The magazine featured Malia Obama (5’10″) and Game of Thrones (My favourite series!)  star Gwendoline Christie (6’3″) as two  current favourites. At LTS HQ we are so excited  tall trended to No.1- how cool is that?

Who is your favourite tall celebrity?

LTS x

We made it to Italy for a training camp, the lake having eventually melted. We have deconstructed our rowing stroke down to the absolute basics, and we will build it up again layer by layer adding precision and finesse onto the foundation we build now. We have three regattas in May and June in Belgrade, Lucerne and Munich. Over the course of the three we’ll be likely to face every crew that we’ll race in August. It will be while yet until we get close to the speed we want for the Olympics, so we must be patient, but the thrill of side by side racing against the same opposition we will race in London is tantalisingly close.

Image courtesy of Getty Images

I couldn’t believe it when I received a phone call saying I’d won the Long Tall Sally young customer model competition. I had entered weeks before without any expectations of winning and yet there I was on my way to London. I met the team at head office and spent an hour or so being fitted for the clothes I would be wearing for the photo shoot. Everyone was so friendly it didn’t take long to feel more at ease.

Bright and early Tuesday morning a car arrived to take me to ‘The Loft’ where the shoot was to take place. With a cup of tea in hand I was introduced to Nicky, the photographer and then straight into hair and make-up. If only I could have the same treatment everyday, they did a fantastic job. Halfway through my transformation a tall, blonde lady came in and took the seat next to me and it wasn’t until I did a double take that I realised it was Lisa Butcher!

In front of the camera I was very nervous to begin with but Lisa was lovely and helped me relax. The whole day was really interesting and brilliant fun. I will definitely be putting in an order for a quite a few items in the summer collection. It was an amazing experience and I can’t thank everyone at Long Tall Sally enough for an incredible couple of days in London, I didn’t want to come home!

Gemma Sturge- Customer model winner

The dynamic duo managed to retain their record, but they were pushed surprisingly close by Germany, with strong pairs to join the competition in Lucerne.

Other congrats go to GB women’s rowing squad and world championship silver medallists Helen Glover and Heather Stanning who got off to the perfect start on a hot day in Belgrade with a dominant gold in the women’s pair.

Well-done girls, bring on London this Summer!

For the British Rowing Team Dorney lake is a very different, far more serious place. It will be the venue for the Olympic Games Regatta this summer and in March it was the home of the Olympic trials.  This is a location where hopes could as easily be realised or crushed and for many the trials would mean the first or last step of their Olympic dream.

The important thing as far as Anna and I were concerned was to finish first and second – in some ways a tie would be ideal.  By being the fastest two people in the country we would earn the right to be selected for the British Women’s Double, a boat that we’ve been unbeaten in since we started racing together.  The order of the result was important only from a personal point of view, the bigger picture was always the joint result and whoever came first or second was irrelevant.

That is what has been important and special since we’ve worked together as a team.  Both of us care about each other and want each other to succeed – not only from the professional point of view that we are dependent on each other – but from a personal point of view we’ve encouraged, supported, helped and, when necessary, pushed each other to be the best we can be, in all different aspects, each step of the way.  The strength of this team is that together we are faster, stronger and better than we would be individually.  And that also means we get to have more fun!

(Oh, and as for those trials, we did come first and second and the reward is now we get to take on the rest of the world, together, as a united front).

Katherine