It is always great to hear from our Sporting Agenda sponsored clubs and athletes, and we recently received an update from the Thames Scullers; a rowing club for juniors and adults.
Kate and her team mates did brilliantly in their latest competition and we wish them all the best for their upcoming races!
"My name is Kate. On the 18th January I raced in the annual Northampton Head of the Nene Rowing Race. It was only my second time sweeping (one blade rather than two, which is sculling) on the water in a coxed four, I was very nervous along with most of the other 25 members of my club that were racing. The race was 1500m and normally lasts about 7 and a half to 8 minutes, our specific time was 7.24 minutes, but what I do know is that we won the gold medal!
I row for Thames Scullers with 34 other junior members, everyone at the club is so kind and caring, we make a great team. We row on a 5km stretch of the Thames, from Whitchurch to Hardwick House. When we aren’t on the water, we train on rowing machines, doing circuits and weight training.
When we got to Northampton yesterday, we had to unload the boats from the trailer and put on the riggers, it is quite hard to do when your fingers are freezing and you’re fiddling with tiny bolts, it was only 1 degree yesterday. Then when it was time, our crew had to carry our very heavy boat down the very steep steps onto the landing stage. We carefully put the boat on the water, attached our blades, feeling more pressured by the people rushing us. As quickly as we could and without falling in to the freezing water, the five of us climbed in, we were ready. Our coach pushed us off with some final words of advice and encouragement.
We followed the river up to the start were we waited with marshals in safety boats for about 30 minutes until all the boats and crews for our division were ready to start. There were 47 other boats of various sizes and age groups. Did I mention that I was also racing up a year? As a J15 I was racing against J16s.
Finally it was time to race! I could see each boat setting off in turn with about 20 seconds in between. Then it was our turn. Our cox got us into position and got us ready, we started slow but sped up to race pace. We were off. I felt strong, but knew that it wouldn’t last long, we were in perfect rhythm, each blade entering and exiting the water at the exact same time.
All you can hear is the slide of the seats, the water rushing past and the words of encouragement from our cox, telling us that we are “ A quarter done…half way… three quarters” I was losing my strength, getting continuously splashed by the water made the handle hard to grip onto. It felt like an eternity during the race but finally the finish was in range, although the four of us rowing couldn’t see it.
We crossed the line and heard the beep that meant we were done, I was so tired, my cold muscles had tightened so much that I couldn’t move them a lot. We waited on the river a bit longer and were let back onto stable ground. We still had to carry the even more heavy feeling boat back up the stairs though. We got our reward snacks and de-rigged all the boats and congratulated the other members in our club in our division and got a photo for the parents.
It was an amazing day! We all enjoyed racing, representing our club and being there all together, supporting each other. We are definitely looking forward to our next race!!"
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