Peter (Pete) Hardcastle, is well known in Australian and World Rowing. Pete represented Australia at the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympic Games in different boat classes. After the olympics, Pete moved to the UK in 2008. where he coached at Dulwich College, Emanuel School and London Rowing Club, and coached the men’s four at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in 2014. In 2017, Pete joined Imperial College as the Head of Rowing and in his first season at Imperial, he coached the crew that won the Prince Albert Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.
Pete is an amazing athlete, and still continues to amaze mere mortals, with his Ironman Triathlon exploits, and marathon running. In this episode, Pete and I explore what got him into rowing, and how he progressed to the U23 World Championships and then the Elite team under 4-years. We talk about personal motivation, and challenging others to explore what is possible. We review what is really going on with some of the rapid crews we are watching today, and he shares his tips on how to get yourself ready to race as well as preparing your race mindset.
This podcast is supported by, Precision Hydration, Bont Rowing, Filippi Boats and Citius Remex seat pads. For more information about our supporters, and to gain access to exclusive bonus offers, ensure you subscribe to my newsletter.
Over the last 12-months, I have tried out different boat brands, (check out the Filippi vs Nelo article) and always come back to Filippi for shear speed, performance, quality of build, and style. Over the course of the last 3-years, I’ve enjoyed success with the F22, and planned to simply continue. Then David Filippi shared with me, the new performance features for the 2021 models, then it was clear, an upgrade was in order. The features David shared with, sound really exciting, both from a performance and design aspect. More about these new features in late January 2021.
I invite you to join me as I follow David’s team at Filippi Boats, as the build my new 2021 F22 single scull over the next few months. Together, with the team at Filippi, we will be following the process from start to finish.
The first step will be choosing the final colour. My current F22 is all black, although ascetically pleasing, the boat suffers in direct sun, with the all-black surface heating up. There was always the risk of damage to the materials if the boat is not covered and out of direct sun.
I have selected the following colours for the boat. Which one do you like best? You can vote for one of the three colours below on the Masters Facebook Group.
The final colour will be accented with the classic Filippi white stripe.
Stay tuned and subscribed to my newsletter to follow the build, and for more information on the new performance features released in 2021.
Most will now be aware, that the 2021 Boat Races, will take place on the River Cam in Ely. After a combination of factors, including the COVID pandemic, and the closure of Hammersmith Bridge at the halfway mark of the 6,800m course, forced the organisers to take radical action. The change in venue marks a return to Ely for the first time since a series of unofficial races took place there during the Second World War. Source; Robert Treharne Jones (Dec 2020)
Although the scale of the Boat Race event, could seem small in comparison to other major sporting events held in London, the Boat Race has an important attractor effect on people through physical visitors and also through television and digital platforms. I feel we can all learn a lot from what the Boat Race Organisation, and others like Henley Royal Regatta, The Head of The Charles, and Silver Skiff regatta, are are doing to attract and inspire people to rowing. How the organisers are understanding and translating the economic benefit of regatta, as well as learning how to televise, engage and extend the reach of the event beyond Race Day itself.
The facts and figures used in this article have been gathered from multiple sources, including a detailed report titled; The Boat Race, Impact of a Single Day Major Event on a City, Arup & The Boat Race Company (October 2017). Link to the original report can be found at the bottom of this post.
The Boat Race Today
There are 250,000+ visitors each year to the river banks on Race Day, and some 7 million people watching on national television, representing 3,400 visitors and 100,000 viewers per athlete.
In comparison the London 2012 Olympic Games had 10,568 athletes, 52 million individual viewers in the UK and 2 million visitors to London for the Games – or each athlete “attracting” 190 visitors and 4,900 viewers.
As such, each rower at the Boat Race, “attracts” 20 times more visitors than Olympic athletes.
The Boat Race generates 40 percent more spend per athlete than the London Olympics.
In the spirit of sport competition, The Boat Race has always been inclusive to all visitors, with no ticketing costs to the visitor. Yet the total spend from visitors is estimated between £7 million and £8.5 million, averaging £30 per person or £100,000 per athlete.
The visitor spend generated by the London 2012 Olympic Games was about £760 million (in the UK), averaging £1,290 per person, or £72,000 per athlete. Again, the Races have a yield per rower (based on visitor spend) 40 percent higher than the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The Boat Race attracts 50,000 additional day-visitors to London.
The Race attracts 200,000 visitors living in London who would not be considered additional visitors to the local area as the vast majority of them come from one of the four adjoining boroughs along the route.
Yet it attracts over 50,000 people from outside London each year to west London.
The direct net economic impact on the local economy is estimated between £2.1 and £2.9 million.
The 50,000 day-visitors spend £1.4 to £1.7 million in the local economy. Whilst London-based visitors are not additional as such to London or the local area, they will likely be spending more than on their average Saturday day-out, due to the event and celebratory atmosphere.
The direct economic impact of The Boat Race in the local economy is estimated between £2.1 and £2.9 million, with indirect contribution reaching £2.8 to £3.7 million each year.
Multiplier Effect
The additional spend in local businesses has an indirect impact on the wider supply chain, called the ‘multiplier effect’. In this case for every £1 spent directly, it will generate £0.30 in the supply chain.
It is estimated that the total net economic benefit to the local area from The Boat Race to be between £2.8 and £3.7 million each year.
Digital Spectators
Global sport is in the process of undergoing a dramatic change in how it is presented, followed and consumed by the public. As the demographics of sport spectators moves towards people who have grown up in the digital age the appetite for ‘sport as entertainment’ and data integration have become the focus of events organisers to capture the attention of the digital consumer. In a recent report out by Deloitte, it is estimated that 85% of the workforce in 2025 will be of the ‘Millennial Generation’, a generation that is defined by their use of digital in daily life.
Integration of technology and data into the broadcast material has enabled The Boat Race to reach out to, and maintain the interest of, a new generation of spectators. The results of online consumption are on the increase. For a small sport, at time of writing this post, the Boat Race has more than 1 Million views on You Tube, and Henley Royal Regatta nearly 10 Million views, and World Rowing 5.8 million views. Source, YouTube 2020.
Another ‘niche’ spectator sport, the America’s Cup, has transformed itself, from an event that attracted attention within the sport – but little public interest – to an event that has a huge online following (165,000 subscribers to their YouTube channel, with over 35m views in 2017) and is broadcast live through an in-house app and subscription TV channels worldwide.
Final Thoughts
The Boat Race has a much larger and wider impact on the London economy, beyond the event. The Boat Race and Henley Royal Regatta, have already, and continue to transform the way they present rowing in the digital age. Both have looked to how other sports, like the America’s Cup, T20 Cricket, Golf and Formula E motor sport, have achieved success, and figured out how the success of attracting and keeping new audiences, can translate and be relevant to rowing.
As the younger generations become the predominant spectator demographic for sporting events, integrating data analysis and real time graphic updates into the streaming and broadcast feeds will ensure that the rowing can move into the digital age. As former FISA secretary general and Henley Steward John Boultbee said, “Most people watch the World Championships and Olympic Regatta, do so via television. We need to make it more appealing for these audience to stay relevant.” You can listen to the episode with John, by clicking on the link to the Faster podcast below.
I invite you to consider how you and I, can directly influence rowing events, to challenge and inspire regatta organisers, to explore, to test and develop ways of presenting our sport to current and future generations.
You can access the report that I have sampled by visiting the following link on the Boatrace.org website. https://www.theboatrace.org/wp-content/uploads/Arup-Report-The-Boat-Race.pdf
Anne-Marie Howald is well know in the rowing world, having represented Switzerland at the 1987 & 88 World Championships as a lightweight, and now as the Head Coach of the U23 and Junior Squad.
In 2018, Anne-Marie was awarded the “Swiss Olympic Coach Award” for the impressive achievements of the junior national team at the European Championships in Krefeld and the World Championships in Trakai.
Anne-Marie leads the talent identification of young rowers in Switzerland, with the ‘Future Rowers’ programme that takes promising young athletes through to the Elite level. In this episode, Anne-Marie covered how she first started in rowing and how that love for rowing, and high performance, has taken her on her own journey to coaching and inspiring others. Plenty of inspiration for the listener, some ideas and tips on how to move the boat faster, along with some nice insights into her time training with the legendary coach, Harry Mahon.
This podcast is supported by, Precision Hydration, Bont Rowing, Filippi Boats and Citius Remex seat pads. For more information about our supporters, please ensure you subscribe to my newsletter to gain access to exclusive bonus offers.
