Rowing the Distance at Camp
This year’s J15-18 rowing camp, held at Marlow, Buckinghamshire, offered a 6km stretch of river which enabled Senior boys to row around 26-28km a day and younger athletes about 10-15km.
For our J15 boys and girls, the theme of the camp was skill development focusing on small boat work. The younger athletes also spent a morning at Dorney Lake (venue for the rowing at London 2012) to experience ‘big lake’ rowing.
For the older athletes the key aim of the camp was to select four boys to form the crew that will aim for Henley Royal Regatta in July. With eight boys competing for four seats, the competition was extremely tough. Every boy fought to the line for a precious place in the boat, with the added incentive that those who made the cut were allowed to row in the maiden voyage of the brand new coxless quad – delivered to us while we were on Camp. The crew, announced on the final morning of the camp, is Harry Gemmill, Alistair Pryke, Alex Thorburn and Joe Essery….but there is still a long way to go to Henley!
Food is of vital importance – young rowers doing the mileage we were doing need about 4,000-5,000 calories a day. The food (all freshly prepared and homemade) was superb – homemade pizza and chips were particularly popular with the rowers.
My thanks go to our coaches Mrs Alison Foister, Mrs Lotte Sturgess and our German language assistant and rowing coach Joerg Waidelich. We enjoyed coaching this dedicated group of rowers and are already planning next year’s venture.
Jane Sullivan
Head of Rowing
