A-levels, has secured a scholarship to university in America on the strength of her prowess in the sport she took up less than three years ago.

However, due to Covid-19 restrictions she is unable to train as she would normally in a crew on the water.

She has therefore started saving for her own single-person boat, which will cost £10,000.

She has already raised more than £2,000 working as a waitress at local pub The New Inn in Sampford Courtenay and working as a calf rearer on her parents’ dairy farm.

And to make up the balance, she’s launched a fundraising challenge. Over the summer, she’ll be rowing more than 600 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats on her indoor rower, in one of the barns on the family farm.

She explained: ‘Without access to a boat, my GB times will suffer and I’m genuinely worried I won’t make the team when we get re-trialled.

‘Rather than begging for money, I’m asking if people would kindly sponsor me to row on my own rower which is set up in one of our barns.

‘I am going to row, run and cycle remotely via an app from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

‘The app will plot my location so you can follow me on my journey.

‘I will do this on my days off and send after photos to share my progress.

‘I aim to complete this throughout the rest of July and August before returning to college in September.

‘Going to the Olympics is my absolute dream and I really cannot describe how saddened I am by being unable to go.’

Nicole plans to do some of her rowing in public in the car park of The New Inn.

Find out more and support Nicole be visiting the website gofundme.com under ‘Olympic Sculling Boat’.