Rowing has been used as a mode of transportation as far back as Ancient Egypt. In a sporting sense, there is no direct time linked to its creation but it is believed to have derived in Renaissance England.

The sport of Rowing is fairly simple. The objective is to race across a body of water in a rowing boat moved by oars. The boat that reaches the finish line wins. While the distance of a watercourse can depend on the rules of individual competitions, the common length chosen is 2,000 kilometres.

There are two types of row boats used in major competitions. The first is called a Scull, which allows each rower to have two oars, one on each side of the boat. There are single, double and quadruple scull events. The second is Coxed/Coxless. A Cox (short for Coxwain) will give directions to the rowers to help them steer. That is because, in this event, rowers will only have one oar and will have to communicate to make sure that force is evenly distributed to give the boat a faster speed. Coxless works in the same manner except there isn’t a cox on the boat to guide the rowers.

Each row boat is assigned a lane. Rowers are not permitted to cross over into any other lane or hit an opposing boat with their oars. Doing so can result in a team being disqualified.

Rowing was scheduled to be an event at every Olympic Games since its reemergence in 1896 but the first edition was cancelled due to adverse weather. Great Britain has been successful at the Olympics in rowing, with 31 gold, 25 silver and 14 bronze medals. The most recent gold medals came in 2016 when Team GB won the Men’s Coxless Four, Men’s Coxed Eight and Women’s Coxless Pair.

Each year, Scottish Student Sport host the SSS Regatta, Indoor Championships and Head Race. There are also BUCS Rowing events. To find out more, click here: https://scottishstudentsport.com/sports/rowing/

If you’re interested in joining a Rowing club, click the following links:

Heriot-Watt University: https://sportsunion.site.hw.ac.uk/boat/

RGU: https://www.rguunion.co.uk/getinvolved/societies/rowing/

University of Aberdeen: https://www.ausa.org.uk/sports/club/6108/

University of Dundee: https://sportsunion.dundee.ac.uk/clubs/boat/

University of Edinburgh: https://www.eusu.ed.ac.uk/organisation/rowing/

University of Glasgow: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/sport/whatson/club/boat/

University of St. Andrews: https://rowing.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/

University of Stirling: https://www.stirlingstudentsunion.com/sportsunion/clubs/rowing/

University of Strathclyde: https://www.strathunion.com/sports-union/club-sport/club/7084/

Sports Chair: Matthew Simpson – ScotStuRowing@gmail.com

Governing Body: Scottish Rowing – https://www.scottish-rowing.org.uk/