Lea Rowing Club have been strong competitors at both junior and senior level and are never a club to write off when coming into a race. Rowing out of a brand new (as of 2016) million-pound boathouse, they have state of the art facilities that include a gym with 25 rowing machines. They row on the River Lea, a stretch of canal in London, between Old Ford lock and Tottenham Lock. It’s an exciting and busy stretch of river, which includes lots of other boat traffic, turns, twists and complicated steering manoeuvres – this will set any crew up excellently for any challenging regatta or head racecourses.
The club as it stands now is relatively new, set up in 1980 it was the amalgamation of five different clubs based around the current site. But the tradition of rowing on this stretch of the river goes back much further than the 1980s, with records going as far back as the early 19th century and some sort of boathouse on the site since around 1850. This rich history is vital to the club, and it is an excellent representation of the long history of the sport itself. This club’s legacy is one of teamwork and the importance of local support, which helped all the clubs on this stretch stay afloat and come together in the 1980s to create the inclusive and prosperous club it is today.
In terms of recent results, we can look back at Henley Royal Regatta 2019, where they had an impressive eight crews entered into categories ranging from coxless quads to eights. They had an entry for both the girls and boys junior coxless quads events, and both these boats made it into the semi-finals, an excellent result for the club. In 2019, they had good results from National Schools Regatta, with three crews making it to the A final of their events, two of these crews then placed 3rd in those finals. In more recent coronavirus times, the club has been taking part in virtual regattas, taking the competition to other local clubs (over zoom). In April last year, they partnered with Tideway Scullers School to run a virtual tideway race with crews racing the 6.8km course virtually. The online racing didn’t just stop with rowing machines; they also took part in competitive runs over the Henley Royal week against other clubs like Surbiton. These virtual events show the club’s tenacity, all of them determined to make the best of what they could in these trying times.
The sense of community at Lea is strong and will continue to be long into the future; they offer great opportunities for many juniors from different backgrounds. With the fantastic facilities on offer, they will continue to go from strength to strength. I look forward to seeing them back out of the real-life regatta courses soon!
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