Sociogenesis of Rowing

When I tell people in Colorado that I'm on the crew team, I'm more often than not greeted with blank stares. So I say, "You know… rowing?" I demonstrate a little arms away stroke in hopes that I can provide some kind of visual. More blank stares. I say, "You know, like in the Olympics!" Most people get it then, some people go on looking at me like I'm speaking in an entirely different language, which half the time, I might as well be. I often end up resorting to the most basic illustration of rowing that I can think of: "Have you seen the movie The Social Network? Yeah, the hot twins." Despite the apparent unpopularity of rowing in a landlocked state like Colorado, the sport has been extremely prevalent historically. 

In ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece, boats were used to transport goods or wage war, which meant that more often than not, the rowers were in fact slaves or prisoners who weren't rowing out of love of the sport, but pure obligation (I like to remind my coach of this when a piece feels particularly difficult). However, the origin of rowing as a sport has its roots firmly planted on the shores of the River Thames. The first rowing race was five miles long and took place on the Thames in 1716 (Academia Remigum), but the first 8+ boat race (the race that defined rowing as a sport) didn't occur until 1829. It was raced between Oxford and Cambridge universities, and remains perhaps the most intense rowing rivalry: there's a reason the annual dual is referred to not as "a boat race" but The Boat Race.

The Boat Race as we know it today was started by Charles Merivale, a student at Cambridge, challenging one of his friends at Oxford to a little race in 1829. By 1836, The Boat Race had become an annual tradition, with the losing team challenging the winner to a rematch each year. Though initially, races were between two (or more) boats who started roughly at the same spot and tried to reach a decided finishing point first, the way regattas are conducted has shifted substantially, likely due to the efficacy of The Boat Race.

Early rowing uniform

CU Women's Crew at Nationals (Modern rowing uniform)

Now, fall races are typically known as head races, where all boats line up according to bow number and start one at a time, with around a 10 second (though sometimes more, sometimes less) staggered start. In races with this structure, each crew is racing against the clock in hopes of being the team with the best time. These are usually longer races, ranging from about 3k to 10k, depending on the course. They follow the course of the river, so the coxswain tries to steer the shortest course possible amid curves and bridges. In the spring, races are much more standardized: 2000 meters, sprint style. All boats line up in stake boats to ensure that everyone's bows are exactly aligned and-much like in track and field- athletes are told to sit at attention, then a gun goes off, and it's a mad dash to the finish line. Courses for 2k races are typically marked with a different color of buoy each 500m, and failure to keep your crew in their respective lane results in penalties of 10 seconds added to your crew's overall time are in order. 

Rowing was typically regarded as a men's sport, but once women were allowed to join, their modern and aerodynamic uniforms consisted of bloomers and puffy sleeves-- it was all about remaining conservative (and stylish, evidently), while the equipment used in the sport was all made of wood, so very heavy and likely not much fun. Now, both men's and women's crew teams wear spandex bottoms, and, depending on the team, either a team tank top (tucked in), or just a full spandex unisuit, or uni (or sausage casing-- nothing is more unflattering than the seams that JL thinks are necessary to stitch horizontally across the butt). Equipment now is made of carbon fiber, since the more lightweight it is, the faster the boat is able to go. 

CU Women's Crew out on the Boulder Res

The Olympic Games have been a huge proponent in the spread of rowing on a global spectrum: the United States, Great Britain, Canada and New Zealand all have very competitive national teams, but countries like Slovenia, Poland and Croatia are also known to show up and compete. Rowing has become a global phenomenon, which is partially due to the fact that it's a genuinely fascinating sport, but also-- speculatively-- due to the colonizing powers of England.

Though the sport is beautiful and popular in places with lots of access to water (the UK, the East and West Coasts of the United States, not Colorado), for land locked locales, a major challenge rowing faces is its accessibility, and with that, the retention rates. If I could be on the water every day, I'm sure I would be a much more driven rower than being on the water for four months and the erg studio for the remaining eight. Another problem with rowing is its inherent exclusivity. A nice boat runs around fifty thousand dollars (and a decent one for racing is at least thirty), so the stigma of rowing as a sport for upper class, white, old money Boston families certainly does hold water (pun intended).