Black Sheep Rowing Club is a 'virtual club' set up in 1995 to allow a group of friends around the country to come together at events to race for one club. Members of Black Sheep RC now enjoy competing in many major national and international events, such as

Head of the River Race, London, UK,

Head of the Charles, Boston, Massachusetts, USA,

Trinity Regatta, Dublin, Eire,

Henley Royal Regatta, UK (at which 4 crews competed in 2000).

The club also competes at weekend 'party' regattas in the UK in the summer.

Although many members are also members of their 'home' clubs, their

membership of Black Sheep RC enables them to compete in events they might not

otherwise be able to attend.

The club has been sponsored by the Black Sheep Brewery of Masham, North

Yorkshire (which won Maxim Magazine's 'Best Piss up in a Brewery' contest) since

1996, and holds its Annual Dinner in the brewery visitors centre.

In 2000 the club acquired its first boat, "Missing Ewe", named in honour of the

President's mother, who lost her battle against breast cancer just before Henley

Royal Regatta in 1999 and left the money for the boat.

Club Colours

Black with a single white sheep

Membership

Membership of the club has grown naturally over the years as friends, 'friends of

friends' and rowing acquaintances have found themselves getting involved.

Membership is open to anyone mad enough to want to join and generally we find

that members of the 'flock' have two things in common;

They know how to pull 'ard

They know how to have a laugh

If you want to become a member then get in touch with either

The President:                     sheepy@blacksheepsportingclub.co.uk, or

The Secretary:                    dom@blacksheepsportingclub.co.uk

How it all started…

August 1996

"In the wake of British rowing success in Atlanta, a new rowing club known as

'Black Sheep', recently set up in Yorkshire, has begun to make its mark over the

summer. The club's aim is to allow rowers from around the country to compete

together under the same name, as Amateur Rowing Association rules state that a

crew must all be members of the same club to race. This makes it difficult for old

college friends and past crew-mates to team up, even when attending the same

regatta. Black Sheep Rowing Club has set out to change all this, with some degree

of success so far.

The club, founded by Iain Edmondson, Richard Hepple and Chris Chappell, all

based in York, raced for the first time at Gloucester, Bristol and Ross-on-Wye

regattas over the bank holiday weekend. Their efforts were rewarded on the

Sunday when Black Sheep won men's 'senior 1' eights at Bristol, beating Bristol

City in the final. The point was hammered home the next day when the club

repeated this win at Ross, beating Tyne Rowing Club in a 'northern derby' many

miles from home! Two of the founder members - Edmondson and Hepple - also

raced a coxless pair, beating Imperial College and Llandaff, before losing in the

semi-final. The 'ewes' got a look-in too, joining forces with the men in a mixed

eight which lost narrowly in the semi-final.

The club is named after the Black Sheep Brewery in Masham, North Yorkshire,

partly because of the members' fondness for a decent pint but also because it

breaks away from the general structure of club rowing - "we're like the black sheep

of the rowing family" explained Iain Edmondson. Black Sheep RC was started

mainly as a social venture, but membership and enthusiasm have grown to such an

extent that plans are being made to enter Henley Royal Regatta next year.

Whatever lies ahead, the members of Black Sheep Rowing Club can be proud of

what they have achieved so far - not only did they represent Yorkshire against

well-established clubs a long way from home but they well and truly fleeced the

opposition!"

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