Marlow Rowing Club

About Marlow Rowing Club

Why are we crowdfunding?

In a good year we’re able to run a number of well-attended race events and "learn to row" courses for beginners to supplement our income from member subscriptions. 

We have a junior squad that has grown from 64 members immediately post-covid to 121 now. To support them properly as they move into the racing season, we need two extra boats. 

2023 hasn’t been a good year so far. Our utilities bill has increased by £55,000 and our major fund-raising race event was cancelled due to bad weather, losing us  a potential income of around £10,000. These two things alone have put a major dent in our plans.  We need to focus the funds we have and seek additional funds for development of our Junior Squad rowing through other means –  this Crowdfunder. 

What’s our goal?

We can apply to Sport England to match the funds we raise. We feel this is our best route to raising the money we need for a new boat for our Junior squad (more about them shortly). Our fundraising target for this is £9,000, which will be matched by Sport England to raise the £18,000 we need for the first of two boats. There are a few rules attached, the main one being that we have to raise this from at least 100 different donors. 

Tell me more about the Junior squad and how that’s developed 

The growth of our junior squad (aged 13 to 18) from 64 members to the current 121 has put huge pressure on the junior fleet of boats.  At the younger end of the squad, we need at least one more coxed quad for both junior men and junior women, and at the older end, we need an additional racing quad for the junior women. We can just about get by in training by planning sessions not to overlap. Race events do not allow for this so we either get a couple of boats, or we have to choose which crews get to race. Racing is a major development phase for these your people, not just for their rowing, but in the life skills such a challenge develops in them. 

That’s quite a growth in numbers, what’s behind that? 

We’ve developed a strong cycle of Development and Inspiration: Development of those new to rowing, inspired by older junior athletes who have achieved great results from their rowing journey.  

We have a policy of deliberately growing our junior squad by developing our own rowers.  We run a large junior learn to row programme (JLTR) over school breaks and recruit for our J13 and J14 squads from the JLTR graduates.  Over time these J13s and J14s have moved up the year groups with the first cohort now in the J18’s.   At the end of the 2019 season the junior squad had 64 members, this has increased with the current squad 121 strong in May 2023 with the prospect of growing beyond 130 members in the 2023- 2024 season.  

Our junior squad is one of the top three in the country and regularly places in medal positions at championship events such as National Schools, Henley Women’s and Henley Royal Regattas as well as making a significant mark at local regattas and head races.  Our ethos is that if a junior commits to the squad, we will develop them to become the best possible rower they can be. At the highest level, our juniors feature in British rowing’s U19 trials process with a number going on to represent the UK in international events such as the recent GB-France match, coupe de la Jeunesse and World Junior Championships.  Our junior alumni feature heavily in the GB U23 and Senior GB Processes with three of the current GB team targeting the Paris Olympics able to trace their start in rowing back to the Marlow Junior squad.  

Whilst in their final year as a junior we offer launch driving and basic coaching training. This not only grows their rowing knowledge but also equips them to find work at any rowing club.  We’re able to offer a number of returning athletes the chance to coach adults and juniors over university breaks.  On that topic, there are some well documented studies that show a strong correlation between sporting and academic performance. The large majority of our juniors leave to pursue tertiary education and we currently have six of our alumni on sporting scholarships at US universities and a further one in the UK. 

How can I help?

Given the pressure on everyone’s time and funds, our preference is to only run one sponsorship or donation campaign each year and go all in. If you are able to make a donation it will be very gratefully received. Equally if you have personal or business contacts who may be prepared to donate, we would really appreciate your help in spreading the word.  The wider this campaign goes, the more likely we are to hit the target and add to the junior fleet.