Row the Rhythm

Peterborough City Rowing Club is a shining light in being a friendly, welcoming and inclusive club.  Kate Lindgren, who is blind, enquired about rowing at the club approximately 7 years ago. Kate fell in love with the sport, as it provides her with a sense of freedom and independence and was keen to spread this love for rowing to more people who are blind or partially sighted.

Rowing is a very accessible sport for people with a visual impairment. Unlike so many other sports, there is no part of rowing that requires you to see what you’re doing. It’s about listening to an internal rhythm, locking into that pace, matching seamlessly those in front and behind you, dropping the blade at the same spot at every stroke. Developing an instinctive ‘feel’ for the boat. Using this unique experience, Peterborough City Rowing Club has worked with Love Rowing and local charity, Camsight, to create “Row the Rhythm”.  This programme, designed for blind or partially sighted people offers regular introductory rowing sessions.  These are delivered by British Rowing qualified coaches and include transport to and from the club.

Impact: This is what Elizabeth had to say about the sessions: “Being on the water was simply wonderful and for the first time in months I felt I had found something I could do.  The sense of calm and freedom that rowing gives me is wonderful.  I don’t feel visually impaired when I am rowing, and I now also feel part of a great rowing community of friendly, supportive rowers. I am very grateful to “Love Rowing” for this amazing opportunity and would love to continue rowing for as long and as often as I can.”

The initial pilot was supported by funding from Sport England, and based on its success and growing demand, Love Rowing working with Peterborough City Rowing Club have sourced further funding from Grants, Trusts and Foundations to extend the programme until Oct 2025.  The objective is now to maintain the “Learn to Row” introductory sessions, and through a series of further Development sessions to transition rowers to become integrated members of the club.

The strategic aim of the programme is to create more Row the Rhythm courses across the UK based on this successful model and develop a national campaign through facilitated partnerships with visual impairment community organisations.

Row the Rhythm sessions are delivered on the last Friday of the month.  If you are interested in taking part or just want to come along and help, click here to contact Kate or Pete.