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London Youth Rowing’s Active Row programme is delivered across multiple regions, giving thousands of young people the chance to experience rowing both indoors and on the water. From Leeds to Bristol, Nottingham to Kent, and across London in Newham, Islington, and SEND-specific schools, each programme is designed to open doors for young people who might not otherwise have access to the sport. With strong partnerships, inclusive opportunities, and events that bring schools together, Active Row empowers young people to grow in confidence, build life skills, and discover a lifelong love of rowing.
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Launched in 2024, Active Row Newham combines school-based sessions with an open club to support young people on their rowing journey. From indoor hubs to on-water festivals at the QueenElizabeth Olympic Park, the programme helps students stay active and connected.
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Active Row Leeds launched in 2021 as LYR’s first programme outside London, supported by Henley Royal Regatta Charitable Trust. The project now reaches schools across Leeds, Bradford, and Wakefield, combining indoor rowing, competitions, and opportunities to try the sport on the water.
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Active Row Kent launched in 2024, building on smaller local events and sessions with Gravesend Rowing Club. The programme now connects schools across the area, offering indoor and on-water rowing experiences and creating new opportunities for young people to thrive.
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Active Row Nottingham began in 2022 with twelve schools, giving students access to both indoor rowing and water sessions at Holme Pierrepont. The programme has inspired many young people, offering them a safe, social, and exciting environment to get active.
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Active Row SEND started in 2024 with a dedicated coach supporting schools across London. Designed specifically for young people with special educational needs and disabilities, the programme offers purpose, belonging, and the joy of rowing both indoors and on the water.
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Active Paddle and LYR Clubs expand the reach of Active Row by creating opportunities for young people to engage in both rowing and paddlesports outside of school. These clubs offer a youth club-style environment where participants can try kayaking, canoeing, and stand-up paddleboarding alongside rowing. The LYR Boat Club, a Paddle UK–affiliated racing club, ensures that inclusivity remains central as participants progress into structured competition.
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Since 2021, Active Row Islington has introduced hundreds of young people to rowing, providing equipment and support for schools across the borough. The programme has helped students grow in confidence, enjoy new opportunities, and even progress into local rowing clubs.
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Since 2023, Active Row Bristol has partnered with Ariel Rowing Club to provide indoor and on-water rowing for schools across the city. Young people have embraced the open club, gaining confidence, building friendships, and discovering a lifelong love of the sport.
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Alongside Active Row, LYR runs a series of programmes that actively aim to develop young people's Life Skills, using a combination of rowing, mentoring and workshops. This includes programmes that develop our team of coaches, helping to build a generation of skilled rowing coaches with a mindset focused on making rowing, and sport in general, more inclusive.
LYR's Active Row programmes aims to develop young people's key Life Skills through rowing as well as improving physical active. LYR uses the Skills Builder framework to structure this development, with students focusing on developing a key life skill each school half term. In addition, pupils at schools on the Active Row programme can take part in termly skills development and employability workshops run with LYR's corporate partners.
The Step Up Coach Development programme aims to help ensure LYR's team of coaches is the best it can be. Through the programme, funded by The Henley Royal Regatta Charitable Trust, LYR recruits coaches from a diverse range of backgrounds, looking well beyond "traditional" rowing, and develops them through a two-year programme to be highly effective grassroots coaches. This will make our programmes even more engaging and accessible for the young people we work with and support the wider aim of making rowing a more diverse and inclusive sport, by creating a group of coaches with the mindset and skills to increase engagement in rowing and other sports across the country.
LYR's Alternative Provisions programme focuses on using rowing as a tool to support young people excluded from mainstream education. The programme, funded by The Vintner's Company, works with up to 10 groups per year from Alternative Provisions and Pupil Referral Units across London. Pupils are challenged to engage with on-water rowing and build confidence, control and focus while learning to work as a team. The ultimate aim of the programme is to support young people to change and manage their behaviour to help them re-enter mainstream education, which is transformational for their long-term life prospects.
Alongside our engagement and life skills programmes, LYR offers a range of online and in-person competitions to keep young people engaged in the sport. Our Talent Inclusion and junior club rowing programmes offer young people pathways to progress from their first experience of rowing, to regular on-water rowing and on towards competing at the highest level. Throughout, the focus is on making the experience as inclusive and welcoming as possible.
LYR runs the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships every spring. More than 3000 young people get to take part in individual and team relay races, making NJIRC amongst the largest indoor rowing competitions in the world. The 2025 edition moved to a week long competition with hubs all across the country, increase the access and ability to participate.
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The LYR Talent Inclusion programme launched in September 2021, building on previous work by LYR to build a pathway from our Active Row school programmes to on-water and club rowing. Funded by Sport England and supported by GB Rowing, the programme will build a series of LYR "Open Clubs" across London, providing youth club-style weekly sessions to encourage young people to take the step from the Active Row programme to rowing beyond the school setting. The Open Clubs will feed into a newly established LYR Boat Club, a water sports club with inclusion as its core ethos. LYR BC will operate initially at the Olympic Park, before branching out to the Royal Docks and West London.
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The LYR Online League launched in 2020, as part of LYR's response to the covid pandemic. Young people from around the world can take part in the free competition, with new rowing, running and cycling challenges available each month. The Online League will form a key part of our future programmes, encouraging wider participation and supporting sustained engagement from the young people we are already working with. Since it launched, over 450 people have taken part and we are aiming to grow this significantly in the coming years.
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The Mossbourne Rowing Academy runs in two state secondary schools in Hackney - Mossbourne Community Academy and Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy. The aim of the programme is to run a rowing programme comparable to, and competing with, those at leading private schools. The programme is fully funded by the Mossbourne Federation, LYR and other donors, meaning that there is no cost to young people taking part. All pupils at the two schools take part in indoor rowing in years 7 and 8, with the option to try on-water rowing, before the Rowing Academy squad focuses on performance rowing from Year 9 onwards. Over 100 pupils from highly diverse backgrounds train multiple times per week as part of the Rowing Academy, led by ex-GB rower Tom Wilkinson and his team of coaches.
More informationCharity Number: 1122941. Company Number: 06243293. Royal Docks Watersports Centre , 1012 Dockside Road, London, E16 2QT.
Tel: 0203 356 7178
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