Woodrow High House, Amersham
LYR team piled the race kit in the van and headed off to leafy Buckinghamshire: destination Woodrow High House, a sprawling 17th Century manor house, owned and run by London Youth. The house is reputedly haunted but we we saw no Green Lady – only a great bunch of young people eager to try their hand at a range of different sports.
London Youth were hosting a Sports Weekend as part of their Getting Ready project for 56 young people invited from affiliated clubs. As well as the obligatory football, thewy would be trying out wheelchair basketball, streetdance, and orienteering in the dark, and of course indoor rowing.
All the youngsters took part in our evening session, in which four competting groups were given a rowing machine, flip chart, coloured pens and five minutes to think of a team name and design a logo. Under pressure, they came up with some fab names: Legends, Teem X treem, NIKE s.n.m., and Fast Oyster Furious Card!
Midnight Challenge
After demonstrations and games to develop good technique, we got into racing, challenging each team member to 60 second races. Before long the teams were itching to get on the machines for longer distances so we set them the night’s big challenge: The Midnight Rowing Team Relay. There was only one rule – everyone must row! With the music turned up high, the racing began and the passion poured out as each team competed to be the winner.
The race finished but everyone was eager for more, so we did it all over again, but faster this time. At the end, the teams were happy – but definitely flagging and ready for bed.
Next day at breakfast we sat and chatted to some of the young rowers who had taken part. They loved the racing but some were hesitant about getting in a boat… the fact that it was teeming with rain outside might have had something to do with it…
Still, most seemed up for the following week’s Big Screen Try-athlon.