January 28, 2010 News British Rowing NewsBritish Rowing EventsRowing CommunityGB Rowing TeamIndoor RowingRowing & RegattaPartners#YourStoriesArchive Teesside University holds the first ever Tees Valley Schools indoor rowing event Indoor Rowing SPORTS keen youngsters were put through their paces at an indoor rowing event held at Teesside University last week. The first ever Tees Valley Schools indoor rowing event gave the youngsters the opportunity to race against other students their own age, aided by software which projected the race onto a big screen. Pupils ranging from 11-18 year old took part in the event, organised by a partnership between SUNEE, Sports Universities North East England, Tees Valley competition Managers and British Rowing. Sport Development Outreach Officer, Vickie Todd said: “The event was a great success and a reflection of the fantastic partnership between ourselves, British Rowing and the competition manager. “Through this partnership we were able to provide a high quality event, using the expertise of British Rowing; student volunteers to support the running of the event, the university facilities, while ensuring the event met the needs of the schools and compliments the school competition structure.” The participants competed for different periods of time depending on their age; however a Gold Medal Target was set so youngsters could compare themselves against others based on their percentage of their Gold Medal Target. James Kessell, 17, from Yarm School was the overall winner, completing 2000metres in 6minutes 26 seconds to finish with an impressive 108.61% of his Gold Medal Target. James said: “The event has been well set up, and will be really good as it grows with more people getting involved. “It could be the start of something good because once people get involved and get their first taste of winning they want to carry on, and even if you lose you know if you keep training you can win. “That’s the brilliant thing about rowing; it is a sport where you get out what you put in. “You don’t necessarily have to be that talented, just be willing to work hard.” The standard throughout the event was notably high, with six other pupils finishing with a Gold Medal Target percentage of over 100%. 16 student volunteers helped with the running of the event, while the universities rowing club members helped the youngsters to make sure they were using the equipment properly. Student Volunteer Stephen Murphy, who studies Applied Sports Science at Teesside University said: “Kids, like adults love competition and to do it in an environment like this one helps their development when they leave school. “It really is good to see so much interest.” This event was a gateway to the regional finals held at Durham University, 2nd March 2010, which the top 4 young people from each age category have all qualified to attend and compete against the best across the North East Region. Rob Cree, the British Rowing Development Team Leader for the North East is extremely pleased with these new developments in the sport: “British Rowing are keen to support school based indoor rowing programmes and the indoor racing that comes out of these programmes. In the North East, we are developing a great hierarchy of competitions based within Schools, Partnerships, Counties and the region itself, in co-operation with all partners and especially the Competition Managers framework and the SUNEE programme” The event is looking to be developed even further next year in the Tees Valley with the introduction of district finals that will lead to the Tees Valley Finals, another huge step forward for Rowing in the Tees Valley. Report from Dominic Shaw