Curlew is a rowing club in East London and is open to all ages and abilities. Although very successful, with crews at Henley for 10 of the last 11 years, we pride ourselves on our friendly and welcoming atmosphere.
On a Monday night, circuit training is held at George Green’s School, based in the Docklands and Isle of Dogs area.
From early October to the end of the head-racing season - around the end of March - Curlew rents a large “Activities Hall” from the Island Sports Trust (who run the facility on behalf of George Green’s School) for an hour from 8pm every Monday evening.
There general idea is that it is a “bodyweight” class - ie. no weights are used - and a circuit is made up of about 15 stations, each involving a different exercise. There are usually three circuits in total, and the duration of the stations varies from week to week, but the total of all three circuits is approximately an hour.
Attendance is free for Curlew members and is very strongly encouraged as it provides a great opportunity to train in groups of similar ability and push each other to improved levels of fitness.
Curlew has an excellent gym which we share with Globe Rowing Club - the other member of the Trafalgar Rowing Centre. This is just next to our clubhouse, and is on the river in Greenwich.
There are eigth new Concept2 Model E ergos (which can be linked together with Concept2 Slides to get a better “feel”) and plenty of mirrors for honing rowing technique. There are also two exercise bikes and two DYNO Strength Trainers which allow for dynamic and safer weight training.
In addition to this, there are lots of free weights, benches and racks which can be used for any type of exercise.
The gym is free and available to Curlew members at all times except Monday evenings (when Globe have exclusive rights); in turn, Curlew has exclusive use of the gym on Tuesday evenings. In general, the gym isn’t too busy although in the evenings you might have to wait a short while for an ergo to become free.
There are two specific times a week set aside for training in the gym - Tuesday and Thursday evenings - as other club members will be present to help with technique or to spot.
Curlew is very lucky to have access to a state-of-the-art rowing tank at the London Regatta Centre just next to the Royal Albert Dock in London’s Docklands.
The tank is an excellent training aid as the coaches can easily wander right around the facility, observing and for fine-tuning technique from just a couple of yeards away. The tank has a pumped circulation system which more accurately reflects rowing in a boat than traditional rowing tanks which rely on the oars to circulate the water. The tank is also apparently unique in that it can accommodate 8 people in line, either in a rowing or sculling configuration. The tank is part of the London Regatta Centre.
Curlew has booked the tank for an hour on Wednesday evenings from 7pm and all members are encouraged to attend. The tank is also very occasionally used on weekend mornings when weather won't allow rowing on the Docks.
Although Curlew’s clubhouse is on the Thames at Greenwich, we do almost all of our rowing at the London Regatta Centre on the Royal Albert Dock near London City Airport.
This allows us to train in almost all weather conditions, on some of the best water in London with very few other boats around. The dock is 2,000m long, is multi-lane and has distance markers which allows us to train much more effectively over set distances and compare times to see improvement. There is a towpath for coaching from the bank, and launches can be used for even closer observation.
The facility is home to the Royal Docks Rowing Club and is occasionally also used by Queen Mary and St Bart’s but the Docks are generally free of other boats, so we can train uninterrupted. Curlew keeps a fairly large fleet of boats in the boathouse there - several eights, plenty of fours and quads, some pairs and doubles and a handful of sculls - together with a large number of oars.
Outings take place from 8am to 10am on Saturday and Sunday mornings for senior rowers, from 10am to 12pm on Saturday for novices and from 10am to 12pm on Sunday for juniors. During the summer season (from about the end of March onwards) there are also outings from 7pm to 9pm on Mondays and Wednesdays for seniors.