Thames Rowing Club

Thames Rowing Club was founded in 1860. The club based themselves in Putney at a boathouse and a room at the Red Lion Hotel on Putney High Street. Their initial aim was the modest one of 'organised pleasure or exercise rowing'. It would be 1864 before the club's first recorded win, in a race against the Excelsior Boat Club of Greenwich. Thames won its first trophy at Henley Royal Regatta in 1870, taking the Wyfold Challenge Cup. By 1890 the club had won a further 21 Henley titles (including the Grand Challenge Cup four times) and was well-established in its own boathouse on Putney Embankment.

In 1973 Thames voted to accept women as members and the United Universities Women’s Boat Club moved into the boathouse. The club quickly became a powerhouse of women’s rowing, sending athletes to compete at every Olympic Games from Los Angeles (1984 Olympics) to Beijing (2008 Olympics). In 2000 Guin and Miriam Batten were members of the quad which took silver in Sydney, Britain’s first-ever women’s rowing Olympic medal. Elise Laverick won bronze in the double at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.