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River vs Coastal Rowing

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The pentagon of blogs has reached its final form. This week is fight night, the tale of two cities. River vs Coastal rowing. Over summer I tried out coastal rowing. Giving me experience in both types of rowing; this week’s blog explores their differences and which I prefer! Technique A successful boat in river rowing relies on technique – I say this to make me feel better about pulling weak erg splits (they don’t float!). Handle heights, catches and rushing the slide are fundamental in the boat’s speed. A post shared by Adam Campbell (@adamcampbell715) on Feb 29, 2016 at 7:35am PST For coastal however, there is no technique. To win is to pull like *insert profanity here. Racing River rowing has a simple format for both head races and regattas. In head races you row off one boat at a time on a stretch of river roughly 3-5k and the crew with the fastest time wins! In regattas you row in lanes down a 2k straight and the first crew to cross the
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What do you Row for?

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I’m assuming most of you are familiar with my blog so I’ll not dwell on awkward ice breaker introductions. Today will hopefully hold some deeper meaning that non-rowers can relate to. “Why do you get up so early to train?”, “Why do you do this to yourself?” (When they see my blisters). It’s easy to brush these questions aside, but at times I do question: Why do I actually row? I row for my crew At its heart, rowing is a team sport. You may not like your team members, but regardless of feelings you have to pull together to make the boat work. On race day, you need to be there for your crew because if you aren’t, you not only let yourself down, but you let down those around you. I row to prove that I can Rowing brings many struggles. It will push you to places you’ve never wanted to go. For some, these tough times will break you and you’ll just want to give up and go home. But I know from giving up on other sports, this is one I refuse to give up on. I
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It’s Fashion Week You Sons of Bridges!

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New York fashion week was 8 months ago. So based on that irrelevant fact this week’s blog is all about fashion! Elegance. Class. Respect. Three words one may think when they describe the image of rowing. Well Alice… you may have too high expectations when it comes to rowing and fashion. Take exhibit A: A post shared by Adam Campbell (@adamcampbell715) on Nov 8, 2016 at 5:24am PST Yes that is me looking like the love child of Santa Claus and the Mad Hatter. The ridiculous leggings, the thermal colour scheme, the spots on my onepiece that look like I either have a bad case of chicken pox or a bad case of just too many nipples. You may be asking yourself, why does this guy go outside looking like this? The truth is… because I can! Rowing is a great opportunity to get fit and compete at top levels of university sport; but it is also a great excuse to look like an idiot and get away with it. What many don’t know is that university rowing at times is ver
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The 5 Best (and worst) things about Rowing!

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In this underwhelming sequel blog I’m gonna do a list because list blogs are never done… Featuring the best/worst things about rowing which will relate to rowers and confuse others. Oh, if you’re new to the blog, welcome, please leave your shoes and negativity at the door and so we shall begin!   Blisters You thought I was gonna go easy on this blog. Oh child how wrong you were, this is the real world of rowing people! Blisters are a common part of the rowing jigsaw. They’re great for grossing out your friends and proving you’re a badass because you’re numb to the pain you used to cry about when you started to row. The disgusting aftermath makes them not so great.    Medals Medals are the reason why 99.9% of rowers even show up to races. There is literally no other payoff for the sweat, pain and blood (blisters throwback!) than picking up that glorious silverware. Medals are typically only given to first place crews too, so as the late great Rick
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The Pilot Blog: How I got into Rowing

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I don’t know how to start a blog but being the blunt Northern Irish guy I am, I’ll get straight to it. I’m gonna attempt to relate to you guys on some meaningful level so you’ll hopefully come back to read the rest of my blogs. (Apologies, I was an avid English literature student in school). Prior to university I never tried, watched, or expressed any interest in rowing. In fact the only exposure I had was watching The Social Network (great movie) where the Winklevoss twins rowed at Henley Royal Regatta. Now I’ll segway into my metaphorical DeLorean to talk about my history of sport. Growing up I wasn’t exactly athletically gifted. Having tried both of Northern Ireland’s staple sports: football and rugby; I spent Saturday mornings on the side-lines waiting to play the last 5 minutes - which is where the most crucial contribution to the game is given – so I believed. Shoutout to my fellow bench-warmers! Failing to revive my football career in uni, I looked a
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