Contract: 28 hours (freelance) (29th July-1st August 2024)

Location: Tay Rowing Club, PH2 8QJ

Salary: £12.75/hr

Responsible to: Project Co-ordinator

Tay Rowing Club (SCIO) is a charity and local sports group which aims to positively impact the lives in the Tayside community through the promotion of a range of accessible, affordable, and sustainable opportunities for local young people (and on occasion the wider community) to participate, coach, or volunteer in rowing and physical activity related opportunities on the River Tay.

Tay Rowing Club junior programme is supported by Scottish Rowing, the governing body for the sport of Rowing in Scotland and is assisted by a range of local partners to deliver this activity. In this exciting role, the successful post holder will have responsibility for the co-ordination and delivery of rowing coaching for the duration of this 4-day junior rowing camp on the River Tay. The post will include working with children and young people from various communities in the Tayside region.

We are seeking a dedicated, driven, and motivated individual who will be inspired to work for a charity whose aim is to inspire local young people from the Tayside area to take part and sustain their participation in rowing. Our candidate will share the view that sport has the power to change lives.

Job Description

The Coach will report to the Project Co-ordinator of Tay Rowing Club and will be responsible for delivering rowing coaching both on and off the water (on rowing machines and in rowing boats) with support from sessional and volunteer coaches. A syllabus for the 4-day junior camp will be provided.

Key responsibilities will include:

• To support the Project Co-ordinator by leading the delivery of water sports activities for children and young people.

• To support the Project Co-ordinator to promote community leadership and active

participation of the Tay Rowing Club Junior Camp whilst being a positive role model.

• To support the Project Co-ordinator to complete and provide regular monitoring and

evaluation as and when required.

• The post will require working hours of 9am-4pm on the 29th of July- 1st of August. 28hours total.

Additional responsibilities

• To respect the rights of all participants and ensure that their well-being and safety are

always paramount.

• The ability to adapt sessions to cater for various levels of age & ability and ensure all

sessions are participant centred.

• To ensure that all activities are delivered in line with Scottish Governing Body policies and

procedures, particularly Child and Vulnerable Adult Protection Policy, Water Safety and

Coaches Code of Conduct.

• To inspect all sports and activity equipment prior to and after session to ensure safe to

use and report defective equipment to the relevant organisation for repair.

Tay Rowing Club is committed to selecting staff solely based on their ability to do the job for which they are being recruited and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

This successful candidate MUST

• Hold a rowing coaching qualification

• Hold a qualification and/or have demonstrable experience in water safety (e.g., FSRT

and Cold Immersion/Capsize training etc).

• Have experience delivering safe water sports sessions

The successful candidate will be appointed subject to membership of the PVG Scheme.

Application Process:

Applicant to submit application form via: https://form.jotform.com/240915844289366

Applications for this position by Friday 26th April 2024

Interviews will be held from May 2024

For more information contact Heather McKenzie on safety@tayrowingclub.com

Well where do I start…I am actually going to say Wednesday 29th March 2023…despite this being about the Inverness Regatta on this weekend (11th and 12th  November 2023)… 

Wednesday 29th March was the start of the last Tay Rowing Club “Learn to Row” course and 5th April the first time 8 learners in that group, including myself, tentatively got into our first boat on the River Tay…..another group of 8 starting on the Saturday. 

The courses ran for 10 weeks ending officially on 31st May but with a “Graduation BBQ” on 24th June…. never at that point did I consider that in just over 4 months time I’d be attending my first Regatta as a competitor….but that is all credit to the committee and members of the club…. 

I think all learners on the course would agree that from Day 1 we were all made to feel extremely welcome and no question was too stupid or mistake too frustrating for the coaches (or at least they hid it well). 

Having never been in a rowing boat before and no, not knowing the difference between sculling, sweeping, front stops, back stops etc I genuinely felt I was learning a new language as well as a new sport…but all was explained well and still working my way through a few additional phrases that maybe don’t feature in the Scottish Rowing Dictionary… 

So as you can imagine being asked if I could help make up a ‘more senior ladies crew’ boat at the beginning of September the nerves really kicked in….still unsure that I could even row and keep myself afloat, I now had to consider I could potentially sink 3 experienced members of the club and more importantly Committe Members and those posts are difficult to fill at the best of times!!! 

Despite the setbacks with weather and scheduling personal lives we managed 3 trips out on the Tay before departing for Inverness having navigated a race licence, ordering team kit and many sleepless nights worrying about layers, timing, location and yes, still worrying about being responsible for all the possible catastrophes I had conjured up in my head associated with rowing! You’d never think I’d been trained in a previous life to deal with major incidents including firearms incidents, fatal collisions and terrorism situations….I was more terrified of ‘catching a crab’ in the Caledonian Canal…. 

The day however was amazing…. first things first our crew “TAYna Turners” did not drown…we looked the part in our team kit, started well, stayed afloat and finished….all of which I’m taking as big wins….and no we didn’t win but I genuinely had a great experience… 

The event was well organised and people so friendly and helpful….Molly from Dundee Uni Rowing Club jumped in to cox for the other crew racing that day – the “Racing Snakes” and Martin, another new member to the club but extremely experienced, helped out another team to allow them to race after one of their crew was injured…a great sense of rowing community. 

Despite our crew not putting up any strong competition (on this occasion – but watch this space!), I can seriously say on reflection it really was about the taking part….not a phrase I’ve ever used in relation to competitive sport but there is a first time for everything…we went out and took part and I certainly learned a lot… 

Paige from the club however did stick to her race plan of ‘Start hard. Go a bit harder in the middle. Finish hard’….coming away with 1st out of 12 in her first Scottish Head Race….well done! 

So the motto behind this is you think you would like to try rowing then just do it…. a great sport, a fantastic club and a welcoming rowing community!

On the 20th May Team Tay headed to their last regatta of the season- Castle Semple regatta.

There were two crews racing at the regatta in the following categories, women’s R2 double (Rogers & McKenzie) and the women’s R2 quad (Rogers, Allmand, Scott and McKenzie).

Both crews qualified for their respective finals and both finished fourth in their finals.

 It was a much more leisurely start than usual with the first race not till the women’s double at 14:05. Once arrived and boats rigged it was straight to the well stocked tea tent to fuel up before our afternoon of racing.

The first race of the day was the heat of the WR2x and with the top 2 progressing to the final the crew knew what position they needed to be. After a quick warm up to the start line Rogers and McKenzie lined up on the start excited to get the fist race of the day underway. They had an excellent start keeping up with the stand out crew from George Watson’s College and then began to lengthen out over the course. Rogers set the rating well and allowed the crew to keep the pressure on for the 1000m. GWC were pulling away by the half way point and Tay responded with a push of their own. Tay finished convincingly second in their heat, knowing they had a place in the final.

It was a quick turn around for the women’s double as the final was shortly after at 15:05.

Rogers and McKenzie lined up on the start line, one of 6 crews in the final. Feeling warmed up and ready after the last race Tay got the race underway and put in a good start. The SPRC/SUBC and GWC crews took off from the pack and left Tay battling with Dundee and SABC for the third spot. Tay maintained and even put a power 10 in to overtake the SABC crew but were ultimately just short over the line and took fourth place.

For Rogers and McKenzie it was a good race, building on their previous novice win this regatta season and their first time entering the R2 category. 

The next race for Team Tay was heat 1 of the women’s r2 coxless quads WR24x.

The crew had to finish in the top 3 to progress to the final. With that in mind they warmed up and did some last minute race starts to prepare.

The race started well with Tay RC keeping up with the pack and after some ‘long and strong’ calls from stroke finished second, safely securing their place in the final.

The final of the WR24x was the last race of the day for Tay. The crew were up against some strong competition from the universities and gave it everything they had for the  last 1000m. They finished in 4th place, beating SABC and finishing closely behind IRC/SPRC. 

Castle Semple was a very friendly and welcoming regatta, Team Tay really enjoyed their trip here and look forward to it becoming a regular feature in our regatta season.

A massive thank you to our support crew of friends, family, dogs and babies who helped rig boats, provided snacks and cheered us on from the bank!

Race 1: WNov2x

Despite leaving at the crack of dawn to allow enough time to get a trailer load of boats to Strathclyde Park before our 09:40 race, by the time we had navigated the parking, got our bow number and rigged the boat, it was a swift launch and row up to the start of the women’s novice double skulls qualifying heat.

The mild panic ensured our heart rates were up and the on-board flask of coffee was the only hydration we’d organised between us.

We had a fantastic start and a solid race, realising at the 500m mark that we had secured a top 3 placement and could ease off a little. To our left was a Strathclyde Park double that we knew we were going to have to watch out for in the final as they were not letting us get too far away.

We had a little bit of time to relax and prepare for the final and a better opportunity to realise just how choppy the lake was as we practiced some starts and pressure pieces up to the stake boats.

We tried to suss out our opposition with the Strathclyde park crew from our previous race still being the ones we had our eye on. A lovely double who had travelled all the way from Belfast were the winners of the other qualifying heat so they were next to us at the start.

Once again, our start was solid, and Heather fought the steering against the wind and kept us within our lane. As predicted, it was a race to first place between ourselves and the Strathclyde park crew and as the water got rougher, the steering got harder to manage and Heather and I made the final 200m hard work for ourselves to gain just 2 seconds on our opponents.

As we paddled on from the 1Km finish to the pontoons, chatting away to the Belfast ladies we heard cheers of encouragement from our club on the bank. We were a little confused when they told us we had come 2^nd and that we looked like we were ‘going slowly’. Turns out that they thought we were mid race as we casually paddled back to the pontoons, planning a visit to Belfast. Thank you Strathclyde Park Crabb and McGonagle for the close race. You won’t be Novice status for much longer!

Race 2: WNov4x+

The crew in Arun from Tay RC racing in the wnov4x+ category; Kilnkman (stroke), Scott, Adams and Malloch (Bow), headed by Murphy as a first time cox feeling confident after several successful sessions on the Tay were apprehensive to get the 900m time trial race started.

Some strong winds met us at the start line but after a sucesful rolling start the crew mannaged to hold strong.

Aware that the boat was quickly taking on water due to the choppy conditions the crew the crew focused on keeping together and pushing hard to get past the finish line and achevied a time which got us through to the B final.

The crew set off again but this time with McKenzie as cox. With the choppy conditions getting up to the launch point proved a challenge. After a strong push to start it quickly became aparent that the boat had lost steering so veered into the the lane to our right forcing us to have to make an abrupt stop and make the rest off the way down the course working as a crew to manovour Arun

Tay RC Arun crew thoroughly enjoyed its visit to Strathclyde Park and the members of this crew are looking forward to seeing what they can achieve at the upcoming sprint races

Race 3: W4x

The last race of the day for Tay RC was a straight final in the women’s coxless quad category. The crew consisted of Paige Klinkman at stroke, Lucy Rogers, Tara Scott and Heather McKenzie steering at bow.

The crew boated at the designated boating time but due to some capsizes in the junior single categories before them were delayed by quite some time. It was almost an hour later than planned Tay got attached to the stake boat and prepared to race the 2k course at Strathclyde Park.

The crew got off to a really quick start and were contending for first place for the first 250m. The power and skill of the AUBC university boat meant they had pulled away from the pack but Tay clung on to the 2nd place- keeping Edinburgh uni crew off for a good 800m.

The course opened up and some choppy conditions ensued in the middle section of the race but Tay kept it together and persevered. The final 500m was a chance to regain some metres on the EUBC boat and finish the race off strong. Tay pushed for the line and put it some excellent work to power the quad over the line into 3rd place.

An excellent result for the crew and club.

4 crews from Tay headed North to Inverness for the Winter Head over the weekend of 4th & 5th March. It’s great to see the club develop and have growing representation at racing events while also being a fun, social gathering for members to get to know each other better too!

A lot of pre-planning went into getting everyone there, so a huge thank you needs to go out to two of our coaches, Heather & Lucy for their continued effort.

So, on to the race reports!

WO4x boat 28…

The Tay Derby

In a year of firsts for Tay Rowing Club, a cold Saturday morning in March at the Inverness Winter Head on the Caledonian canal’s 4.75Km course, saw two TRC coxless quads battle it out in the same category.

We were told to save our competitive jibes for the water but couldn’t help getting into the spirit of the race early on with boat 26 getting their riggers bolted onto Narayan before crew 28 had fully woken up.

We put our jovial wrangles aside to help each other onto the water and each boat set off to meet again at the start. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt about TRC crews at the races we’ve entered so far this year it’s that we like to be at the start early! We eagerly awaited our competitors, boat 27, to make their way to the start so we could suss out the filling in the TRC sandwich that was soon to be making its way down the course.

The banter between our two crews continued to bob around as we waited some more until Rachel, putting her faith in her crew to hold the boat steady, stood to get the perfect selfie shot with all 8 of us. After the smiles for the camera it was race faces back on and the fighting talk started again.

Then we were off with boat 27 soon taking the lead. We would expect nothing less from a composite boat made up of the finest Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University novice rowers but we were pleased to have them out of the way; they weren’t involved in this battle – it was boat 26 that my crew wanted. I would love to pinpoint exactly when we met our match but with all focus on those long, strong strokes, holding a steady rate 26, all I know is that it took longer than we’d hoped to catch them.

Heather excelled again with some impeccable steering skills and we later learnt that boat 26 had an unfortunate altercation with a St. Andrew crew who couldn’t find a way past despite Fiona moving out of their way and giving them clear water to navigate. The extra concentration and responsibility that is placed upon our bow rowers to navigate a race course while also putting in the rowing effort should not be underestimated and both Heather and Fiona did a brilliant job.

Unsurprisingly, the composite boat came in first place with crew 28 just over a minute behind with a well-earned time of sub 20 minutes. This was one of the most enjoyable races I have entered, there was lots of laughter and some great rowing from our women’s squad.

Boat 26 – see you at the next one!

26  TayRC Rachel H., Becky, Theresa, Fiona

27 AU/RGU composite

28 TayRC Lucy, Rachel A., Tara, Heather

WO4x boat 26…

A crisp but dry morning at Inverness Rowing Club, the Narayan(spl?) crew were the first on the water to row up-to the start line.

The crew from Tay RC racing in the W4x category; Harper (stroke), Adams(Captain), Edwards and Barrowman (Bow), feeling confident after several successful sessions on the Tay were apprehensive to get the 4.75k race started.

Only three boats in the W4x category, with another crew from Tay RC the club was well represented on the Caledonian canal.

The crew was the first to set off on in the category we set off on a rolling start keeping the stroke rate low. The race motto quickly became long and strong which was the best way for this crew to take advantage of all the power in the boat.

Aware that there was only one boat between us and the other Tay RC crew we used them as a marker to push off of. As they neared to overtake Adams called for a hard push on the legs and the boat lifted on the water with the main goal being to give the other crew a hard time overtaking us.

Finally reaching the last set of overhead wires the crew tired but still remaining strong hugged the right bank in order to yield to faster boats from the categories that set off behind us.

A crew from St Andrew Boat Club were fast approaching causing Harper and Adams to shout for crew ahead that was heard all the way down the bank, St Andrew refusing to change their racing line quick reactions from Barrowman in bow saw us narrowly avoid a collision.

Tay RC Narayan crew thoroughly enjoyed its visit to Inverness setting a goal breaking time of 22 minutes and 23 seconds down the course and this strong crew are looking forward to seeing what they can achieve at the upcoming sprint races

WNov2x…

Double the fun

Our two coaches, Lucy and Heather, entered the WNov2x category at Inverness regatta on Sunday morning.

After a quick pit stop on the way up they were race ready at the start. Tay were in the middle of their category with one boat in front and one behind. After the build and passing the start line “Leather” (Lucy & Heather) went straight in with a power 20 and overtook their first crew within the first 30 strokes. From here it was just a matter of widening the distance between chasing crews.

The course passed by and Lucy set the pace from the stroke seat nice and steady, focusing on pushing with the legs.

Another 2 boats were overtaken, a masters pair and a novice four and the middle section of the course allowed them to lengthen out and enjoy the race.

The corner by the white house marked the start of the end, the final section of the course and a series of overtakes meant there were 3 boats abreast at this point- quite a tricky steering situation.Tay were in the middle at this point, overtaking a TGA pair into clear water whilst fending on a St Andrew BC double.

Tay held on and continued to push to the line, coming in with a course time of 20:19 and a first place in the WNov2x!

Thank you to Inverness Rowing Club for hosting such a well organised event and to Becky (from Tay) and Euan from DUBC for stepping in to sub in our 8!

Until the next one!

Contributor: Rachel Allmand

A grey and grizzly start to the morning at Glasgow Rowing Club brought the news that the 5.3km Head of the River course had been shortened to 3km due to swells on the Clyde making for less than favourable conditions.

The crew from Tay RC racing in the W4- category; Klinkman (stroke), Rogers (Captain), Allmand and Mckenzie (Bow), felt somewhat conflicted at the news having prepared for the long slog, however the opportunity to switch to a flat-out sprint was ultimately well received.

Only two boats in the W4- category, with a crew from Glasgow Academy fielding the other boat on the course. Glasgow Academy set off first from the rolling start, with Tay set off to chase moments later.

Quickly the crew built the stroke rate, with Rogers calling for an immediate push on the legs to get the boat shifting. Bridges fell away with Mckenzie steering the crew from the bow seat through the best lines, slingshotting the four into the fastest water across the bendy course.

The gap between Glasgow Academy and Tay RC closed significantly in the mid-section, however Glasgow Academy mustered a push to reopen the space between the two boats.

Finally, Kings Bridge appeared overhead with it an opportunity to take advantage of a decent straight stretch into the finish line. Rogers called for the rating to be brought up for the final push, with Mckenzie hugging the bank for the best line, driving the boat home for a total time on the course of 9:31.

Three cheers for the Glasgow Academy W4- for putting out a cracking time of 9.01 on the course.

Many thanks to Glasgow Rowing for the warm welcome and well organised day. Tay RC thoroughly enjoyed its visit to the Clyde.

BELLS SPORTS CENTRE, PERTH

(4 February 2023)

At the beginning of this month a few of us from Tay Rowing Club volunteered to attend a one day sports injury first aid course at Bell Sports Centre in Perth.

This course was organised through our membership of Perth and Kinross Accredited Club Excellence Scheme (PACES) and the River Tay Community Sports Hub and allowed us to secure some free spaces for our club members.

The course was delivered by Andy Gow of A.D Training and Development in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere and is geared for coaches, team first aiders, club officials and other adults involved with club sport.

I’m glad to report that we all passed with flying colours and would thoroughly recommend this first aid course to other club members.

One of the exciting developments at Tay Rowing Club this year has been the introduction of schools indoor rowing at Bertha Park High School. We were awarded a grant back in 2020 to purchase eight concept 2 rowing machines with the purpose of using them to support junior rowing. Initially these erg’s were loaned to club members for indoor training throughout covid lockdowns and now they have now been moved to Bertha Park High School in order to be used by pupils in a lunchtime club. 

The lunchtime club runs weekly and has seen lots of interest with older and younger pupils alike. The format is very adaptable and can allow for teams of four rowers to one machine so we can accommodate large groups of kids. Scottish rowing has a schools indoor league that allows schools to compete against each other and the long term aim is to get Bertha taking part in this. 

This school rowing club is supported by teachers from the school and also Tay RC members. A big thanks to Fiona and Rachel who have supported the club and volunteered their time to help run the sessions. In the long term the club will be run by the school teachers with Tay RC only needing to visit every now and then. I hope to even create a blueprint of session plans that can be replicated in other state schools in Perth (we already have Perth Grammar School interested!). 

Indoor rowing is great to get pupils involved and interested in rowing but the next step is to facilitate school rowing on the water at Tay RC by method of “come and try” sessions. There is still a long way to go before we have a junior rowing section at Tay but this is an encouraging step forward.