Coronavirus rowing advice 29 June – next steps

Following the latest advice from the Government we are publishing version 4 of our return to rowing advice which contains advice effective from 4 July

Dear rowing family,

Firstly, I would like to thank all the volunteers up and down the country who are working hard to support their rowing clubs and their members. It has been a really tough time for sports clubs and, without this incredible contribution, many would have been in further difficulty. Please do recognise the work your club volunteers are putting in: say thank you and be patient as they work to get clubs back up and running.

Last week, the UK Government announced the next steps of their coronavirus recovery strategy, effective 4 July. Many of these steps were in line with the original planned steps set out in the Government’s original documents in May. However, as has been widely reported in the media, there were a number of exclusions including gyms and indoor sporting activities. At this stage, the Government advice for sport and recreation has not been updated.

The result means we are in the situation where clubs (subject to making them ‘COVID Secure’) could open club bars but the gyms and changing rooms cannot be reopened. What this means for us is that we are going to have to adjust our roadmap slightly and so although we will move to Phase C of our plan, unfortunately it will not include all the aspects we originally included.

Please remember that a key principle of our advice is to prioritise public health – our advice is just that, advice. As a club, you will know more about your local environment and how your club operates so even if something is technically possible under our advice, you may feel that you can’t apply that sensibly in your club. You should also ensure that any changes you make are reversible as there is a risk that whether at a national or local level, the Government may re-impose additional restrictions again.

The full changes to our advice are contained in version 4 of our ‘Coronavirus Advice: Return to Rowing’ available below which includes updates to our advice on club facilities, crew boats and launches.

We know many people are crying out for competitive opportunities as evidenced by the fantastic uptake at last weekend’s British Rowing Virtual Championships. Unfortunately, we are now extending our suspension of Affiliated Competitions until 31 August. We are continuing to prepare plans to offer ways to compete outside of the traditional competition structure, for example, online leagues and challenges and structures for private matches. We expect to be able to announce further details of these plans very soon so look out for this on our website.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions and I hope you are able to enjoy a little bit more of rowing over the coming weeks.

Stay safe!

Andy Parkinson

Chief Executive Officer, British Rowing