Years of rumours and speculation preceded the decision to replace lightweight events with coastal rowing at the Olympic Games. While many believed Paris would see the addition of this discipline, it was confirmed that Los Angeles would be the host for the first edition of the Olympic beach sprints finals.
This growing sport has been met with a mixed reception. Many are wary that it is a new style of rowing and believe it hasn’t met the status worthy of being an Olympic class event. But despite this, coastal rowing has been around for a very long time, even predating the modern Olympics itself.
There is a healthy halfway between the rowing we all love and the rowing we’re all getting to know. Coastal rowing has been a discipline that many athletes who aren’t surrounded by long rivers or gorgeous lakes have grown up doing. With a huge pool to play with, and generally a quiet area with no houseboats to dodge or trees to avoid, it makes for easy training and peaceful sessions.
Here in the UK, I have grown up on the coast. This style of rowing has us in both sweep and sculling events, over the traditional 2000m race course. With boats more representative of what a swift boat may look like, the only real differences are it being a bit shorter, a bit wider and considerably heavier!
Make no mistake, it’s still coastal rowing. You can’t avoid the waves and outside of the annual South Coast Championships, there are one or two turns. The difference in conditions changes so much, leading to different races won by different people. It’s thrilling to watch, tough to cox, and so high-paced to row in. Those who transition from the sea to the river often find themselves coming back regularly for the enjoyment of what it can offer, and trying to take people with them to try it.
I recently caught up with Matt Aldridge at the South Coast Championships in Southampton. The Olympic bronze medallist had first learnt to row at Christ Church Rowing Club, a coastal club in the south west of England. We talked about rowing on the coast and what it brought us when we went on to row at Oxford Brookes, and for him with GB. One thing we talked about was how different yet similar it is, and how we both try to encourage anyone we know to try it out.
We’ve seen Henley winners come to the coast and get thrashed by some guy in his 40s! Yet, instead of being upset or embarrassed, they always come back saying how much they enjoyed it and want to do it again.
“It’s a chance to test yourself against the elements,” he said. “Mass starts where anything goes. It’s fantastic.”
We then went on to talk about the fact that in rowing everyone spends so much time together that you become close, but with coastal rowing it somehow feels even more connected.
He said: “The sense of community on the coast is enormous. You find it inland as well, but down on the south coast everyone is really good friends, everyone just knows each other so well and it becomes a massive family group environment.”
Perhaps, this is what draws people in with coastal rowing. It’s not just you versus the opposition, but it’s you and your crew fighting the conditions. You become friendly with your opposition for that, experiencing what a real community of strong sportsmanship in a competitive field looks like.
There’s no hiding from it – coastal rowing isn’t river rowing. It’s also not beach sprints. It’s a strong blend of the best elements of both, providing us with exactly what they both have to offer. If these things are why river rowing is Olympic worthy, and defines what the Olympics are about, then surely what beach sprints bring into this is the same?
Ultimately, we have no choice in what is at the Olympics. It will be there and someone will be Olympic champion in it. So perhaps we should all go out and try it, find exactly what draws people to it and why that one person you know who grew up coastal rowing is still so connected to their club and wants you to come try it.
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