We Will Meet Again

When the pandemic struck, the 2020 rowing season was cruelly cut short. Flagship events such as HRR, NSR and SHORR failed to go ahead, and as if to add insult to injury, almost all crew training was banned over lockdown. Thus the rowing community was forced to find other ways to keep fit during the lockdown and in the run-up to this season. But what steps have clubs taken to ensure that their athletes come back in fighting shape for the 2020-2021 season?

Before we delve deep into the ins and outs of how clubs have been able to keep up their momentum, we should first look at where we left the season before its untimely end. The last major races for schoolboy eights were Quintin Head and Hampton Head, hosted by Quintin BC and Hampton BC respectively, and they were the final look we got at how the 2020 season could have shaped up. At Quintin Head, Shiplake, King’s College, and St. Paul’s rounded out the top three junior eight times on the course; while King’s, Hampton, and Norwich School took the top three spots of the Op Sch/Jun 8+ category at Hampton Head. For junior women, Headington, Marlow and Henley found themselves at the top of the pack at Quintin; whilst at Hampton Head, it was Wimbledon who rowed away in second place, with Marlow taking gold, and Henley settling for third once again.

However promising the battle for the crowns was shaping up to be, all of the opportunities to fettle and improve their boat and crew for the major events were cancelled, so the success in the coming season relied, and still does, as we move into the new season, on how effectively clubs were able to ensure that their crews maintained fitness and technique over the long break from the water.

But with no obvious goal in sight, coaches were left scrambling for ways to keep athletes motivated to ensure that they did not squander all of the hard work put in at the beginning of the 2019 season. Weekly training regimes were sent out to pupils to ensure that they stayed active, but this was not without a mental downside. Spending hours in the basement or attic on the ergo alone became very solitary for many, and thus coaches and pupils alike sought other ways of keeping the camaraderie of the crew together. For example, athletes cross-trained together, and schools like St Paul’s and Shiplake, along with many others, elected to host Zoom workouts and ergo pieces, trying to show their athletes that the team was still there, and that, in the words of The Queen ‘better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.’ 

Schools also found other ways of keeping both morale and fitness up, setting challenges not only for their athletes but extending it to their whole family. Clubs such as King’s College, St. Paul’s, and most notably Shiplake with their NotNSR regatta – which swamped Twitter with a flurry of achievements – set up events for the whole family to participate in, such as the 1km leaderboard for rowers, or the 2km ergo relay for the Shiplake rowers and their families.

Whilst the fun and games helped to boost morale, in order to stay competitive in the coming season clubs didn’t hesitate to set goals to train towards, with many athletes competing in external lockdown regattas, with SPSBC’s athletes showing their faces at The Real London Rowing Club’s event, and other clubs taking part in the Lockdown Regatta 2020, organised by students from De Montfort University and Bath Spa University BC. The regatta that caught the most attention, however, was the Virtual Henley Royal Regatta, with many of the big names showing their faces in the open ergo category, such as Eton, Tideway Scullers, Norwich, Emanuel, and King’s College. This event compromised of a mixture of short power-based events, and longer events to qualify and the finals day comprising of a full course piece, for which only four would qualify. Taking the crown in the open ergo category was Tideway Scullers, then King’s with a close second, followed by the two Eton crews. However, as we know prowess on the ergo is not the only thing that makes a fast crew, proficiency on the water is essential.

To that end, how have clubs been ensuring that athletes come back to the season ready to tackle intense water training? As the lockdown restrictions start to slacken, other rowing clubs have started to take on the load of athletes that have not been allowed to use their school boat clubs, such as Fulham Reach BC and many others. However, as we progress towards the start of the Michaelmas term, the water is slowly becoming busier and busier with clubs starting pre-season training, trying to get a head start on the coming season.

But where does that leave us and what will happen with the new season? Many events are still being cancelled, such as Head of the Charles, so we will have to wait for a concrete opportunity for clubs to prove themselves. But, if those who have trained hard during lockdown can keep the momentum and the gains that they have made in lockdown, they’ll find themselves in strong position this season.

Bowball.

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