Volunteers key to rowing riding the crest of wave created by medal haul

As the first anniversary of London 2012 approaches, we begin a week-long look at whether the Olympics delivered on the promised legacy. Nick Westby spoke to Andrew Triggs Hodge.
Great Britain's Men's Four of (left to right) Andrew Triggs Hodge, Tom James, Pete Reed and Alex Gregory celebrate winning goldGreat Britain's Men's Four of (left to right) Andrew Triggs Hodge, Tom James, Pete Reed and Alex Gregory celebrate winning gold
Great Britain's Men's Four of (left to right) Andrew Triggs Hodge, Tom James, Pete Reed and Alex Gregory celebrate winning gold

It was the finest moment of Andrew Triggs Hodge’s career, better than his maiden Olympic title in Beijing, better than any of the world titles he had accumulated.

London 2012 was the culmination of four years’ hard graft, when the finish line at Eton Dorney was his sole motivation.

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Yet it was not the be-all and end-all. Stepping onto the podium did not mark the scaling of the summit for the enormously driven oarsman, who may have been born in Buckinghamshire and now lives in Oxfordshire, but is chiselled out of Yorkshire granite.

When he packs the oars away for good, that compelling final on August 4 when he stroked the men’s four to victory against fierce rivals Australia will be regarded as the Hebden-raised rower’s finest hour.

“I still recall it fondly,” says the 34-year-old.

“You go into a school and talk about it or into a commercial environment, and it’s nice to be able to reflect on how the medal was won and relish what you accomplished.

“But by the next morning you are back training and looking ahead again. It’s a nice balance.”

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This determination to always be looking ahead is an attribute that Hodge sees mirrored by his beloved sport.

For rowing, and for its athletes, London 2012 needed to be a springboard not a full stop.

All the hard work that began in the Steve Redgrave era could not be brought to a shuddering halt the minute the grandstands were dismantled at Dorney Lake.

Encouragingly, when he surveys the landscape of rowing one year on from the greatest show on earth, Hodge sees a sport in rude health and a legacy in action.

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There are teething problems, as any growing industry encounters, but Hodge sees a fortitude to overcome them, if the people involved have the will to help grow the sport in the wake of the Games.

“We always see it after an Olympics. A lot of rowing clubs see a sharp increase in uptake, more so last year than at any other time,” says the double Olympic champion.

“The problem most rowing clubs have is that they are at capacity, either in terms of athletes, water or volunteers.

“For one reason or another, clubs cannot handle that increase in numbers.

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“There’s always talk about inspiring children and, of course, that’s something we need to do.

“But that’s the easy bit. The hardest thing in terms of creating a legacy is creating the system for these children to go into.

“You need more clubs, more waterways or more access to water, and more volunteers.

“Attracting volunteers is key, because they are the ones that put kids on the water.

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“The best scenario would be more boat clubs, and there are some popping up.

“One of the things I have had a chance to do is help Leeds Metropolitan University set up a rowing club.

“Laura Richardson is a friend who has set up a rowing club at the university and they share the facilities with Leeds Rowing Cub at Roundhay Park.

“Laura is a fantastic example of someone getting off their backside and making something happen.

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“And for me, seeing something like that is one of the best things to come out of the Games, that, in time, Laura will hopefully be responsible for giving, say, a hundred people the opportunity to get out on the water.

“She came to the British base at Caversham, saw what we are doing and was inspired by that. We need more people like her.

“My club, Molesey, have shown what can be achieved. Since the Olympics, Molesey has set up rowing clubs at three different schools in the Thames area and a university.

“Legacy is more than just putting people into the water, it is about creating the facilities.

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“And we need to see that from many more boat clubs, especially in the north.”

Leeds Rowing Club, which have opened up their facilities at Roundhay Park to help the fledgling university club, are trying to raise money to build a new clubhouse due to the overwhelming surge in interest post London.

In terms of people wanting to get out on the water, the trend is heading upwards.

At the recent World Cup regatta back on the Olympic water at Eton Dorney in May, the interest in rowing as a spectator-sport was obvious.

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Thirty thousand people cheered Hodge and his British team-mates to nine medals at London 2012, and although logistics and planning meant only 6,000 tickets were available for last month’s regatta, the speed in which the tickets were sold suggests watching rowing is no longer just a once every four years phenomenon.

“The crowd was fantastic and we were delighted with the turnout,” says Hodge.

“It was rowing in front of a proper crowd which is something we don’t get to do all that often, even in Lucerne which is the biggest regatta, or even at a world championships.

“It felt like people had more confidence now to come to a rowing event because of the Olympics. What sports like rowing showed at the Olympics is that they can put on a show that can rival football or Formula 1, for instance, in terms of size and spectacle.

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“That people can come and enjoy other sports that are out of the mainstream – and that’s one of the positive things for me.

“One of the things an Olympics does is it breaks down the barriers between popular sports and minority sports.

“A home Games makes minority sports accessible to everyone. By supporting your home nation, you’re getting a kick out of investing your time in the exploits of others, no matter what sport it is.

“It opens people’s eyes to the fact that there are other sports below the mainstream ones and rowing is a prime example of that.

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“In rowing, we have a fantastic team delivering top-class performances and the more people that know that, the better.

“That way, we can continue developing out sport.

“Being back at Eton was special. We all had such strong memories of what it had been like the year before; how nervous we were, how excited we were, and how everything we had worked for over the last four years boiled down to just a few minutes.”

Rowing’s reward for beating the target of six medals set by UK Sport at London 2012 was an increase of £5m to £32.7m in funding for the next Olympic cycle. It is money that gives the sport every opportunity to continue improving and to build a legacy.

Hodge says: “Rowing is enjoying its heyday – has done for a decade or so.

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“But in saying that, we have to be careful that the investment goes into the right channels.

“We are only going to stay on top by developing the next generation of rowers.

“For this season, we had eight or nine new guys in the 25/26-man squad. They have all come in at a high level and are all very strong.

“Rowing had a fantastic London 2012 – but we cannot rest on our laurels.”

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World Championship next target as Hodge takes charge of the eight in Korea

Andrew Triggs Hodge was one of the biggest names in the mightily-successful British squad at London 2012.

As stroke of the flagship men’s four boat, he was one of the main leaders in a team that numbered nearly 50.

The way he handled himself and his crew in one of the more compelling duels of the Games as they went oar-to-oar with their Australian rivals, was an inspiration.

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Hodge was 33 at the time and walked off the podium with a second Olympic gold medal hanging around his neck, not knowing what the future held.

By December, he had decided that he still had the necessary drive to continue rowing.

He got back into action – rather sluggishly he admits after allowing himself to enjoy being an Olympic champion – through the winter and by the first World Cup regatta in Sydney he had become the stroke of the men’s eight.

They won gold in Australia, and again at Eton Dorney in May, but missed out on the medals in Lucerne earlier this month.

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The next stop is the world championships in Korea next month.

“We saw the faster boats at Lucerne,” says Hodge, who is with the British squad out at an intense training camp in the Austrian Alps. “We had done some really good stuff but we didn’t replicate it.

“There were some good crews firing on all cylinders.

“We were on the way down coming off of Henley Regatta and Dorney.

“We are working hard at the moment and this is our last chance to dig deep. It’s what we do every year; it’s a big step from the World Cups to the world championships.”

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