We like to kid ourselves that Sir Steve Redgrave is the greatest British sportsman in history so far, for winning five successive golds in rowing — a sport so elitist that it is virtually non-existent across much of the planet. I suspect that Redgrave would not have qualified for a single Olympic final, let alone won any, had rowing been accessible to, say, 1 per cent of the population of Africa — a continent that dominates running, for which the only equipment needed is decent shoes.

Member Peter Rossi, who learned to row on Putney Town’s beginners course wrote to The Times (”Success, not diversity“) to set the record straight.

Sir, As a club rower on the Thames, I was disappointed to read Matthew Syed’s article (“You need brass to go for gold”, times2, Feb 10). Sure, posh people row, but so do “ordinary” people.

My club on the Thames runs regular learn-to-row courses costing £100 for 12 weeks for complete beginners. Monthly membership costs £25 thereafter. I cannot think of too many sports that let you use equipment worth thousands of pounds at your leisure for that amount.

My club is not unique in this respect. This compares extremely favourably with sports such as cycling, which requires significant individual investment in equipment.

Peter Rossi
London SW4

Putney Town’s last learn to row course was a more intense six week program run late last year and was a huge success. If you are interested in learning to row, you can sign up on the learn to row page to be informed of the next course in 2010.

Well done to the girls – retaining the IM3 pennant for the 3rd year.

Pennant Winners - Women's IM3

Men's IM3

Congratulations also to Andrew Ronaldson and Ian Mandale for their performance in KGS colours – fastest PTRC members.

• Food available
• Bar open for every listed game (other games may be shown according to demand)
• Family and Friends welcome!

Saturday 6th February 2010

Ireland - Italy 14:30
England - Wales 17:00

Saturday, 27 February 2010

Italy - Scotland 13:30
England - Ireland 16:00

Saturday, 13 March 2010

(Women’s Head Day – Starts 15:00)
Ireland - Wales 14:30
Scotland - England 17:00

See you there!  flyer.pdf

Och aye the noo, it’s here again the PTRC Burns night pub quiz and supper!

The full on Burn’s night experience with supper of Haggis, tatties and neeps, as well as a quiz which will be the usual great mix of picture, music and traditional question rounds! With prizes for each round and an overall Champion Team prize!

Quiz kicks off promptly at 7pm and supper will be in the interval. Table service during the quiz means there is no need for you to miss questions whilst you go for a drink.

Supper will have Meat & Vegetarian options for only £5!

Quiz

Team sizes of up to 6 people and don’t worry despite using Burns night as an excuse for having the quiz it’s general knowledge not a Burns or Scottish quiz!
£2.50 per person to enter.

If you wish to attend can you please email your team name and members to ben.melham@gmail.com and if you don’t have a team just email us anyway and we can sort you out with one.

IMPORTANT: Email team details ASAP to guarantee table!

(In previous years we have been overbooked with 100+ people in attendance so get in early!)

PTRC MEMBERS: If you would like to volunteer to help out (club events can only take place with volunteers!) for table service, bar service, food preparation or anything else  please contact lucybrennan7@hotmail.com

View Poster (pdf)

Pairs Head 2009 - Ants and Simo

Putney Town had a good turnout for the race that is for many the first significant race of the Head season.

The weather before the race had looked like truly epic head weather, with the wind whipping up the water and some predicting some involuntary swimming sessions. However, the tide turned and things calmed down a lot much to the relief of all the participants.

The club was well represented and had some good results:-

Pairs Head 2009

Two PTRC pairs battle each other in the Pairs Head 2009

Pairs Head 2009 - Matt & Northern Dave

Well done Cakey!

Anthony Cake at Wallingford Long Distance Sculls. October 2009

The sun rises on a new season of rowing

The season has officially started and its all go at the Town.

The senior mens and womens squads have been out on the water almost exclusively in small boats (pairs and doubles) to build the technical foundation for the winter heads and have already been subjected to erg tests.

Rumour has it that the veteran men have been seen on the ergos and in the weights room, albeit reluctantly. The latest version of our successful learn to row course has just started with 16 complete beginners taking to the water and our forthcoming members sculling courses have been over subscribed.

The club is sparkling following the recent maintenance day where numerous members from across the club gave their time and in particular, we are in the process of significantly increasing our boat racking capacity

New racking goes up in the compound

Two mixed eights raced over the water outside the club dressed in kit that rated about 12 on the loudness scale. A small selection of the visual onslaught is below.

Mankini man

Men in pink

Dev squad demonstrate excellent (bad) taste

Even the coach is dressed to kill

Putney Town Men's Squad on Training Camp in Banyoles

The men’s squad at Putney Town is also kicking off the new season with an open squad meeting to be held on Wednesday 9th September in the club bar at 20:30. Please contact Mens Captain Peter Rossi menscaptain@putneytownrc.co.uk 07983 325 992 or just turn up on the night.

In 2008/09 the Senior Men’s rowing squad qualified a Thames Cup 8 at Henley for the third year running, and were competitive at IM1/2, including wins at Marlow, Kingston and Oxford City regattas. 13 of the last two Henley crews are back for 2009/10 and we have over a dozen boats suitable for the squad. Our goals for 2009/10 are for the 1st 8 to finish top 100 at HORR and to qualify two boats for Henley Royal.

Coaching for the Men’s squad is provided by James Davey and Andy Holmes MBE. The squad attended an overseas training camp in Banyoles and has access to excellent equipment, with recently purchased eights and fours.

In addition, we are always keen to recruit coxes and will provide full training for steering on the Tideway and club membership is also free for coxes.

More information about the mens squad, club facilities and location is available on this website.