Full speed ahead
What a strong team! This thought does not only come to mind when you face Tom Tewes, 19, and Kaspar Virnekäs, 18, for the first time. The two sportsmen also proved it at the Junior World Rowing Championships in Tokyo in August 2019. For the SeeMagazin Jan Greune photographed the two athletes during training at Lake Starnberg.
It is striking that two young Bavarians are among the best rowers in the country – after all, this sport is typical for the north. The athletes discovered their passion for rowing at school, or more precisely at the Gautinger Gymnasium. For the project days in the 7th grade, they choose to row more out of self-interest than interest:
"It sounded cool. Besides, the rowers had one more project day and thus one day less school."
Kaspar Virnekäs
The friends like it and continue their training in the elective course for rowing from the 10th grade on. In summer of 2015, their student rowing membership of the Munich Rowing Club von 1880 e. V. (MRC) finally becomes a real one. Now they are sitting in a rowing boat at least five times a week. The school didn't cause them much trouble, but they still spend a lot of their free time on sports, leaving little time for other hobbies.
"To be able to give everything, I think it's important to set high goals for yourself – even if you may not always reach them to the fullest."
Tom Tewes
"We were really lucky to have found each other and a suitable trainer too," know both of them. Armin Hörtreiter has been coaching Tewes and Virnekäs since they joined the club. He prepares the young athletes for competitions with experience and humour. An important point, because only if the training also is fun, "it work's". The fact that they live close together – Tewes in Stockdorf and Virnekäs in Gauting – is certainly an advantage.
The complete story about the two young athletes can be found in the latest issue of the SeeMagazin (only in German).
We love the Fünfseenland in the south of Bavaria. That is why we collect the uniqueness of the region in beautiful pictures and stories once a year in our SeeMagazin. We meet interesting people who are enthusiastic and make their passion their profession. The motto of the 2020 issue: "People, missions, masterpieces" – because it is not only the nature, but also the people, who make the Fünfseenland special.
