Knowledge and clarity helps win World Rowing’s commentators competition

The competition received entries from around the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Great Britain, the United States and Spain. Applicants had to submit audio files of their commentary on two races from last year’s World Rowing Championships. The judges narrowed the field down to four finalists: Richard Dorrstein (Australia), Kirsty Dunhill (New Zealand), Camilla Hadland (Great Britain) and Daniel Spring (Great Britain).

“All four finalists had a great knowledge and understanding of rowing,” says World Rowing’s Sport Director Colleen Orsmond. “There was very little between the final scores submitted by the judges, but Camilla proved to have just a little more clarity and great race description. It is not easy to talk continuously and clearly for an entire race. We were very impressed by all of the entries especially from those who were not commentating in their native tongue.”

Judging worked on a system of points in the categories of ease of flow, enthusiasm, accuracy, background knowledge, articulation, personal style and uniqueness.

“Camilla had researched the teams involved and sounded knowledgeable about rowing,” says Orsmond. “She had good pronunciation of foreign names and was able to personalise her commentary.”

“It was great to see entries from around the world,” says Sebastian Franke of World Rowing’s Sports Presentation Services. “We knew that there were voices out there that needed to be heard and this competition has made us aware of the talent that is out there in our rowing community.”

This is the first time that World Rowing has conducted a commentator’s competition.

Hadland will now attend World Rowing Cup I in Belgrade, Serbia as a guest commentator. World Rowing Cup I begins on 1 June 2018 and there will be live race tracking on www.worldrowing.com as well as live streaming of the finals.