800 young people took part in the inaugural National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships (NJIRC) this week at the Assembly Hall of Hammersmith Town Hall.

The event was the brainchild of London Youth Rowing Programme Director Matt Rostron who then put together an unbeatable team that saw The Boat Race and Concept 2 add their support to stage this exciting and well-attended event.

With The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race taking place in just under a week’s time, the aim of the event was to give kids from across the country the opportunity to compete over the same distance as the elite athletes taking part in the race itself, and to broaden the appeal of the Boat Race to a wider audience that would not normally be involved with The Race.

This was certainly achieved, as over 150 young people traveled down from an Indoor Rowing initiative, based in Birmingham, from rowing clubs in South Wales, schools from London and the South East, even a group that flew in to Gatwick from Jersey to compete. They were joined by Stephen Greenhalgh, Leader of Hammersmith Council and Head of Department Chris Naylor, who raced each other over 500 m to launch this prestigious event which was supported by Hammersmith Council.

“We gave ourselves just 7 short weeks from deciding to stage the Championships to actually getting here today” said Matt Rostron, the event organiser and Programme Director of London Youth Rowing, “the large numbers of young people that entered the Championships – not only shows just how popular indoor rowing has become but that we should already be looking for a bigger venue for the event next year! The amount of enthusiasm and willingness of the coaches, teachers and of course the competitors themselves, to enter and have a go, is breathtaking.

"They have really thrown themselves into the event and I really salute them all for making this event such a success and a pleasure to be involved with”.

The quality of racing was extremely impressive- all day groups raced over different times and distances which made for a really exciting and full race schedule that entertained spectators throughout the day. There were medals for all category winners, as well of the generous prize of a new concept 2 rowing machine, donated by the company themselves. These were awarded to the Sprint Relay winning boys and girls teams.

The title of Boat race Relay Champions 2007 went to City of London School for the Boys and Great Marlow – Sir Steve Redgrave’s old school, winners for the girls.

Sadly, it was down to the flip of a coin to decide who got the top prize.

City of London called it and won the incredible prize of following the Oxford and Cambridge boat race on April 7th in inflatable boats driven by the Royal Marines.

Great Marlow School didn’t go away empty handed – they get to follow the earlier race between Isis and Goldie – truly prizes that money just can’t buy.

Full results are available from the London Youth Rowing website see link on this page.

The success of the event was down to the combined efforts of a number of organisations, and demonstrates the impact that an innovative and well-structured event can have on young people. In particular, the efforts of Concept 2, the Boat Race Company, and Ashurst, under the leadership of London Youth Rowing combined to make the event as successful as it was.