IT is nothing short of the top 10 for a BRNC rower who picked up seventh in the Indoor Rowing World Championships.

Leading Physical Training Instructor at Dartmouth's BRNC, Ollie Osborne, has just returned from the 2014 championships in Boston, USA, having secured seventh place in the men's heavyweight 30-39 category.

LPT Osborne came in the top 10 for the competition in a field of over 60 athletes made up of Olympic rowers, the former world champion, the current European champion, national champions and various national record holderss.

He encountered a tough race over a two kilometre course in difficult conditions and sat outside the top 10 for the majority of the race before squeezing in to secure seventh place in a time of 6.09.1.

The 33-year-old said: 'For me it was all about getting to the start line in the best physical and mental shape possible.

'I have ambition to be a contender in the next two to three years, but for now I knew I was up against some seriously fast athletes and wanted to be able to boast that I held my own.

'At 6'2 I sat among the top seeds feeling rather small – the others' height ranged between 6'4 and 6'7, but I knew I had to row my own race and not be fazed by the others.

'A well-paced row holding a 1.33 split for the initial 1,500 metres put me on the edge but I managed a last 500 metres covering it third quickest of the entire field in sub 1.29, which pushed me into a decent finishing position.'

Since returning from the same event in 2013, LPT Osborne has undergone 51 weeks of intense training and has notched up an impressive medal tally and personal bests along the way.  

'I have been in the sport for around three years now and this year was my most intense in terms of training volume and intensity.

'I was typically training seven to 10 times a week, notching up distances typically of 100 to 130 kilometres a week on the indoor rowing machine. It's pretty dull, but the aerobic foundation is required as the basis for this power endurance sport.'

LPT Osborne battled injuries and illness along the way which added to the pressure of working full time delivering the PT element of the 30-week initial naval training course for officer cadets, and the pressures of family life being a father and husband.

He said: 'Finding the right work, home life, training balance has been the biggest challenge. Often I would have to sacrifice going home so that I could get the training done after working hours or be up really early to crack on with a standard 18 kilometre distance row, for example.

'My family have been ultra supportive and understand my goals and ambitions in this sport.'

LPT Osborne joined the service in 2005, firstly as a Royal Marine, before transferring to the Royal Navy two years ago. He was a member of the British Olympic sailing team from 1998 to 2002 and is now preparing for an assault on the 2015 indoor rowing competition.

 'It has been a remarkable season but I am far from started in terms of where my ambition lays. I am lucky enough to be supported through BRNC, in particular I'd like to pay a huge thank you to the Welfare fund who have supported me in the past two years, and through the RN in pursuit of my goals.

'Without them I know I wouldn't be able to compete at this level. As for now, 51 training weeks until 2015 World Championships.'

Anyone interested in following LPT Osborne's training can log on to his training blog at http://ollie.q-power.co/">http://ollie.q-power.co/.