Surrey World Book Day event goes ahead after rower delayed

A World Book Day event in Surrey has finally gone ahead after it was delayed – by a storm in the Caribbean.

Olympic gold medal-winning rower Rory Gibbs, from Cobham, was due to speak about his new series of children’s books at Goldsworth Primary in Woking on Saturday.

He had to postpone after the cruise liner he was on for a speaking tour was unable to dock in Bermuda because of a storm, making him miss his flight home, and return to the UK by sea.

He told BBC Radio Surrey the cruise was “good fun, although I can’t say the last week has been too much fun travelling across the North Atlantic Ocean.”

Mr Gibbs has just announced his retirement from competitive rowing at the age of 30 and is setting off on a new career as a children’s author.

He has produced a series of novels called Lumo’s Dream Team, which he said is one of his “passion projects”.

He said: “It’s set on a fantastical planet where a bunch of school friends get special abilities and powers.

“The catch is they’re just kids, so they don’t yet have the values or the soft skills to apply them, like teamwork, leadership, confidence, respect, kindness.

“It all stems from my experience in sport. You don’t have to start out as the fastest and the strongest.”