Rob Roy Boat Club in Cambridge hosts ‘Try Rowing Boat Race Day’ for Chesterton and Parkside School pupils

Rob Roy Boat Club will be hoping that their ‘Try Rowing Boat Race Day’ on Thursday will be the birthplace of some Olympic dreams.

Year 8 pupils from Chesterton and Parkside Schools battled it out on the River Cam, having previously held training sessions at Milton Country Park.

And it proved to be an evenly-contested event with Chesterton students coming out on top during the rowing machine relay before their Parkside counterparts got the better of them on the water.

Jo Burch, who is Rob Roy’s director of junior rowing, said: “The standard gets better year after year.

“I love seeing the pupils tackle what is a new sport for them, absolutely committing to trying their hardest. It is so rewarding to watch them meet the challenge.

“Try Rowing is a proven launch pad for national and international success. This year, we have a lad who started at Try Rowing only three years ago, who will be racing for Germany at the World Junior Rowing Championships, six former Try Rowing pupils raced this year at Henley Royal Regatta, the most prestigious regatta in the world, and 13 of the 19 members of the Rob Roy junior squad going to the UK Junior National Championships in Scotland next week started at Try Rowing. This can be where Olympic dreams begin.”

Andy Thornely, head of PE at Parkside and a former Rob Roy junior rower, added: “Pupils compete hard to be selected for Try Rowing – to be able to introduce them to a new sport which, for some of them, becomes a life-long passion, is a real privilege.”

Try Rowing is funded through a legacy from ‘Curly’ Galbraith, who started the junior rowing squad at Rob Roy many years ago.