Masters Rowing in Belgium

Gwenda Stevens is the President of the Belgium Federation. We discuss masters rowing in Belgium, the clubs regattas and the new Masters National Championship event.

Timestamps

00:45 Gwenda has been president for 12 years and she’s also an umpire and masters rower. 02:30 Masters rowing in Belgium isn’t a big sport. There are 28 rowing clubs in the country – only a few have masters. Gent has hosted regattas regularly in April and May for many years. There has been a lack of entries recently. Until 2 years ago when changes happened. 04:45 The Federation added masters rowing to the national championships three years ago. They worked hard to ensure that there were enough entries. IN September 2023 there were a huge growth with 9 eights racing masters. The April regatta will now have a small boats champs (1x and 2-) and in September for big boats (4x, 4- and 8 as well as a mixed 8). 06:40 There is now a Belgian National Title on offer and Gwenda believes this has accelerated the change and growth in competitors. The standard is high. Gwenda thinks the changes weren’t big but had a large impact. She hopes to have a separate masters championships. 08:50 New innovations – they are waiting to see how the event evolves and may have a masters only event with international participants as well from local countries. https://soundcloud.com/rowingchat/belgium-rowing-federation-gwenda-stevens