First race experience for many at LYR Squad Day

On Friday 26 October, London Youth Rowing welcomed 90 young people to the RDA Centre for a day of Head Racing and workshops. Young athletes from across all the LYR Squads; Globe Juniors, TTRC Juniors, LYR 1863, Fairlop RC and Mossbourne Federation Rowing were invited to take part as the finale to a week of training over October half term.

A series of workshops covered mentoring and happiness with staff from the Breaking Barriers programme, nutrition focussing on the importance of refuelling after training and yoga. Amani from Project Yogi delivered a very popular session which formed part of the recovery after racing in three divisions.

A total of 17 staff from across LYR made the day possible plus several volunteers including Ian Lomax and Photographer John Trigg. Lunch was provided for everyone by The Fox at Connaught close to the Royal Albert Dock.

Ashley Ntumba supported delivery of the Breaking Barriers workshop as a former graduate on the programme in 2015. She said:

“The Junior Squad Day event was a really good way to bring together and unite all the different boat clubs that work with LYR. I believe that the variety of activities, from the inspirational session on being happy, to the yoga and the racing was a great way to get participation from all the rowers.

“I believe that events like this are important in providing knowledge not just on their sporting abilities but also on how they can better themselves physically and mentally in order to perform better as rowers and to become better sports people as a whole."

One of the three pillars of London Youth Rowing is Competition, Coaches support young people to take their rowing as far as they can through established links with Junior Clubs. The Royal Docks Adventure is the main base for LYR in East London.