OUNDLE ROWING CLUB

HOW DO ALL the great rowers make it look so easy? Helen Glover, Katherine Grainger, Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent glide through the water, in perfect time looking like they’re barely breaking into a sweat. Well, let me tell you, it’s not that easy. Yet at the same time, it’s not too daunting either, and it’s great fun; you feel like you’re learning a completely new skill. There’s a technique to it involving at least 14 steps.

I met Simon Murray, chairman of Oundle Town Rowing Club on a beautiful morning in September and, along with two other beginners Judith and Jamie, I spent a wonderful two hours learning to scull.

First of all we learnt how to get in the boat without tipping over; then how to create the perfect line of shoulder, arms and wrists; how to hold the oars without gripping on for dear life and how to achieve the smooth motion of feathering and squaring the blades through the water. Sounds simple? It’s not. Sixty percent of the action is in the legs, it helps if you have good core strength and there’s a lot to concentrate on. Perversely the less you think about the process and relax into it, the more likely you are to keep your balance in the boat and make progress through the water. As one of very few sports where you go up a river backwards, there’s a lot to process, and port is on the right not the left as usual.

Simon, and another club member Jenny, were our instructors as we sculled to the opposite bank and back. We were tethered to a rope so we wouldn’t disappear off down river. As an American, Jamie had always viewed rowing as a quintessentially British sport and Judith, a keen cyclist wanted to try her hand at another sport so Oundle Town Club was just the spot to have a go.

The club’s ethos is one of community and inclusivity so whether you’re old, young, returning to rowing after a break, into racing, or want a more social, recreational pastime this is the place to come. As Simon says ‘Anyone who wants to row, we’ll fi nd them a seat in a boat.’

And there are plenty of boats. The single and double scull fi ne racing boats are ridiculously narrow and light making you question how rowers keep them from tipping over. There are fours, quads and the eights which can travel faster than a man can run once they get going – the world record for 2,000m is under 5 minutes. The explorer boats we were in are wider and can be adapted with oats for people with special needs.

Rowing is an all-body workout for people of all ages and abilities. Many members race in meets at clubs such as Peterborough, Bedford and Northampton which have slightly straighter courses than Oundle’s meandering stretch of the Nene. Others enjoy the purely recreational Sunday mornings or evenings during the summer; the local U3A take over Tuesday mornings and youngsters come from all over the area. I can see the attraction: there’s a crowd of friendly members and it’s a beautiful location with plenty of wildlife to see whatever the season.

You can row all year round although ooding, ice, lightning and high winds tend to stop play and thermals are defi nitely recommended during the winter. Indoor rowing evenings are held at Oundle Primary School so you can maintain your fi tness even when you’re not on the water.

I need to work on sitting a little straighter, keeping my hands at the same level and the blades at the correct depth in the water. One wrong move and you unbalance. Fortunately I didn’t capsize and I would defi nitely like to try again. A big fundraising drive is about to start to kit out the room above the clubhouse where coff ee, cake and bacon sandwiches will be served to entice the new members the club is hoping to attract, particularly juniors.

For more details on beginners courses, recreational mornings and race events visit www.oundletownrowing.co.uk