Broken Oars, Episode 27: Axel Dickinson and the Miracle of Hinksey

We're back! The incredible rhyme animals, hyping like poets on a mic we show it, doh, rey, mi, for, so, lah, ti, doh it ...

 

Wrong podcast?

 

No! It's another Friday afternoon and your genial hosts are full of fun and bounce again: yes, it's the illiterate Northern one and the Posh Southern one bringing you another slice of rowing goodness in time for your weekend.

 

This episode couldn't be more pertinent, coming as it does as the falling participation in British Rowing across the board highlight the need for community-facing and welcoming clubs getting more people than the high-performance end on the water and into the sport.

 

We are joined by the one, the only, the incredible and the inimitable Axel Dickinson - a New Zealand elite oarsman whose journey from the high end of one of the best performance programmes per capita in the world and into coaching reached a zenith this summer when his charges at Hinksey Sculling School went on the sort of run at Henley that makes us all believe in this sport all over again.

 

Of course, being the class act he is Axel was quick to give the credit to the rowers he worked with. In this episode, then, we cover: the social and class differences between Britain and New Zealand and how that impacts on sporting participation; Axel's entry point to rowing, and the importance of New Zealand's outdoor and inclusive culture promoting sport for all (rather than paying lip service to it as we tend to in this Great Britain - remember how the home Olympics were going to leave a legacy of sport for all simply by spending 9 billion in London? That turned out well, didn't it ... ?).

 

New Zealand's desire to produce 360 degree people contrasts with GB's focus on pushing academic attainment as the be all and end all to children shows up in their male and female participation and continuation figures in every age cohort. With a decided emphasis on sport rather than exercise, community-facing clubs and an inclusive approach it's all about encouraging people to get amongst it.

 

Touching on his squad experiences, Axel went on to discuss his approach to coaching, seeing at as an extension of personal responsibility and personal accountability on the part of the coach and training with intent, whatever the volume of the programme.

 

This leads on to the against all odds Rocky-style story of Hinksey's charge to the Sunday of the Brit - done on nothing more than focus, intent, desire and borrowed boats.

 

Let's make no mistake here. Southern Pip and I have always said that the one thing that Henley Royal Regatta held over all others as an elite sporting event was that you could start rowing in September, and if you were good enough find yourself lining up on the first day nine months later. 

 

It's a belief that has taken a bit of a knock recently with 2021's edition being a carve-up between elite HP clubs who appear to have decided amongst themselves beforehand that whoever got to the Barrier first went through to the next round ...

 

(Yeah, you, Oxford Brookes ...).

 

Hinksey's achievements, told in Axel's own words, should be lauded and praised in every quarter of British Rowing. They did it largely without outside help; and they took the sniping of others around them as fuel to power them to a stellar achievement that those involved will and should remember with pride for the rest of their lives.

 

You don't need that new Empacher, lads and lasses. You need to know what you want and you need to bloody well go and get it.

 

Full Crew. Come forward to row. GET SOME!