Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is divided into two disciplines: sculling and sweep rowing. In sculling, each rower holds two oars—one in each hand, while in sweep rowing each rower holds one oar with both hands. There are several boat classes in which athletes may compete, ranging from single sculls, occupied by one person, to shells with eight rowers and a coxswain, called eights. There are a wide variety of course types and formats of racing, but most elite and championship level racing is conducted on calm water courses 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long with several lanes marked using buoys.
British Rowing, formerly the Amateur Rowing Association (ARA), is the national governing body for the sport of rowing. It is responsible for the training and selection of individual rowers and crews representing Great Britain and England, and for participation in and the development of rowing in England. Scottish Rowing and Welsh Rowing oversee governance in their respective countries, organise their own teams for the Home International Regatta and input to the GB team organisation.
Rowing has been part of the Summer Olympics since its debut in the 1900 Games. Rowing was on the program at the 1896 Summer Olympics but was cancelled due to bad weather. Only men were allowed to compete until the women's events were introduced at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal which gave national federations the incentive to support women's events and catalysed growth in women's rowing. Lightweight rowing events were introduced to the games in 1996. Qualifying for the rowing events is under the jurisdiction of the World Rowing Federation. World Rowing predates the modern Olympics and was the first international sport federation to join the modern Olympic movement.
Rowing is the oldest intercollegiate sport in the United States. The first intercollegiate race was a contest between Yale and Harvard in 1852. In the 2018–19 school year, there were 2,340 male and 7,294 female collegiate rowers in Divisions I, II and III, according to the NCAA. The sport has grown since the first NCAA statistics were compiled for the 1981–82 school year, which reflected 2,053 male and 1,187 female collegiate rowers in the three divisions. Some concern has been raised that some recent female numbers are inflated by non-competing novices.
University rowing in the United Kingdom began when it was introduced to Oxford in the late 18th century. The first known race at a university took place at Oxford in 1815 between Brasenose and Jesus and the first inter-university boat race, between Oxford and Cambridge, was rowed on 10 June 1829.
Strathclyde Country Park is a country park located on the outskirts of Motherwell in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, named after the former Strathclyde region of Scotland. It is often commonly referred to as Strathclyde, or simply Strathy.
Glasgow University Boat Club (GUBC) is the rowing club of the University of Glasgow, Scotland. The club is affiliated to Scottish Rowing.
Coastal and offshore rowing is a rowing sport performed at sea. In North America, this sport is often called open water rowing.
Lightweight rowing is a category of rowing where limits are placed on the maximum body weight of competitors. According to the International Rowing Federation (FISA), this weight category was introduced "to encourage more universality in the sport especially among nations with less statuesque people".
The British Rowing Championships usually take place every year and are normally held at the National Water Sports Centre, Holme Pierrepont (Nottingham), with occasional championships held at the Strathclyde Country Park. The championships originally incorporated Senior and Junior crews but since 2013 have been held separately. However, since 2018 the senior championships have not been held. It is a major event for club rowers and schools and events are held for open, women, open junior, women's junior, under 23, lightweight, adaptive and coastal boats.
Durham University Boat Club (DUBC) is the rowing club of Durham University. In recent years, DUBC has cemented itself as one of the strongest university boat clubs in Great Britain. Under the leadership of former British Olympian Wade Hall-Craggs, DUBC notably won the BUCS Victor Ludorum for ten consecutive years (2004-2013), and has produced a number of athletes that have competed internationally at European and World Championship level.
Glasgow Rowing Club is a rowing club, based in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, Scotland. It is a private club, with no direct public funding. Application for membership is open to all. The club is affiliated to Scottish Rowing.
Edinburgh University Boat Club (EUBC) is one of the oldest sports clubs of the University of Edinburgh, in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Robert Gordon University Boat Club (RGUBC) is the rowing club at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland. The club is affiliated to Scottish Rowing. In 2012 the club formed University Rowing Aberdeen (URA) in partnership with the Aberdeen University Boat Club so that both clubs could share resources, funding and coaching.
Cantabrigian Rowing Club, known as Cantabs, is a 'town' rowing and sculling club in Cambridge, UK.
Clydesdale Amateur Rowing Club is Scotland's largest rowing club, located on the River Clyde in the centre of Glasgow. It is successful each year in many events at the Scottish Rowing Championships and is affiliated to Scottish Rowing.
The Oxford University Women's Lightweight Rowing Club was established in 1984 to represent the University of Oxford in the race against the Cambridge University Boat Club at the Lightweight Boat Races. Throughout the season, the Club races as Tethys Boat Club.
Justine Joyce is an Australian former representative rower. She is national champion and a world champion and is the standing world record holder in the women's lightweight coxless pair.
The rowing competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are scheduled to run from 27 July to 3 August at the National Olympic Nautical Stadium of Île-de-France in Vaires-sur-Marne. The number of rowers competing across fourteen gender-based categories at these Games has been reduced from 526 to 502, with an equal distribution between men and women. Despite the slight changes in athlete figures, the rowing program for Paris 2024 remains constant from the previous edition as the competition will feature an equal number of categories for men and women, with seven each.
