GOLD STANDARD

When you’ve already conquered the world, where do you look for your next challenge? For two-time Olympic gold medallist rower Eric Murray, the answer was in the area of home renovation. It’s not quite in the same league as elite sport, but as any DIY renovator will tell you, it can be just as all-consuming.

Prompted by a “change in circumstances”, as he puts it, Eric started looking for a project that would secure the future for himself and his son Zac, as well as giving him something to focus his considerable energies on.

Project found

The three-bedroom 1950s red brick Cambridge home he settled on was, has a more colourful way of describing the state of the house when he first bought it, but it comes down to this: “It was an old rental, cold, with the original sash windows and plain crappy wallpaper on the walls.”