OPINION
Closing the gap
Zoe De Toledo, GB women’s eight cox, on the state of women’s rowing.
WORDS ZOE DE TOLEDO // PHOTOGRAPHY IGOR MEIJER I 34
often find myself ranting about the “state” of wom- en’s rowing in the UK, and this time of year is no ex- ception. With Henley Wom- en’s Regatta (HWR) just gone, I once again start to
think about the differences between the sexes, and of what can be done to encourage and motivate women who want to row competitively. It is important for me to state that this is my opinion and mine alone. However, the observations I make stem from over a decade of coxing and coaching women at school, club, university, elite and international levels. I appreciate that HWR is more about inclusivity than exclusivity, but
just examining the events available gives you a clue as to the level at which the event pitches itself. HWR offers 26 events, compared to just 16 men’s events at Henley Royal. To me this is a no-brainer: more events equals a lower standard of competi- tion, and less prestige associated with taking home a little red box. There are plenty of fiercely fought events at HWR, but these are in stark contrast to many which are won far too easily. Two of my friends raced the Elite 2- and crashed, a full-on “blade over the top of the booms boat stopper” but still managed to break the event record. I truly believe that if Henley Women’s was tougher to win, and more consistently competitive, female
rowers wouldn’t shy away from the pressure, but would raise their games to match the event. This would, over time, raise the standard of women’s rowing across the board. In 2015 the Oxford versus Cam- bridge women’s Boat Race will move to the Tideway in London. For the first time in history they have secured an equal share of the funding, and their race will now be televised live along- side the men’s. On the face of it this looks like a fantastic opportunity for the women’s crews to show that they can punch at the same level as the men, but I fear it will not be as simple as that. A number of old blues re- marked that their race has no history on the Tideway, and they, like myself,
ROW360 // Issue 001
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