The One with Francis Highton

To say that Francis Highton has sport in his genes would be an understatement.

A national-level swimmer as a teenager, he switched to rowing as a way to help with his conditioning – and promptly fell in love with it.

And it wasn’t just adoration for rowing that Francis found, but an aptitude as well – because his career on the water saw him compete for Britain on the international stage on a number of occasions, and become a former two-time Henley finalist.

Francis stepped away from rowing at a competitive level due to injury, but that hasn’t driven him away from the boat entirely – and with a charity expedition down the Zambezi already under his belt, and one coming up in Mozambique this summer, the sport is still very much in his blood.

So, when Francis dropped us a message, saying he’d love to come on to talk about his experiences – including why he didn’t feel comfortable coming out until after he’d left full-time sport, we were always going to say yes.

And this is a brilliant conversation about Francis and his experiences in rowing – making the national team, what rowing gave him socially, his journey with his sexuality, coming out, these mammoth rowing expeditions, how you navigate around hippos – it’s all in this conversation!

WANT TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR GUEST?
@franco.hight on Instagram

WANT TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THE PODCAST?
@jack_murley
jack@jackmurley.com

SUPPORT FRANCIS AND HIS CHARITY ROW:
www.rowzambique.com