Life at Camp in Aviz and Varese

Final preparations for GB Rowing Team ahead of Shanghai

GB Rowing Team athletes have recently returned from their final camps before they travel to the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai. The Men’s squad spent 16 days at Avizaqcua Team Center and Herdade da Cortesia Hotel in Aviz, while the Women and Para squads shared facilities at Canottieri Varese, one of the most renowned rowing clubs in Italy.

Camps are a vital part of the training programme and our coaches value the time as it ensures the athletes can fully focus on training, recovery and racing preparation with minimal disruption and distractions. Travelling abroad also helps to prepare for hotter weather conditions which we don’t always experience in the UK.

Good times in Varese

Not only home to international competition, Varese also offers an ideal environment for world class training camps, with its stunning lake and home-from-home club facilities.

The relationship between the GB Rowing Team and the Varese Club is now over half a century old – pre-dating anyone currently involved in either team!  So much of the Women’s Squad’s camp time has been invested in Varese that one longer serving member of the staff estimates they’ve spent around two and half years in Varese with the team.

Nestled in the pre-Alps of Northern Italy, the 17km2 of Lake Varese provides both an international championship standard course and plenty of distance beyond that for long sessions of uninterrupted rowing. Train here long enough and you’re in for a treat as on some mornings the magnificent vista includes views of the Monta Rosa Massif with the Matterhorn on display.

The team’s long association and working relationship with the club has helped us craft a land training environment similar to the team’s National Training Centre at Caversham with enough aerobic and strength training equipment to ensure that we no longer need to transport equipment to and from Italy. By the end of a four year cycle our team considers this one of our training centres and it’s often said, ‘Varese – twinned with Caversham’!

The centre is run by Italian Rowing Olympian Pierepaolo Frattini and assisted by Paolo Cortelezzi.  They are true friends of the GB Rowing Team, always working closely with our staff to plan the camp and are always on hand to support and assist.

It’s in the toughest times you find out who your real friends are and during the camp before the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris the GB team were seriously tested by the weather and water levels as Women’s Olympic Head Coach Andrew Randell explains, “our four weeks in Varese before the Paris Games were exceptionally challenging . It was uncharacteristically wet all over Europe, the lake rose well over a metre – flooding the club and making the landing stages unusable. We could not have asked more from the club, led by Pierpaolo, in constructing new stages and keeping us afloat and on track through what could have been a disruptive period. We left Varese so well prepared for Paris, just as we were for the World Championships of 2022 and 2023 and countless years before.The Women’s Squad Paris medals were the latest in a long history of GB Team medals where a bit of them was won thanks to the training in Varese.”

Since the introduction of Para rowing at the Games in Beijing, GB’s all conquering Para Squad have also been holding training camps in Varese, often training alongside the Women’s Squad. Para Squad Head Coach Nicola Benavente explains, “We’ve always had great training in Varese because we know what we’re going into. The accessible racking and boating, good local support and contact means we can have the best training on what’s normally very good and flat water. The rowers absolutely love it and thrive there.”

A warm welcome in Aviz

GB’s men’s squad first started going to Aviz in 2009 just after the hotel opened for the first time. It was a fairly basic setup initially with ergos being completed in a large and dusty barn.

The venue is operated by Luis Ahrens, a Portuguese rower who used to drive from Lisbon with his single scull on the roof of his car, boat from the bank and scull up and down the lake by himself enjoying the flat water, good weather and continuous miles.

He always thought that the venue would make a fantastic training centre and so with architect friend, Pedro Alte de Veiga he sought financial backing and designed and built the hotel complex to serve two purposes – to become a fantastic training venue, making the most of the good water and a boutique hotel to attract guests from Lisbon and further afield to enjoy the peace and solitude of rural Portugal in one of the least populated areas in Europe.

After a few years an erg gym and weights studio was built in the grounds of the hotel looking out over the lake. Today the gym has been split, with the weights moving up to a converted barn nearer the hotel and the ergs and bikes remaining in the original gym. This has created much more space in the original gym and allows two sessions to run concurrently. The new weights gym is a work in progress and will be a fantastic space once finished!

Paul Stannard, Men’s Olympic Head Coach said: “When we arrive at the venue we know we’re going to be well looked after and Luis always goes the extra mile to support the varying demands of the team from water and snacks for the bus ride to the hotel or creating a second buoyed course to increase options for timed pieces. He is a proper details man, always prepared to help and solve problems before they arise. As an international rower and hotel manager he has a great insight into what we need and the ability to make it happen to ensure every camp we have there is a success.

”The athletes benefit from comfortable rooms with blackout blinds, excellent food and a calm, rural location with minimal distractions. In the early days wifi in such a remote part of Portugal was a challenge but just like the continued innovations and building improvements, Luis has invested over the years to ensure athletes can stay in contact with friends and family at home as he knows how important this is.”

Shanghai ready

A good camp experience means that GB athletes can now travel to Shanghai fully prepared to get back into racing at the biggest event of the season. Louise Kingsley, Director of Performance for the GB Rowing Team summarises: “Thanks to our partners, in particular, Luis and Pierpaolo, for their leadership in Avis and Varese and for helping to ensure our athletes are ready to race at the World Championships in Shanghai. Our partnerships at these venues are essential to our preparation and it’s testament to the long established relationships we have built that our crews consistently perform well. We are looking forward to continuing to work in partnership with these venues as we work towards the LA 2028 Games.”