Women

First VIII in action at Henley Women's Regatta 2012

Putney Town has one of the friendliest women’s squads on the Tideway. Currently we have around 30 women who are participating in coached training sessions on a weekly basis. In the 2011/12 season, the squad enjoyed a very busy competitive season picking up wins at local regattas such as Richmond and Barnes/Mortlake whilst achieving some strong results in various heads races, multi-lane events and at Henley Women’s Regatta.

In the 2012 winter head season included a fourth-place finish in WIM2 at Quintin Head and third place in the same category at Hammersmith Women’s and Juniors’. The squad had boats at the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race: the top boat finished 50th overall, the second crew 159th and the development squad boat a commendable 283rd in their first ever head race.

The summer season kicked off with strong results at both Wallingford and the Metropolitan regattas. They also competed at both Reading and Richmond Regatta where they won the W IM3 class with ease. Henley Women’s as always proved a fiercely contested race in the Intermediate Club 8s with the crew being knocked out by the eventual runners up – Lea RC.

During the summer season we have also had a squad of women who were specifically racing at the local regattas and who put a very exciting win under their belts early on in May in the WIM3 class at the Barnes and Mortlake Regatta. A number of the squad have also entered their first sculling races across the summer regattas and built confidence and experience to take forward into head races in 2012/13.

Training

The squad is trained by two coaches who support us both on and off the water, The training plan follows a set monthly programme comprising of a mix of land and water based training. This includes erg pieces, circuits, weights, cross-training and double water sessions on Saturday and Sunday mornings. We use a range of tools to monitor and select athletes for crews, such as erg tests, video footage, seat racing and monitoring of on-going physiological improvements.

The women’s squad holds an inclusive annual overseas training camp during spring. This year, the squad training camp took place in the beautiful settings and excellent conditions of Brive la Gaillarde in Bordeaux, France.

Our squad is currently split into two sections. We have a large number of women who have the time and motivation to train and compete at a high level such as Henley Women’s. For those with less experience and often less time to train, we offer the same hours of water time coaching but a slightly adapted training plan to enable them to train efficiently within the available hours that they have.

Whilst we have some highly competitive members in both squads, we pride ourselves on being a women’s team that is 100% supportive of each other: our aim is always to help each other be the best that they can be no matter what their skill set or position in the squad.

Outside of rowing we are a highly sociable group of women across both the divisions. On Saturdays and Sundays we look forward to coming together between sessions for a breakfast break where we feast on bagels and toast and have a good gossip. Many of us regularly meet up away from the club to eat and drink socially or for cycling weekends away or competing in local endurance events such as the Richmond Duathlon. There are also plenty of PTRC club socials during the year such as fancy dress parties or quiz competitions, all in which the women’s squad plays an integral and active role.

Getting Involved

We welcome all women with previous sweep and sculling experience and an ambition to row competitively. The squad has a good range of equipment for both lightweight and heavyweight women and following the success and growth of the club, it yearly makes new investments in equipment.

We also run a Learn to Row course which this year is beginning in late September. This squad of women, come the end of the course in late October, will move forward to form our new Development Squad.

Please see the Learn to Row section for more details.

We are always keen to talk to novice or experienced coxes if you fancy the glory of winning with or without the exertions of physical training!

For further information, please email Camilla Lister, Women’s Captain at womenscaptain@putneytownrc.co.uk.