On Saturday 7th September, Tay Rowing Club hosted a Rowing Taster Day, offering a great introduction to the sport for 15 eager participants of all ages. The session, designed for both beginners and those looking to get back into rowing, combined indoor and outdoor experiences to give everyone a feel for the sport.

The session started with some coaching on the indoor rowing machines, where attendees learned proper technique and tips to build endurance. After mastering the basics on the erg, participants hit the water, rowing singles on the scenic River Tay. Under the guidance of experienced coaches, they had the chance to put their new skills to the test in real boats.

There was a strong sense of excitement throughout the day, with many attendees expressing interest in taking their skills further. Tay Rowing Club encouraged participants to sign up for their Learn to Row course, set to begin next spring—a perfect opportunity to dive deeper into the sport and join the vibrant rowing community.

For those looking to take up rowing, Tay Rowing Club’s welcoming atmosphere and expert coaching make it a fantastic place to start!

At the end of June, our members participated in a long-distance ergathon to raise funds for the club. The event was a huge success, and we’d like to take this opportunity to thank friends, family, and the general public for their support. We also want to express our gratitude to every member who makes Tay RC the fantastic and welcoming club it is. 🚣‍♂️🙌

A few words from our Club Captain, Lucy;

What a day! Everyone really showed up to make the ergathon a massive success whether it was through putting miles into the ergs, collecting donations on the day, helping set up and set down, encouraging family and friends to donate online and generally being amazingly supportive of the whole event. We raised our full target amount and are now in the process of researching a suitable facility for extra storage and indoor training. The club is really fortunate to have 8 ergs and a small selection of other indoor equipment to complement our water training and continue to meet up in bad weather. It deserves a space of its own so that we can reclaim our welfare unit and disabled toilet. The money raised will therefore be invaluable for the continuing development of our members. It will also allow us to continue to grow and improve our annual Learn to Row course and Junior camp. Our Just Giving page is still open and will remain so for a few more weeks. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, it means a lot and really will make a difference to the coaches and members of our club.

A few words from our Fundraising Officer, Thomas;

I’m so happy the Ergathon was such a success. The club came together brilliantly and really made sure the Ergathon was an effective fundraiser. It was brilliant to see the number of people who signed up across the club to do a stint, and I think our recent Learn To Row graduates impressed everyone with their effort and willingness to take part! Thanks to the efforts of everyone involved, we raised over £3000 for the club!
The day itself was perfect, the weather held, and it wasn’t too hot or too chilly! We had a brilliant location and were really very lucky to have had people finishing the park run and going on walks throughout the day as this really increased potential donations, and got more word out about our club!
I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who signed up to row, anyone who came along and supported, and everyone that helped organise and carry out the Ergathon to make it such a successful and fun day!

Get ready to cheer on our amazing Tay Rowing Club members as they take on a long-distance row at Bells Sports Centre, North Inch, Perth on Saturday, 29th June !
This Ergathon is not just a test of endurance and teamwork but also a fantastic opportunity to raise vital funds for our club. We need your support to keep our boats on the water and our community strong. 💪🌊
📅 **Date:** 29th June
🏟 **Venue:** Bells Sports Centre, North Inch, Perth
⏰ **Time:** All day event
Bring your family, friends, and plenty of enthusiasm to motivate our rowers as they power through the kilometres. Your presence and encouragement will mean the world to us!

Donations:  If you would like to donate, no matter how big or small, we’d be really grateful for your support.  Further details can be found on our Just Giving page at: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/tayergathon

Let’s make this event unforgettable. See you there! 🎉👊 #TayRowingClub #Ergathon #RowingForACause #CommunitySupport
P.S. We’ll be sharing our Just Giving link leading up to the event, and any donation, regardless of size, would be greatly appreciated!🙏
@tayrowingclub

The River Tay Community Sports Hub are inviting all residents of Perth & Kinross to join them on Sunday 5th May, 2024 at high tide from 1.30pm to our ‘Between the Bridges’ Event.

Visitors to the event, our second event of this kind for the Hub, can see everything that happens on the Tay, and learn more about how they can get involved.

The River Tay Community Sports HUB is a collective group of Perth and Kinross water based sports clubs along with Perth Harbour, Willowgate Activity Centre and Sea Cadets. The HUB is facilitated by dedicated Live Active Leisure Sports Development Officer, Stevie Baxter. The HUB’s aim is to bring together sports clubs and community organisations who want to develop and grow the sporting offer on and around the River Tay.  There will be paddling, kayaking, canoeing, sailing and wild water swimming all on the Tay together at high tide at 1:30pm, with an information point set up by the clubs and organisations involved, all on the High Street/Tay Street viewing platform. This year will also see the local fire brigade attend with a fire engine, the stations boat and trailer will also be in attendance where the staff from the station will be providing water safety information and some do’s and dont’s of the river.

Tay Rowing Club will also add some challenging fun to the event where there will be some indoor rowing machines on land where locals can try and row as fast as they can over a set distance, with the quickest individual on the day winning a prize.

Stevie Baxter, Sports Development Officer from Live Active Leisure, told us:

All of the clubs and people that are involved with the River Tay are so passionate about the water and we would like to share both the physical and mental benefits of being out on the water safely can do for any individual no matter if that is in the water as a swimmer or on a boat or canoe, we really do have something for everyone on the River Tay. The setting for the event is on a beautiful stretch of the river between the Queens & Smeatons bridges and want to showcase the sports and the camaraderie between clubs that share the river.

We would like to invite anyone interested in getting involved in any way with the river, to come along and spend time learning about the opportunities – for all ages and all abilities.”

In addition to learning about new club opportunities, there is also advice on using the river safely.

As the summer holidays get underway, the Hub are keen to share their invaluable website resource to inform and educate users on the dangers of using rivers as well as a signpost to clubs and organisations that use the river for their activities, with key safety information included for activities that have become popular since the pandemic, such as outdoor swimming, stand up paddle boarding and jet skiing.

CLUBS ATTENDING ARE:

Sea Cadets

Perth Sailing Club

Perth Sub Aqua

Jet-Ski Club

Tay Rowing Club

Perth Canoe Club

Carse Canoe Club

Wild Water Swimmers

Stand Up Paddleboarding

Willowgate Activity Centre

Perth Sub-Aqua Club

Fire Service

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!