Home water Tideway Affiliations British Rowing | Founded 1854 Website www.pbdrc.co.uk | |
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Location Isle of Dogs, London, England Former names The Blackwall Rowing and Athletic Club | ||
Poplar Blackwall and District Rowing Club is an rowing club, on the River Thames in England, on the northern bank of the Thames opposite Greenwich on the Isle of Dogs, London.
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Club history
Poplar Blackwall and District Rowing Club was founded in 1854 and is one of the oldest rowing clubs in Great Britain. It was established by a group of young lightermen as "The Blackwall Rowing and Athletic Club". Boats were carried to the river from a local pub.
After World War I there was an increase in membership from shipwrights, boilermakers and stevedores from the nearby shipyards and docks, although the depression in the 1930s led to reduced activity again.
The club reformed with its present name in 1935 and established a club and boat house on the present site in 1937.
The club house marks the finish of the annual Great River Race.
Activities
The club provides rowing and sculling for adult, adult beginner, junior, masters (mature categories). It has events for recreational and competitive sides of the sport.
Taking the period since 2000 alone, PBDRC has seen members win more than 10 regattas and winter head races. The club has, at the top level, produced and enhanced international oarsmen and oarswomen: a few members of the club have represented Great Britain in the Olympic Games and World Championships in this period.
Competition history
In 1995 and 1996, juniors from the club (in a composite quad with the The Windsor Boys' School) won the Fawley Challenge Cup at Henley Regatta.
In 2011, Ralph Humphrey and Bob Milligan's double won the World Masters in Poznan, Poland, the Britain Masters and the Henley Masters Veterans.