Teams & Disciplines
The Royal Air Force prides itself on teamwork and rowing naturally lends itself to this. Over the season rowers will be training all over the United Kingdom and even all over the world! Annually the Royal Air Force rowing team compete against the Army and Navy at the Joint Services Regatta and in preparation for this RAF rowers are placed in one of several squads early in the year.
Novices
Everyone has to start somewhere and different people learn to row quicker than others. The Royal Air Force Rowing Club therefore dedicates a lot of time to developing novice rowers. The new rower will be introduced to the most stable of boats to introduce technique before eventually progressing on to finer boats, where balance is fine-tuned and boat-speed greater. Although height and muscle are always an advantage for a rower, balance and the application of the athlete's power is just as important, which means those of slighter build can still compete on equal terms.
Men's Squad
The senior men train & race together initially with the aim of entering crews into the Eight's Head of the River Race in March. The Squad then looks towards competing at Henley Royal Regatta and at forming crews for the Joint Services Regatta competition. Various members of the Senior Squad also row for the Armed Forces and have represented the Royal Air Force at Henley Royal Regatta under the guise of the Combined Services Rowing Club.
Women's Squad
Women's rowing in the Royal Air Force continues to thrive by attracting new squad members and offering excellent training & competition opportunities. The squad regularly enters crews in all the London Head races and in recent years have won the Force's Pennant in the Eight's Head of the River Race.
Master's Squad
Rowers over a certain qualifying age can race as masters though many may still compete as senior rowers on the civilian regatta circuit; the minimum age to enter the Masters regatta for example is 27. The Master's squad recently took part in the World Rowing Masters Regatta in Vienna, Austria. Some good results were attained by Royal Air Force rowers but of particular note was the win by one Squadron Leader in the Veteran C single sculls, to claim Gold for GB.
