Rowing

Being a former British colony and all, Hong Kong has multiple odd characteristics which they have adopted. Rugby, for example, is wildly popular, most universities have a collegiate system, and they drive on the left side of the road. And then there is rowing.

Rowing (as in 8 oar boats with a cox) for Europeans is the anachronistic boat race between Oxford and Cambridge every year. Apart from that it is a minority sport, a sport which Denmark is surprisingly good at. At CUHK, however, rowing is the crown jewel of collegiate sport, especially when it comes to work ethic.

The big-7 universities in Hong Kong have an annual race in August, there are a couple of head-to-head races between universities in June, and each of the 7 colleges at CUHK have a team. So today I went down to the rowing try-out in order to book a spot for the New Asia college crew (the university crew is super serious and only recruit full-time students. They also require you to participate in a 2 month training camp over the summer break with morning to evening practice (!) in the build up to the race in August. CUHK are defending champions for the last 10 years).

It was a mixed experience. Technique is everything in rowing, so there was a lot of focus on getting an optimal posture on the rowing machine. They also assumed everybody was a sporting retard, so the pace was slow and there was a lot of counting to 10 together while stretching (my body and my patience). I decided it might be worth going to the water practices if they want me, but I'll train in the gym on my own. It is nice to get pointers for your technique, but I want to do it more for the fun of it. For competition I train football with the University team - that gently strokes my ego.