17 March update on coronavirus

The following update is in addition to our previous advice which is accessible here: britishrowing.org/coronavirus

Advice for Affiliated Competitions

Having reviewed the latest guidance from the Government (16 March 2020), it is our interpretation of the advice that British Rowing Affiliated Competitions would fall into the category of ‘public gatherings’. Therefore, we strongly advise that Competitions should not run for the period until 30 April. This reflects our decision to cancel or postpone all events run and managed directly by British Rowing for the same period. We will review this on an ongoing basis and continue to provide updates.

The National Competition Committee will not consider any calendar changes for postponed Affiliated Competitions until the situation becomes clearer. Thank you for your understanding with this difficult situation.

We also recognise that the disruption to competitions will have an impact on the Ranking Points Index and, at an appropriate time, will be reviewing any actions that may be required to mitigate this.

Advice for Clubs (UPDATED ADVICE FOR CLUBS HAS SINCE BEEN PROVIDED ON 19 MARCH – please see here)

There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to our Affiliated Clubs as the activities and facilities in each one differ.  We recommend that each club reviews their various activities and the associated risk in line with the Government advice. Clubs may wish to consider:

• reducing the risk profile – for example:
  • limiting or stopping social gatherings
  • enhancing cleaning measures
  • limiting or stopping indoor activities
  • considering how many people are required on site to safely deliver any activity
  • not allowing any visitors
• considering which of your member may be at higher risk
  • reducing the group size – for example:
  • staggering training times
  • moving ergos outdoors
  • utilising more cross training at or away from the club

British Rowing Office

We will be closing the main office in Hammersmith and asking all our staff to work from home from 6pm, 17 March.

This will remain in force until at least 3 April and will be reviewed regularly throughout this time and we will provide updates as required.

Most of our staff are accustomed to working from home and all our systems are set up to allow us to do this with the minimum disruption. There will inevitably be a few teething problems and so we appreciate your patience in these unprecedented times.

One change we will be making is that we will be closing our usual phone lines until the office reopens. Please direct general enquiries to [email protected] and, if you specifically need to speak to someone, we have set up a form on the website to request a callback.

At this stage, the National Training Centre at Caversham will remain open with a number of measures put in place to mitigate the risk of spread of infection. The reason for this is that Caversham is a contained site which we are able to control. Whilst our primary concern will always remain the health of those involved with the GB Rowing Team, we aim to conclude our Olympic and Paralympic selection process behind closed doors in the hope that our athletes are able to compete later on this summer. This will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.