| Date | 5 April 1935 |
|---|---|
| Source | Windsor, Slough & Eton Express |
| Reference | EE01-0145 |
| Volume | Eton Excelsior Rowing Club, Volume 1 |
| Collection | Eton Excelsior |
Transcript
The Joy of Rowing
“WHY is it“, asks a correspondent, “that there is not so much enthusiasm of rowing in these days? I well remember how we of the Eton Excelsior Club always started the season’s activities on Good Friday. New members would go out in tubs and feel very awkward, and the older members would have the thrill of being afloat again. We should be no doubt very ragged as we paddled up stream, but how quickly we got back to the rhythm of it all and felt all the old joy. There is no sport like it, nothing to equal the sense of unity with other members of the team or crew as there is in rowing. It is, by the way, the only sport in which the competitors travel backwards. There is a story that when Mr. C. G. Gladstone, of Eton College, was asked at a Rowing Club supper why the Eton boys rowed backwards, replied that it was so they should have a better view of the Castle. I do hope that some of the younger men of the district will join the Eton Excelsior Club. There are not many places in the country with such facilities as there are here, and we should all like to see an Eton Excelsior eight bring off a great success at Henley Regatta “.
A Great Race.
“ROWING is hard work“, continued our correspondent; “it needs strict and careful training, but it brings its reward. One of the happiest moments of my life was at the end of a final. We were led all the way by our rivals; at one point we were more than a length behind, but knew that we were in good condition. Very slightly we decreased the lead until we were a quarter of a mile from the end, and our supporters on the bank told us afterwards that they thought it impossible for us to win. We did, but by so small a margin that we had to inquire from the bank who had won. That moment was worth all the weeks of training“.
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