Race nights - a new winter challenge

Race nights at Tremough University

Tremough University Campus in Penryn, Cornwall are hosting a series of winter race nights on the last Thursday of each month.
During these nights the staff will help you complete the concept 2 challenge series and log results, representing your club or Tremough Sports Centre.

The first one is Thursday 27th September and the challenge is 4 minutes, just turn up between 7-9pm.
The race night is free if you are a member of the sports centre, if not you can pay £5 and this will give you access to the gym all evening.

Its a chance to set yourself a new challenge!

Full details can be found on the PDF poster
PDF poster - information

For more information on indoor rowing visit British Rowing or concept 2

A soggy end to the week....

Falmouth Mens A gig crew

Now the gig racing season is over for me, I am enjoying some sessions down at Plymouth ARC and have been out in some coxed fours this past week. I'm taking the opportunity to get out and attempt to master this form of rowing this winter. Plymouth have experienced a bit of a rush post Olympics, so it's great to see so many new rowers wanting to get out on the water. This Sunday the weather forced the club to cancel, and those who attended the gig champs at newquay spent the day in waterproofs, I think the summer is well and truly over :-(

Participation

With Universities hosting their freshers fairs over the next few weeks, Exeter and Plymouth boat clubs are hoping for a high interest following the Olympics this summer. Exeter reported 200 freshers signing up, including about 120 new novices. This great for participation at University level. I have also been working with Plymouth Uni on structuring some learn to row sessions with their new freshers, working with Sallie Malt.

I am also constantly looking for new clubs / centres who may like to run Sportivate projects, teaching 14-25 year olds how to row. Follow this link for more info on Sportivate  At the moment I have interest from gig clubs, the UK surf rowing league and the Universities.

Coach education

The Fowey level 2 is now full, with a waiting list. There are also some workshops available including 1st aid and safeguarding, see the COACH EDUCATION page for more detail.

Mens County Gig Championships

I attended the county gig champs at the weekend, coxing Caradon C crew. In this crew there were 2 juniors who were competing in their first mens championships. Its great to see that the development squad project ran by Caradon Gig club is working! The crew finished 31st out of 78. I took some shots from the spectator boat in the final while cheering on my other half who rows in Caradon mens A who finished 3rd. I have wrote a report on the British Rowing homepage: Gig report . A huge well done to all clubs taking part especially Falmouth, who celebrated 'doing the double' once again having won both the mens and ladies world and county championships this year.  Helen Glover attended the competition and dished out the medals to the top 6 crews.

Caradon and Mounts Bay men in the final

What an end to the 2012 season.....

What a week!

This past week has been a great one for the West Region.

On Sat & Sun 8th/9th September two major championships took place. The Newquay Ladies gig championships, and the South Coast Championships. Congratulations to all crews who took part in both events.

• Check out the WEARA page for a report on the south coast champs.  
• Well done to Falmouth Ladies, gig champions once again Gig report on BR website

Cornish Rowing Challenge

On Weds the 12th September, no less than 11 GB rowers came down to Cornwall to take on the top lady gig rowers in the Cornish Rowing Challenge! The event, dreamed up by Annie Vernon Annies Bio saw 3 races take place in picturesque St. Mawes. The event was a result of a huge amount of teamwork and I'm not going to attempt to name all parties involved for fear of forgetting one! The event was hosted by Roseland gig club, headed up by Millie and Norma Edwards. I was there on the quay running a 500m ergo challenge and promoting rowing in the West Region. Over 65 people took part in the erg race, with the top 6 adults and top 6 juniors taking on GB at the end of the night in a 2012m relay.

Katherine Grainger takes on the ergo

The night was fantastic - rowers coming together to celebrate the sport, and also capture a little bit of London 2012. Team GB took on the gigs in race one - in coastal fours supplied by Greenbank Falmouth - needless to say, Team GB won (1-0!). The 2nd race saw GB take to the gigs, to take on another 9 gig crews.....Falmouth gig rowers came out on top! (1-1!). The final race of the day saw GB rowers jump in gigs, with one Olympian in with 5 gig rowers....names in a hat....carnage! Katherine Grainger secured her 2nd gold medal of the year as she crossed the line in the winning crew.

The event had loads of excellent press, check out the links below for a few! Proceeds from the spectator boat and bucket collections went to Shelter Box, Annie is an ambassador for this Cornish Charity.

Cornish Challenge on the one show
Write up on 'this is Cornwall'
Some amazing pics from Shelter box

In other news.......

The next Level 2 coaching course is FULL with a waiting list! It's great to see so many keen new coaches wanting to get qualified.

I took to the water on Sunday evening with the Seniors at Plymouth ARC - I'm aiming to get out and take on some sliding seat rowing this winter now the gig season is over. After the first session my hamstrings are screaming!!

Cornish Rowing Challenge

I had a great meeting last night with Annie Vernon and a whole host of partners involved in running the Cornish Rowing Challenge. Please have a look at the information below for details of the event. It's a great opportunity to promote rowing in the West Region, so I'm very excited about being able to be a part of it. I am planning to run ergo challenges throughout the evening on the quay, supported by some young leaders. I am hoping to have a board with information on how you can get into rowing in the region. Asides from all this, it's going to be a great evening with some friendly banter between the gig rowers and sliding seat rowers!

This event, organised by Cornish Olympian Annie Vernon will see 11 GB athletes including Helen Glover, Heather Stanning, Katherine Grainger & Sophie Hosking compete in three races, taking on gig rowers from Cornwall.

 

4pm – Rowers arrive

5pm – Coxswains meeting & briefing

6pm – Race one: GB rowers in coastal boats (provided by Greenbank Falmouth) vs Gigs

6.45pm – GB rowers in 2 x gig Vs Falmouth, Flushing & Roseland gig clubs + 5 gigs (names in a hat)

7.30pm – Mix up race, 10 gigs with mixture of GB and gig rowers – names in a hat

There will be ergo racing throughout the evening

There will be a bar at the rising sun pub following the racing

 

This event is all about bringing people together to celebrate London 2012, rowing in the South West  & the best of Cornwall

 

All are welcome

 

If you are a gig rower and would like to race you can put your name forward to race or if you would like to volunteer on the night please send an email to Norma Edwards normaedwards@btconnect.com

 

Seasalt Cornwall are hosting the website with all information on: http://www.seasaltcornwall.co.uk/customer/pages/gig_rowers/cornishrowingchallenge

 CLICK HERE for the seasalt page

Follow the action on Twitter:

Annie Vernon: @Prideofcornwall

Rhiannon Halliday: @RowWestRegion

Gig Rower: @_gigrower

Seasalt: @seasaltclothing