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The club was formed in 1865 originally as “Eastbourne Boat Club” before being renamed as the “Eastbourne Amateur Rowing Club”. The name change occurred as regatta racing rules did not allow professional boatmen nor fishermen to compete against “gentlemen”.
1900s- The development of racing & regattas
At the turn of the 19th century, as trains connected the seaside towns, it became possible to transport boats and equipment and so started the regatta programme that we know today.
The main racing 4s that we use today still retain the overall length of 34ft, the length of a guard’s van! The club would take boats to the station on wheels, load the boats onto the train, then the wheels, and do the opposite when they arrived at the next seaside resort.
In the early racing days, it was common for there to be twenty regattas a year, which consisted of six to eight races in “open events” which included single scull, double scull, coxless pair, and coxless fours.
Before the war, Eastbourne was the dominant force on the coast, winning the senior fours with coxswain, pairs with coxswain and single sculls. This continued after our members returned from World War II.
In 1972, the club produced a ‘South Coast championship’ boat in the ‘junior senior’ category. In 1988, our crew won the prestigious senior four championship.
The club has produced one full international oarsman, Ivor Lloyd, who represented Great Britain in 1977 at the World Rowing Championships. Ivor also went on to win two National Championship titles as well as numerous coastal titles in his scull. In 1983, Ivor set the world record for sculling across the English Channel. Ivor has held the position of President of Eastbourne Rowing Club for many years.
In addition to this the club has produced a Henley medallist. Colin Guppy won the Ladies’ Plate in 1985 with Leander Club as well as three National Championship titles. Colin also won numerous coastal, sculling, pairs and fours titles.
Under Bob Noakes’ leadership, the club took it upon itself to set up a junior section where the club travelled to all the local schools to promote the sport. During this time, the club took part in numerous fundraising events allowing it to buy allowing it to buy high quality rowing machines, boats (six in total), land training equipment, blades (both sculling and rowing), and many other supporting items, much of which is still in use today.
The club’s approach that the youth of the town is where the lifeblood of any healthy club starts remains to this day. The club invests significant amounts of time in promoting the sport with the aim of producing both fit and technically competent athletes, and we welcome juniors from the age of twelve (school year 9) through to eighteen and provide a platform for them to progress.
In 2005, the club held an inaugural school’s regatta in the town where we invited all the schools from the town to enter crews for a race on the indoor rowing machines. Seven schools took part with in-excess of 120 youths. It was a fantastic event and Sir Steven Redgrave attended to present the prizes, which was a great honour. In subsequent years Tim Foster and Ben Hunt-Davis, both Olympic gold medallists, were in attendance.
Many of these athletes have now matured into great racers and, more importantly, great club members. The club continues to aspire to produce a minimum of one if not two championship crews a year, and many of these crews include those athletes from the junior development programme. The championships won include:
The truly outstanding performance from a member developed by the club was that of Joseph Guppy in 2011. Joe was selected for Great Britain's junior team and raced in the double sculls event at the 2011 World Rowing Junior Championships.
In 2012, the club was fortunate to feature on the route of the Olympic torch, club members lined the path with blades for this once in a lifetime event!
Like many sports clubs, Eastbourne Rowing Club was hit hard by the Covid19 pandemic, since reopening the club has worked hard to retain and grow in numbers.
In recent years the club has continued to nurture success from its members across all age groups and disciplines. Aside from many memorable wins and great performances at local regattas, more significant successes include our men’s 8 qualifying for entry into the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta in 2015, and our Masters 50+ crew winning their open category at South Coast Championships in Deal in 2018.
In 2022 club captain Jon Osborn competed at the World Offshore Rowing Championships, finishing as the best placed British boat in the double sculls. At the National Championships in Exmouth in 2023 he won Gold medals in pairs and Masters Quad, and bronze in the open Quad event.
As a club we recognise our responsibility to support our wider community and over the years have undertaken initiatives and events to raise awareness and funds for good causes. As a club, we have completed a 24hr row-a-thon in the Beacon (formally Arndale Centre), as well as the Boston Marathon.
In 2022, Fisherman’s Green, the land on which our clubhouse is situated, came under threat for redevelopment. A petition was raised and received a high response from the community within days, resulting in the plans being withdrawn. The Fishermans Green community facebook group still remains active and is now a place to share events happening at the site.
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