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Rowing across the Indian Ocean, singlehanded

Ex-pupil of Burgoyne School in Potton,Simon Prior goes back to inspire young people to take up rowing, as he plans a single-handed rowing trip across the Indian Ocean in aid of charity.

See the interview online at

Oar-some display as fundraising rowers break UK record

JUNIORS at the Royal Chester Rowing Club are celebrating another wave of success after setting a new UK indoor record at the city's Mall shopping centre.

The young rowers, who are all aged 12-16, took part in the 24-hour fundraiser to help increase rowing opportunities for the region's children, as well as raising new equipment for the club. Organised by junior boys captain Calum McGuicken, the 26 young rowers battled against time to clock up a distance of 345.8 kilometres (214 miles), setting a new UK benchmark distance for their age range.Speaking about the new record, Calum, from Chester, said: "The challenge was for our junior rowers to try and set a new indoor rowing record for their age range on Concept 2 rowing machines.

"With carefully organised shifts of rowing, eating and sleeping, the junior members managed to set a new indoor rowing record, beating one set by 18 to19-year-old rowers at a rowing club in Bedford and setting a new record for their age range.

"We are delighted with the result and would like to thank the generosity of the Mall Chester in letting us use their facilities, along with the overwhelming support from the public and other stores in the Mall such as Millie's Cookies and Barefruit Juice, who kindly donated refreshments."
They raised from the challenge will be put back into the club to help raise awareness of the sport locally and we would like to thank Concept 2, who kindly loaned four Ergo rowing machines for us to use for the competition."

Julie Williams, marketing manager at the Mall Chester, added: "The Mall management team would like to congratulate the Royal Chester Rowing Club juniors on achieving their new record.

"The event not only provided an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of a respected local rowing club, but gave a chance for Chester shoppers and children to learn about the skills of rowing and the excellent sporting opportunities that exist in their city."

If you are a beginner and would like to find out more information about joining the Royal Chester Rowing Club e-mail: ian@rcrc.org.uk for a taster session or call Ian on 07803 000056.

Pair prepare for charity row race

Ben Steadman and Mark Davis

A Redditch prison officer will be taking no prisoners after challenging inmates of Swinfen Hall, Staffordshire, to an indoor rowing race.

Along with friend Ben Steadmen, Mark Davis, 33, a fitness instructor at HMP Blakenhurst, will take on two teams of inmates using indoor rowing machines over a distance of 100,000 metres.The event is part of a gruelling training regime for the 2009 Indian Ocean Rowing Race, which the pair are doing in aid of Macmillan Cancer Research.The race will see them set out from Australia in April 2009 and row to Mauritius, a journey of 3,100 miles which is expected to take between 60 and 100 days.

Mark said: "We've had a lot of support from the prison service and colleagues and prisoners at Swinfen Hall.
"We're looking forward to the event and it's great that it's raising money for our chosen charity, Macmillan."
Speaking about the 2009 race he added:
"Sea sickness aside, I can't wait. I'm looking forward to it. The preparation will be hard, but I'm fully prepared for the long haul. We'll have to commit ourselves 100 per cent in the early part of the adventure to ensure we reach the start line fully prepared and then 200 per cent to achieve what we know we're capable of."

For more details or to sponsor Mark and Ben, visit www.bigboysrow.com

Kent Adaptive Rowing project gets off to a flying start

On Monday 17th March 2008, Kings School Canterbury hosted an indoor rowing session for 32 young people with a range of disabilities from schools from across Kent.

The project was led by Alistair McKean, Paralympian and 2007 World Silver Medallist, and Paul Panton from the Kent Sports Development Unit - Kent County Council. The aim for the session was to provide an introduction to the sport and a taster of technique and competition.

Using adaptive seats and 'active hands' gloves all the young people, who had a range of physical and learning disabilities, had a chance to have some coaching in the first hour of the day, followed by team racing.

The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Canterbury and KCC Member Geoff Curwood spoke, emphasising how the day had demonstrated that rowing really is for all and how exciting the next steps of project will be. Alistair McKean from Herne Bay Rowing Club and James Morgan from Deal Rowing Club are both training for the Beijing Paralympic Games with GB Rowing and are fantastic role models for young people in Kent.

The development of the Adaptive rowing project will allow these and many other children to experience both indoor and outdoor rowing in suitable environments local to them.

Thank you to the Kings School Canterbury for hosting the day, the Kent Sports Development Unit - Kent County Council, particularly Mike Bishop, Paul Panton and Karen Bird, Dover Rowing Club, Alistair McKean, Emily Heath, Jacqui Close, the Amateur Rowing Association's National Adaptive Development Officer, and Ben Addison from Concept 2. Finally, a big thank you to all the participants for taking part with so much enthusiasm.

Alistair McKean of the British LTA Four Rowing Team instructs a youngster

Alistair McKean of the British LTA Four Rowing Team instructs a youngster

Paralympic rower Alastair McKean helped introduce the sport of adaptive rowing to a new audience.

Thirty-six young people from special schools across the county took the opportunity to have a go at the sport, which challenges barriers to participation in sport for people with disabilities.

Youngsters with disabilites ranging from cerebral palsy to visual impairment each received specialist coaching from a team of instructors on the specially adapted indoor rowing machines at the King’s School Recreation Centre, Canterbury. After getting comfortable with the equipment, they finished the day off with a team time trial event.Mr McKean, who lives in Canterbury, said: “The equipment is designed to cater for the needs of various individuals depending on their disability.“We’ve tried to make each one of our 16 machines adapted to an individual child, so he or she can feel like they’ve achieved.”
The event was organised by the Kent Outdoor Pursuits Disability Project, with funding from Sport England and the support of Canterbury City Council.Instructor Paul Panton, from the Kent Sports Development Unit, believes events like these are a stepping stone.“It’s hoped the young people here will be able to go forward in their school and develop these activities for themselves,” he said.

Mr McKean, who suffered serious injuries to his right arm in a motorcycle accident, is a member of the Great Britain adaptive rowing team and is busy training for the Beijing Paralympics later this year.

Boat Race Crews Meet Possible Future Blues

London Youth Rowing (LYR) proved that the saying ‘bigger and better’ is true this week when almost 1100 young people took part in the second ever National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships, (NJIRC) on the 5th March at the Battersea Evolution Site, Battersea Park, London. The event was the brainchild of LYR, who have worked with an unbeatable team that saw The Boat Race, and Concept 2 add their support to many volunteers and supporters to stage this exciting and well-attended event.
With The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race taking place at the end of the month, the aim of the event was to give young people aged between 11 – 18 from across the country the opportunity to compete over the same distance as the elite athletes taking place in the race in itself, and to broaden the appeal of the Boat Race to a wider audience that would not normally be involved with the race. This was certainly achieved, as well as the individual races and team events the NJIRC also played host to The Boat Race Crew Announcement too. Mid way through the day they were able to introduce the two University Presidents who in turn introduced their crews to the worlds press and TV crews that were there too to see who will be in the actual Boat Race for the first time.
They then stayed and met many of the competitors and could be seen cheering on some of them in their races later. It was a great thrill for them to be able to meet and ask The Boat Race Crews questions and possibly get indoor racing techniques as the C2 Indoor Rower plays a big part in the training of Boat Race Crews.

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