Not many people get excited about the prospect of having drawer systems installed in their 4×4’s. Or at least, not as excited as they should be. The fact is, there are so many practical benefits to having them, as opposed to not. In this post, we’re going to explore some of them, so that you can decide as to whether or not a drawer system might be the right move for you. Quick question before we begin: are you a 4×4 owner? If you answered yes, then a drawer system is indeed the right move, however that’s not up to use! See for yourself.Continue reading
It’s no secret that trees are essential for oxygenating our environment, but it’s not just the air that we breathe, it’s the sights that we see. Trees are beautiful and are a fundamental part of our planet. They inspire us with their rich colours.Continue reading
The events of this year also hit the international rowing scene hard. The athletes were all the more looking forward to the recent European rowing championships in Poland. There the Germany eight set a special kind of record. The flagship of the rowing association in Germany won its eighth title in a row.
There has been an increase in the number of UK students expressing an interest in rowing at a U.S university since the government increased the allowable tuition in 2012. Here are some thoughts with regards to applying for a rowing scholarship in the U.S. or for a place to row at a U.S. university for anyone in the UK.
A word on scholarships
Firstly, an “Ivy League Rowing Scholarship” doesn’t exist. While Ivy League institutions (in particular, Princeton, Yale, and Harvard) sometimes aren’t blind to the students’ needs when it comes to their ability to cover their fees and issue grants (i.e. a tuition adjustment as opposed to a loan), there are no athletic scholarships. Thus, regardless of how good a rower might be, the financial burden imposed upon him by American tuition fees could still be too heavy.
How grants are determined
Secondly, as far as receiving free money, it’s a highly competitive recruitment process, for both Ivy and non-Ivy universities. The competition is based on a number of results and scores: GCSEs, SATs, national level representation experience, and a 2K ergometer score. Many Americans might prefer it to be the case, it isn’t as easy as rowing or earning a 2,000m average score when it comes to recruitment or being offered free tuition.
How grants are determined
This grant, which is awarded to students at universities without athletic aid is highly competitive, both academically and rowing-wise; perhaps less for the latter but it’s still competitive regardless of school. So those who tend to benefit from the athletic admissions process are top school rowers who may have fallen short when it came to Oxbridge standards but aren’t a million miles away from those standards. The fact that American universities emphasise the 2,000m ergometer scores during the rowing recruitment might be a surprise to some students who haven’t found the level for success in their ergo training as they have on the water.
Lesser-known programmes
Thirdly, most students should consider universities other than the big three if they have a desire to row in the U.S. This is especially the case for women, where large number of top programmes with athletic scholarships are state names universities. Further, some of these programmes may be more intense, academically, depending on the programme than more well-known universities. The majority of international students are concerned about return on investment and weigh up the benefits of a free education at top academic and rowing sources against the fact that they will be thousands of miles away from family, friends, and potential employers after graduation.
If applicable, having a plan for graduate school and/or talking to other son the rowing team as lesser known universities could be beneficial when considering whether the university could be the right one for them. Some of these universities, which might not be very well known in the UK, have fantastic records with regards to graduate admissions two programs with a first-class reputation around the world.
Sir Steve Redgrave is a former British rower who was a gold winner at five Olympic Games in a row (1984-2000). He was also the winner of three gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and nine golds at the World Rowing Championships. In fact, Great Britain regards him as their greatest-ever Olympian. The sport of rowing even recognises him as their greatest competitor in its history. He’s also the only athlete with gold medals at five Olympic games in an endurance sport.
In a 2002 survey of the Greatest Britons, Redgrave ranked at No. 36. He is among the most decorated of British Olympians after the likes of Bradley Wiggins and Chris Hoy. He has also held up the British Flag at two Olympic Games’ opening ceremonies and has won the Lifetime Achievement Award in at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year event in 2011. Redgrave’s long and exceptional career came to an end at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. But it was way back in 1984 in the Los Angeles games when he earned his first Gold medal. He won his next gold with Andy Holmes, his former partner, in the Coxless Pairs in 1988 at Seoul.
Redgrave also won gold medals in the same event with Matthew Pinsent as his new partner at both Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996. His most famous win, of course, was in the Coxless Fours at Sydney 2000. Along with Pinsent, Redgrave held the Coxless Pairs World Record from 1994-2002. As well as his success in the Olympic, and after four undefeated seasons from 1993-1996, he won a ninth World Championship Gold in 1999 in St Catherine, Canada. Redgrave was named MBE in 1987 and CBE in 1997. A year following his Sydney success, he was knighted by the Queen. He was also awarded an Honorary Degree by the University of Durham in 1996. Here are just a few of the events in which Redgrave was awarded a gold medal.
Los Angeles 1984
Also known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, this global multi-sport event took place in Los Angeles. There was just one other city interested in hosting the event but that city declined as a result of the concurrent Iranian social and political changes. By default, Los Angeles was asked to host the Games by the IOC. Los Angeles had previously hosted the event in 1932. Steve Redgrave won what would be his first of five Gold medals.
Barcelona 1992
This was the first Games to be staged in Tokyo since 1964 and the second Games in Asia, overall. It was also the fourth Games that took place in autumn.
Atlanta 1996
In 1986, the IOC voted to divide the Winter and Summer Games, which, since 1924, had been staged in the same year. Barcelona 1992 would be the last hosted in the same year as the Winter Games.
Steve Redgrave became one of a select member who had won gold at five Olympic Games in a row when he won the coxless four. The event also saw the first under 4-minute women’s relay, with the United States setting a world record.
A popular view, when it comes to rowing and British universities, is the dark blue of Oxford and Cambridge’s night blue boat battling it out for victory on West London’s River Thames. The Cambridge-Oxford Boat Race, however, is in a league of its own and athletes attend these universities solely for the purpose of rowing.
Fortunately, athletes have bona fide opportunities outside of those two esteemed institutions as there are a number of other higher education clubs that are performing very well indeed. Reading aside, each is appointed as a hub for High Performance Programmes. This means that their clubs are funded by the National lottery and have a history of training rowers who are looking to make the national rowing squad. That’s a level worthy of respect.
British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS), the UK’s Higher Education governing body, organises numerous leagues and events. The BUCS Regatta is the most respected of the BUCS rowing events, with the winner being the team with the highest number of points. However, there are a number of other BUCS events, which include the Heads of the River, the Fours and Eights Head, the BUCS Small Boats Head, and the Indoor Championship.
University rowing teams also participate in the International Universities Race, the World University Championships, the EUSA Championships, and Henley Royal Regatta. Other inter-university races include the Boat Race of the North, with Durham and Newcastle going head-to-head. Other examples of universities participating in BUCS rowing events are East London, Exeter, Cardiff, Bangor, Surry, Loughborough, Oxford, and St Marys.
University of London
Perhaps unsurprisingly, being such a prestigious university in the capital, The University of London’s boat club has put in some great performances at, not just at national level, but also the World Championships. That’s especially true in the Henley Women’s Regatta, and of its very first eight-man squad in the Head of the River Race.
Oxford Brookes University
The university’s boathouse is located at the home of the renowned Henley Regatta and downstream of a part of the river that is briefly termed the Isis and the University of Oxford boat club rows. The boat club was established in 1978. Previous members achieved gold and silver medals at the Athens 2004 Olympics, Sydney 2000, and Beijing 2008, as well as in London 2012.
Newcastle University
The Armstrong College Boat Club was established in 1911 as a club solely for men before a women’s team was introduced in the 1920’s. It competes with Durham University each year in the Boat Race of the North. NUBC has achieved some impressive success in recent times. It won the overall Victor Ludorum trophy at the BUCS Regatta in 2016 for the very first time
Imperial College London
Certainly, it was appropriate that, in 2003, Imperial College Boat Club was successful in winning the Prince Albert Challenge Cup as the university was established by the Prince in 1907. Rowers from the university have been victorious at Olympic, Under-23 International, and Senior International levels.
Rowing, also called crew, is a competitive sport that dates back to ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The boat-racing sport involves a team that works together using oars for propulsion. The boats, also called shells, are today built to be narrow and long in order to both improve speed and reduce drag.
The International Rowing Federation (FISA) governs modern races. Sanctioned crew sizes are made up of one to eight people. The two different forms of rowing are termed sculling and sweet. In sculling, an individual manages two oars while, in sweeping, each rower uses two hands to hold one oar. Those new to the sport will need to know a number of basic factors about rowing, such as crew positions and rowing equipment.
Crew position
An athlete, when deciding the right place for any crew member, may take one of two positions. One position is that of a rower, and there can be several rower positions on a larger team. The rower sits either in the front section or with their back to the bow.
In an eight-man crew, the rows are categorised again, this time between those who maintain the boat’s balance and stability, technical-class rowers at the bow, the stroke-class or stern rowers, who set the timing of rowing actions, and those in the middle, who provide the majority of power and strength. The other key position, the coxswain, who is the head of the boat.
The coxswain, also known as the cox, is responsible for motivating, steering, communicating with his teammates, and leading during the race. The cox is at the stern end where he faces the team. In some cases, however, he is sat in the bow position.
There are numbers assigned to each of the rowing crew, with the bow seat designated number one. The rower at the stern is number eight in an eight-man crew. A cox in any team with at least four men isn’t assigned a number.
Rowing equipment
A boat is dependent upon certain items of equipment in order to properly function. One of the most significant pieces of equipment, aside from the boat itself, are the oars, keg, gunwale, oarlock, rudder, seat, rigger, collar, cox box, and foot stretcher.
The rowers need the oar to provide propulsion during the race. The wide end is the key part of the oar and enters the water where it induces forward motion. The rigger and oarlock, found on the side of the boat, ensure that the car remains connected to the boat. They’re connected to the boat, in turn, by a gunwale. The oar is prevented from slipping by the collar.
The cox controls the rudder, which is found at the stern. The rudder is required for steering, while the boat is kept stable by the skeg or fin. The rowers are sat with a foot stretcher keeping their boots bolted into position. The cox uses a cox box to talk to his crew. The device amplifies the cox’s voice so that the crew can hear him.
The first boat race between the two universities took place in 1829, which Oxford won. That first contest set a precedent in the sheer amount of interest in the country. One estimate had the number of visitors at 20,000, which was four times the resident population of Henley (where the event took place). Oxford may have made a false start in the race but in the end won by multiple boat lengths.
Stephen Davis took much of the credit for Oxford’s victory. Davis, who had only a limited educational background, was now rubbing shoulders with crews that included two bishops, three deans, one prebendary, and thee vicars-to-be.
It is due to the fact that the Oxford crew was made up of four Christ Church men (and the cox) that the college’s colours were worn for the day, although they have remained the basis of Oxford’s dark blue since. In the next race, which was held in 1836, Cambridge’s boat wore the light blue ribbon that would become their own traditional hue. This was likely due to it being Eton’s colour as many of their crew had originally learned to keep good keel and feather their oars.
Stephen Davis passed away in 1837 at just 28 years of age. His 1829 boat, along with his memory, were preserved at Henley’s River and Rowing Museum. The 1836 race, which took place after a seven-year gap, had a different result, with Cambridge winning the time around, on a stretch of the Thames between Putney and Westminster. Cambridge issued the challenge to Stephen Davis before the race. Cambridge went on a run, winning the next three races.
Cambridge’s streak ended in 1842, although the following year’s race was unofficial while becoming the year that established the race as the preeminent university contest. Henley was once again chosen as the venue, which was largely based on the sheer popularity of the first Cambridge-Oxford race in 1839, along with some unofficial races that took place between colleges and crews of the two institutions in the interim.
In 1856, it was decided that the race would become an annual event (the two world wars aside). As of 2019, Cambridge has 84 wins and Oxford, 80. The first women’s race was held in 1927. Cambridge has 44 wins as of 2019 and Oxford, 30.
The race that occurred in 1843 went down in history as one of the event’s more special occasions. This was down to the fact that Oxford won despite being a man down. A highly-respected oarsman by the name of Fletcher Menzies was to assume the position of stroke but was forced to withdraw after been taken ill. There were no substitutes allowed, according to the rules, so Oxford went on to row with seven men, pulling off an incredible victory.
The race today attracts interest from all over the world in a sport with Great Britain’s men and woman consistently performing at international level. It adheres to its original amateurism intentions, with no monetary reward.
This annual sporting fixture, the boat race featuring Cambridge and Oxford, attracts thousands of spectators, with millions more watching from home in front of their television’s sets. But where did it all begin? Almost two centuries (180 years) since the very first race between the top two prestigious universities, we’re going to delve into the origins of the event.
Cambridge v Oxford is among the world’s more well-known inter-university rivalries. The two institutions have gone head-to-head in academia for hundreds of years but for more than around the last 200 years, they’ve also competed in sports, with the boat race being the most fiercely contested of all.
The academic competition dates all the way back to early in the 13th century, where Oxford\s numerous religious halls came together to establish a single university. There was an unusual catalyst for this in the form of a violent 1209 disagreement between the clerks (’scholars’ or ‘students’) and townspeople, which resulted in an exodus. A number of scholars chose not to return. Those who did return, however, had new privileges and rights, along with improved papal protection security.
Cambridge and Oxford have competed with each other for academic dominance almost since that point. It took over 600 years, however, for that rivalry to enter the world of sport. The first sporting contest was a cricket match in 1827. It wasn’t until 1829, however, later that we saw the very first boat race. A man by the name of Charles Woodsworth had a significant role to play in both.
Woodsworth and the rowing race
Woodsworth had divided loyalties. On one hand, he was a student off Oxford Christ Church but, on the other, his father taught at Cambridge. Due to the latter, he spent his holidays in Cambridge. He came up with the idea for a boat race in 1827 while with a friend from his school days on the River Cam.
Cambridge University Boat Club was founded in 1828 and with that came the very first official inter-university races to take place on the Cam.It wasn’t until 1839, however, that an equivalent university club was established in Oxford, although an eight-oared inter-university race that took place there in 1815 was the first of its kind on record.
It wasn’t that surprising then that, while Oxford representative Wordsworth was given credit for coming up with the idea, the first challenge came from Cambridge. Cambridge was seeking revenge for being outclassed in the first cricket match at Lords in 1827, although it was technically a draw due to rain. Oxford’s dominance that day was apparently largely down to the play of Woodsworth.
With Oxford lacking an official university authority on boating, Stephen Davis was thought of as being a bona fide alternative. Davis signed the response from Oxford to Cambridge’s challenges, as did Isaac King, his business partner and another boat-builder. The challenge, while accepted, came with the condition that Easter was postponed due to Oxford boat racing not commencing until June.
Rowing, sometimes referred to as crew, is a very popular sport and pastime for many. It involves using oars to propel a boat in water. Aside from pure enjoyment, there are many benefits associated with rowing, and many of these benefits are health-related. Rowing improves cardiovascular fitness, helps you achieve fitness goals, and also allows you to enjoy spending time with others. Here are the top benefits of rowing.
Full body exercise
Rowing is a low impact sport that yields high results. Rowing works the lower and middle back hamstrings, calves, glutes, and biceps. Rowing is an easy, great way to workout your whole body. Because it’s a low impact sport, anyone, no matter age or fitness level. When done properly, the rowing stroke is a very safe motion that can rarely ever result in injury. Both competitive and recreational rowing have the ability to exercise all major muscles in the body.
Great stress reliever
As with any exercise, rowing is a great way to blow off steam and relieve stress. Not only can the workout from rowing allow you to physically combat the stresses of your day, but the calming and tranquil effect associated with being out on the water, can really make a difference in your mood.
Young girls in row boat
Builds muscle strength
Rowing mainly works the quadriceps, which are the large muscles in your thighs. These muscles are used when you extend your knee, and they also serve as hip flexors, which allow you to make really powerful leg movements. As these large thigh muscles become stronger, activities such as walking, jogging, lunges, and squats can be done more efficiently and with greater strength.
Helps with weight loss
Rowing is a great way to aid in losing weight because of all the calories you burn doing the sport. Rowing combined with healthy eating can really help shred pounds as it conditions the muscles, and in return increases your metabolism. Research has shown that rowing burns more calories than biking under the same circumstances.
Promotes teamwork
Rowers who row on a team or with others must learn to work as a team. It is so important that rowers learn how to row in sync with their teammates. It’s so important to always work together with your teammates and get along so that you can focus on your sport. There’s no better feeling when you know that you and your team have played a major role in winning a match.
Rehabilitation
Since rowing is such a low impact activity, it isn’t hard on the joints. This makes it an excellent activity for those in rehabilitation. So, if you are recovering from an injury, rowing provides the best cardiovascular and muscle toning workout that can get you back to tip top shape. Rowing machines are often used in physical therapy sessions for patients to use with supervision.
Rowing clubs
There are rowing clubs that you can join, and if you’re new to rowing, it’s definitely something that’s worth considering. A rowing club will teach you how to set up your boat, how to properly row and give you other tips and tricks on balance and handling your oars. The skills and friendships that you will acquire in the club is unmatched. You’ll be more than ready when it’s time for you to row on your own. Of course, it’s possible for you to learn how to row on your own, but can be difficult and a little time consuming. Having an experienced teacher that can show you the ropes before diving in on your own is really important.
Disconnect
Rowing
Being out on the water, rowing, really allows you to disconnect from the world. You sometimes find yourself out on the water in the middle of nowhere, allowing you to be free. You’re free from phone calls, messages, e-mails, meetings, and any other distractions that may come your way. You don’t have to worry about anything in those moments and you can simply enjoy the fresh air, connect with nature and focus on getting your exercise in.
There are so many great benefits to rowing, and many of them being health-related. Rowing is not only a great way to stay physically fit, but it’s a low-impact, fun sport that can be enjoyed by many. Many people row for fun, and there’s others who row to stay in shape. I love getting out on my boat, just enjoying nature, and getting a little workout in. When I am not rowing, I find entertainment in playing some spinning games, bingo, and checkers. It’s a ton of joy and I can take my mind off of things. I feel the same when I’m out rowing. So, whether you row for fun or to stay healthy, there are many great reasons to get out there.
