WinTech Racing International 4x
If you think about the best schoolboy sculling centres in the UK over the past decade, there are a few names that immediately come to mind. Sir William Borlase and their three wins in four years in the Fawley Challenge Cup from 2012 to 2015. The Windsor Boys School and their remarkable consistency at the summit of schoolboy sculling. And then, Claires Court School (CCSBC).
Ever-present with the big boys since re-emerging on the scene in 2013, the club has a proud history of launching young athletes into the national and international rowing community. The club was founded in 1985 and row out of Maidenhead Rowing Club, nestled in the Thames Valley. It’s an ideal location to produce a conveyor belt of sculling talent; the club have had numerous athletes represent Great Britain and have also collected three Fawley Challenge Cup trophies (two in association with The Windsor Boys School) in their 37-year tenure.
The quickest acceleration of the CCSBC program has come in the past decade, after Tom Jost and Chris Clark took over the program in 2012. The club’s first appearance as a complete CCSBC unit at the Henley Royal Regatta was in 2013, after a stellar season for their J16 cohort. Although they exited in the first round, it set their stall out as a club to watch.
CCSBC’s program is built in cycles, with development years beginning at J15/J16 level so that those athletes can pass through the program with every intention of winning national silverware when they reach J18. The club’s crowning glory came in 2016, when they not only won the Fawley Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta but also secured the historic ‘Triple Crown’ – winning the boys quad title at both the Schools’ Head of the River and National Schools’ Regatta alongside their Henley triumph.
Like the boys, the girls are following a similarly patient, well-thought-out approach. Last year saw the club qualify their first female junior crew for Henley Royal Regatta whilst they won a silver medal in the double at the National Schools’ Regatta. Although the boys program is a little way ahead in terms of maturity, the girls squad are benefitting from the same impressive coaching regime and results are already beginning to show.
Entering 2022, as the world steps carefully out of the COVID-19 quagmire, there is perhaps nobody better suited to lead the club forward than a sculler who rose up the ranks to win Henley in 2016 in a CCSBC vest. Alex Richardson, who featured in every HRR CCSBC quad from 2013 to 2016, took over from Tom Jost at the beginning of the 2021/22 season and is already preparing his squad for a busy summer of racing. “We typically have our four fastest athletes in the quad, with a view to settling in the top three or four boats in the country,” explained Alex. “The eight is our second crew and is set up with the target of qualifying for the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup and potentially making it through a round or two”.
WinTech Racing have partnered with CCSBC for several years now, stretching back to Tom Jost’s takeover of the program. Although the club have several different brands in their boathouse, Alex described our shells as the backbone of the fleet. “Simply put, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do without the help and support of Oarsport and WinTech Racing,” he said. “We won the 2016 Schools’ Head of the River in a WinTech Racing International and they’re just phenomenal boats. Our whole squad train and race in their singles, doubles and quads throughout the season”.
For this season, Alex feels the club and current cohort are in a good place. COVID-19 disrupted their cycle of growth, after a very promising 2019, which meant 2020 and the possible culmination of years of hard work was ruined. The club are back on track now though and mixing it up with the top schoolboy quads again. “We’re really excited for the summer and I think we’re capable of having a strong season, in both the eight and the quad,” said Alex. “Critically, the depth is there and I’m hopeful that we’re going to be able to boat not only a highly competitive quad but perhaps one of the fastest eights CCSBC has ever backed”.
With multiple athletes, boats and priorities to juggle, Alex knows he can rely on the support and service of Oarsport and WinTech Racing. “They’re really responsive,” he commented. “Whenever we have an issue or a question, Andrew always responds incredibly quickly and is full of helpful recommendations and suggestions”.
Some might say that the golden years of CCSBC are behind them. A Henley win, backed up by a remarkable Triple, alongside another Fawley Challenge Cup final berth in 2017, represents a pretty lofty goal to match let alone exceed. But, as is so often the case in competitive sport, success breeds success. Tom Jost and Chris Clark put the club firmly back on the map. Alex Richardson wants to be the man to take them forward to greater, brighter, silverware-laden heights – and WinTech Racing are excited to enable that journey.
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Rowing doesn’t have to be the preserve of the wealthy and elite. It’s a credo that we on the circuit should live by more forcefully and one that has gone into creating a number of new programs whose focus is on leveraging the incredible talent pool available in more socially and ethnically diverse communities. It’s also a philosophy, from an educational perspective, that went into the creation of Mossbourne Community Academy, a coeducational secondary school situated in leafy Hackney – one of London’s poorest boroughs. Founded as one of the first City Academies in the UK, the school is funded by the Department of Education and independent of local authority control. Designed to bring the glamour and privilege of a private education system without the eye-watering fees, Mossbourne has regularly been lauded as one of the top-performing inner-city schools in the country.
Which is where rowing arrives on the scene. When the school was in its infancy, then principal Sir Michael Wilshaw saw rowing as critical to building the school’s image and reinforcing their status as a premier academic institution. The rowing program has already garnered a fair amount of national coverage – not least from The Times as recently as a few weeks ago – and now, under the stewardship of former Leander athlete Tom Wilkinson, the school is beginning to make larger and larger waves on the domestic circuit.
And this is where we return to how and why rowing does not need to have financial barriers to entry. The sport is already encumbered with numerous stipulations – including the need to be of a certain height and frame to increase the likelihood of success – so we should be making strides to remove those barriers within our power. Mossbourne provide a free at the point of access rowing program to pupils across all years; boats, equipment, clothing and travel is all paid for by the school, with charitable support from foundations, corporate sponsors and individual donors, allowing children to experience the benefits of our sport without the burden of substantial bills.
Tom, who was previously Head of Rowing at Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School (an experience he describes as “miles apart” from his current posting) is focused on driving positive outcomes for the school’s broader mission statement. “The diversity we have in our squad is so different to any other rowing club in the country,” he explained. “If you look at British Rowing as a whole, around 4% are from BAME backgrounds whereas at Mossbourne we have BAME representation of well over a third”.
You’d be forgiven for attending a rowing event in the UK and not spotting a single competitor, supporter or coach who was not white. “I feel like we’re trying to change the perception of our sport,” said Tom. “We’re attending more and more events and getting more and more attention from different parts of the community, and I like to think that’s driving positive change”.
For those who have read anything about WinTech and the work we do to enable rowing as a sport for all, it will be very apparent why Mossbourne are such a natural fit for us to work with. The school had never previously owned a boat until they bought one of our WinTech International eights – the very same shell that, on its debut, carried their J15 boys to victory in the First Eights category at the Schools’ Head of the River.
“The shell is amazing,” said Tom. One day, I jumped in a WinTech and went sculling with another coach. He used to beat me regularly but I had an amazing row that afternoon, came out on top and decided to try them more regularly from then on in”.
After taking delivery of the eight, Tom debuted it in winning style and was effusive in his praise for the support and aftercare provided by WinTech Racing’s UK Dealer Oarsport. “Jack and Andrew are fantastic,” he said. “Whenever I have an issue, they’re on the end of the phone. If I need a new part, it’s in the post and in my letterbox within a couple of days. I’d never had that type of service before and it has really impressed me”.
Although this is just the start of our relationship with the school, they’re a blueprint for how rowing can be mobilised to create vast opportunities for people who may not ordinarily get access to the sport. The results are beginning to speak for themselves; after very strong showings at both the Schools’ Head and the Oarsport Junior Sculling Head, Tom has his sights set firmly on representation at the National Schools’ Regatta and, for the more senior boys and girls, Henley Women’s and Royal Regattas.
Mossbourne named their eight ‘No Excuses’ – one of three principles the student body live by. It’s a moniker that fits well into the context of competitive rowing – with the right amount of effort and a tenacious attitude, one can achieve whatever they hope to, provided there are no insurmountable barriers blocking the path to progression. Mossbourne are tearing down those barriers one by one and we’re excited to support them on their journey.
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It’s a telling indicator of the quality of a rowing program when the name commands respect and admiration beyond the region or even country it operates within. That is the level of pedigree Oakland Strokes have attained since inception in 1974, in no small part due to the numerous national titles, internationally renowned ambassadors and invites to the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta in London, UK.
Nestled on the West Coast of the USA, tucked inland by the San Leandro Bay, Oakland Strokes are one of the foremost junior rowing institutions in the country. They operate a roster of around 180 students from across the Bay area and consistently place and win at regional, national and world championships. Critically, they are a non-profit club, whose focus revolves around teaching rowing to the youth community of Oakland and the surrounding areas. They offer need-based scholarships for all their squads and have developed a community outreach program by which they reach out to local organizations to find individuals who will benefit from their club.
They are also ‘no-cut’ – their mantra is if you can make it to practice, you can be on the team. Inclusivity and community lie at the very heart of what Oakland Strokes are trying to achieve and they’re a shining embodiment of how powerful the combination of high performance and strong, people-focused values can be.
At Wintech, we’d be hard pressed to find a club who mirror our mission statement of rowing for all quite so accurately. If you take the history of Oakland Strokes, our relationship with them is in its nascency and born out of the club’s desire to replace an ageing fleet with cost-effective, high-quality shells.
“As you can imagine, we were buying for our Varsity Eights and then letting the boats trickle down through the system until they turn to dust,” explained Dana Hooper, Executive Director at Oakland Strokes. Dana has been with the program since 1990 and has coached crews to numerous regional and national titles. That means he’s also watched his fair share of boats slide into redundancy. “I remember we loaded up a trailer for summer camp a few years ago and every boat, across basically 11 or 12 eights, was built before the year 2000. We sort of realised that because we were purchasing bigger, heavier shells for Varsity crews, these boats weren’t suitable for younger athletes by the time they reached them”.
Oakland realised they needed more flexibility in their approach to boat procurement and so turned to Wintech, where our varying construction grades across a range of dynamic designs made us an obvious choice. “With Wintech, we’ve been able to adopt a model where we can buy a boat that is specified for the Freshmen or Sophomore class, as opposed to a one-size-fits-all approach,” said Dana. “Sometimes we’re reaching for the moon and buying their top boat whereas on other occasions we can get more of a club-style product that services our needs far better than an aged, oversized shell”.
Another challenge all boat clubs have faced in the past two years was the pandemic-induced need to shift from bigger boats to socially distanced singles. Oakland Strokes came to Wintech to buy a fleet of 16 singles, so they could adapt their programming throughout COVID-19, and we were able to support Dana and his athletes by facilitating this transition in an efficient and cost-sensitive way.
Dana was also quick to comment on the quality of the service. “Wintech are great problem-solvers and are usually on hand to support, service, maintain on any asks we might have,” he commented. “Half of my calls to Wintech are posing questions, to which the team always seem to have the answer”.
A club who have enjoyed as much success as Oakland might be forgiven for designating their five-year plan as ‘more of the same please’. Dana, though, isn’t resting on his laurels. “Our high-performance program is going really well but I’d love to see our community efforts come to fruition,” he said. “It would be amazing to watch an athlete from the outreach we do mature through the system and race in our Varsity Eight at the highest possible level. As a community boat club, we exist to enable young people to access the very best rowing-related opportunities and that is our focus right now”.
Although our relationship with Oakland Strokes is stretching in its infancy, we couldn’t be more excited to watch it flourish and grow.
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Is there anything better in sport than a comeback? The greatest returns mark timelines, define teams and signal turning points, for better or worse, in careers, chronologies and communities. Rowing is no stranger to the bug – think Helen Glover returning to take on a third Olympics, Greg Searle straining every sinew to clinch bronze in 2012, 20 years after first winning gold, or even Hamish Bond coming back to the sport to secure a third consecutive gold medal after spending years on a bike instead of on the water.
But what about comeback stories that feel closer to home? Perhaps one of the most profound of all is that of Nottingham County Rowing Association (NCRA), a bastion of elite rowing in the Midlands during the final two decades of the 20th century. Founded in 1981 by members of local Nottingham schools and rowing clubs, the organisation was driven forward by Freddie Brooks, President of the club and a former local oarsmen and coach.
International success quickly followed – numerous NCRA athletes went on to compete at European and world level and Olympians sprang forth in 1984 at the Los Angeles Games. Over the following 25 years, the club enjoyed remarkable success and established itself as one of the foremost centres of rowing in the country; over 200 athletes won international vests, in lightweight men, and women’s events, Junior, U23, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games. They also won an impress 23 Henley titles in 25 years!
And then, in 2006 and almost as quickly as it came, NCRA was gone. Funding ran dry and the club was forced to close its doors, for what many believed would be the last time.
Nottingham and the surviving local clubs continued to supply athletes into the upper echelons of rowing throughout NCRA’s absence but the glaring hole in the local community did not go unobserved. In 2016, after a decade away, the club was reborn and immediately set about rediscovering its seat at rowing’s top table.
Led by Declan Gamble, the club has already enjoyed success across the junior ranks over the past few years, including medals at the National Schools’ Regatta, the National Junior and Senior Championships and representation on the GB junior team at the World Championships in 2017.
“We had to play a bit of a waiting game to get it all approved by the various authorities,” explained Declan. “We raced under Beckett RC for a year and then the British Rowing Junior Championships was our first competition as NCRA. I think we picked up bronze in the J18 Women’s eight, which was a pretty good re-introduction”.
If it wasn’t obvious enough already, this club represents a fantastic partner for WinTech and an incredible opportunity for us to build strong relationships and enable the next generation of talent to pursue their rowing-related goals in our boats.
Through 2018 and 2019, the club were based out of two bays at Holme Pierrepont with a largely female junior squad before COVID hit in 2020. As they grew longer legs, juniors who matured became NCRA senior squad members and the club grew. “We actually gained quite a few members through lockdown,” said Declan. “Coming out of that period, we now have a pretty competitive junior and senior squad, which should put us in a good position for the summer”.
The club’s mantra, largely led by Declan, Ian Wilson and a tight-knit group of coaches, is to train athletes in single sculls through the winter before bringing them together in the summer in bigger boats for a tilt at national and international glory. “We’re very focused on trying to keep a competitive squad of athletes together,” said Declan. “We’re not really a club, in the tea and cake sort of way – we’re still just two concrete bays at the bottom of a lake. We just want to drive performance and help our athletes achieve their goals”.
So, how does WinTech fit into all of this? “Frankly, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do without the support of WinTech,” explained Declan. “We’ve got to the point where we’ve started to encourage people to buy WinTech if they want to purchase their own boat. Their support and service are always first-class, and our entire fleet of crew shells are WinTechs so it reduces chopping and changing”.
Olivia Bates, a name that has become almost household in the UK rowing community, is a great example of the quality of athlete to emerge from the NCRA ranks. “Liv was using a standard lightweight single before Andrew MD from Oarsport (WinTech Racing UK Distributor) asked if she wanted to use the super lightweight shell because he thought she’d go even faster in it,” said Declan. “WinTech loaned her that shell throughout her season, at Henley Women’s, Henley Royal and the Europeans and they were right – she did go faster”.
Our approach to clubs is predicated on flexibility and we want to encourage those who show potential to reach their ceiling and smash right through it. NCRA’s work to rise from the ashes and develop a program that exists to promote rowing in the local community is why we’re so proud to support their ongoing journey and look forward to watching from the bank as they collect silverware, smash records and help people achieve their sporting dreams.
Nottinghamshire Country Rowing Association are always looking for new members to join the squad and are offering taster weekends. For more information get in touch with Head Coach – Declan Gamble here.
Come and join #TeamWinTech today! Our value goes beyond that of just a great product for a great price. Our sales advisors can help you put together an equipment buying strategy with finance and leasing options to help work your budget harder and smarter.
Wintech Racing have a long and proud history of partnering with some of the finest rowing clubs and schools in the world. Our commitment to authenticity and character means we’ve got a track record of identifying and backing programs that deliver rowing for all, right across the world. In the US, our platform is perhaps greater than anywhere else but our focus on enabling rowing across all age groups and ethnic backgrounds continues to guide our strategy.
That is why Cincinnati Junior Rowing Club have represented a perfect customer and partner for numerous seasons. They are a competitive rowing team, open to any high school student in the greater Cincinnati area. Located in Newport, Ky, the club has both boys and girls’ teams, totaling around 130 rowers from area schools. Since its inception in 1993, the club has enjoyed remarkable success at both regional and national level right across the USA; CJRC have collected 20 team championships for both boys and girls teams at the Midwest Junior Rowing Association competition alongside over 30 medals at the National Championships.
Perhaps most significantly, numerous athletes have gone on to compete on the international stage, broadening their careers and amplifying the sport of rowing in a manner consistent with the aims of Wintech Racing.
Greg Hull, Director of Rowing and Varsity Boys Coach, has been involved with CRJC for many years. “We’re a competitive team, first and foremost,” he explained when catching up with us earlier this month. “If you join the squad at CJRC, you’re going to race. We get kids from all over Cincinnati which is a great reflection of how far we’ve come, considering rowing isn’t a huge sport in this area”.
The club typically plays host to around 130 rowers with an aim to achieve gender parity. “At the moment, there are more girls than boys in the program,” said Greg. “With the advent of Title IX and the opportunities for collegiate women’s rowing in the US, girls in our sport has become absolutely huge – which is really awesome”.
It is clear from even a cursory glance at the club’s website that they come prepared to envelope the sport of rowing in local communities and offer any athlete, regardless of background, the chance to get out on the water. Wintech have provided boats for the club for several years now, from beginner shells to craft that carry their inhabitants to victory on the grandest of stages.
“We had a few relationships with various boat-builders earlier on in our program,” explained Greg. “We worked with Quantum (now defunct) who used Graeme King’s design with modern materials. After they went down, we were basically struggling to find boats but began with Wintech around 2012 when they first started selling the King Eight”.
CJRC were one of the first junior programs in the US to use Wintech shells but the first few purchases only whet the appetite for more stock. “We had a boathouse full of shells made by companies that no longer existed,” laughed Greg. “We were struggling to find parts to fix and replace and realised we basically needed a new fleet that was well made but reasonably priced”.
Greg undertook a roadshow of conversations with various manufacturers but could not find a supplier who were willing to approach a fleet procurement with purchasing and lease agreements in the frame. Until he met Wintech. Our flexible approach was unique at the time and sought after by numerous companies and it is flattery of the highest order that the partnership we struck up with Greg and CJRC is now far more common across the rowing world.
“It’s been an amazingly positive journey with Wintech,” said Greg. “It let us take an ancient collection of boats and turn it into a homogenous fleet that share parts and are viable right across the spectrum of ability, which is critical to how we run our program”.
CJRC will undoubtedly continue doing remarkable things – their focus on transforming young people into refined athletes who can make the next step to national teams or leading collegiate programs is something that resonates with the core values of our sport. Wintech Racing are excited to continue to partner with them every step of the way.
Come and join #TeamWinTech today! Our value goes beyond that of just a great product for a great price. Our sales advisors can help you put together an equipment buying strategy with finance and leasing options to help work your budget harder and smarter.
You’d have to go a long way in the rowing community to find someone not yet familiar with the remarkable work of Fulham Reach Boat Club (FRBC). Despite the fact that the club was only established in late 2014, it has established itself as a key advocate in the fight to diversify and extend our sport to the farthest reaches of the United Kingdom.Seven years ago, Oarsport (UK dealer for WinTech Racing) delivered FRBC’s first fleet of boats to club CEO Steve O’Connor.
Created as collateral from a planning agreement between St George PLC and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (LBHF), the original contract allowed St. George to build 744 luxury flats in return for building and funding the launch of a new community boat club. Steve O’Connor, former Captain at London Rowing Club, was brought in to devise the strategy around what FRBC could and should become.
FRBC required a fleet of boats that would appeal to a cross-section of rowers from beginners right through to experienced racers looking for results on the water. They also wanted to work with a supplier who would facilitate and help manage a longer-term relationship in the knowledge that the club required a comprehensive fleet replacement plan as well as regular service and maintenance availability given the numbers they wanted to get on the water.
This is where Oarsport & WinTech Racing came into the picture. Our scale, reputation for durable long lasting boats at fair prices along with our strong support for grassroots rowing communities in the UK meant we knew from the outset that the project Steve was building was something that we needed to play a role in. This along with our world-class customer service and athlete-orientated approach put us in prime position to cater for all of FRBC’s needs and they subsequently went on to purchase a full fleet of the following to get the project off the ground.
Reflecting back, it is hard to conceive just how far Steve and his team have brought the club in such a short space of time. Just recently the club took delivery of a second similar sized fleet of boats. The opportunities that FRBC have provided for thousands of local school children simply would not have existed were it not for the tireless commitment and broad strategic vision of key FRBC stakeholders and supporters. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, FRBC were able to help every state school in the LBHF get some level of access to the river, something that is widely thought to be a first in the UK.
The figures speak for themselves. Between September 2019 and March 2020, the club played host to a thousand participants from 10 schools – 61% were female and 53% were Black, Asian or a Minority Ethnicity. As for their experiences passing through the FRBC doors and out onto the glistening waters of the Thames, 91% enjoyed the course, 78% felt more confident on the water and 67% would love to continue rowing.
Steve and his team have created a simple framework for measuring success – they want to provide access to rowing for a cross-section of the local community, especially those who are most in need because of financial hardship or social circumstance, and help them realise their full potential both on and off the water.
‘Boats not Bars’, the newest initiative to cross the FRBC threshold, is championed by double World Champion, Imogen Walsh. The program is focused on delivering rowing-related sessions at local prisons and then offering free memberships at FRBC to the participants on their release. The effect is clear to see – several of the graduates have gone on to become coaches at FRBC.
It goes without saying that our support for FRBC is something we’re immensely proud of. They’ve achieved something that represented a first in our community and our country and the precedent they’ve created can now be replicated in other under-served areas of the UK.
“FRBC has a vision of ‘Rowing for All’ and the WinTech fleet and Oarsport team have been a key part of us being able to deliver this,” explained Steve”. From our first conversations through to our initial fleet delivery and beyond to the latest second fleet of boats, the working relationships we have in place have meant that we have been able to provide for both competitive rowers and beginners in the sport at the same time with a competitively priced fleet and great after-sales support.”
FRBC are a standing example that we can and should actively work to change the face of our sport. “We want to expand our impact,” said Steve. “Our vision is to open up the river to thousands more young people. Ideally this would be via a second site but we’re looking at any and all ways of making it easier for people to get out on the water”.
Continued success for FRBC seems a guarantee – and we’re hoping to be with them every step of the way.
Come and join #TeamWinTech today! Our value goes beyond that of just a great product for a great price. Our sales advisors can help you put together an equipment buying strategy with finance and leasing options to help work your budget harder and smarter.
It’s like the slow burn of a pink dawn after a long night. The stirrings and murmurings of something returning. Something good, powerful, exciting – and new.
In the rowing community, we’re not immune to the intangible energy coursing through the country. COVID-19 laid the world low and stole away our liberties in the most brutal fashion. The simple pleasure of taking a single scull out on flat water at sunrise never felt as far away as it did at the turn of the year.
The return of Henley Royal Regatta is perhaps the unspoken, untendered, unregulated vaccine that we all need. That famous old battleground, nestled in the sprawling English countryside and resting on nearly 200 years of tradition, welcomes competitors and spectators back in a few short days’ time, after over two years in the cold.
It’s fairly easy to see why we’re excited. Henley Royal Regatta represents the best of our sport on and off the water – a quasi-world cup in terms of calibre, all fettered and fitted into one-on-one racing on the straights of the Thames. Off the water, it’s a festival of colour and culture – and 2021 promises to double up as a long overdue celebration.
Of course, it’s easy to enjoy the event when you enjoy a special relationship with one of the most successful competitors of recent times. The Windsor Boys School (TWBS), led by Mark Wilkinson, have won two of the past three Fawley Challenge Cup titles and currently hold the course record established in 2018 (6:27).
We’ve enjoyed a phenomenal relationship with Mark and his team since 2013, when The Windsor Boys School were seeking a new supplier of racing boats and equipment. As a leading proponent of the junior rowing community, it was clear why we were a fit for TWBS on paper – but the synergies have only grown as our cooperation has extended across boats, repairs, support and service.
The following successes achieved on the domestic scene by TWBS came as no surprise to us. Mark’s incredible eye for detail and approach to speed reaps results and TWBS crews have gained national titles at the National Schools’ Regatta and the British Rowing Junior Championships (as recently as a few weeks ago in the latter’s case). Mark and his team have a remarkable, largely unsung ability to develop and nurture class after class of young schoolboys from dreamers to winners on the grandest of stages.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this group of young athletes is their resilience and whole-hearted belief in the program. In 2014, TWBS lost in the final of The Fawley Challenge Cup. They learned and returned, stronger. In 2016, again, the bitter taste of a final defeat to Claire’s Court School galvanized the next generation of rowers to step on.
And that’s how we find ourselves, eagerly awaiting the outcome of yet another Henley battle for the Fawley Cup title among the best of schoolboy scullers. Such is the strength of the program that even after a silver medal at the National Schools’ Regatta in May, most of the rowing community knew that TWBS quads only get faster as the season goes on.
A truly exceptional group of young people cannot succeed without the right infrastructure to back them up. That is where we at Oarsport (WinTech Racing’s exclusive UK dealer) come in. Rewind to 2013 where TWBS were in desperate need of replacing an ageing fleet of several different makes and a plan was put in place to streamline these obvious shortcomings to one realistically priced brand. Together, we embarked on a new purchasing approach – without breaking the bank and protecting the future direction of the club.
WinTech Racing Cobra 4x Testimonial: Mark Wilkinson – Director of Rowing – The Windsor Boys’ School Boat Club
As of today, we have supplied over 40 boats for Mark and his squad, ranging from singles for the long-distance winter morning sculls to top-of-the-range Cobra racing boats, designed with a sole purpose – to support their incumbents to victory at the summit of junior rowing.
WinTech Racing’s mission has always been to promote the growth of rowing by making it easier and more affordable to buy quality shells that improve performance at all levels. In TWBS, we believe we’ve found the perfect partner to embody our operating principles.
On the eve of Henley Royal Regatta 2021, TWBS will be under no illusion about the scale of the challenge that lies before them. Stiff competition is expected from current holders Leander Club alongside a very smart outfit from The Tideway Scullers School. Crews from Lea, Henley and Wallingford will also form obstacles that TWBS must overcome if they’re to prevail on those dappled, sacred waters. Uno animo (with one spirit) is the school’s core value, something that emphasizes the importance of teamwork, ambition, determination and leadership – all values that are intrinsic to sporting excellence.
We cannot wait to see the crews put that into action on the Henley stretch and wish all athletes and coaches the very best of luck!
Come and join #TeamWinTech today! Our value goes beyond that of just a great product for a great price.