Sport England Funding
As a result of the December 2013 Active People Survey figures for both on-water and indoor rowing, British Rowing’s grassroots funding from Sport England has been reduced. The total cut in funding of £236,000 represents a 5% reduction in the sport’s grassroots funding for the period 2013 – 2017. Although this news is disappointing, British Rowing remains confident that it has the right plans in place to grow participation in the sport.
Recent adverse weather conditions have had a significant impact on rowing participation. Clubs across the country have suffered damage and closure during periods of inclement weather with rowers unable to access rivers and canals owing to the sheer volume and speed of the water.
“Significant periods of the rowing season have been severely affected by weather and river conditions over the last few years,” said British Rowing’s Interim CEO Neil Chugani. “Our challenge is to build more flexibility into our programmes so that we can be responsive to these conditions and make maximum use of our facilities when the weather is good.
“The demand for rowing is still high following the upsurge in interest after our success in London 2012, and we continue to work with our clubs to help to bring people into the sport in a sustainable way.”
“We are making excellent progress with our plans for indoor rowing, particularly with the delivery this year of RowActiv – a technology and music-enabled product designed to motivate group and individual indoor rowers, and an exciting new addition to our participation programmes.”
Rosemary Napp, Development Director, added, “We have been looking extremely hard at what more we can do to increase participation, and are already accelerating a number of programmes for both indoor and on-water rowing to achieve that.”
More details on the Sport England website.
