Rowing advice

jimmy_beige

Hi,
after three weeks in front of the TV watching the olympics I have decided that rowing is something I might have an interest in doing.

I have no background in rowing and at I am wondering, if at 25 I am a bit too old to take up a sport such as this?

I am quite athletic in general and play football and rugby amongst other sports, but if anyone could give me some info as to what would be involved, training, costs etc, it would be a great help.

davenewt

I was thinking the same thing myself. Have found a few links, including the Commercial Rowing Club's website, but no idea if they take new members, or when, or how fit you need to be to begin with. Any advice appreciated!

Some links I've found so far -

Irish Amateur Rowing Union
http://www.commercialrc.ie/

Edit: of course, no harm to look at other threads here too
Finally found Neptune Rowing Club's website too.

davenewt

Just as a followup, I emailed the captain of Neptune rowing club last night, and it turns out they're having a meeting to finalise their beginners course tonight. Anyone interested should drop him a mail I guess!

http://www.neptunerowingclub.com/Contacts.htm

scraggymess

rowings a great sport to get into. If I were you Id join Neptune, neptune is better for complete novices since they have more but commercials been more succesful recently.

at 25 youre fairly old to start but its not impossible. Most people start at 14 or so but some top level rowers start at around 20 when theyre in college. Scullers tend to peak around 28-30 so you've got a few years left. It does take a long time to become technically and physically good. 2-3 years before you get up to standard. It will take a LOT of your time if youre serious about it. Ive been down there 20+ hours a week sometimes and I was only a club level rower.

It can cost quite a lot, its cheaper to join Neptune but its 480 for the year to join commercial. for that you have 24 hour access to the gym and access to boats. Other costs are 50 to join the Iaru for the year, 100 or so for rowing gear (spandex-city), transport to regattas, maybe 10 a year.
Training will start off at a few times a week and will get progressively more intense. If youre tall and skinny you'll have a big advantage. Long limbs are even better.
If you get the chance you should do a 2000m erg test at the gym, around 7mins 30 would be an acceptable level of fitness to start with. anything under 7mins for your first time would be good. Good club level rowers will pull around 6mins 30 at your age.

Good luck

davenewt

Have just received word from Alan Ludlow @ Neptune RC about their new Beginners' Rowing Course starting next week.

Will quote his message here in case anyone else is interested...

we now have the details of the Summer Beginner Rowing Course below. The club has been pretty busy over the past number of months with the development of our new clubhouse but it is coming together and will be open in the coming weeks - check it out at http://www.neptunerowingclub.com/Boat%20House%20Project.htm

Anyway, the proposed course will run as follows:

Venue - Neptune Rowing Club, Longmeadows, Islandbridge, Dublin 8

EDIT: Link to location on Google Maps

Bus - any bus that runs from Parkgate Street toward Chapelizod

Dates

Registration 3rd & 4th Sept ( next Wed & Thurs ) anytime for 6.30pm to 7.00pm followed by introduction to the sport, equipment, boats and some time on dealing with rowing machine technique and on the water.

Remaining course dates are - September 9th, 11th, 13th, 16th, 18th and 20th Sept

Times are 7pm to about 9pm on the week days with the Saturday times to be confirmed.

Cost of the course is 50 euro payable at registration.

The aim of the course is to introduce the complete beginner to the sport, learn basic technique in both sculling ( two oars ) and sweep rowing ( single oar ), gain some knowledge about the type of training involved in competitive rowing and basically have a good time.

PS - If you're thinking of going along or have any questions, suggest you email captain-at-neptunerowingclub-dot-com

Hope the above is of interest to someone

AngryBadger

Thanks for all of the above advice guys Much appreciated

jimmy_beige

great, thanks a lot for the advice guys. Pretty much answered all my questions. I may indeed give it a go. I will look into that Neptune club but will hold off for now as I may be relocating to Galway soon. Either way I'd say I may give it a go...although it does seem quite intensive! I guess I could finally stop hiding out on the wing in rugby and actually do a sport that involves real work

figs86

hey guys i did the summer intro course last year - it was pretty good, got out on the water a lot (and discovered rowing is more difficult than it looks!)

loved the club, they were the nicest bunch of people, every one i met was helpful and knew you're a novice so don't mind explaining things to you

we went out in big touring boats to start and then moved on to racing boats and finally - if you're brave enough - single sculls (incredibly difficult to balance, especially if you're a big guy like me!)

i really enjoyed the experience and i stayed rowing with the novice crew for a couple of months but we failed to put out an 8 due to people not turning up, being unavailable etc etc

training was tough but got you seriously fit quickly

despite dropping out eventually myself i am thinkin about making a return for my college crew

rowing itself is very enjoyable but the training and time demands put a lot of people off

give it a shot, if its for you itll take over your life, if not you can just stop after having had a few great workouts!

plodder

jimmy_beige wrote: »

great, thanks a lot for the advice guys. Pretty much answered all my questions. I may indeed give it a go. I will look into that Neptune club but will hold off for now as I may be relocating to Galway soon. Either way I'd say I may give it a go...although it does seem quite intensive! I guess I could finally stop hiding out on the wing in rugby and actually do a sport that involves real work

Just noticed this discussion. I used to row over 20 years ago, and it's without doubt the best form of exercise there is. I still enjoy bashing about on a Concept II in the gym. You should consider that there are plenty of rowing clubs outside Dublin as well, and in fact many places (eg Galway) have better rivers for training on.

MCOS

plodder wrote: »

Just noticed this discussion. I used to row over 20 years ago, and it's without doubt the best form of exercise there is. I still enjoy bashing about on a Concept II in the gym. You should consider that there are plenty of rowing clubs outside Dublin as well, and in fact many places (eg Galway) have better rivers for training on.

Hi Plodder is right here. I used to row myself and I would definitely recommend it. It will give you an appetite for fitness that should keep you fit and strong for life. It is an addictive sport though and very time consuming. I played rugby and only took up Rowing in College as a novice after a rugby injury. Some of the best days of my life have been around Rowing and rowing people. Look for a club who have a good 'Novice' scene. Many rowers would have rowed as juniors and moved to intermediate or senior status thus skipping the Novice status.

jimmy_beige

Cheers for that guys. Very helpful advice. I have just made my move to Galway so I will definitely look into it when I have settled down.

PaulaBourke83

No, 25 is definitely not too old for rowing. Steve Redgrave was still winning Olympic Golds at the age of 38. Unlike swimming and tennis - rowing is a sport that can be taken up by beginners even in their thirties (especially if they have prior athletic experience i.e. marathon running or GAA).

At Commercial Rowing Club (Dublin) they had a big squad of novices last year and I think at least half of them were in their thirties. I should know - I was one of them !! Paula.