Rowing Race Strategy: Starts, Rhythm and the Finish
Listen to the conversation: #123 How to Optimise Speed in a Race - Dr Valery Kleshnev
#119 How to Make a Fast Boat Faster, Robin Williams MBE
A race plan should help you use your available power effectively over the whole distance. It needs a start, a sustainable racing rhythm and a finish the crew has practised.
In our race-strategy conversation, Dr Valery Kleshnev explains these phases through mechanics and his experience in rowing. Some of his views challenge familiar racing language. The useful response is to understand the reasoning and test the ideas with your coach.
Build the start as the boat accelerates
Valery compares the early strokes to moving through gears. A shorter initial stroke helps begin the acceleration; the stroke develops as the system gains speed.
That explanation supports practising the transition, rather than judging the start solely by the highest number on the rate display. A crew needs to arrive at its racing stroke together.
The exact sequence depends on the crew and event. Agree the commands and practise the movement under the conditions you expect to race.
Find control in the settle
Settling is a change into a rhythm you can sustain. It should not become an abrupt loss of commitment or a scramble to hit an arbitrary stroke rate.
Valery discusses synchronising body movement, blade work and the boat. Robin Williams similarly describes rhythm as giving rowers time and control even at high rates.
A useful coaching question is whether the crew can feel the difference between applying power effectively and simply adding tension. The aim is to sustain performance, not to make the middle of the race look relaxed while speed disappears.
Listen to Valery explain the start and settle. Hearing the full exchange helps clarify what he means by relaxation: purposeful movement with less unnecessary tension.
Make a move together
A call for more power should mean something the whole crew understands. Does it ask for a rate change, a technical correction or a defined increase in effort?
Valery warns that a rower can feel individually more powerful by reaching the catch and pushing earlier, while disturbing everyone else's connection. The sensation of working harder is therefore not sufficient evidence that the boat is faster.
Practise your calls. Establish the action, its duration and how the crew returns to the intended rhythm. Judge the result in the boat, not by how dramatic the command sounds.
Test your finishing distance
Valery does not offer one sprint distance for everyone. He says crews need to establish through training how long they can sustain their final increase.
Try appropriate finishing pieces within your programme. Observe whether the change produces useful speed, whether the movement stays coordinated and whether you can maintain it to the line.
A finish that works when fresh may feel very different after the rest of a race. Preparation needs to reflect that.
Turn the plan into a short shared agreement
Before racing, make sure everyone can explain:
How the start develops into the racing stroke.
What the settle should achieve.
Which calls change rate, technique or effort.
Where the finish begins and how it is called.
What to do if the expected plan is disrupted.
After the race, compare the plan with what happened. Include steering, conditions and execution when reviewing the numbers.
The conversation with Robin Williams adds a useful coaching perspective: race performance grows from repeated work on the crew's rhythm and control, not just the instructions given on race day.
