A Maidstone rower has been picked for the Junior World Championships after a series of rigorous trials.

Ryan Mitchell, 18, leaves for Bulgaria next month, having emerged from a selection process that started last November.

Final trials took him to Nottingham where Mitchell spent five days racing against the best young rowers in the country to secure his place in the Great Britain squad.

Maidstone Invicta Rowing Club member Mitchell said: "I was ecstatic when my name was read out at the end of the trials. I couldn’t believe it.

"It would have been terrible to miss out after all the hard work.

"The trials were pretty brutal. You had to be at your peak all the time but the chance to represent my country drove me on."

Mitchell, who has just completed the sixth form at Maidstone Grammar School, is away on a training camp as Great Britain make their final preparations for the Worlds which run from August 15-19.

He added: "We have quite a strong team this year.

"There are three boats going and the idea of the training camp is to see who works well together.

"They haven’t selected who will be in which boat yet but our top boat should get a medal."

Mitchell’s success wouldn’t have happened without Maidstone Invicta and he paid tribute to the club he joined aged 12.

He said: "They’ve been a massive help to me.

"Ray Long coached me at first and then Helen Taylor for the last couple of
years.

"I’ve had to sacrifice a lot of my social life but it’s worth it."