As we rapidly approach this year’s National Schools’ Regatta, I find myself thinking back to last year’s event. I had the amazing opportunity to commentate, which was eye opening and incredibly valuable. After the weekend, I wrote a piece on my experience, but for numerous reasons I never finished it. However, I have decided that now is the time. The following article was written in June 2023, and minimal edits have been made since in order to preserve the authenticity and initial feeling behind it.
As an introverted and self-contained seventeen year old from an all-girls’ school and small rowing club along the River Avon, I often find myself surprised at my decision to commentate at the National Schools’ Regatta. When I heard about an opportunity for a commentary training course with World Rowing commentators, Robert Treharne Jones and Peter O’Hanlon, I knew that it was a chance that I would be foolish to give up. However, the thought of being the person that over a thousand people around the world turn to while their child, grandchild, or friend is winning the Championship 8+ at a national competition was terrifying.
While I knew how important NSR is in the junior rowing calendar, I was not aware of how many people benefit from it, and the role which it plays in creating and maintaining a bridge over the inequalities in rowing. This unawareness is something that I would like to address. Over the weekend, I met countless people who were dedicated to the success of the event and the rowers who compete. However, many key figures involved in NSR come from a rowing background which is significantly more privileged than many of the juniors who compete at the event. Initially, this seemed like something which took away the sense of unity that the competition provides.
However, after much thought, I came to the opinion that while there is a clear divide in the rowing community, the welcoming and friendly nature of these people is, in fact, what makes NSR so balanced and accessible; not to mention successful.
Firstly, I would like to dispel a popular myth which often circulates the rowing community, especially between parents. NSR is primarily a charity; an opportunity for young people to row on the glorious multi-lane course which Eton Dorney has to offer. Leading up to the weekend, I was aware of many conversations condemning the event for the price of the parking, the entry fee, and the cost of food and drinks, as it was presumed that the profit went straight into the pockets of those running the regatta. However, the cost of this event for competitors goes to funding the necessities of this event – not to paying the people who work endlessly to make the weekend run smoothly. Having spoken to a few members of the Committee, I have since realised that this cost in fact goes towards running the toilets, renting the lake for the weekend, first aid, and all other dull but vital parts of the event, not to mention the live streaming.
In addition to this, as part of its role as a charity, the regatta offers fee waivers or subsidised travel to clubs and schools who struggle to raise the funds, which provides so many more young people with the opportunity to race at such an esteemed event. Every single person who works at the event is a volunteer, including umpires, marshals, and commentators. As a rower from a small club who funds new boats by selling homemade cakes at our regattas, it often feels as though there is a sense of disconnect between small, self-funded clubs and large rowing-orientated schools, and this becomes all the more clear at events as large as NSR. However, our races are just a small scale of how NSR is run. People call up their school friends, crewmates, or someone they met at a previous race, and thus the team of volunteers is formed.
However, as with everything, there is only so far which a group of friends can take an event so large as NSR. While all volunteers sacrifice countless hours to seeing the weekend run smoothly, there is often a sense of separation between them and the competitors. A lot of junior rowers see umpiring as an old person’s game, something that they will leave to those who have been doing it since before most of the competitors were born, when in reality, these juniors are what the event (and all other events) needs. As most rowers know, the crosswind at Eton Dorney is formidable, especially so for the cox of a J14 octuple who is trying to get attached to the stakeboats half way down the lake. The increasingly frustrated calls of umpires coming at them from all directions adds to their panic, and the process of getting attached takes even longer. There was discussion along the banks condemning coaches for not bringing their crews up to Dorney while the lake was open the day before to practice getting attached, as this would have meant the races would have stayed on time. In reality, it is really not that simple. Most young rowers were at school that day, or too far away to travel just for a practice, or could not afford to travel to the lake and back twice; once to train, and once for the race. Another solution was that crews could practice getting attached on their own stretch of water, which I’m sure was attempted, but a lot of clubs do not have stakeboats or even a river wide enough for more than two or three boats at one time.
This divide between crews is scarcely acknowledged by volunteers of the event, who forget the pressure put on a young person representing not only themselves, but their coaches and clubs too. Moreover, this is merely one example of the pronounced disparity in rowing. Here, there is a full circle of unawareness, as the more privileged are unaware of the difficulties other rowers manage. If all umpires, marshals, and coaches come from prestigious rowing clubs or schools – and those who do not struggle to find representation – who is there for the less privileged rowers, the aspiring volunteers for events like NSR, the future generations of our sport, to look up to?
After a long weekend at Dorney Lake, I came home with many questions which I am still deliberating the answers to as I write this. Is NSR a wonderful charity which provides an opportunity for young people to race on the amazing multi-lane Olympic course, with volunteers who work hard and give up their free time to make it run smoothly? Is it just a stage for the old boys to call up their friends and relive their rowing days? Having come into commentating relatively naively, I was shocked by the contrast between the two ends of the sport.
The most simple way to demonstrate this is by looking along the bank to see who has a marquee and who does not. Rowing is one of the only sports which has such a stark imbalance. However, it is admirable that the organisers of NSR are able to rely on old friends and run such a large and successful event purely with dedicated volunteers. Everyone I met was welcoming and the weekend was an incredible opportunity which I highly recommend to anyone interested in journalism or commentary. Although NSR is definitely a mix of the two ends of rowing, I believe it strives to bridge this gap and bring juniors together to celebrate their sport, which is something that all events should aim to do.
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