News

Posted: May 4, 2016

Performances are on the rise at University of Stirling Rowing Club which is enjoying its best season in years.

At last weekend’s Strathclyde Park Regatta, Stirling students won gold medals in the Women’s Beginner Single, Men’s Beginner Single and Men’s Beginner Double categories, adding to their success earlier this year when they won the BUCS Men’s Beginner Four.  

“For the size of the club we do well and we are improving,” said Club President Elijah Mtonga.

“That’s been the best result in years and it’s because we are better organised and retaining members who stay and train for the whole year.

“The plan is to do even better next year.”
 
The university this week signed up to Scottish Rowing’s Project Rio campaign with the aim of recruiting more students next term.

Funded by Awards for All, Project Rio is a direct result of the surge in rowing interest following the London 2012 Olympic Games, when clubs across the country were inundated with newcomers wanting to learn to row.

Like many clubs across Scotland, the university can appreciate the heightened profile the Rio Games will generate and the opportunity it will create to get more people on the water.  

They plan to use the campaign’s promotional and coaching resources to increase the current membership of 28.

As the club does not have a full time coach, the senior rowers look after most of the coaching.  Project Rio’s six session plans will be an invaluable resource for the club to instruct newcomers in a structured fashion and help encourage them to stay involved.

“I think there will be a big increase in people taking up the sport after the Rio Games, especially because this summer’s Olympics will be far more integrated with social media than it was in 2012,” said Elijah.

“This has been a really good year for us and realistically we would like to double our membership next year.

“The learning resources available to clubs through Project Rio will help our members who haven’t had as much experience and help us teach the new members coming in this September.

“And being part of the campaign will help us raise the profile of the club at the university.”