The UK’s only LGBTQ+ inclusive rowing club hit a landmark milestone on International Women’s Day by entering two crews into the world’s largest women’s rowing race for the first time.
London Otters Rowing Club, based on the Docklands in Newham, started in 2014 as a project between a small group of friends to provide an inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ people to learn to row.
The club now has over 240 members and put two crews in the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race (WEHoRR) for the first time in club history.
Otters PR officer Daniel Bregman said: “For the Otters, where a few years ago, we might have struggled to send one crew, certainly not two, it was a showcase of how far we’ve come and a really good sign of things to come for the future.”
The Otters began as simply a learn-to-row course before becoming a competitive club, though a majority of its current members came through their program.
The club’s LGBTQ+ inclusivity ethos is a fundamental part of the club’s identity.
Bregman said: “[Our inclusivity] means different things to different people.
“For some of our members, especially our trans and non-binary members, we are really the only place where they would be able to participate in rowing as their authentic selves.
“Last year, we took a non-binary scull quad to the Euro Games in Vienna.
“That was so special for them because there’s nowhere else in rowing where they could row as a non-binary person with that identity, rather than just coincidentally being that.”
The majority of rowers at the club are gay men.
However, there has been a push to increase the club’s diversity, recently appointing leads for women, trans rowers, ethnic minorities and disabled rowers.
Bregman said: “Our increased diversity has come about through a mix of using our learn-to-row courses to get a more diverse mix of people coming in at the bottom of the club and making sure that we are catering properly to all our members.
“For example, when all our equipment was sized for male bodies, that meant our rowers with smaller feet, their feet were coming out of their shoes all the time, so making sure that we have equipment that suits all our rowers.
“Then it’s just making sure that we’re showcasing and highlighting the diversity and making everyone feel welcome and wanted.”
That push for diversity was symbolised in the WEHoRR on International Women’s Day, much to the delight of former Otters squad captain Kate Nicholson-Russell.
She said: “It’s been amazing to watch the club grow from not having enough female members to enter WEHoRR to having two full crews compete.
“It’s also so fulfilling to row alongside those whose priorities are solidarity and allyship, such as our captains and equipment officers, who committed to sourcing and purchasing equipment to suit all body types.
“These efforts have made LORC more competitive in women’s rowing and have set us up for real, tangible growth.
“It’s easy to talk the talk, but knowing our leadership has our backs shows that the Otters can also walk the walk and be a community where women can thrive.”
WEHoRR takes place annually, with nearly 3,000 women racing in up to 320 crews racing the 6.8km Championship Course in West London.
Emma Gant, who raced in the Otters’ A boat, said: “This is the second time we’ve completed WEHoRR as a club, I’m lucky enough to have been part of both these crews.
“Other years, we’ve been foiled by the weather and before 2019, we simply didn’t have enough women who wanted to compete to make a boat.
“That’s what makes this so special, we have not one but two boats as a club, but it also makes me immensely proud to have a crew of dedicated, hard-working, incredible women and non-binary people in our ever-growing squad.
“Racing WEHoRR is a way to say ‘we’re the Otters, we’re here, we’re proud.'”
Despite the club’s recent success, it aims to continue to grow, increasing the number of people, increasing its diversity, and improving performance, with an ambition to build a future centre of its own.
Bregman said: “The Otters have historically been a club with a great community that hasn’t been going to races and winning everything.
“But we want to keep raising that standard at the top end and become a sort of more formidable force in the rowing community.”
For more information on London Otters Rowing Club, visit the club’s Instagram page.
Picture credit: London Otters Rowing Club
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