Help Hackney's ambitious and diverse women rowers

Aim

Hackney's rowing club is growing from strength to strength and we need to buy another boat to get more women onto the water.

Our goal: meeting the demand for women's rowing in East London

Who are we?

We're Lea Rowing Club, based in Hackney, East London and we're one of the largest clubs in the UK. This year we were named 'Club of the Year' by British Rowing because of our commitment to prioritise performance alongside inclusion and opening up access to rowing to everyone in the wider area. Lea RC is the only rowing club in the area and one of the few sports facilities in this part of Hackney.

You can see what we're all about here: 

Our campaign: getting more East London women on the water

We are trying to buy another boat to enable us to meet the demand for women's rowing in East London and to match our squads' lofty goals of racing alongside the men at Henley Royal Regatta and competing at national and local competitions.

We need to expand our fleet of boats to accommodate more women to participate in the sport. We are fundraising for a women’s eight. This is the biggest boat class in rowing - eight people plus a cox - which means that in enables the maximum possible benefit to the whole women’s squad of 70+. 

It will also help us to meet the needs of each year’s new intake, as this is the type of boat that new rowers start in as they are learning as it is more stable and it is steered by a cox who helps to coach.

(Pic: some of our women at Henley Women's Regatta in 2022)

Opening up access to the benefits of rowing

We are proud to support campaigns which help to reduce many of the barriers women face in sports participation and  open up access to the physical and mental benefits of rowing to the wider population in Hackney and the surrounding boroughs.

As well as the considerable physical benefits of rowing (one of the best all-round exercises), by joining a team sport and a community club, our members say that their overall wellbeing has increased significantly. With increased confidence from learning a new skill, the social aspect of working together in a team, working towards individual and group goals, and bringing people together from all walks of life.

(Pic: some of our women - and male cox - competing at a regatta)

Every summer we run Learn2Row courses that are heavily oversubscribed. Participants ranging in ages from their 20s to their 60s. These courses tend to have more women than men and after the course, typically more women intend to join as members. 

(Pic: One of our crews competing in their first year of rowing)

Commended for our outreach

Our club is proud to prioritise performance alongside inclusion, which sets us out from the crowd, we have a home for everyone. Lea RC is the only rowing club in the area and one of the few sports facilities in this part of Hackney.

Our clubhouse is also open to the community on Sundays for roast dinners when we often host live music events open to all. In addition the hall space is available to hire for community group meetings (e.g. often used by Hackney rugby club), events and weddings, serving the community as a whole.

The 'IBelong' programme is one of our flagship projects which aims champion inclusion and drive the club to meet our goal of being reflective of our ethnically and religiously diverse local community. 

(Pic: people trying rowing skills on Learn 2 Row course)

Because of this we have recently been recognised for our commitment to drive performance alongside inclusion, and to be a home for everyone. We were awarded 'Club of the Year' by British Rowing with the Chair commending us as "A truly outstanding club."

(Pic: our boathouse on our community regatta day)

Keeping the lights on

In the last two years our club running costs have been severely impacted by rising energy prices and other expenses. Our membership subscriptions (which are 10-20% cheaper than other London clubs) help to 'keep the lights on' but don't allow us to expand and renew our equipment.

(Pic: one of our current eight-person boats in our boat house)

How you can support

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our campaign on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. Run your own fundraiser! Use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

How we’ll spend the money raised

We are looking to raise £10,000 to purchase another women's 8. Sport England have agreed to pledge £5000 if we can reach the target, which means that your donation will help us go further!

We need to expand our fleet of boats to get more women on the water more often. At Lea RC we share boats all the time as we are a big club with limited equipment and space. You will see our teams on the river at all times of the day, every day of the week. Sharing boats is more of a challenge for women because we need boats suited for us. With this new boat, we would be able to get an extra 9 women onto the water, multiple times a day on our most popular training days, which will enable better access to the river and to progress our ambitions of competing at the highest level with those who would like to rise to the challenge. 

Please support our crowdfunding campaign to help get more women rowing in Hackney and East London

Thank you from everyone at the Lea Rowing Club, Hackney 🍊

This project successfully funded on 31st August 2023