Putney Town Rowing Club

Putney Town Rowing Club is running one of the largest Women’s Squads on the Tideway. More than 40 women are weekly participating in coached training sessions. The 2010/11 season, the squad has picked up wins at Wallingford Regatta, Quintin Head, Hammersmith Women and Junior’s Regatta, Twickenham regatta, Teddington SBH and Putney Town regatta.

Three boats raced the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race in March 2011 on the river Thames, finishing 25th, 130th and 288th.

The squad is made of three groups – a senior squad, an intermediate squad and a development squad.

We are always welcoming new members and July/August/September is usually a great time to join.

Senior Women’s Squad

The Senior Women’s squad at Putney Town Rowing Club is a friendly group with a mix that of rowers from UK universities, regional clubs and home grown successes from our ongoing beginners’ courses.

The 2010/11 season has been the most successful for the Putney Town women in recent years. The squad was coached by both Martin Gough and Chris Carlson. Starting with wins at the Teddington SBH, the squad continued with strong results in the Fours Head, a win in the Quintin Head and the Hammersmith W&J’s Head.

A 25th position in the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race was the highlight of a very strong winter season. This success was carried in to the summer season, which started with a win of the WIM28+ event at Wallingford regatta at Dorney Lake, Eton, Windsor and was followed by second places in WIM28+ and WIM18+ at the Met regatta.

In addition to these events, Henley Women’s Regatta and the British Rowing Championships are key events for the squad during the summer rowing season.

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 / heavyweight women and following the success and growth of the Club, it yearly makes new investments in equipment.

The training structure 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 ongoing physiological improvements.

The women’s squad holds an 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.

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

Intermediate Women’s Squad

Our Intermediate Women’s Squad is a group of about 20 women coached by Gary Lovejoy and Emma Wells. The group is formed by those wanting to train competitively, but who perhaps have limitations based on time commitments, or other interests and women developing from our beginners courses.

2010 the squad has picked up a wins at novice and IM3 levels in 8s and 4s. The training structure is similar to that of the Women’s Senior Squad but with more emphasis on technical improvement during the water sessions and slightly less emphasis on the fitness training.

We welcome new rowers to our Intermediate group on a regular basis.

For further information, please email Elizabeth McLoughlin, Women’s Captain at womenscaptain@putneytownrc.co.uk.  We look forward to hearing from you

Development Women’s Squad

Following on from the highly successful Putney Town beginner programme for rowers, our Development squad captures the graduates from this course with an ambition that a majority of the squad will lose its novice status within 12 months from starting rowing. Coached by Suzie Fairley and Laragh Walton, the 2010/11 Development Squad has been very successful, picking up its first novice win at the Twickenham regatta.

If you have been rowing previously but feel that it was a long time ago or you did not have a chance to fully develop your skills, please contact Elizabeth McLoughlin, Women’s Captain at womenscaptain@putneytownrc.co.uk to discuss if you would be suitable to join our Development Squad.