Rowing Course Dates 2024

AR1: Novice Rowing Course (over 18 only) – 8 places (potentially more can be added), £70
(fee includes Fine Boat supplement for the season)
Sunday 19th May, 10:30am for 6 sessions

There will need to be some flexibility on time of day and the Sundays due to river conditions. You must be over 18, a good swimmer and a member of the Wargrave Boating Club for the 2024 season to participate in this course.

So you want to learn to row? Like the style of the Oxford and Cambridge crews ? How exciting that you have decided to give it a go.

Rowing is one of the few sports that is said to exercise every muscle in the body, it gives good cardio vascular benefits as well.

In well maintained boats you will enjoy a good 5 mile row on an interesting stretch of the River Thames.

A great group of enthusiastic members who meet up to twice a week for a friendly outing on the river, we welcome all new members from the Wargrave area over the age of 18.
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Rowing introduction & training for complete beginners takes place over 6 weeks.
Training is open to anyone over the age of 18 years, with no upper limit to age. If you have never sat in a racing boat before, have watched the boat race or the rowing Olympics and wondered what it is like to sit in a racing boat, now is your chance. Our course is open to both men and women and on club days our rowing outings are nearly always made up of mixed crews and a wide range of ages.
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The first day is just an introduction to rowing and the terms and terminology used. Moored to the bank and using a training oar which has no water resistance, you learn the basics of the rowing stroke.
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On the second and third week you have a 30 minute trip in a tub. This is a stable rowing boat which allows you to learn the rowing stroke for real and also the timing you need when with a crew.
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On the 4th & 5th week you experience your first outing in a racing boat which is called a restricted boat. These are the most stable racing boats designed for the novice rowing crew, most rowers won their first cup in these boats at regattas up and down the country.

On the sixth week you step out of the family car of rowing boats and into the Ferrari, a racing shell eight!
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In this, you will feel the real power of a racing eight similar to those seen in the Boat Race.
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Don’t worry, you will be in a boat with rowers with years of experience for an exhilarating row down to Marsh Lock and back.
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Then, the course is over and we hope you join the rowing group who meet every Thursday and Sunday.
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Again, don’t worry if it all seems a bit much at this stage, we all learnt somewhere, by joining in with experienced crews and you will soon find it all becomes second nature. You never stop learning, the cox sees to that, even our most experienced members are told where they are going wrong on every trip, it’s all part of rowing. Beware though, once you have the rowing bug, it never leaves you and what better exercise, as they say, rowers do it sitting down. Who knows, you might even enter a regatta later in the year.
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A training date will be agreed once we know who is joining us and the best time for training to take place.
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The first training session is normally in early May and then the following six weeks.
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One thing that doesn’t happen, we don’t row in the rain, so the date may move depending on the weather.