Only a handful of rowing clubs around the world cater specifically to the lesbian, gay, bi, transgender, questioning and ally community. In Part 1 of our Pride month special, we introduce you to leaders at DC Strokes Rowing Club and the Melbourne Argonauts Queer Rowing Club who talk with us about rowing and the gay rights movement in the 1990s, safe spaces, and why this part of the diversity issue is still relevant today.

Capital Juniors and Wisco alum Rebekah Armstrong talks about the (slowly) changing face of rowing in the United States, finding mentors and support, and her drive to help BIPOC athletes as a certified mental performance consultant.

In this second episode in a special series on gender identity policies in rowing, we talk with Ann Strayer, OLY, Varsity Women’s Coach at Oakland United Rowing. Together with fellow OUR coach and Olympian Erin Cafaro they have written a letter in support of USRowing’s gender identity policy, highlighting the importance of welcoming transgender and non-binary scholastic athletes into the boathouse, and allow them to row as the gender they identify with.

Dr. Mary O’Connor was a member of the influential 1976 Yale women’s rowing program that sparked big changes following the passage of Title IX. Today, she’s a member of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports – an advocacy group “seeking to elevate and empower female athletes by protecting safety, fairness, and opportunity for girls and women.”

Corin Wiggins, a recruited coxswain for the Hobart College men’s crew, established @TheBlackCoxswain Instagram account in 2020, in an effort to connect athletes of color in the rowing community. Two years later, she has forged a community of thousands online and on the water.

A former D1 volleyball player with an M.S. in Sports Administration, Jess Jackson joined USRowing in 2022 as a DEI associate. She hasn’t learned to row (yet), but swears by Orange Theory workouts which incorporate indoor rowing. She’s honest about her first impressions of rowing as exclusive and white, proud of the steps USRowing is taking around diversity and equity, and hopeful that today’s juniors are leading the way in inspiring change for the future of rowing.

Seattle has the Pococks. Philadelphia has the Kellys. And Boston has the Stones. We’re really excited to kick off season 4 with mother/daughter Olympians Lisa and Gevvie Stone. Lisa was a member of the first U.S. women’s Olympic rowing team in 1976 and went on to a 42-year coaching career. Gevvie was a natural when she took up rowing in high school and was a member of the 2012, 2016 and 2021 U.S. Olympic teams.

When eight octogenarian rowers and a coxswain take on the Head of the Charles, the lessons are huge: about lifelong fitness, being relentlessly active, and those moments you can only find after shoving off the dock.

When Sophie Brown wanted to learn to row, a coach asked her “Why would you do this if you are disabled?” Her reply: “Why not?” More than a decade later, a drive to find the perfect stroke has brought her two Henley wins. She’ll be checking off a bucket list item when she crosses the pond to race a PR2 mixed double at the 2022 Head of the Charles.