Bursary a 'huge help' with rower's travel costs

A Jersey rower said a £1,000 bursary has been "a huge help" in covering the costs of entering a national competition.

Ryanna Clifford has been given the money from the Jersey Clipper Bursary, which supports people to follow their nautical dreams.

The 21-year-old said she would use the money to pay for travel and entry costs to the British Coastal Championships in Whitby in July.

She said: "Trying to get from such a small place like Jersey, working your way up that competition ladder takes a lot of time and money."

Clifford said the travel costs for this single event was about £370.

She said of the bursary: "Having that support will make it much more realistic for me to pursue these opportunities and compete at a higher level."

After the British Coastal Championships – Clifford will focus on competing at the European Coastal Championships in Spain in September.

Clifford hopes to emulate the success of other Jersey coastal rowers at the championships.

She said: "There's Natasha Simpson and Chris Thompson who've represented Jersey at the world level before and my current goal would be to follow in their footsteps.

"I mean, there's the Olympics, which would be the great, great dream but at the moment, it's just trying to progress to the level of some of the other rowers at home."

Follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.