Novice rowers

On Saturday 12 November 10 very excited and enthusiastic girls (and their equally keen parents) from Year 8 to Year 10 arrived at City of Cambridge Rowing Club (CCRC) for their first taste of being ‘boaties’. It could not have been a worse day weather wise, but the girls were sensibly wearing plenty of layers and not one of them complained or changed their mind about wanting to try rowing. Alister Taylor (Junior Head Coach for this new initiative, which sees the girls joining CCRC as Junior Members) and Miss Julie Hogg (our Head of Development and Fundraising and rowing enthusiast) introduced themselves to the girls in the warmth of the Club Room.

Alister is former Head of Rowing at Shelford Girls’ Grammar School in Melbourne, Australia, and a coach at the world famous Tideway Scullers School in Chiswick, London. He is an international standard oarsman himself having been an Australian National Champion, a Henley Royal Regatta winner in 2010 and, earlier this year, crew captain and member of Goldie, the Cambridge University reserve boat. Miss Hogg, outside of work, is a rowing coach and cox. She learned to row and cox at Homerton College and then King’s College, here in Cambridge, during her studies. Miss Hogg went on to cox for Scotland in 1996 and compete at Henley Royal Regatta and National Championships for many years as a member of London Rowing Club and Tideway Scullers School. She also steered two Veteran University Boat Races for Cambridge and represented England at the Home International in 2010 (winning gold). For the past few years Miss Hogg has coxed at CCRC and coached Homerton and King’s College Boat Clubs.  

The morning started with showing the girls the basics on four rowing machines, known as Ergos. These machines, with which most rowers have a love-hate relationship, are a standard piece of equipment in rowing clubs and gyms all over the world and they provide an excellent way of teaching the basic techniques of rowing in a stable and stationary environment. They are also the main focus of land training as they help increase strength, build endurance, and are the standard way of measuring performance, via 2km, 5km and 10km tests. Alister walked the girls through the basics and then coached them to row together, before heading down to the boat shed where the girls were able to try to row together. Going through the motions the girls soon got the hang of it, and then it was time to take out our new school boat – the Maureen Greenwood. The Sixth Form rowers have already been using the new boat (as a coxed four) and are thoroughly enjoying the new equipment. Under 16s must learn to row using two oars each, for physiological reasons, and so it was one of the requirements of the new boat that it could be used both as a four (one oar each), and a quad (with two oars each). The boat was re-rigged as a quad for the younger girls to use.

The girls carefully took the boat out and onto the trestles as if they had been doing it for years, and were shown where to get into the boat to ensure they didn’t break it, how to put in the oars (blades), and Miss Hogg taught them all about the rudder and the steering side of things as well as how to use the cox-box, which is the voice amplification system, and the timer, which the cox uses to coach and motivate their crew in coxed boats.

After a break of hot chocolate and millionaire’s shortbread to warm up it was time to get on the water. The girls did an absolutely perfect manoeuvre to get the boat onto the water, and Miss Hogg showed them how to get into the boat whilst holding on to both oars and, one by one, four girls got in to row and one to cox, with the remaining five watching from the bank. Alister tied rope to one end of the boat to ensure the girls could be pulled back in if necessary and they then pushed off from the bank. The second group to row was equally excited, and the smiles on all the girls’ faces, as well as the looks of concentration as they learned what to do, were fantastic.

At the end of the session there were 10 girls all bubbling over with enthusiasm, and as more hot chocolate was consumed and members of the Club returned from their outings on the water, the girls got to meet some of the men and women who row for the Club.

We have a second group of 10 girls starting tomorrow (Saturday 19 November) and the two groups will alternate each week until Christmas. After Christmas we will be welcoming a further group of 20 girls, as we will have additional coaches and equipment to use by then. There are currently 15 girls on this list and we have room for five more, so if there are any students in Year 8 or above who would like to participate, please do let Miss Hogg know – jhogg@stmaryscambridge.co.uk.