Enjoy the Olympics at Molesey Boat Club

Come and watch the London 2012 Rowing on the big screen and the Cycling Road Races as they hurtle by.

Click on the poster to find out more.

Team Building Days at Molesey Boat Club - Thursday 2nd & Friday 3rd August

Rowing is a truly exhilarating team sport, suited to everyone.

Founded in 1866, Molesey Boat Club is one of the finest rowing clubs in the United Kingdom. Ideally located near Hampton Court, rowers enjoy an outstanding stretch of the Thames between Molesey and Sunbury locks.

Molesey proudly caters for rowers at every level, from Novice to Olympic Champion, and boasts eight athletes in the Olympic team at London 2012.

Successful crews train hard all year round, both on and off the water – They have focus, commitment and strength, but above all, they work as a team.

Watch the Olympic rowing & take inspiration into your own team for a mini regatta!

Team Building at Molesey Boat Club:

Motivates and inspires
Promotes strong team relationships
Shows you what you’re capable of achieving together
Builds confidence whilst having fun

Outline of the Day

09.00 Arrive at Molesey Boat Club

09.15 – 10:00 Enjoy a hearty breakfast

10.00 – 11.00 Watch the Olympic rowers in action on the big screen with commentary and initial team briefing from one of our coaches

11.00 – 12.00 The coaches will take you to the gym and teach you the basic technique on the rowing machine. This will demonstrate each phase of the rowing stroke and you will learn that it’s not all about strength, but moving as-one that counts.

12.00 – 13.00 Savour a beautiful lunch

13.00 – 15.00 Get out on the river – you will be introduced to the largest, fastest and most stable of the boats in a rowing club’s fleet - The Eight.
Your coach will take you on the water where you will be safely supervised and instructed how to row effectively together. This will culminate in a short regatta race against the other teams.

15.00 – 16.00 Celebrate and watch your achievements with afternoon tea or drinks at the bar

How Does it Work?

You will row in teams of six with experienced crew in the first and last positions in the boat and an experienced cox. Your coach will be in a launch boat alongside supervising and helping you along. You should wear tight-fitting, lightweight clothing (not jeans) – go on… you know you want to!!!

If you have team members who’d rather not row, don’t worry. They can go on the committee motor boat, shout encouragement and capture memorable pictures. If you have people who’d rather not test their river legs at all, they too can join in the fun from the Thames Path that runs alongside the river!

However, please note those rowing must meet the following criteria:
Age: All participants must be over 18 years of age
Swimming: All participants must be able to swim 100 metres

Costs

£200 per person
(Includes MBC coach, support crew, breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea)

Options (cost on request):

Motivational Speaker

Chris Martin has some experience in achieving the impossible! Having been in the British Rowing Team and returned with medals from 6 world championships, he turned his attention to ocean rowing. His first feat was a solo Atlantic crossing and then in 2009, he completed the first ever dual-handed Pacific crossing. He and his rowing partner were awarded a Guinness World Record in 2010 and their film footage of the journey was made into a documentary and aired on the Discovery Channel in May 2012. He is a truly fascinating guy to listen and talk to.

Edited Video Montage
If requested, we can produce an edited video montage as a memorable record of the day to share this with your colleagues, upload the video onto your website or play it back at your company meeting!

Photographer

As a reminder of the day we can provide a professional photographer to capture the highlights of the day and edit these into a digital album for you to keep.

Contact Information

If you would like any further information about the Olympic Team Building Days please get in touch with This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

We are very flexible, so if you have any questions at all please do contact us.

Location Information

For our address and directions please see the Find Us page

Molesey Boat Club is proud to have eight members in the GB squad based at Caversham Bridge focussing on winning Gold at London’s 2012 Olympics.

See the details of the athletes below and the latest team news.

To find out the latest on the GB Rowing team you can view the latest Olympic news from GB Rowing

Molesey Boat Club’s Olympic Legacy

MBC's Greg & Jonny Searle won gold in Barcelona

MBC's Greg and Jonny Searle Win Gold in Barcelona

The thread of Olympic gold runs right through the heart of Molesey Boat Club.

Turn up at the club on almost any Saturday and you are likely to see at least a couple of Olympic champions taking to the water. The legendary achievements of Gold Medallists like Jonny Searle, or Martin Cross are woven deep into British rowing’s illustrious history.

And that strand runs right through the present too. The seven-strong Molesey contingent in Team GB for 2012 contains no less three Olympic champions: Tom James, Andrew Triggs Hodge and Jonny Searle’s kid brother, Greg. All of them travel to London with strong hopes of adding yet another Olympic Gold medal to their laurels. If they are successful, they will help to inspire the future generation of Olympians currently training at the club: ready to take on the torch for future generations.

Triggs Hodge, Molesey’ Captain in 2008 to 2012, experienced this seamless process. In 2002, he was a young recruit to the Club’s Under 23 programme, soon to be fast-tracked into the British National Squad. It was a journey that would lead him to an Olympic four’s Gold in Beijing. But crucially it was a path that two of his protégés felt able to follow. Understandably then, Triggs Hodge felt nothing but pride as Molesey’s Moe Sbihi and James Foad, won seats in Britain’s Olympic eight.

Some years earlier, the young Sbihi and Foad were cutting their teeth racing against Molesey’s all-star Olympic veteran eights. Coxed by Olympic champions Garry Herbert, or Adrian Ellison, the crews have drawn on some of the sport’s most legendary names. They have included Sir Matthew Pinsent, winner of four Olympic Gold medals and, before his dramatic return to the sport, Greg Searle. Of course, The Searle brothers, together with Garry Herbert won their Olympic Gold in Barcelona.

In one of the sport’s most unforgettable contests, the British hunted down the fast-starting Abbagnale brothers from Italy to claim their victory by the narrowest of margins. Molesey’s very own Steve Gunn coached them to that triumph. It was a feat that put the Surrey club firmly on the list of the world’s most famous rowing clubs.

And Molesey’s international links continue to the present. Jean-Christophe Rolland, is not only France’s greatest Olympic champion but also a legend in the sport, not least because of the dramatic way he took his pair’s medal in the Sydney Olympics. Today, Rolland is a regular in Molesey’s group of ex-internationals. And top competitors from Germany, Australia and the USA join the Frenchman to make up the crew.

Unsurprisingly, debates in Molesey’s clubroom as to who might win the key medals in the Olympics are hotly contested. But one thing is for sure, whatever their national allegiance, all the club members feel a deep sense of affiliation to Molesey’s ‘Magnificent Seven’: the seven men who will carry the Club’s banner into the 2012 Olympics as part of the British rowing Team. Here’s three cheers for the men in black: Moe Sbihi, James Foad, Cam Nichol, Tom Ransley Greg Searle, Tom James, and Andrew Triggs Hodge.

By Martin Cross
Author of Olympic Obsession (available in all good book stores)
Guardian rowing correspondant and BBC Radio 5 Live commentator.

MBC's Andrew Triggs Hodge & Tom James won gold in Beijing

Molesey Boat Club would like to thank our sponsors