Champagne corks were being popped in Mortlake, London recently; not because they suddenly discovered they were all Romanian but because Pauline Rayner of Thames Rowing Club became Britain's eleventh world record holder. A month after turning sixty, Pauline fairly skipped over the 2,000 metres to finish in 7:54.3, a gob-smacking 17 seconds inside Lies Muller of Holland's old world record of 8:11.6 and over half a minute ahead of Shelagh Allen's British mark of 8:31.9. Pauline's pedigree in rowing, both on and off the water, is pretty impeccable. A very successful veteran rower, she's won medals in every standard of boat at World Veteran level since 1982 and was the first women's captain at Thames RC. Off water, she's pretty impressive as well, having picked up gold at the last three British Indoor Rowing Championships. She's not yet competed at Boston however: I'm great friends with Merete Boldt of Denmark who holds the 50-59 world record and I know that I could never beat her. This year, however, we won't be competing in the same age group category, so you never know!