Huntingdon Boat Club

Now the fleet had been updated and the Boathouse was crammed, it was time to turn attention to indoor training.  This is vital for the club over the winter where dark evenings prevent us getting out on the water to train.  Whilst the club has always had a gym, it was in need of a bit of a revamp and some new equipment.

The Club were very lucky to be accepted as one of the Co-op’s community fund projects.  They presented us with a cheque for over £2350 which enabled us to buy a new leg press machine, a complete set of dumbbells, a set of Kettle bells, and a multi use exercise station.  Huge thanks to the continued support of Godmanchester Co-op.  

With all this new equipment it seemed we had to give the gym a face lift.  The whole room was repainted and the changing rooms were given an overhaul. Thanks go to all those who gave up time to help achieve the fabulous results.

In January 2018 we set about raising yet more funds, this time to purchase a much needed safety/coaching launch to ensure we could keep our growing number of juniors safe on the water. As well as safety, these boats enable us to provide on the water coaching so the kids can get the most out of their time on the water.

Our club BBQ at the Riverside Gala raised £1000 towards this project whilst £500 was gratefully received from the Rotary Club.  We madly held another 24 hour sponsored event  in August.  We had ergos, treadmills and cross trainers on the go for 24 hours solid to see just how much distance we could cover. We clocked up 1622 miles, the equivalent distance between Huntingdon and Moscow! This event raised us just over £1500. John and Brenda Davey kindly stepped in with support of £2000 and along with some other fundraising to make up the remainder, funds were complete to purchase the new boat.  The new low wash Wintech Catamaran can now be seen following crews between the club and Houghton. 

In 2015 we set out long term plans to raise funding to purchase 2 new double sculls, 2 new single sculls and a number of sets of sculling blades to provide equipment for our continually growing Junior squad.  We were lucky to receive £2000 of funding from the Rowing Foundation which enabled us to purchase 6 sets of sculling blades. In March 2017 we received funding of £3900 from the Tesco Bags of Help scheme which was another huge help.

The club held a 12 hour water rowing sponsored event, produced and sold calendars at Christmas and held many other fund raising events to help raise the remaining funds. We welcomed a brand new Wintech double ‘Phil Sturgeon’ and 2 brand new Wintech singles ‘Sarah Louise’ and ‘Oarsome Alice’ to our fleet win April 2018. We also purchased a 2nd had double which completed this project.

Thanks to all those who helped raise the funds!