Durham Amateur Rowing Club

Rowing is a sport that very few schools can offer as part of their physical education curriculum. Consequently it is not a sport you are forced to have a go at, but one that you choose to try, perhaps having been tempted by watching crews on the river or by the glamour of television coverage such as the Olympics or University Boat Race. However, once smitten you will find it a very addictive sport.

Rowing is a sport that can be learnt at any age, with competitions taking this into account.  Most junior events start at age 14 with some starting from age 10. Veteran events are handicapped to encourage fair racing across the various age categories. With no official ceiling on age, many veterans are still competing into their seventies and beyond.

Rowing will take a little while to master and as you get more proficient you also become fitter. Rowing uses more major muscle groups than any other sporting activity. The primary effects are in the legs, back and arms and it can really help to tone your body. As all your weight is supported by the boat, there is no jarring of the joints and it is a very safe sport. When you become proficient you can expect to burn 500-600 calories per hour. You’d be hard pressed to find another sport that keeps your entire body fit. There is no impact on the joints, but there is both an endurance and strength building aspect to the stroke and a rowing workout. The common misconception about rowing is that it is pulling with your arms, shoulders and back. In actual fact, it is pushing with your legs — think of a fast squat — then a follow-through with the upper body. A rowing boat or shell has seats on tracks that allow a rower to increase the amount of leg drive, as well as long riggers that increase the mobility of the oars and thus the length of the stroke.

The club will provide you with the equipment and the instruction in order to start rowing. You will need to dress in clothes that will not restrict your movements (eg tracksuit).

As a beginner you will probably row once or twice a week and this may gradually increase. If you wish to row recreationally it doesn't matter how many times, but if you wish to compete in the national competition structure then three training sessions a week is a minimum.

Apart from the obvious health advantages of rowing, our rowing clubs and competitions are in varied often picturesque locations. Rowing offers a whole range of competitive and social activities. It is a sport for all ages with people rowing from 7 to 90.

Today’s rowing boats are made of lightweight carbon fibre. The smallest boat on the water is the single scull, which is only 27-30 feet long, a foot wide and weighs approximately 30 pounds. Eights are the largest boats at 60 feet and weigh in at a little over 200 pounds. Rowers use oars to propel their boats, of which there are two kinds, sweep oars which are a single oar used by one person as in an eight, and sculling oars used as a pair by one person as in a sculling boat. Sweep oars are longer than sculling oars. There are six basic boat configurations. For sweep rowers that hold one long oar in both hands, there are pairs (2s), fours (4s), and eights (8s), and for scullers that hold one oar in each hand, there are singles (1x), doubles (2x), and quads (4x). Sweep rowers may or may not have a coxswain in the bow or stern of their boat. 

The boats are steered either by the coxswain, or by the rower in the bow seat (in boats without a coxswain - called 'coxless' boats).  Cox's use a rudder to steer the boat, which they control using cables that are connected to it. To help keep the boat on course, all boats have a small fin in the stern.

Originally made of wood (some still are), rowing boats are now usually made with layers of carbon fibre, fibreglass and plastic. These boats are extremely lightweight and narrow, allowing the rowers to slice through the water. Each bow is covered by a bow ball - a small round piece of rubber that helps to protect people from serious injury if the boat collides with another.

Each rower has his back to the direction the boat is moving in and power is generated using a blended sequence of the rower's legs, back and arms. Rowers sit on a sliding seat that rolls on wheels along a fixed track called the slide. Feet are tied into shoes which are bolted onto footplates in the boat. Each oar is held in place by riggers, which extend from the saxboard. The rigger holds the gate in which the oar sits.

The gate is carefully set up so that the oar is held in the water with a specific amount of pitch or tilt. This is usually about 5 degrees at the midpoint of the stroke although it does not change through the stroke.

The crew are identified by their position in the boat. The athlete sitting in the bow, the part of the boat that crosses the finish line first, is the bow seat or No. 1 seat. The person in front of the bow is No. 2, then No. 3 and so on. The rower closest to the stern that crosses the finish line last is known as the stroke. The stroke of the boat must be a strong rower with excellent technique, as the stroke is the person who sets the rhythm of the boat for the rest of the rowers.

SPM not MPH. Rowers speak in terms of strokes per minute (SPM), literally the number of strokes the boat completes in a minute’s time. The stroke rate at the start is high – 38-45, and then 'settles' to a race rate typically in the 30s. Crews sprint to the finish, taking the rate up once again. Crews may call for a “Power 10” during the race – a demand for the crew’s most intense 10 strokes.

Teamwork is number one. The athlete trying to stand out in an eight will only make the boat go slower. The crew made up of individuals willing to sacrifice their personal goals for the team will be on the medal stand together. Winning team-mates successfully match their desire, talent and bladework with one another.

If you aren't sure about physically rowing but still wish to race or be part of a crew, then why not consider coxing, especially if you are of a slight build, we would like to hear from you.

To be a coxswain is a special trust, all that power ready to explode on your word, along with the responsibility of ensuring the safety of your crew and other water users.

To rowers, the boat feels at the start as if it takes forever to get up to speed, however in the cox's seat, it is instant, rather like being catapulted forward. On that first three-quarter stroke, when the starter says "Go", the oars explode into action, and the back of that cox's seat kicks you in the back. It is an exhilarating feeling. 

The most basic thing you have to do as a cox is steer the boat. Sadly this is all some coxes do, and seem to be expected to do by their crew and coaches – worse still, some coxes often do this one thing badly as well. Yes you must be able to steer a straight line in the wind on a race course, and a clever race line on a Head Race course, but as a cox you must be able to do much more than that. The cox is the only person who can co-ordinate, attacking plays, defensive action, and corrective techniques. You are the only person who can have a direct impact on the motivation of the crew and also the de-motivation of the crew. 

If you have one rule when you get into a boat, then that should be to make it go at least 1 length faster than it already was. This does not happen overnight and the higher the level of the crew the harder it will be, because the margin available for improvement is less than that of a more novice crew.

The rowing season is basically all year, unlike other sports, which can be either summer or winter sports. In rowing there are generally three cycles of competition which can overlap each other.

From September to April the ‘Head Races’ take place. These races can be held over any distance from 1,800 to 5,500 metres and are ‘processional’ races with crews setting off at predetermined gaps and being timed over the course.

April to September is the ‘Regatta’ season, whereby crews race side by side on either rivers or up to six lane courses over distances of between 750 and 2,000 metres.

There are also ‘Sprint’ races usually over 500 metres, and the other extreme, the ‘Boston Marathon’ which is approximately 32 miles long.

For information on our Learn to Row Courses follow this link: http://www.durham-arc.org.uk/explorerowing