Page 13 - Chiron Autumn/Winter 2023

Army Rowing
by Lt Lagatierra-Wellington, Army Rowing Clubs Association
You’ve likely heard of rowing in some distant sense, from Great Britain’s success at the
Olympics to the televised Boat Races, and you’ve probably also thought “Wow, what legends! I wish I could learn more about the sport and give it a go,” or something to that effect. You’ll be relieved to know that the day has come where you finally find out about rowing and Army Rowing Clubs Association (ARCA).
ARCA actually encompasses both indoor rowing (on a rowing machine or “erg”) and inland rowing (water- based, usually on lakes, rivers,
or canals) - due to personal bias, we’ll just be focussing on the latter. Rowing is quite a challenging skill
to master, but primarily, it is the use of oars to propel a boat across water. To move the oar(s), you use your
legs to push down on the footplate and slide your moveable seat back. Aside from leg strength, a solid core and some arm strength is needed to connect that leg power to the oar(s). Rowing can be broken down into sweep rowing, where each rower
has control of one oar, and sculling, where each rower has two oars. There is a range of boat sizes from
a single scull, where it is just one rower with two oars, up to coxed eights, where there are eight rowers with one oar each plus a cox to motivate the crew and steer the boat.
Rowing is a highly demanding sport both physically and mentally. Establishing technique alone takes hundreds of hours of water time as, ultimately, you need a complex procedure to become muscle
memory. Races are gruelling affairs commonly involving sprints over 2km, where your lungs fill with fire and your legs turn into lactic acid. For me, the mental challenge is what really makes rowing unique. There is such a struggle to stay focussed through long outings (usually 10- 20km, 1-2h in duration) and make small adjustments to your technique whilst physically fatiguing. When racing, you are required to give everything you have without being able to see your competition or the finish line because your back faces the direction of travel. If you are told that you are behind, you somehow need to find a huge reserve of energy to try and push on to catch the unseen opponent. In those moments it is so easy to give up - you are in physical agony, and it feels like
the race has already been lost. You really do need to be tenacious and disciplined to get anywhere on the racing scene.
Alongside the physical benefits, rowing always involves a strong sense of camaraderie. It is a team sport with shared goals and shared pain. You spend months training with the same crew and get to know each other too well. I still regularly meet up with some of my crew from nearly 15 years ago!
I started rowing at university, taking it up on a whim at college level before progressing to the university squad and being selected for the Lightweight Boat Race two years running. I then took a break from the sport to try and get a degree and after graduating I had
not thought about returning due to time constraints and distance from any local clubs.
In 2022 I discovered that the ARCA women’s captain was someone
that I did a Boat Race with, and
I was introduced to the world of Army rowing. Since then, I have been fortunate enough to race with the Army on multiple occasions including the Joint Service Regatta and Henley Women’s Regatta. I was also selected for UK Armed Forces Rowing and will hopefully be racing at Henley Royal Regatta later this season.
Rowing is not usually the most accessible sport, but there are great opportunities to get involved with the Army. A new, purpose-built boathouse was opened late last year which is kitted out with a huge range of boats, from single sculls
to eights, suitable for learners to those aspiring to race. For those that have never rowed before, ARCA run several ‘Learn to Row’ (LTR) courses out of the boathouse in Abingdon, which aim to get you equipped
with the basic skills required in
the space of a week. For those that have completed a LTR or have some experience, you can then join the Development squads to further improve and start racing. Trials are then held to select athletes for the Senior squads. It is worth noting that ARCA is also open to veterans.
So, if you live for leg day, think callouses are attractive or just love lycra, reach out to ARCA and we’ll get you catching crabs in no time.
Chiron Calling / 11