When Duke started the company in 1988 there was no way he could have foreseen how big WaterRower would become today.
noise that is much less jarring on the ear, while also contributing to the feeling of being on the open water. The aesthetic appeal of the
WaterRower is so great that it has even been adopted as the sporting equipment of choice in one of 2014’s most lauded US television shows. There are many instances in Netflix’s ‘House of Cards’ where the only sound to be heard in the house of Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, is the soothing back-and-forth of a WaterRower being put to good use. Its inclusion in this iconic show has given WaterRower a further boost. The story goes that the programme’s scriptwriters wanted Underwood to use a running machine as symbol of his persistent, and ultimately pointless, pursuit of power. But Spacey, much to the joy of WaterRower, thought
that a rowing machine would be more atmospheric. Now celebrities all around the world have started to give WaterRower the attention it deserves. Director Steven Spielberg, actress Anna Friel, and even footballer Paul Scholes have all been unstinting in their praise of Duke’s machine. It is this combination of innovative design and aesthetic appeal that allows the WaterRower to target not only elite rowers but also the fitness market, as well as the wider public. While retail will always be the bread and butter of the company, recent deals with Fitness First and Virgin Active have seen a large increase in the amount of WaterRower machines that are used in gymnasiums that aren’t specifically tailored to the needs of rowers in training. Circuit training is on the rise
across the UK and the USA and the WaterRower is now one of the stations of choice in gyms across the world. Making rowing a key component of these fitness classes is one of the key aims of the company in the future. It is an aim that will also be of great benefit to rowing as a sport. Even though rowing is one of the founding sports of the modern Olympic games and is the third largest sport at the Summer games, it does not generate nearly the amount of column inches of many less popular sports. But at the same time that WaterRower is becoming more of a feature in fitness regimes, rowing is becoming more ingrained into the public consciousness. This can only be a good thing for the sport, as well as bringing more attention to WaterRower and its creations. When Duke first started the company in 1988 there was no way he could have foreseen how big WaterRower would become today, and it would not be surprising if WaterRower continued to expand in the same vein.
ROW360 // Issue 001 31
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116