“That was a lifetime moment, and we’ve all been there to facilitate it”

Meet Michelle Moulding and Evie Kendrew, part of the army of volunteers helping the British Rowing Club Championships run smoothly across four days of racing

24 hours can be a long time in many professions, but in sport, it can pass in a flash. It is, however, enough time for a pair of volunteers to give the impression they’ve known each other for a lifetime.

That’s the appearance that Michelle Moulding and Evie Kendrew give off as they were momentarily stepped away from their morning duties as the morning Time Trials provided the backdrop to Day 1 of the British Rowing Club Championships.

“We found out we’re both at Peterborough Rowing Club and we arrived in a convoy yesterday,” said Evie, a recent graduate of the University of Birmingham.

“I started rowing as a novice five years ago. Someone was walking around campus with a puffa jacket on with the boat club name on the back, and I thought, ‘I want one of those so I got involved and haven’t stopped since!”

For Michelle, her rowing journey originated with a Learn to Row advert outside Peterborough City Rowing Club. So began a brand new chapter in her life.

“I’ve fallen in love with the community,” she explained.

“It’s been a really great club. They’ve all been very welcoming, and there’s lots to get involved with. Since then, I’ve trained as an umpire, and I’ve got involved with volunteering. I realised I was a bang average rower, but I wanted to be involved with the community a bit more and looked at other options I could explore.”

While this is Michelle’s first foray into volunteering at the British Rowing Club Championships, the two of them have been involved at other events. Whether it’s the British Rowing Indoor Championships or the Junior Inter-Regional Regatta, both of them have rolled their sleeves up and got stuck into a plethora of roles helping deliver racing across the country.

Both Evie and Michelle will be involved with the medal presentation team, something Evie’s had experience of at BRIC last year. “I bumped into Lauren Henry, and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s Lauren Henry!”

“We’re similar heights actually so I’ll take that! I also loved watching Dana Smith give her emotional interview picking up her medal at last year’s Club Championships; I thought that was brilliant. That was a lifetime moment, and we’ve all been there to facilitate it. You have that sort of reach as a volunteer.

Michelle was able to watch some tantalising racing at BRIC, none more so than the showdowns on Super Sprint Sunday.
“One of the highlights for me at BRIC was being on the race floor when they were doing the 100m sprints. That was wild!

“I was here at Inter-Regionals as well, and I loved seeing the smiles and faces of the juniors who are the future of our sport coming through; it’s just fantastic.”

Volunteers are the life blood of sport and rowing is no different. Whether it’s coaches, umpires, members of the timing team, race control, commentators or hundreds of others lending a helping hand, the sport would fall apart without their time and dedication. It’s a message that Evie is keen to stress.

“There’s a massive ethos at Birmingham of what you put in, you will get out. It became obvious to me, like Michelle was saying, that you might not be the greatest rower in the world but there’s still so much for you to get involved with.

“It could be taking on a committee role, helping with events, or getting stuck into things like BRIC or Brit Champs. There’s so much you can do to help these events run, and they don’t run without volunteers, so getting stuck in is my way of giving back.”

The British Rowing Club Championships will see four days of action-packed racing taking place. The programme is so chock-a-block with racing that from 11:45 on Day 1 until 18:35 there is no gap in racing and no opportunity to draw breath. Amongst the hundreds of races, there are too many moments to single out, but there are several things the two of them are looking forward to.

“I’m looking forward to the Eights, and all of them coming in to get medals at once,” said Evie with a laugh.

“It’ll be great though. The Eights bring so much hype, and the noise and the screaming make it so much fun to watch. Watching it as a volunteer means you get a great view of the finish line.”

When asked about what to say about volunteering to other members of the community. It was a simple answer from Michelle.

“After my second BRIC, Fiona [Rennie] asked if I wanted to get more involved, and you can’t say no to Fiona! I’m happy to be involved, and it’s such a good feeling to see some racing but know you’re contributing to it happening.

“There are plenty of opportunities to be involved at these events, so you don’t have to be an expert in anything. Just come along, have some fun, and meet some great people.”