THE ROWERS CONFERENCE
R1 Technology, Performance & Rowing Saturday 14 January 2017 9.00am – 5.00pm Eton Dorney, UK
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Supported by National Schools’ Regatta.
Innovated by Rowe.rs
Overview Arrival Coffee or tea and pastries Optional Tour of the Eton Dorney Facility. Welcome by David Townsend, Olympian and Co-Founder of Rowers Ltd 3 Keynote Speakers 2 Panel discussions 3 Symposia streams
Lunch Tables hosted by our Guest Speakers and Tech Suppliers
Keynotes 1st Keynote Sir Matthew Pinsent, C.B.E. How technology is changing Henley Royal Regatta 2nd Keynote Oli Watkins The use of simulation technology in F1 and how rowing could benefit from a similar approach. 3rd Keynote Fran Houghton The story of her 5 Olympic Games and how technology has changed rowing in that time
Panel Discussions Rowing Events Panel Hear how successful events keep themselves relevant and look to improve the efficiency of both competitor and spectator experience. Indoor Rowing Panel The changing world of indoor rowing. A highly entertaining and insightful discussion looking at this rapidly developing area of our sport. Gain an insight into how you or your club might be affected.
Symposia Stream 1 Stream 2 Stream 3
The impact of technology on event management and timing systems Next steps in the development of equipment for rowing Modern measurement systems for training and physiology
Timetable 08:30
Coffee/tea and pastries and tour of the facility
09:00 Introduction 09:10
1st Keynote – Sir Matthew Pinsent, C.B.E.
09:50
Session 1
10:20
Coffee and Tea
10:40
Session 2
11:20
Rowing Events Panel
12:00
Lunch (Hosted Tables)
13:00
2nd Keynote – Oli Watkins
13:40
Session 3
14:20
Session 4
15:00
Coffee and Tea
15:20
Indoor Rowing Panel
16:00
Keynote 3 – Fran Houghton
16:40
Conclusion
17:00
Depart
Keynote Speakers Keynote 1 – Sir Matthew Pinsent, C.B.E How the use of technology has changed Henley Royal Regatta Matthew Pinsent is a 4 time Olympic Gold Medallist with a multitude of Worlds Championship Gold medals. Since retiring from rowing competitively in 2004, Matthew has been occupied with public speaking and media work with several global organisations, including the BBC at rowing events and both Winter and Summer Olympics. Matthew is also a Steward at Henley Royal Regatta. He has been part of the team to deliver the rowing broadcast of the most historic rowing event of them all. Matthew will talk to us about how the challenge evolved and how technology allowed the Regatta to deliver something cutting edge right to the heart of the rowing world.
Keynote 2 – Oli Watkins Changing use of data in F1 – simulation to predict performance Oli Watkins and his co-founders have had decades of experience in Formula One, working with the best teams. Setting up the car in order to get the fastest setup is difficult. Traditionally it entailed some guess work and lots of tinkering with the car and driving it to see what effect the changes had had. Now with the dawn of simulation it can be done more quickly, more cheaply and more accurately in a computer. Oli will give us an insight into how his approach is changing Motorsport. His experience as a rowing coach and husband to Anna Watkins will enable Oli to explains the parallels that are applicable to rowing.
Keynote 3 – Fran Houghton Story from Sydney to Rio Our Olympic rowers are fully funded and so very professional. Often this takes the soul out of the sport, but not for Fran Houghton. Her story and the basic values that have kept her in the sport for so long are inspiring. Fran will give us an insight into why she rowed for so long, and what she thinks makes her so successful. Fran will also elude to the changes in the sport over her rowing career. Remember all the tech is there to help the athletes get faster.
Stream 1
The impact of technology on event management and timing systems
We have brought together the three world leading timing platforms used in domestic rowing. These company owners and developers will give a clear and insightful view of how their product works and how it delivers a superior athlete and spectator experience. We hope this will raise people’s horizons of what is possible at rowing regattas.
Phil Clements Phil is the Managing Director of rowTIME Ltd, a company specialising in timing rowing competitions. He is a member of the British Rowing Council and has been an international FISA umpire since 2011. Phil is also Deputy Chairman of the British Rowing National Competition Committee where he is helping to formulate the New Competition Framework. In the late 1990s he returned to his old school and helped to computerise the draw and results from the Wycliffe Heads and this experience over the last 20 years has led to the development of the rowTIME Event Management.
Harm Hermsen Harm first began rowing as a student rowing club Gyas in the north of The Netherlands. In his second year he became a coxman for the lightweight freshman’s eight and after a full time year in the board of the rowing club, he decided to convert the regatta timing committee into a business called Time-Team. Having done his master thesis in Artificial Intelligence on the subject of real-time rowing race tracking using GPS and accelerometer data, Harm is always on the lookout for applying new technologies with the aim of improving rowing itself or the experience of rowing for the audience. Internet-of-things timing boxes, centrally controlled video installations and remote heart rate monitoring are some of the subjects he has worked on throughout the years.
Brian Reynolds Brian has been consulting and building technology in a variety of industries for a couple decades and been rowing even longer. Brian rowed eights at Cornell University where he took home a bronze at the collegiate championships in ‘94 and has rowed club boats and singles since then. He got started with regatta timing at the Head of the Charles in 1999, started the rowing technology company Powerhouse Timing in 2003, and created the HereNow Racing System in 2012. Between startups he has worked with McKinsey Consulting, BB&N Technologies and Unica among others. When he’s not traveling for work you can find him on the Charles river rowing out of Riverside Boat Club or on the pitch with friends playing football.
Stream 2
Next steps in the development of equipment for rowing
Equipment is a rapidly evolving area. With all the new materials and technologies coming out the future is incredible. We have brought together some innovative hardware manufacturers to explain what they have developed. They will give an insight into what difference they think these will make to athlete performance. Wearable devices will revolutionise how we monitor performance and health without the need for a laboratory or a needle. If they are right it will revolutionise sport, not just rowing.
Christoff Schwiening Rate of Perspiration as a non invasive measure of fitness Christoff is a lecturer in Physiology at the University of Cambridge. His main research is on pH changes in nerve cells. He also lectures on topics of muscle, thermoregulation, circulation and aerobic training and has a general interest in homeostasis. Recently he has begun to look at the trainable elements of physiology that can limit endurance performance, in particular how heat generation by muscle trains the skin and blood and alters the circulatory challenge of endurance performance.
Caroline McManus Wearable ECG as a way of managing Cardiac Health in athletes Caroline MacManus is currently the Performance Science lead at the Irish Institute of Sport. Having worked with High Performance sports for the last 17 years, Caroline is based between Dublin and Limerick in Ireland and travels abroad with national teams. Caroline’s interest and primary research in the past has been into the area of muscle fatigue. Since working in the high performance system, research interests have varied over the years. She works in an applied environment, not just in the laboratory. This gives a real understanding of the requirements in a competitive environment.
Glen Burston Modern boat design and construction – what is the future? Glenn is the Operations Manager at Hudson racing boats. He is the driving force behind the present and future Hudson. Since 2005 Glen has applied his Master of Engineering knowledge and national level rowing experience to transform the company into a cutting edge manufacturing success. Industry success requires continuous technical innovation, intuition and risk. Hudson was the first rowing boat builder in the world to comprehensively convert its fleet to composite construction combined with aluminium wing rigger technology. Today, this is the industry standard at the top level of the sport. Glen will give us an insight into what it takes to build these boats as well as a glimpse into what the future holds.
Stream 3
Modern measurement systems for training and physiology
Training is the bedrock of our sport. As rowers we love to train. All too often in order to improve our performance we just train more and more and more. Time is rapidly becoming a limiting factor for club, student and elite athletes alike. We need to improve the performances by being more intelligent with our training. This group have worked extensively with athletes at all levels and give a special insight into how better to individualise training as well as use telemetry to better understand what is actually happening in the boat.
Kurt Jensen How to improve performance with more efficient training Kurt rowed on the Danish national team and competed at international events in the 1970’s. Since then, Kurt has continued his career in the development of testing methods, such as his formula on how to combine different scores on the ergometer for a unique insight into an athlete’s conditioning. He has become an international lecturer in his field. A big role in that is played by the University of Southern Denmark in the city of Odense, where a test centre was developed at the university’s Institute of Sport Science and Clinical Biomechanics.
Ryan Demaine Use of technology in a successful school programme Ryan learned to row in South Africa. Ryan has been coaching in the UK for quite a few years and is Head Coach of Headington Girls School. Whilst at Headington they have dominated the women’s 1st eight event at the National Schools event. Ryan uses a very systematical and scientific approach to develop the athletes. Despite this approach Ryan values the personal interaction with the athlete most. Hear Ryan blends the two aspects to enable the programme to deliver results.
Conny Draper How to interpret telemetry to row faster Conny offers applied sports biomechanics consulting service, testing/critical analysis, feedback and offer recommendations (applied to the level of the program: from national team university team - club - school level). Conny is expert at communicating the what the data is really showing. Working with coaches, athletes and support staff to maximise technique efficiency towards performance enhancement. A specialist in on-water rowing & kayaking/para-rowing biomechanics (multi-dimensional technical & performance analysis), Conny collaborates and advises in applied sport equipment R&D projects and hardware instrumentation/software application projects (mainly rowing/kayaking).
Ian Wynne Technologies British Canoeing used to win medals in Rio Ian is the current Lead Coach for the Olympic Development programme for British Canoeing. Ian looks after the sprint canoeist. Ian is a two-time Olympian winning and Olympic bronze medal in Athens 2004. Ian has been part of integrating the new technologies British Canoeing has been developing into winning performances. British Canoeing has taken a deliberate step to look into Research and Development as a way of gaining a performance advantage.
Rowing Events Panel Rowers love to race! But not all regattas are the same. In a regulated environment rowing is competing against other sports. Our regattas have a responsibility to keep and draw people into our sport. Providing better and better events that are sustainable both financially and in managing its volunteer population is key. We have brought together some of the more high profile events in the UK. These events which selected have one thing in common. They are run purely for the benefit of the event and not as a fundraising vehicle to help finance the running of the club. We are interested in how they see technology has already helped them and what the game chambers are coming down the line.
Miriam Luke Olympic Medallist and Chairwoman of Henley Women’s Regatta Miriam is an Olympic sliver medalist from Sydney 2000. Miriam works in Leadership and Change sector helping organisations improve their performance. Miriam has been chairman of Henley Women’s Regatta since 2012. Im that time the regatta has continued to grow and attract competitors from all corners of the world. Last year Henley Women’s Regatta streamed the racing live. This is something they are looking to continue as part of the incremental improvement that the regatta beings to its competitors and and spectators.
George Hammond Artistic Blacksmith and Chairman National Schools Regatta George Hammond has been Chairman of the National Schools Regatta since 2006, having been on the Committee since 1986. George learned to row at School and was Captain of Boats at Eton College. George did most of his rowing at Bedford Rowing Club, competing at Henley Royal Regatta several times in the Thames Challenge Cup. George is a multilane umpire and currently Chairs the Bedford Regatta Committee. George is has been the Entries Steward at Henley Royal Regatta since 2007.
Sir Matthew Pinsent Multiple Olympic Champion and Steward at Henley Royal Regatta Matthew Pinsent is a 4 time Olympic Gold Medallist with a multitude of Worlds Championship Gold medals. Since retiring from rowing competitively in 2004, Matthew has been occupied with public speaking and media work with several global organisations, including the BBC at rowing events and both Winter and Summer Olympics. Matthew is also a Steward at Henley Royal Regatta. He has been part of the team to deliver the rowing broadcast of the most historic rowing event of them all. Matthew will talk to us about how the challenge evolved and how technology allowed the Regatta to deliver something cutting edge right to the heart of the rowing world.
Indoor Rowing Panel Indoor rowing is a rapidly expanding area of our sport. It is a non traditional part of our sport and is not regulated. In effect it is a totally de-regulated area that is encouraging both competitor and creativity. Using the web to run visual training clubs as well as virtual racing. Running events where the focus is on teams and shorter distances, taking away the burden of doing a 2000m piece all the time. Also app technology enabling the social sharing of training as well has much improved recoding of what is being done on the indoor rower.
Sam Blythe Fitness Matters online indoor training Based in Exeter, Fitness Matters was founded by Personal Trainer Sam Blythe, a former professional rugby player with the Exeter Chiefs. Sam has a well established background in the sport of indoor rowing both as a performer, competitor and coach. Earlier this year he took steps to expand the rowing side of his personal training business and Fitness Matters Indoor Rowing was founded. He currently now offers a wide range of services which include training and coaching (both 1:1 and virtually), operating a growing number of social media communities, as well as Captaincy of the FM Indoor Rowing Team and hosting two increasingly popular events on the race calendar.
Cam Nichol World leading Cross-fit indoor rowing coach Cameron Nichol is a medical doctor, two-time world silver medalist, former Olympic rower, and founder of RowingWOD, a company dedicated to inspiring and empowering athletes to master rowing. He advises and works with a few startups and projects in the rowing and health & fitness industry, the most notable of which is his role as chief operating officer for LiveRowing, an app that changes the way a user interacts with the rowing machine.
Paul Lucas Organiser and promoter of City Regatta - a new indoor rowing event series Paul is a creative sports marketing executive with over 20 years experience and a proven track record of building and delivering strategic partnerships across multiple sports and industry sectors. Having previously worked at leading multinational sports marketing agencies, including ISL, Octagon and IMG, Paul teamed up with fellow sports marketing executive, Matt Worley, in 2008 to launch Progressive Sports. In 2016, Paul devised and implemented City Regatta, an innovative new indoor rowing event, on behalf of its client, Invesco Perpetual, as part of a broader marketing and activation strategy around Invesco Perpetual’s sponsorship of Leander Club.
Filip Ljubicic Award Winning app developer and Co-Founder of Float and Rowe.rs Since leaving university Filip has been building apps in medicine, education and sport. In 2013 he co-founded the award winning app RefME that has saved millions of students time and marks around the world. Since 2014 Filip has been working on Rowe.rs and ErgStick to help bring rowing into the 21st Century. In late 2016 Float was launched to make indoor rowing social. Filip rowed for the University of London whilst at university.
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