Welcome

Squad members will agree that we can’t imagine life without rowing. It has given us a focus outside our day to day lives, with physical and mental health benefits, as well as new friendships. There is nothing better than a great water session after a stressful day! We are always on the lookout to welcome new members to the squad, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to have a chat about joining us 

The Women’s Senior Squad at Bedford Rowing Club focuses on more experienced athletes wishing to train hard and race, be it in a sweep or sculling boat.

Our aims are to boat some serious crews in the winter Head races, compete at the major quality regattas leading up to Henley Women’s and the British Championships, but also to make sure that everyone gets plenty of opportunities to race at their own level, with success, and have some fun along the way.

The Women’s Development Squad is a friendly and welcoming group, which includes rowers who have come up through the Explore programme and former Juniors, as well as others returning to the sport after a gap. With rowers of all ages in the squad from early 20s to fifty-somethings, we all love our rowing and have an inclusive team ethic, working hard to be as good as we can be.
Over the past year the Squad has competed at various regattas and head races, including Docklands, Milton Keynes, Northampton, St Ives, St Neots and our home stretch in Bedford, enjoying some great days with the club. For some of us these events have been a return to competition and for others an introduction to the excitement of racing and the thrill of winning.
The Squad has a dedicated volunteer coach who leads two water sessions per week, helping us to develop our technique and build stamina in preparation for racing. Squad members mainly scull, rowing in coxed and coxless quads, doubles and singles, but there are opportunities for sweep, numbers permitting. 

The Women’s water sessions take place on Wednesday evenings and first thing on Saturday mornings. These outings are followed by a drink on Wednesday evenings and coffee/tea and toast on Saturdays. This provides an opportunity for feedback on what went well and what didn’t work so well during the outing and has helped us get to know each other as a group.
In addition, the Squad follows a structured land training programme, with weekly Ergos and Gym/Weights circuit workouts. It is recognised that the amount of training Squad members can commit to will vary as we juggle work and family commitments with our rowing, however we encourage each other to try and keep on track with our training.
The land training sessions can be done as a group at the designated times on Tuesday and Thursday evenings when the Women’s Squads have exclusive use of the Ergo room and Gym at the boathouse, or remotely if that gives more flexibility for the individual. Outside designated Squad times, the Ergo room and well-equipped Gym with weights and spin bikes are available to use. 

Interested in joining our Ladies' squad? We are always happy to hear from experienced rowers; whether you are returning to rowing or moving to the area, get in touch to discuss how we can support you.

‘Masters’ is an age category. Rowers become Masters in the year of their 27th birthday.

Many of Bedford Rowing Club’s Masters have very strong rowing backgrounds, but others learnt to row from scratch at Bedford and progressed to scoop National-level wins.

Our strong and competitive core trains and races hard throughout the year – especially across the Masters C to H categories. Others row and scull mainly for fun and fitness however this is a good number of Masters athletes competing at high levels including Henley Masters and Champs year on year.

Masters rowers (known as Veterans in Great Britain until 2010) are a significant part of the rowing community. Some masters like to race while others row recreationally. In short, age is irrelevant to all types of rowing! Masters tend to row in mixed crews more often than their younger clubmates too.

Over the past 10 years or so, masters rowing has grown and changed enormously with many new rowers coming into the sport as masters after taking part in Learn to Row courses. The ranks of masters rowers also include many men and women who first learned to row when they were younger and have either kept rowing ever since or returned to rowing later in life after a break.

Rowing provides excellent all-round physical activity, which is relatively low impact and can be continued into retirement and old age. Many people are rowing and racing into their 70s, 80s and even 90s. Rowing on water is organised around rowing club whose members benefit from the associated camaraderie and companionship that maintains mental as well as physical wellbeing.  

Masters racing, using an age-related handicapping system, is often highly competitive.

Internationally, Masters rowers have an annual championships called the World Rowing Masters Regatta, which is extremely popular and lasts for four days. You don’t have to be selected to race there – it’s for club crews and scullers.

Key competitions in the masters racing calendar are the British Rowing Masters Championships which takes place annually in June and has events at different levels as well as for different age groups, the Vesta International Masters Head (March), Henley Masters Regatta (July), and the Veteran Fours Head (November). 

Many open regattas and head races also include events for masters rowers and this is where most of our crews race.

Interested in joining us as a Master? Use the email links in the relevant Men's or Ladies' squad above to contact the relevant coach. 

 There are 24 of us in the Recreational Squad at Bedford Rowing Club. We row on Monday and Friday mornings for up to 2 hours whatever the weather. We are an adult group of all ages and as the name suggests we row because we love being on the water, socialising with each other and enjoying every minute – but not competitively.  Some of us are still working, some retired, some good rowers,  some in-between and some still learning. We welcome any like minded people 

Email us to enquire about joining our Recreational Rowers group.