In conjunction with British Rowing we plan to hold a regatta for those members who have come up through the recent L2R courses or participated in Tim's Improvers sessions. Stable 1, 2 or 4 man matched boats will be used and the course will follow the meadow stretch of the river next to the Club site. L2R rowers from a small number of other local clubs will also take part.

It is hoped that the event will make a pleasant change from the diet of sometimes cold and frustrating outings over the winter months and you are warmly invited to enter. Please email your names to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it in the first instance for subsequent sorting by Teresa and Tim .

We will also need helpers to ensure that the event runs smoothly and to provide light refreshments. If you can help in any way please let the chairman know.

You may also like to know that the first University Boat Race was rowed on 10th June 1829 and that one of the two founders, Charles Merivale, later became Dean of Ely. To celebrate this the following activities will take place prior to our regatta and you are most welcome to join in.

•10.30am Sung Eucharist in Ely Cathedral.
•Prior to the service 'Charles Merivale', a single sculling boat, will be placed in the Cathedral.
•During the service the Boat Race Founders will be commemorated.
•Following the service the boat will be carried down to Annesdale Quay and launched.
•'Charles Wordsworth', a matching sculling boat, will be waiting on the water there.
•Both boats will then be rowed north to Isle of Ely Rowing Club.
•Merivale and Wordsworth rowing descendants are invited to take the oars of these boats.
•Meadowland adjacent to the club site will be made available for picnicking.

Isle of Ely Rowing Club member Will King, competed in another Boat Race challenge last Saturday, just hours before the two university crews took to the water.

Whilst this year's Cambridge v Oxford Boat Race received lots of news coverage for the most dramatic and unwelcome of reasons, King and his fellow crew members from the Start team, gave the crowds a much more positive spectacle.  The Start crew, who have all been selected for possible fast track selection to the Great Britain squad, took up a challenge to race the GB adaptive coxed four over the same course.

But this was no ordinary adaptive rowing crew challenging the new upstarts.  The four adaptive rowers are members of the Great Britain's World Champion LTA (legs, trunks and arms) coxed four, which is on target for selection for this year's Paralympic Games. 

The Start team, sponsored by Siemens, comprises young and promising athletes who have been identified by the sport's 'tall and talented' selection process.  These aspiring able-bodied oarsmen are based at training centres across the country and include Will King, who is part of the Ely-based squad which trains on the River Ouse, under the watchful eye of British Rowing Coach Peter Lee.

The coach of the adaptive rowers, Mary McLachlan also has links with Ely, having been the British Rowing Start coach based in the city before handing over to Peter Lee and moving on to coach the GB adaptive rowers.

Just a couple of hours before the two university Boat Crews took to the River Thames at Putney to compete, the prospective Paralympic Games four and the Start crew put on a fine display of rowing prowess.  In a fiercely contested race, the adaptive crew finally beat the newcomers.

King, aged 20, who is studying Sport Science at Anglia Ruskin University, and who rowed in the number two seat, said afterwards, "It's been an amazing day. We've made some new friends and I think we've helped to raise the profile of both the Start Programme and the Paralympic Games coxed four."

King is aiming to qualify for the Under 23 Great Britain rowing squad next year and has his sights set on a place in the rowing squad for the next Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.  If you would like to sponsor him to help fund his demanding training programme, please contact the Isle of Ely Rowing Club.

If you have just started using your chosen username and password to sign in to the Member's Area - welcome! You are now able to view important Club information such as the Handbook, Committee minutes, etc. In addition you may add your own articles, reports etc. to the site.

Eventually this section of the website will serve as the main means of communication within the Club. It will be the home for all notices and boat bookings and for this reason you are encouraged to familiarise yourself with its workings. Should you have any apparently insurmountable problems please contact Jane Atkinson our hard working webmaster.

Isle of Ely Rowing club enjoyed a successful Cambridge Winter league with a number of wins for both the Elite men and women.

The photograph shows Ben Hicks, of the Isle of Ely Rowing Club, who is fastest sculler overall.

Fresh from her silver medal winning performance in the WJ15 quadruple sculls event at the Junior Inter Regional championships, Isle of Ely Rowing Club sculler Phoebe Bradbury, set out to show her pace in a single scull at Leicester Regatta on Sunday.