London Regatta Centre boosts rowing excellence

By Simon Hayes on July 30, 2008 3:25 PM |

Tagged with:

THE Olympic Games are just days away and one sport likely to bring golden success to Britain is rowing.

Should a big medal haul inspire Wharfers to take up the sport there’s a hidden gem nestling just up the road in the Royal Docks – the London Regatta Centre.

With first-class facilities on offer the centre is bracing itself for an upsurge in interest and head coach Simon Goodey hopes people will give it a try.

He said: “Anyone wanting to give rowing a go is more than welcome. Adults can join Curlew Rowing Club while youngsters have the Royal Docks Rowing Club, part of London Youth Rowing scheme.

“It’s never too early to start to learn and the great thing about it is it often suits people who might find they aren’t great at other sports.”

Uniquely in London the centre has a 2,000m course and also boasts a state-of-the-art, £100,000, powered indoor tank, used for training on bad weather days.

But there is one thing the centre relies on rowers to provide.

Goodey said: “There’s no substitute for dedication. At any level of rowing, whether it’s junior, under-23 or senior it’s very competitive and you have to put in the sessions.”

One of the Regatta Centre’s biggest successes has been in adaptive rowing, providing top-class training for disabled athletes. Two rowers, Tom Aggar and Martyna Snopeck, used the centre in the build-up to next month’s Paralympic Games.

Aggar set a world record over 1,000m at the venue in May and is hot favourite to land a gold medal in Beijing, while Snopeck will be rowing for Poland at the Games.

Goodey, who has been coaching for over 12 years, thinks the diversity of the centre is what makes it special.

He said: “We get everybody here. We have children from Richard House hospice with life-threatening illnesses and paralympic rowers, as well as the able-bodied amateurs.

“People recognise we are a centre of excellence because the facilities here are first-class.

“This will be one of the main training venues for the 2012 London Games and it’s great that it’s on the doorstep of the Olympic Park.”

And Goodey thinks the sport is at last moving away from its elitist image.

He said: “It’s definitely a sport people from all backgrounds want to get involved in and that’s largely because of the inspiration of Sir Steve Redgrave. He showed just how successful you could be with the right opportunities and a lot of dedication.”

Go to www.londonregatta centre.org.uk.