We are pleased to announce that the inaugural British Online Rowing Championship will take place on the 26th November.

Up to 16 competitors will be able to compete in each race, head to head live via the internet, using Digital Rowing's RowPro software.

Entry is now open at Ł5 per entry, the first 50 entries will receive one of our new Concept2 Mugs.and races will be scheduled in the days leading up to the race night.

London Youth Rowing has set the date for the next instalment of what has become, in a few short years - one of the Largest Indoor Rowing Events in the World! NJIRC2012 will be on Friday 23rd March 2012 at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre in North London.

A huge amazing venue close to the M25 and with plenty of parking to accommodate lots of coaches and mini buses and just a javelin throw from the Olympic Park in Stratford. The Lee Valley Athletics Centre is home to some of the UK's biggest Athletics stars and where they will be training to compete at the London Olympics a few months later.

It's a really exciting time to be involved in sport in London and we hope that this NJIRC will be the biggest and best yet. We hope that as many schools, groups and individuals will come down to the event in London which will be just a few short months before the Greatest show on Earth comes to town! - Matt Rostron MD of LYR and Event Organiser.

We will be announcing tons of information all the time, so keep visiting http://londonyouthrowing.com/events/njirc or email Matt direct to log your interest, we can then add you to our email list where you will receive regular updates on all the latest news, activity lists, entry details and special VIP guest that are coming along.

You can also 'friend' London Youth Rowing on Facebook or follow us on Twitter at @LYRowing be the first to hear!

Well that's week one done and dusted and I'm not sure what was going on with today's session, but I felt great!

I was planning on doing my 20min row followed by the bike and then SkiErg but at the 20 min mark I was feeling so good I wanted to go on. So todays effort was a bit off-piste from the plan but 30 mins on the rower followed by 10 on the bike and a 5 min SkiErg felt pretty good to me. It was a very nice feeling not to be counting down the minutes from the word go, I might even go as far as to say I enjoyed it! And that's after only a handful of sessions this week and last, I can see why this can get addictive!

I took some shots on my phone at the end of the session so you will see I'm not exactly motoring along, but all the same...

There was some great feedback on Twitter and Facebook regarding dieting the other day, thanks for that. On our Facebook page Deborah pointed me towards a calorie counting app for my phone and I also noticed that Livestrong.com do their own which links to their awesome database of foods and their calories. I hadn't thought of using anything like this but I've downloaded these two to see what they're like. If anyone has any experience with calorie apps or any apps/websites/tech that deal with weightloss or exercise, the geek in me would love to hear about them!

Anyway, that's week one in the bag. Woooot!

Andy

Well, day two is down. Much the same as yesterdays workout but this time I added in some stretching after the first 20min row as I really felt some tightening up. And well, I should be stretching anyway!

The SkiErg is a new one for me and I already have a love/hate relationship with this bit of kit! Man can you feel the burn and my heart rate just shoots up even on low settings, but when your using it you just know it's giving you a great core workout, even if you're not a skier.

Decided against doing a daily weigh-in, I think I'm going to need to be seeing at least a small amount of weight loss to keep my motivation up, so a weekly or possibly even fortnightly weigh-in is the plan.

Eddie kindly gave me a POWERBreathe at the end of the session I did with him and being a bit of a gadget fan I was pretty intrigued. Although it looks like something James Bond would use to breathe underwater Eddie swears by them as the only way to exercise your breathing muscles. They've got some great write-ups and it's a mere 30 breaths in the morning and 30 in the evening so I'm definitely going to give this gadget ago. I'll let you know how I get on with it in a few weeks time. Anyone tried these?

You get plenty of stuff in the box!

I've been doing some workouts over the last week or so but as today was the first workout of my blog I'm going to consider this the starting point to my new, slimmer, healthier life.

Today went to plan - 20mins on the rower, 10mins on a bike, 5mins on the SkiErg and a final 5mins warm down on the erg. All keeping HR to a steady 150-160bpm as per Eddies plan.

So that's the first session down, felt good, I need to work on my technique I think as it got a bit ropey at times and maybe set some times so I can benchmark my progress. But for now just getting in some activity feels good.

The scales at the start of the session told me the bad news that I'm currently 106kg (16st 9lbs), which is about 20kg more than I (and probably my heart) would like. So that's target number one, lose 20kg(3st)! Which should be a piece of cake (low fat of course) given some of the success stories over on the forum.

Now it's time for a ham salad sandwich and a banana for lunch.

Andy

Eddie Fletcher of Fletcher Sports Science is a good friend of Concept2 and a coach to British, European and World champions and record holders in indoor rowing as well as coaching many other sporting disciplines. So when I found out I would be passing his studio the other day I thought it might be a good idea to drop in and ask for some advice.

Little did I know when I rocked up that he'd have me rowing away while analysing the different physiological effects it was having with one or more of his very cool looking gadgets and gizmo's, it was all very scientific!

The outcome was as expected. I'm unfit, very unfit, but it wasn't all bad news there were some positives to take away such as my lung muscle strength and healthy heart response after exercising "the fitness is in there, we just need to find it!" as Eddie put it.

This is where Eddie went one step further and put together a program for me to follow which should give me a good start. All based around heart rate and getting me going rather than trying to kill me from the word go (nice of him!)

There are some great conversations going on on the forum which I'll certainly be looking at and the website has some awesome info but I'd love to hear what you guys are doing. So please comment your ideas below or drop me an email andym@concept2.co.uk and let me know what worked for you.

This is the first of a number of videos I've been recording for the blog. Here I give you a bit of history about my rowing career and how I first got involved in the sport.

I had the pleasure of meeting Phil Liggett a few days ago and after hearing about my plans to get fit on the erg and blog about it he kindly offered a good luck message for me to post.

Cheers Phil!

ErgBuddy is an iOS application (designed to run on an Apple iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch) that displays performance data from your Concept2 Indoor Rower. ErgBuddy provides a large, bright display and is fully compatible with the iOS VoiceOver feature which means ErgBuddy can announce your performance data at regular intervals, making it an ideal training partner for the blind and visually impaired or when rowing in a dimly lit or dark room.

The app is now available to download from iTunes and the ANT receiver is available form the Concept2 Shop

Features

• Large, bright digits provide a high visibility display
• Includes the following statistics:
  • Workout duration
  • Total meters
  • Current pace
  • Strokes per minute
  • Heart rate (heart rate belt required)
  • Split pace
  • Split meters
  • Split calories
  • Split watts
• Option to have the data announced (compatible iOS device required)

Requirements

• Concept2 Indoor Rower with a PM4 running the latest PM4 firmware (see compatibility information below).
• Wahoo Key, available from the Concept2 Shop. This device provides an ANT wireless connection to the PM4 for receiving the PM4 data.
• A compatible iOS device (for using the VoiceOver feature):
  • iPad 2
  • iPad
  • iPhone 4
  • iPod touch 4G
  • iPhone 3GS

Note: Excluding the VoiceOver feature, ErgBuddy may also work on iPhone 3G and older iPod touches. Concept2 does not test or support these older configurations. For more information please see the ErgBuddy page.

Hi, I'm Greg Searle and on the run up to the 2012 Olympics in London I'm going to be blogging and generally keeping the Concept2 community up to date with what I'm up to and how my training is going. And hopefully letting you in on what it's like to be part of a medal winning Olympic team!

To kick start things I should probably tell you a little about myself and how I've got to this stage after being out of the sport for so long.

So to the history:
In 1992 at the Barcelona Olympics, I along with my brother Jonny and cox Garry Herbert, won the gold medal in the coxed pairs. To win a gold medal at the age of 20 and to stand and see the flag raise as the national anthem was played was an incredible experience. I went on to win the World Championships in 1993 with Jonny and a bronze at the Atlanta Olympics in the coxless four.

After retiring from international rowing, and after a brief spell racing sailing boats in the GB Americas Cup team I started working for a great company and thought my international sporting days were behind me. But in 2009 I went to the World Championships as a commentator for the BBC. Being so close to the athletes and the sport again and also seeing that competitors who I had raced against were still competing started to make me think and soon after I got back I put some goals in place with the ultimate goal being that I make it into the team for the 2012 Olympics, a mere 20 years after my first Olympic win.

In this blog I'm going to tell you how I've got there and what I'm up to with training and racing between now and the games. I've already done some videos with Andy from Concept2 (who is starting a blog of his own) but I'd love to hear any questions you may have.

To keep up to date with what I'm doing drop your details in the box here and I'll make sure you're notified when I make an update.

Greg

Hi, I'm Andy, I work for Concept2 and a couple of weeks ago I was given the role of official Concept2 blogger. Great I thought, what should I write about? There were no specifics so after toying with the idea of a William Shatner fan blog and a brief flirtation with a "Pets do Funny Things" site, I thought the powers that be would be a little happier if I wrote about something related to what we actually do!

So what exactly is this going to be about? I'm going to be keeping things pretty broad so, indoor rowing, sport in general, health, diet, photos, videos, product reviews and pretty much anything else I see or do which I think will be of interest to you guys.

And mixed in with all this awesomeness will be a little project of my own. To lose a whole bunch of weight (I really need to!) and get healthy in the process. And it's on this matter I really could do with some help; so if you have any ideas for training, motivation (I have the will power of a plank of wood!), diet or anything else don't keep it to yourself!

To keep up to date with how I get on pop your email in the form here, but if you have any suggestions, words of advice, rowing related news or anything else, I can always be reached at andym@concept2.co.uk.

Andy

London Youth Rowing are looking for several coaches to develop community programmes, including indoor rowing in schools, youth clubs and also some on the water rowing at one of the London Youth Rowing Centres across London.

Click here to download the PDF.

Portchester School in Bournemouth enjoyed another dose of indoor rowing success as their year 9 team broke the British J14 one hour record in front of 400 enthusiastic spectators to mark the opening of the school's new sports hall on July 19th.

The team of Rhys Branch, Liam Horswell, Ben Vincent and Danny Welch rowed a whopping 17166 metres averaging 1m 44.9s/500m to surpass the old mark of 14741m. The boys are all members of the very successful Portchester year 9 squad which won gold in both fours and eights divisions in the Concept 2 National Schools League this year.

The team executed their race plan to perfection, demonstrating a focused, calm approach to the task which lay ahead. They had spent the previous two months training hard for this challenge, initially building a strong endurance base before fine-tuning to race conditions over the last two weeks. Having successfully reined in their early enthusiasm and excitement at the start of the race to hold a steady 1m 45/46s pace throughout the early and middle stages, the team picked up their rate in the last 10 minutes in a monumental effort to smash the 17k barrier.

Race commentator, Assistant Head Mike Winkworth, worked the audience to perfection throughout the hour, encouraging them to show their support at key times, particularly in the demanding latter stages, as the team firstly passed the old record and then pushed on to crack the 17k mark.

Shortly after finishing their magnificent effort, the team enjoyed a huge reception from fellow students, staff, parents and guests at the Roy Moore Sports Hall opening ceremony in honour of the much loved and respected Portchester School Governor who sadly passed away earlier this year.

Retiring Head Teacher, Chris Bradey, said, "Our new sports hall is a fitting tribute to Roy Moore who put in an incredible amount of time and work for many years to support Portchester School and his dedication is clearly reflected in today's performance. On a personal note, I am absolutely delighted to witness another fantastic performance from our school indoor rowing squad. This British record is a tribute to these students' hard work and dedication and also to the high quality extra-curricular work put in by Portchester staff to enable this to happen."

England Rugby League coach Steve McNamara dubbed it the toughest 3 hours of his life, but the Engage Rugby League Rowing Challenge has hit the charity jackpot.

McNamara was amongst 150 people from all walks of Rugby league life to take part in the marathon indoor rowing event. And he took the individual honours rowing the 26 miles in just over 2hours and 54 minutes.

He was closely followed by Wakefield assistant coach Paul Broadbent, Craig Mosedale from the Giants backroom staff and Widnes fan Martin Bailiff.

But teamwork was key for the scores of other competitors with at least £15,000 raised for the game's own charity, Try Assist, the Rugby League Benevolent Fund.

"It's been a magical day" said Tim Adams, chairman of Try Assist. "We've seen athletes putting in some impressive displays. But just as impressive are the efforts of those who've hardly rowed before, but who came along to be part of something special.

"The atmosphere has been wonderful. Once again it shows what a fantastic bunch the rugby league family are."

The team event was won by a side captained by the inspirational Steve Prescott, with Leeds Rhinos finishing second. Other famous faces taking part included Super League coaches Brian Noble and Justin Morgan, World Cup football referee Howard Webb, and a team of RL refs. Commentator Ray French also rolled back the years with an impressive effort for the BBC team and the RFL entered several teams from their Red Hall headquarters.

"This is what we are good at as a game," said McNamara, after recovering from his impressive efforts. "We rally around to help the people who need it. It's fantastic that this event has raised such an amount for what is a great charity."

Try Assist supports those involved with Rugby League who have suffered life-changing injuries or debilitating illnesses. All those taking part were raising money through sponsorship for that cause.

The individuals and teams had to row a marathon, 26 miles or 42kms, on Concept 2 rowing machines at the event at the Huddersfield indoor sports arena, The Zone.

"It's the second year of the Engage Rowing Challenge," added Adams. "And it seems to be going from strength to strength. Hopefully we can make this a permanent part of the Rugby League calendar."

We are pleased to announce that the British Indoor Rowing Championship for the 2011/12 indoor rowing season will take place on Sunday 25th March 2012 at Nottingham University. We were initially disappointed to lose our slot at the NIA, especially as we had dates in their schedule until 2013, but have viewed it as a positive and taken the opportunity to look at a number of the new venues that are cropping up in London, a couple of those looked great but unfortunately were ring fenced for a small sporting event that is taking place in the summer of 2012 in London, so were not available for this year! Thankfully, through our friend Nigel Mayglothling – the man with the mic – we have been able to find a location that can cater for all of the requirements of the event.

As last year we will be opening registration for the event 6 months before the race and will be offering the first 150 entrants a free gift to get the ball rolling. Follow us on Twitter and/or Facebook to be the first to know when entries are open. We are looking forward to seeing you all in Nottingham on the 25th March 2012.

Virtual BIRC

In addition to the main event next March we will also be holding a virtual British IRC on the evening of Saturday 26th November 2011. Up to 16 competitors will be able to compete in each race, head to head live via the internet, using Digital Rowing's RowPro software. Entries will be taken in advance and races will be scheduled in the days leading up to the race night. A BIRC on-line section of the Concept2 website will be created for competitors to enter and display results. More information on what you will need to participate will be available shortly, in the meantime you can trial the RowPro software free for 20 days by downloading it from digitalrowing.com

It's back! The rowing challenge that brought the rugby league family together to raise thousands for the game's own charity is gearing up for a second campaign.

And the event that gives Rugby League fans the chance to test their physical fitness alongside some of the game's biggest personalities has found a new home. Now the race is on to sign up and shape up in time for the marathon day, Thursday July 21st at Huddersfield's The Zone.

• "Last year's event was fantastic" says one of the organisers, BBC RL commentator Dave Woods. "Everyone who took part had a great time and we managed to raise £12,000 for the Benevolent Fund. This year we aim to make it even better." * The idea is to row a marathon on a concept2 indoor rower. That's just over 26 miles or 42 kilometres. The distance can be attempted as an individual or in teams of up to five people. Concept2 are again providing the machines

It costs nothing to enter, but all those taking part will be asked to raise money through sponsorship for the Benevolent Fund, or Try Assist as it's also known. Rugby League's own charity helps players who have suffered life-changing injuries or who suffer from debilitating illnesses. "It's tough, and the serious rowers will have to train hard if they are attempting the marathon distance on their own." says Woods.

• "But entering as a team of five can be great fun, as we found out last year. The event has a great social buzz to it and we know there will be quite a few coaches and ex-players involved again this year; it's a real uplifting occasion to be involved in. * "It's a terrific opportunity for amateur clubs and groups of fans to get involved."

Anyone interested in signing up can apply for a application form at RLrowingchallenge@gmail.com or if you would like to just donate you can give at www.justgiving.com/Rowing-Challenge.

On Friday 1st July, Lincoln Rowing Mens vice captain Chris Farrell started his bid to break the 20-29 Lwt World Record for the longest continual row. To be classed as a continuous row and individual must row for at least 50 minutes of every hour and the existing record was 30 hours set by Dave Holby in 2009.

At 4am on Sunday 3rd July Chris stopped rowing having broken the record by a staggering 11 hours.

The record attempt wasn't just for fun, it was also to raise money for Kidney Research UK, donations can still be made!

ST DOMINIC'S Catholic Primary School have landed an impressive addition to their crowded trophy cabinet.

They have become the Stafford and Stone District Catholic Schools' athletics champions for the first time, to add to their football and cross country trophies in the same region.

The Stone school landed the athletics trophy in a hard-fought final at Rowley Park in Stafford.

St Dominic's had also triumphed in the National Schools' Indoor Rowing Championships earlier this year, winning five titles.

Neil Gilson, the school's sports and development co-ordinator, said rowing training has helped the youngsters achieve in other sports.

He said: "Rowing has created the conditioning work for a whole host of sports in which pupils have improved their performances by between 30 and 50 per cent."

TWO young Stafford athletes delivered commanding performances to capture national track titles at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium.

Fourteen-year-old Eleanor Proud struck gold in the under-15s girls' 100m at the Independent Schools' Association national athletics championships.

Her Stafford Grammar School team-mate Emily Colquhoun, aged 12, was equally impressive in winning the 800m.

The pair were among eight Stafford Grammar pupils who were selected to represent the Midlands after excelling at the regional competition in Leamington Spa.

Middle-distance runner Lewis Ratcliffe, aged 15, was a bronze medalist in the senior boys' 1500m and 800m, while 14-year-old Dan Nowell finished third in the under-15s 1,500m.

Relay team Helen Skilton, Emma Hamplett, Colquhoun and Proud picked up an under-15s silver medal, while Hamplett collected bronze in the 200m.

In what is fast becoming a Royal Navy tradition; Sailors and Marines pit themselves again their warship in a race through the Suez Canal.

The race could not be run concurrently due to the employment of force protection measures during the Suez transit. Instead the onboard Concept2 rowing machines were strapped to the outside flight deck a couple of days later and the ships company each took part in the maximum effort 2k piece in what must have looked like a mini-Concept2 indoor rowing championship. However, here the contenders also had to cope with the machines moving as the ships rolled due to the 3-4m swell of the Red Sea.

The spirit of friendly competition was alive as the crew members, male and female, rallied for places within the top 81 places to be included in the official entry time for their ship. It escaped no one that while the Suez transit time was the challenge neither ship, HMS Albion or HMS Sutherland, wanted to post an overall time slower than the other. The race was on.

Royal Marines, Lieutenant Chris Viggars, 24, embarked on HMS Sutherland posted the best overall time of 6min 22.03sec. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that Chris is not a rower, having only dabbled once or twice during his first year at Sheffield University, and he has zero indoor Concept2 rowing experience. Chris, from Market Drayton, has been in the Royal Marines for just under 2 years,

From the Nottingham Post - 25/6/11

College staff and students have gone head-to-head in a challenge to get more people exercising during lunchtime.

More than 150 people across West Notts College's sites in Mansfield and Ashfield have rowed a total of 110,500 metres – or almost 70 miles – over the last two weeks on indoor rowing machines.

Sport development co-ordinator Craig Homer devised the challenge – consisting of a 300m sprint and a 1,000m endurance test.

Engineering and technology student Chris Wilson set the fastest time for the 300m sprint, completing it in 54.4 seconds.

Learner support co-ordinator Pete Benyon, based at the college's Ashfield campus, was the quickest competitor in the 1,000m endurance test after crossing the line in three minutes 45.6 seconds.

The Ashfield campus also came tops for the most distance travelled, notching up 21.5 miles in just two lunchtime rowing sessions, and boasted the eldest competitor in 67-year-old premises assistant Mick Lilley.

Mr Homer said: "The rowing challenge proved to be a great hit with staff and students and I've had excellent feedback from everyone who took part."

Worcester Junior girls have just set a new Concept2 British Record for rowing 291,656m in 24 hours.

Commencing at 7.00pm on Friday 10th June 2011 they firstly attempted a Guinness World Record™ for the Longest Distance Rowed in One Hour by a Female team. There is no age limit so the record of 20k is held by adults, no doubt World Class. Our girls numbered ten for the first hour! Then just eight of them dug in and rowed for the remainder of the 24 hours!!!

In the first hour our girls came tantalisingly close to the WJ16 British Record of 16,201m by rowing 16,027m. Guinness had only confirmed we could attempt this record on Friday 3rd June so they had little time to practice! The girls then went on to row 291,656 metres in the 24 hours.

Just 14 and 15 years of age the girls showed remarkable resilience and as the 24 hour deadline approached were still producing well below 2:00 splits and in the closing minutes, some were down to 1:40s!

The row was in aid of funds for new junior boats, which due to the rapid expansion of our juniors section are so desperately needed. We are also raising funds for our junior captain's charity the Starlight Children’s Foundation. Thanks to the tremendous effort from this and other junior fund raising initiatives, plus a recent grant of £10,000 from Sport England, we have reached our junior captain, Em Price's target and our order for new boats/blades submitted! The girl's team leader Elli Arnot says she is delighted with the way the squad pulled together to make this event possible.

In the same 24 hours our J16 to J18 boys led by junior vice captain Isaac Page-Long rowed the length of our river, the Severn, all 354 kilometres of it! Helped by adult members of Worcester Rowing Club and Worcester University, they crossed the 354k line with over 13 minutes to go then rowed our the 24 hours to achieve 357,626 m in what turned out to be a tremendous team effort.

Peter Powell
20.06.11

We've just heard from The Hedge Fund Journal's Rod Sparks about the annual Hedge Fund Journal Indoor Triathlon which took place last week. With 37 teams and over a hundred competitors in total it sounds like they had quite a day. Of course this is a great charity event as well, and all their efforts managed to bring in a fantastic $pound;40,000 for Hedge Funds Care UK. Good work!

Full Details:

Last Wednesday evening 37 teams (111 competitors) took part in The Hedge Fund Journal Indoor Triathlon 2011 in support of Hedge Funds Care UK.

Prizes went to the following people/firms. Thames River Capital (Mike Downer, Mike Woolley and Rob Mclean) were the quickest team (2:18:59), Hedge Funds Care UK Invitation III (Sarah Ledger, Dan Larcey and Rob Booth) were the quickest mixed team (2:23:34), TT's Victorious Secret (Alison Huang, Bronwyn Middlebrook and Jo Peck) were the quickest all-girls team (2:47:46) and Edwin Datson (Team Nansen - Effie Datson/Deutsche Bank) was the quickest individual (0:43:09).

The evening raised Ł40,000 for Hedge Funds Care UK.

You can view some pictures of the event by clicking on the following link - http://www.thehedgefundjournal.com/events/thfj-indoor-triathlon-2011/thfj-indoor-triathlon-2011-image-gallery.php

I would like to thank the following people/firms who either entered a sponsored team or made a donation which was used to sponsor invitation teams. Alison Crichton and Addleshaw Goddard; Ted Frith and Aspect Capital; Georgios Ouzounis, Mark Flanagan and AXA Investment Managers; Philippa Aylmer; Rob Kelly, Shyam Moorjani and Baronsmead; Sally Moore and Broadgate Mainland; Lars Forberg, Dave Henderson and Cevian Capital; Diana Arakelyan, Peter Quinn and Citco; Michael Rummel and CQS; Damon Ambrosini, Jorge Morley-Smith and Deloitte; Effie Datson and Deutsche Bank; Richard Ashton and Eiger Securities; Jon Hanifan and Ernst & Young; Rachel Greenway; Paul Graham, Richard Acworth at Henderson Global Investors; Eoin Brophy, Steve McCool, Rob Condon and Hume Brophy; Elena Ambrosiadou and IKOS; Martin Cornish, Philip Morgan and K&L Gates; Sue Fendt and Kinetic Partners; Rob Mirsky, Tim Fundell, Giles Barton and KPMG; Katherine Priestley, Morag Law and Lincoln Vale; Tatziana Paraguacuto-Maheo, Sarah Lummis and Maples & Calder; Rachel Smith and Martin Currie; Sally Todd and MHP; David Nile, Adam Roberts, Dan Hinxman and Newedge; Jessica Johnson and New Approach PR; Henrietta Hirst and Par Excellence PR; Duncan Webster and Phoros; Philip Bland and Polygon; Tim Friedman and Preqin; Doug Bendle and PwC; Johnny Moulsdale and Rees Pollock; Melissa Hill and Sabre Fund Management; Carol Brown and the Sigma Partnership; Richard Perry, Tim Pearce and Simmons & Simmons; Victoria Younghusband, Verity Ellis and SJ Berwin; Sudha Bharadia, Bruce Harington and Stenham Advisors; Laura McBride, Simon King and Thames River Capital; Andrew Rubio and Throgmorton; Fiona Carpenter and TT International; Tony Chedraoui, Charles Hopkinson-Woolley and Tyrus Capital; Louisa Gjertsen, Emma Watkins and Winton Capital; one anonymous donor.

I would like to thank the following invitation athletes. Joanne Quittner, Anthony Flamos, Will Bellamy, Liz Merkin, George Johnson, Jack Barkham, Sarah Ledger, Dan Larcey, Rob Booth, Evan DeBarra, Imran Majid, Simon Bomford, Jasper Jolly, Tristan Goodfellow, Zander Whitehurst and Henry Armes, and the following Hedge Funds Care UK 2011/12 grantees - Beat Bullying (who entered a team) and CSV and Barnardo's who sent representatives.

Finally, I would like to thank the following people/firms who helped with the event organization. Scott Shearwood and the Reebok Sports Club, Niall Gardam and Concept2; Ben Addison, Matt Moran and Wattbike; Pete Ebbutt and Parkway Fitness; Avril Watson, Linda Byrne, Dele David Oginni, Paul James and Larry Irving and IgnitePT; all the timekeepers; Richard Jolly; Simon Rostron and Rostron Parry; Martina Edwards, David Stickels and DS Charity & Event Solutions; Rob Clayton; Leah Burwood and Natural Kitchen; Laura Kirkwood; Rob Mirsky and Louisa Gjertsen for presenting prizes; Erica Shery, Agata Sznerch, Laura Swartz, Bill McIntosh and Renaud Cohard.

Regards

Rod Sparks Publisher The Hedge Fund Journal

A crew of Royal Marines, centred on 40 Commando recovery troops (wounded, injured and ill), are training hard and will be rowing the length of the Thames in a coastal four (150 miles, 45 locks) from 10-14 July. Their arrival in London will be acknowledged by members and staff from both Houses of Parliament, and they will finish at the Old Royal Naval College Greenwich PM 14 July, against the backdrop of the Naval Hospital that was established for the support of those who served in a different era and their dependants. The crew will then be attending a garden party at Buckingham Palace on Friday 15 July, under the auspices of the Not Forgotten Association. We have an exciting media campaign, which started this week with local and regional media (linked to our live website), and during the row itself we will have continuing regional and national media coverage.

Their challenge and exercise is part of the recovery pathway - and very much in keeping with the Royal Navy/Royal Marines Fortitude initiative: to facilitate further and enduring rehabilitation opportunities through sport and adventure training.

But the Thames Challenge is more than 10 Royal Marines rowing the length of the Thames. It is also a challenge to others, service and civilian, young and old(er) to participate in their own Challenge. As individuals or in groups the Challenge is to travel the same distance as the Thames Challenge, by whatever means, and raise funds for the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund. When to start and how long it takes does not matter - taking part does! The interactive website at: www.thameschallenge.com includes details. Alternatively direct donations are also very welcome!

One of the longest standing indoor rowing World Records was broken earlier this month when Phil Craze of Team AEGON rowed 313,248m to beat the existing 30-39 Hwt 24 hour record - one that has stood for 10 years - by 5,565m. Phil was rowing to raise money for the Stroke Association and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society Scotland and with good reason:

"Just over a year ago, my older brother suffered a stroke at the age of 37 and for six months was partially paralysed down his left side. Luckily, he has now made a full recovery. My mother-in-law has suffered from MS for the past 20 years. This affects her daily life and has recently caused her to stumble and break her leg. Both my brother and my mother-in-law have benefited from the Stroke Association Scotland and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society Scotland charities therefore these are important to me and I wanted to do something that would show my thanks for all their hard work."

The Farnborough 5K IRC took place on Saturday 14th May and saw 6 British records broken. Congratulations to the record breakers, organisers and all who took part. Full results can be found at rowing.dyn-o-saur.com.

Records:

• Richard Cheeseman - 16:51.1 (50-59 Hwt 5,000m)
• Mike Wrenn - 19:11.7 (70-79 Hwt 5,000m)
• Marjorie Roome - 21:05.6 (60-69 Hwt 5,000m)
• Collin Leiba - 2:58.2 (40-49 Hwt 1,000m)
• Collin Leiba - 1:19.6 (40-49 Hwt 500m)
• Marjorie Roome - 1:46.1 (60-69 Hwt 500m)

We've just received confirmation of the distances rowed by Andy Hammond and Richard Boyden of Solent University BC in Southampton at the end of March. Andy Broke the 19 & Under World Record and Richard broke the 20-29 British Record - congratulations to both. Report below from Gus Mckechnie:

From the start of the season it was going to be clear Solent Boat Club was going to have to find a win. The Concept2 racing circuit provided the opportunity to do this with the lion?s share of the clubs 24 medals this year coming from the indoor rowing circuit. This for a club who previously would regard three medals of any colour to be a good year.

This new attitude reflected in the 24 hour charity row for Help 4 Heroes. From midday on the 29th March to midday on the 30th March a pair of students were going to aim to break two separate 24 hour Concept 2 rowing records. Andy Hammond was aiming to break Daniel Morgan?s 19 and under world record of 240,691 metres. Richard Boydon was aiming to break a British record for 20-29 heavy weight of 257,351 metres set by Vincent Brunning. Both had pace plans both stuck to the plans and set them in emphatic fashion.

Rowing alongside each other may of helped but as with any sporting achievement there was a support team behind them. Southampton Solent University Rowing Club president Robin Mills stuck by Andy Hammond throughout the night. Club Captain Adam Chart supported Richard Boydon. I overlooked the setup and machine loan. A host of others supported the boys whilst they rowed on the middle floor of Southampton Solent students union including a documentary team plus webcam.

Local media picked up the sterling effort made by both guys including the BBC and ITV. They both started with a plan and both executed it to a tee. Perhaps the rower who flagged the most was Andy Hammond on a couple of occasions the challenge looked to be getting to him but every time he dug deep to stay on course. So much so that after all was said and done he had a visit to A & E. If you set a heavyweight rowing record in emphatic fashion you can be forgiven. The record was 240,691 Andy made it 260,498 and is now a world record holder.

Rich Boydon never looked like he was going to be in trouble physically the only problem happened on one of his five minute allotted breaks. The monitor turned off, thankfully with so many supporters and witnesses in person and online it remained on track. The British record was 257,351 metres and is 274,966.

What perhaps made a difference was the messages of support coming from Facebook, Twitter and through the webcam. Two GB rowers and indoor rowing legend Graham Benton all sent messages of support. The boys raised £2,000 for help for heroes. A big thankyou goes to Paula Williams who raised money at Coalporters by selling cakes.

The SkiErg Performance Series aims to provide coaches and athletes with a new tool for evaluating the effectiveness of their training. Although not aimed purely at skiers, the SkiErg Performance Series is designed to span the dryland training season, starting in May when skiers get back to serious training, and ending in November when races begin on snow. Additional intermediate testing periods are offered in July and September, to inform training along the way.

For more information please go to the SkiErg section.

Hinksey Sculling School keeps on extending its Outreach Programme to the community. In the last few months, boys aged from 11 to 13 at Summer Fields School in Oxford have enjoyed Indoor Rowing instruction and activity delivered by Amelia Wright, Hinksey's Rowing Manager and coaches from her team.

This is the first time that Indoor Rowing has been available for them. Besides the boys, staff and parents have shown a keen interest. Next term they begin their sculling on Hinksey Lake. The Lake is a mile from the City centre and if you are on a train heading South leaving Oxford Station you can see it beside the track on the left.

The boys have also signed on for the Concept2 Schools League and taken part in the last few Challenges. One of their old boys is Constantine (Stan) Louloudis who rowed in the Oxford University crew that beat Cambridge in this year's Boat Race.

When John Broadhurst, one of Hinksey's co-founders was coaching the boys to row he spotted a 13 year old on the Indoor Rower. He is 6ft 3ins and taller than 'Stan' by two inches when he was there at the same age.

Word has spread. Another of the boys asked John:

"My great grandfather was Steve Fairbairn. Do you know him?"

"No not personally!" Was John's reply.

"But he has had a huge influence on rowing coaching for several generations. His most noted coaching advice was: 'mileage makes champions.' " He added.

Hinksey provides a full and fun programme for its juniors. They are keen to recruit adults who want to join the coaching team. And if you are interested in running some Indoor Rowing sessions you'd be especially welcome!

Amelia Wright
Rowing Manager, Hinksey Sculling School

The Devon IRC took place on Saturday/Sunday 16th/17th April and saw 5 British records broken, including one World record. Congratulations to the record breakers, organisers and all who took part. Full results can be found at rowing.dyn-o-saur.com and a report at concept2.co.uk/x/69.

Records:

• Arnold Cooke - 7:08.2 (70-74 Lwt 2,000m)
• Terry Coging - 3:01:14 (70-74 Hwt Marathon)
• Dennison Gould - 3:13.4 (40-49 Lwt 1,000m)
• Andy Osborn - 0:16.5 (50-59 Hwt 100m)
• Jeanette Fulcher - 0:21.5 (50-59 Hwt 100m)

Phil Craze, from Team AEGON, will be rowing for 24 hours on Thursday 12th May in aid of the Stroke Association and the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society Scotland. If his training goes to plan, he will also make this a world record attempt. The current record is a distance of 307,683 metres (over 190 miles) rowed in 24 hours and was set in 2001.

Phil has received support from Sir Steve Redgrave, who sent the following message: "Over the years I have spent a lot of time on rowing machines. I have done all sorts of challenges from the longest time spent on a rowing machines to a million meters three times, but this has all been part of a team. The longest time I have done individually is 100 minutes. I would never consider doing a 24-hour solo challenge. This would be tough both mentally and physically. I wish you the best and hope you get the record and raise as much money for your two charities as you can. Good luck! Steve Redgrave."

Phil said: *"Many people believe I'm mad and maybe you have to be a little to take on such a challenge. But I do so for two very good causes that are close to me and hope that my efforts are rewarded with support for both MS Scotland and the Stroke Association." "Just over a year ago, my older brother suffered a stroke at the age of 37 and for six months was partially paralysed down his left side. Luckily, he has now made a full recovery. The Stroke Association funds research into prevention, treatment and better methods of rehabilitation, and helps stroke patients and their families directly through its "Life After Stroke Services". These include information, advice and support, communication support and grants."

"MS Society Scotland is Scotland's largest charity for people affected by multiple sclerosis. Around 10,500 people in Scotland have MS. One of these is my mother-in-law who has suffered from MS for the past 20 years. This affects her daily life and has recently caused her to stumble and break her leg.'

"Both these organisations are important to me and if you'd like to support them too, then please visit my Stroke Association fundraising page or my MS Society fundraising page. Thank you in advance for your support."