Course A – 20 people:
Sundays: 20th, 27th September and 4th, 11th October; 1pm – 3pm
Wednesdays: 23rd, 30th September and 7th, 14th October; 6:45pm – 8:15pm

Course B – 20 people:
Sundays: 20th, 27th September and 4th, 11th October; 3pm – 5pm
Wednesdays: 23rd, 30th September and 7th, 14th October; 6:45pm – 8:15pm

N.B. Sundays will be water based, Wednesdays will be land based.

We have received funding from Play Sport London for much of the course expenses and this will help cover your first eight hours of coaching. After this, there will be a small cost though this will include a free T-shirt, use of rowing equipment, coaching, safety equipment etc. In fact we’ll lay everything on – you’ll just need to turn up.

After the course, if you’ve enjoyed rowing so much that you’d like to continue we will deduct any course expense from your subs for 2009.

Yes you do. For safety reasons, you will be asked to sign a disclaimer before the course begins to state you are able to swim 100m in light clothing. Rowing is an inherently safe sport and qualified coaches will be working with you, but we have to insist on this basic level of ability.

Being sporty is definitely NOT a requirement! At the very top levels of the sport, rowers tend to be tall with long limbs. Rowers at club level come in all shapes and sizes with the emphasis on the ability to move through the water efficiently – if you have good technique and fitness it is a real leveller.

If you are not currently involved in sports, we will support you by tailoring the training around your current fitness levels and before you know it, you’ll find muscles you never knew you had.

On the other side of things, we would also welcome people who would like to change sports. Is rugby getting a little dangerous? Tired of chasing around after tennis balls? Rowing is unique in the way it welcomes people later in life than many sports – everyone learns to kick a football as a toddler but most rowers start as a teenager or in their 20s while at University.

Coxes are the brains behind the operation. If you would call yourself ‘petite’ with good lungs and a brain as sharp as Lewis Hamilton, you could be the missing part of the Quintin BC Novice squad. We will need at least four coxes for the courses and in fact, you’d become extremely popular with the other groups at the club including our Henley squad.

We do not plan to simply throw coxes out into boats. Coxing is a learning process in exactly the same way that you learn to row and as such, we will make sure you get support as you develop. For the initial few sessions, we’d actively encourage new coxes to take part in all rowing activities in order to understand rowing from the rower’s perspective.

As a cox, you will need to wrap up warm until we get to the summer.

Please do come prepared for whatever the British weather decides to throw at us on the day as there will be both indoor and outdoor activities. There are full changing facilities at the club but please don’t bring anything of particular value. We may be able to arrange for some items to be placed behind the bar at the owner's own risk.

Essentials to bring:

• warm, dry (if it looks like rain), sporty clothes that allow for sufficient movement but that are not too baggy. Think tracksuits and t-shirts. Do layer up...
• a change of clothes
• Wellington boots or sandals that you don’t mind going in the river (we will provide some for those that haven’t brought suitable footwear)

Please follow this link to go to our simple on-line form which allows you to reserve a place on the course. We are a club and promise not to use your information for anything untoward other than planning your course.

At this stage, we do not know what the interest levels will be for our latest 2009 courses. We may be inundated in which case our next set of courses would run in 2010, so to be safest, we suggest reserving early if you know you would like to get involved.