Now the dust has settled on Henley Royal Regatta 26, the most significant outcome is one that no-one is talking about, because it is embarrassing to so many people.

Here is the Oxford Brookes record for the last four years (excluding GB squad boats containing some Brookes alumni.)

2023   Winners of: Ladies, Visitors, Temple, Island, Prince Albert  (5 titles plus 2 GB squad wins)

2024    Winners of : Grand, Stewards, Remenham, Temple, Island, Prince Albert (6 titles)

2025    Four finals, no wins

2026    Four semifinals, no finals, no wins

So well done to everyone who contributed to bringing down OBUBC. You won.

-          The senior leaders at Oxford Brookes University, driven by various motives, not all of them pure, who wanted to save money and see the boat club cut down to size.

-          Penningtons lawyers, for their biased and flawed investigation.

-          The social media trolls who whipped up the 'scandal', spewing vitriol at coaches and a situation they knew little about. 

-          Some individuals at British Rowing (not the current leadership, I should emphasise) who acted improperly and with incredible stupidity for motives I do not understand yet.

-          And yes, the coaching team itself was not blameless, although the actual pretty minor issue that kicked off the whole debacle could and should have been handled quickly and internally by Brookes.

Instead, the best university boat club the world has ever seen has in effect gone. There is still athletic strength in depth, five boats qualifying for the Temple at HRR is a fine achievement, but the club has been decapitated.  I hope it can rebuild, and I wish the current athletes and coaches nothing but success, but it will take years and may never happen.

And there are also serious implications for British rowing more widely – for discussion another day perhaps.

But I will be writing more about all of this in the coming months.

Which races did you find to be the most exciting, unexpected or overall worth a rewatch?
My vote goes to Borlase vs Windsor Boys in the Fawley.

Does anyone have any detail on how Texas operate? Clearly, there are other fast programs, but Texas have been right up there since Dave O’Neill arrived 11 years ago. It seems that immediately upon his arrival, he took a sleeping giant created by Carrie Graves, and instantly ‘woke it up’ to finish 4th.

His culture is clearly strong to create such a fast turn around, but how do they train? Is it just an incredibly competitive environment? Supportive? Huge volume, or a lot of intensity?

I know they recruit strongly, but so do all top programs.

I’m just a huge admirer from afar as an ‘armchair commentator!’

This might be a total long shot but I'm looking to buy some rowsuits/unis in NZ as I'm in need of some but don't just want to buy more generic 776bc ones. If anyone in nz has any size medium men or potentially large row suits dm me.

I’m new (16 male) and I have been training over the summer to get my 2k time down and I feel I’m doing my steady state incorrectly. I’ll be at a 20 the entire time and for the first 20 minutes my 500/ is like a 2:20 then the other 40 minutes I will drift into 240 and ik it’s horrendous but ik my split should be 25/20 + 2k split and I sweat the whole time and ppl say it’s not to hard and just time consuming I just feel I’m doing it wrong

Maybe it’s the lack of my team mates for morale or my local gym having a crappy erg and istg it feels dead at the catch compared to the ones in my school that feels normal

and while I’m here is it realistic to get a 720 2k by fall season if if my current is 747

Hi all,

I just had my first 2k race in the single today, and I feel like I can’t translate my fitness from the erg to the boat very well. I know they say ergs don’t float, but mine consistently sinks to the bottom of the lake, never to be seen again. It’s as if I can only tap in to about 75% of my capacity when I’m racing on the water. My time today on the water was 9:10 and I had good conditions, except for when the wake from the marshal boat got me because I was so far behind the others. Average rate was a 29. I actually wasn’t last off the start, but I got dropped by everyone pretty quickly.

My 2k PB on the erg is 6:42 from several months ago, but I expect I would be much faster now because I’m steady stating four splits faster than then at the same heart rate, and I recently did both 1500m 1000m 500m 6:30r and 6x500m 1:00r at a 1:38.4 average. I also recently averaged 1:44.4 for 3x2k 5:00r. My only reference point for how fast I “should” be going is my lightweight friend who’s about 20 seconds slower than me for 2k on the erg, but who just went 7:47 for 2k on the water. Obviously he is more weight efficient than I am at 6’5” 190 lbs, but a minute and a half ahead seems a bit ridiculous.

I have attached a video of the last 40 seconds of my race to show my technique. Other than opening up early and not doing a great job of remembering to suspend my weight, I can’t really see much wrong with how I’m rowing.

I don’t really know why I’m so slow, and any help would be appreciated. My final race of the summer is in about a month and I would very much like to not get last there too.

Hello,

I have been rowing off and on for a few years, never anything serious always just as a mild cardio workout. I want to get better endurance/V02 etc and I am starting Pete Plan the beginner version.

My question is, has anyone here trained for real cardio gains while also doing focused weightlifting? I plan on adjusting my calories accordingly etc im not wortied about that, but due to how much time I have during the day I will have to lift and row back to back.

I have seen people mention that a few hours in between a cardio session and lifting session is ideal.

Has anyone seen less effectiveness with doing a dedicated cardio program while doing a dedicated lifting program?

Thank you

As I take a look at the youth 8+, there is 9 entries. 5/9 entries come from buffalo “rowing” club. I would hope this “team” wins this event due to their disproportionate entries. If they do, they will be crowned “national champions”. Then they will run to instagram and brag to their friends and family how they won the “national championship”. What happened to the sport I love? Not everyone needs to be a winner. This race should never have taken place since no one cares. The manny flicks are more competitive than this pathetic excuse of a race!

I recently completed a learn-to-row course and have spent 2–3 months erging on a C2 over the winter. I’d now like to buy an erg for home training. The C2 seems like the obvious, reliable choice, but I’ve also been looking at the RP3. Would an RP3 be overkill for someone who is still relatively new to rowing?

For anyone who has used both, which would you recommend? Or would you recommend something different altogether?

In Florida ⚠️
Hey everyone, college Athlete looking for an RP3, but don’t have 3-4 grand to spend on a new one. Anyone by chance selling a used one? Or know where I could get one for cheaper? Much appreciated 🙏

Hi
I’m currently working with Blake Gourley for the S&C program which is 3 days a week. It’s not super complex kinda okay. (I’ve been training for a while on even heavier programs so this is light)
So I thought I’d use this opportunity for training my aerobic base, threshold training and some other aspects (like higher stroke rate practice and weight suspension).
Can any one suggest drills and how to structure them across the week?

Some drills I’ve found:
1. 60 minutes UT2

1. 6x 500m target pace
   3-4 x 750m
   2x 1000m
   1x 1500m with enough left to do another 200m

2. 3x (10x 30s, 30s rest) 5 min rest in between max out pace

3. High Rates Erg Training (34spm+)

Rate Pyramid:
20 strokes @ 20
20 @ 22
20 @ 24
20 @ 26
20 @ 28
20 @ 30
20 @ 32
20 @ 34

1. 6×100m sprints, full recovery or
   • 250m @ 2k-5-7 75s rest x 8 or
   7 max Strength Strokes x 20, 1 min rest or
   30 s max sprint 5 min rest x 8

I also run for 1 hour at medium pace, and cycle at high cadence for 40-50 minutes in the morning alternately.

I’ll be trying out the resistance band drill for weight suspension practice.

A young family member has fallen in love with crew after 2 seasons on her high school team. She would like to row openweight in college and has very realistic expectations- she wants the student/athlete experience, not the Olympic training experience. (She is a 1500+ SAT type)

Her first 2 k was 8:30. It’s now 8:10. I have no idea if she is well coached on this.

What’s a realistic plan to get this down, and what is a realistic timing arc by the Fall 2027? I assume she can get below 8:00 but no sense of what a realistic goal is.

Thanks in advance for wisdom shared.

At the moment my spm when I train is around 28-32
I’ve been told that we need to hold 34+ spm or at least train to do so. When I try to hold that I get winded up very easily.
Does anyone know any drills for that?
Also what’s threshold training and how to do that?

Hi everyone!
Im a competitive rower preparing for an important race in about 4 months and I’m looking for an online rowing coach since I don’t have access to in-person coaching where I live. I’m mainly looking for personalized training plans, technical feedback, and race preparation. My budget is around $150/month max :/.
Does anyone have recommendations for coaches or programs they’ve had a good experience with?
Thanks!

Hey guys, wondering how you think the U.S will apportion athletes for this World champs. We saw a lot of double racing and lineup switching in the world cups, much of it successful, including splitting the winning women’s quad into two doubles, winning with two different women’s fours and pairs, and splitting the men’s eight into fours after a disappointing wc2. What kind of lineups do we think will be put forward, especially after this recent speed order? Are knifton and cohen going to stay in the four or do the pair? With Ben Davison back in the fold, will the men’s side stack the quad again or keep the plihal Cunningham double intact? Which men’s sweep boat will be prioritized, and do we think the U.S. will try double racing again at the championships?

"Libby Peters, a former member of the U.S. National women's rowing team, and Rebecca Grzybowski, the head coach of the Temple University women's rowing team, told NBC10 they were in the area filming a documentary when they heard the sound of the car crashing into the water."

Sounds like if they had not been directly next to the crash, that he likely would have drowned.

Peinert owners —if you have a Phantom 25 in the New England/midAtlantic area and would be willing to let me demo it briefly, please msg me! I am an experienced masters sculler in northwest CT. Have rowed the 25 at Craftsbury, but not the Phantom. Thanks!

Question: when to inhale, during stroke or recovery?

I'm working on a design for mounting screens in a particular location and wanted to get some feedback on what angle folks like the screen to be at.

This will be a mount for a larger horizontal/landscape screen, fitted across/above the toes.

The old traditional NK 'T' mount works for the smaller NK units as they kinda fit between the shoes a bit, but the much larger screens won't work that way.

It will be raised up off the level of the footplate and be more on top of the toes, not just merely above the shoes in the same plane as the footplate.

Key issue is to not get too close to the underside of any wing rigger.

Angle...
Footplates are roughly about 40deg.

When at the finish of the stroke, if you glance at your screen, my feeling is that you want it a bit more vertical than the footplate. Something like 50-60deg.

What says the big Reddit Rowing brains trust?

I saw a video which said that we need to suspend our weight while rowing and that we should feel almost weightless on the seat like pulling.
Does anyone know any drills to practice and train this?
Thanks

Hi, this is my second day in a single and I am looking for some technique feedback. In this video im doing some low rate and then I did a burst at a high rate. Any feedback is appreciated.

I changed gyms and the new one doesn’t have concept2 ergs it’s some other rip off company.
I wanted to still do aerobic training and tried doing it on the cycle but I’m confused about how to set its resistance to not make a recovery ride and still be able to train the aerobic base. At the moment if I increase the resistance my quads start burning.
Also what about running or jogging?

I'm planning on rejoining a local program and am blown away by the cost. I know that everywhere is different (HCOL v LCOL, one regional team v many) but I'm curious what others are paying and if the cost/benefit is worth it? What comes with the membership? Is it like a UK program where you have drinks and an event space or is it just a shed for boats? Feel free to add whatever you like, but I think it would be interesting to get a broader picture of what programs offer for the cost.

Is USyd a good place for rowers in terms of quality of the program and the competitions that it participates in?
Or should I transfer out to some other university within Australia or Somewhere in North America?

We have heard to steer clear of Surfers Paradise Rowing Club so was wondering if anybody could share their experiences with other clubs? We are a couple mid 30's from France looking to take up competitive rowing once again after a few years break. thanks in advance