The University of Essex Rowing Club (UERC) was established in 1995. We are a diverse and friendly club with squads for experienced men and women and an active novice program for complete beginners. We encourage everyone to come and give rowing a try and if it isn’t for you, have a think about joining as a cox!
The club competes nationally in both British rowing and BUCS events including the major Tideway head races and BUCS regatta. Closer to home, we also race against the University of East Anglia in the annual Derby Day boat race.
Water training is based at Ardleigh Reservoir, approximately 10 minutes from campus, under the guidance of head coach Tony Moule. We have our own fleet of sweep boats as well as a small provision for experienced scullers. In recent years, we have developed links with the Sudbury Rowing Club. As well as regularly hosting our winter training camp, Sudbury offer us the support of coach Mike Arnott and many of members have gone on to join them over the summer or once they have completed their studies. The club also organises an annual training camp to Henley which is kindly hosted by Upper Thames Rowing Club in preparation for BUCS regatta. Off the water, fitness training is largely based at Evolve gym on campus. The intensity of training varies depending on the squad but consists of a mixture of water training, circuit training, ergs and weight sessions.
As well as training we still like to show we know how to have a good time! We are always well represented in fancy dress at Sports Fed every week and have many formal events throughout the year.
Although primarily set up by students for students, UERC also offers adult membership to the general public. As one of the only rowing clubs in Essex, we hope this will benefit the local community by making rowing accessible and enable the club to grow and develop faster.
We hope to see loads of new faces at this year’s Fresher’s fair on and Come and Try events. Check out our website, social media pages and don't hesitate to get in contact if you have any questions!
Regular Meeting Times, Socials, Events
Men and women train differently within the club as training is set by the team's respective captain. Training is a compulsory part of being in the club, and members will not be allowed to race without attending both water and gym sessions. We expect you to train hard because we want to know that everyone is giving everything they've got when we race - but don't worry, we celebrate our hard work too ;)
Please note that training times are reasonably flexible depending on crews, training sets, events and weather. Your captain will make teams aware of training. Events take place throughout the year on various weekends.
**Make sure you join the facebook page of your team (men/women) because that's where all the training will be set!
Men's Training:
Monday - 06:30-08:00 - Water Session
Tuesday - 18:00-19:00/19:00-20:00 - Gym Session
Wednesday - 06.30-09:00/09:00-11:00 - Water Session
Thursday - 17:00-18:00 - Circuits
Friday - 18:00-19:00/19:00-20:00 - Gym Session
Saturday - 07:00-11:00 - Water Session
Women's Training:
Monday - 06:30-08:00 - Water Session (and/or Gym)
Tuesday - 07:30-09:00 - Gym session
Wednesday - 06:30-08:30/09:00-11:00- Water session
Thursday - 17:00-18:00 - Circuits (or gym in own time)
Friday - own time - Gym session
Saturday - 07:00-09:00/09:00-11:00 - Water session
*Don't forget to click on the 'what's on' tab to see all of our up and coming events, inclusing come and tries, fed, and autumn races*
Social events are every wednesday and are a great place to have fun with the team after a hard day of training. We train hard, but that just means our socials are that much more rewarding!
Club Aims
The club aims to provide a fun and safe environment for people to explore the sport of rowing. From beginners to seasoned rowers, we strive to encourage members to develop their skills and confidence and, for those so wishing, to improve their fitness in the process. Our ultimate aim is to break our record achievements in various races that were only set last year and keep fielding crews that continually improve not only on an individual level but also as a team.
Club Objectives
We will be raising funds to keep the club in a good financial position and to enable us to maintain our equipment. We plan to achieve this through a range of activities from sponsored rowathons to pub quizzes. Another important objective of the club is to sustain the level of membership year on year, to ensure we not only have a dedicated committee for the future, but also have senior members passing on their knowledge to new recruits.
other info about us
Visit the UERC webpage and join the forum. One misconception in rowing is that you can only join if you are tall and strong. UERC are recruiting members of all shapes and sizes. If you don’t think you’ve got what it takes to actually row, why not join us for coxing? We are always on the lookout for individuals to complete our crews and steer us to excellent results in races and keep us in line during training.