Junior Membership Details
Coaching:
Our junior members are coached from a fleet of launches provided by Shiplake College, allowing us to create a safe and effective training environment. These launches are an essential on-water safety provision, but also mean that coaches can get close to the boats, allowing direct observation of the athletes and providing feedback.
The club’s coaches are volunteers, many of them are parents with offspring at the club, all of them are rowers (and ex-rowers) with a vast wealth of experience and medals (and Olympic performances) between them.
Training:
We train on Monday and Thursday evenings, and Sunday mornings starting at 9.00.
Our focus is on sculling (singles, doubles and quads) although older squads may be given the opportunity to learn to sweep row in a four. When the river is unsafe for rowing, we train on the ergos in the College boathouse.
Commitment:
We know that young people typically have other commitments so we do our best to work around those. It is not mandatory to attend every session offered.
Competing:
There is ample opportunity for those who want to row competitively to race at local regattas and heads: additional fees will be incurred for each race entered.
Junior crews typically compete in single, double and quadruple sculls at local regattas and head races including Wallingford, Maidenhead, Reading, Kingston, Staines, Oxford and Henley.
The club’s focus is very much on developing technical rowers and athletes with a real love of the sport. We only train 2-3 days per week but have produced some competitive crews that have punched well above their weight in relation to the number of training hours
Safety:
Safety and welfare are always uppermost in our minds.
Coaches
Paul Stewart Bennett
I’ve been rowing every year since I was 15. I’ve been fortunate to have been in some exceptional crews and have made many friends over the years.
Significant successes include getting into the Guinness book for an Oxford to London record breaking row, two Henley wins and GB representation at Junior, senior heavyweight and then lightweight when I was in the eight that won Britains first World Championship Gold.
Lots of Masters wins since those days at all age groups from A to I.
Great fun.
Jo Fielder
I started rowing at university and represented Durham and Edinburgh Universities before graduating as a vet and moving south to train with the GB lightweight squad. Highlights include representing both Scotland & England at the Home International, two World Cup silvers and a brief world record in the lightweight pair … but nothing compares to taking full responsibility for teaching 5 times Olympic medallist, dame Katherine Grainger to row!
After many years away from the sport, my daughter brought me back to the fold when she joined Vikings and very quickly, I fell back in love with messing about in boats. Now I get my kicks out of coaching our juniors at Vikings!
Steve Dance
Steve started rowing at school and has been competitively racing and occasionally winning races for decades.
Now competing as a veteran in the sport he still has a passion and enthusiasm for sculling, rowing, training and racing .
Including implementing forgotten basics, blending crew styles learning new approaches, or just having fun being on the water and enjoying the challenge and thrill of a race !
Kate Harvey
I Started rowing at Glasgow University and have never really stopped! After winning my first Henley women’s regatta for Glasgow Uni I Joined Thames Rowing Club in 1994 winning Nat champs in 2-, 4+, 8+, and representing England at the Home International where we won in 2- and 4+
As part of team GB I competed at 2 Olympic Games; 2- in 1996 (Atlanta) and 8+ in 2000 (Sydney). Love head racing and have raced WHORR 19 times and won it (about 6 or 7 times). I also still Compete at Head of the River Charles in Boston, nearly every year for last 12 years, where we have the course record in W50’s 8+ and W40’s 4+ for Marlow rowing club.
Annual Fees
Junior Fee
Current Level for the year September 2026 to August 2027
- Per Person – Pro-rata’d for new members
Associate Fee
We offer free membership to juniors who have a parent who is qualified and willing to be a coach.or coaches or coaches’ children
- No charge