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Since its launch on 24th July 2020, Broken Oars Podcast has grown into the world’s best podcast about rowing, rowers and all things related to the art, practice and magic of moving a boat backwards down a river using an oar. Episode by episode, your genial hosts Dr. Lewin Hynes (the Southern One) and Dr. Aaron Jackson (the Northern One) have been joined for in-depth and revealing conversations with Olympic and world champions, elite coaches, world-leading sports scientists, journalists and commentators, and rowers from all backgrounds and walks of life - creating a treasure trove of insight, information, commentary and perspectives on the greatest sport ever invented. Enjoyed this episode? Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank You! Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1 Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/thelandingstage/ www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/ Read more Broken Oars: www.thelandingstage.net
Episodes
Friday Nov 24, 2023
Friday Nov 24, 2023
To purchase a copy of 'Water's Gleaming Gold' with an exclusive Broken Oars Listener discount, please go to https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/biography/waters-gleaming-gold-hb and quote " BROKENOARS " at the checkout page.
This discount code will allow you to buy the book at a 15% discount - and enjoy one of the great rowing stories!
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We are joined on Broken Oars Podcast by Xeno Muller.
Olympic Single Sculls Champion at Atlanta in 1996 in one of the all-time great Olympic finals and finishes, Xeno was also an Olympic Silver Medallist in 2000 and a multiple medallist at rowing's world championships in the single sculls discipline.
Xeno has gone on to be one of the world's most successful high-performance coaches, working on a one-to-one basis with individual rowers to help them fulfil their goals and ambitions through his www.elite-rowing-coach.com platform.
In this fascinating and inspiring conversation, Xeno touches on the ways that modern coaching can coach the passion and joy out of rowers, qualities which he sees, rightly, as being intrinsic to life and going fast.
Talking about keeping the passion and joy by staying curious and being open to learning, Xeno identifies the value of simplicity, of everything in rowing and life flowing from getting the fundamentals right; the vital importance of breathing; how what your bows are doing tell you what you are doing; and why Mahon, Spracklen et al had it right in the first place.
And why you should use the mirror in your erg room - every single stroke.
This is one of the most important and inspiring conversations we've ever had with one of the true originals, deep-thinkers and passionately engaged people we've ever met - in or out of rowing.
Bow Four? This is one to take notes from.
Get some!
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Enjoyed this episode?
Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world: www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd
Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1
Instagram: www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/
Website: www.thelandingstage.net
Friday Nov 10, 2023
Friday Nov 10, 2023
To purchase a copy of 'Water's Gleaming Gold' with an exclusive Broken Oars Listener discount, please go to https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/biography/waters-gleaming-gold-hb and quote " BROKENOARS " at the checkout page.
This discount code will allow you to buy the book at a 15% discount - and enjoy one of the great rowing stories!
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Welcome back, dear listeners, to the world's greatest podcast about the art, practice and lifestyle that is pushing a boat backwards down a river.
Today, author Gavin Jamieson joins your genial hosts of the Northern One and the Southern One to talk about his fantastic new book 'Water's Gleaming Gold' - a biography and celebration of the life of Hugh 'Jumbo' Edwards.
This is not just one of rowing's great untold stories - Jumbo was a Boat Race winner, Henley winner, Olympic champion and one of the great rowing thinkers and coaches through one of the golden ages of British Rowing - but a story of a rich and full life rich and fully lived.
We explore the reasons that led Gavin to research and tell Jumbo's story and the world and lives he uncovered on that journey and brought into the light. We talk about British rowing in the 1920's and 1930's, back when it was one of the sports the nation stopped for; look at the challenges Jumbo faced; and talk about how he not only met and overcame them, but rose to become the greatest British oarsman of his generation, and with it, the world's greatest.
It's a fantastic chat with a fantastic guest about a fantastic chapter in rowing history.
All eight? Listen to it, and then go and buy the book. We've managed to wangle you a discount!
Enjoyed this episode?
Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world: www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd
Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1
Instagram: www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/
Website: www.thelandingstage.net
Saturday Oct 28, 2023
Saturday Oct 28, 2023
To purchase a copy of 'Water's Gleaming Gold' with an exclusive Broken Oars Listener discount, please go to https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/biography/waters-gleaming-gold-hb and quote " BROKENOARS " at the checkout page.
This discount code will allow you to buy the book at a 15% discount - and enjoy one of the great rowing stories!
-----
Enjoyed this episode?
Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world.
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd
Thank You!
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We return as swallows to the eaves of your ears to build our muddy nests in your auditory canal, right next to your tympanic membrane with another episode of what most rowers call ..
Who are they?
The swallow metaphor works, so we're keeping it, based as it is on the similarities between birds of the family Hirundinidae returning as spring does and us getting a podcast out on a bi-weekly schedule.
In this episode, we launch the Broken Oars Podcast Widget - an interactive device which, if you input your training data, will help you to track your effort and predict your likely power outputs for a given time, distance or session. Designed by the Southern One, who knows science, it's an accurate training tool for those who like their darta - which is pretty much every rower and coach out there.
The Broken Oars Podcast Widget is part of our latest drive to add value to your support of Broken Oars Podcast, coming as it does hot on the heels of the Broken Oars Training Plans.
We love that you listen to our podcast (our podcast is your podcast. You row, we row, we all row together); and we really appreciate that you've responded to our asking for the odd donation to help cover our running costs. We aren't Wikipedia - we're more accurate than that - and we don't make any money from Broken Oars - and your help and support helps us keep it going. We just thought that we'd give you something alongside the podcast in return for your support, and we have a chat about how to use your new widget.
This led us onto a brief discussion of Broken Oars Podcast - a section that might be labelled the 'whither Broken Oars Podcast' bit. The Northern One and the Southern One started this for something to do during lockdown, and it's become a bit of a going concern. We've got to meet some of our heroes and heroines, been inspired, learned an awful lot, pissed off bikey twitter, and love that talking about something we love has brought us in contact with people who love it too.
And then we get on to a discussion of what 'talent' actually is.
This was sparked by a recent debate on Twitter about what talent might be; what meaning the cultural freighting of the word has given it; and how we interpret it in different contexts.
The Northern One and the Southern One thought that we should definitely end our friendship over this chestnut, given one of us is a Humanities Grad and the other a Science Grad. So, we get into it. The Northern One talks about internalised learning, cultural meanings and baggage, opportunity and pathways; and the Southern One talks about genetics and genes and predispositions and variation ...
... and we come to the surprising conclusion that what appeared diametrically opposed positions actually share a lot of overlap, and that the discussion of talent often means different things to different people and groups, but what it actually manifests as is as something that we recognise when we see it in others, and which inspires us in ourselves.
Get some!
Stern four. Look at bow pair. That's talent!
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Enjoyed this episode?
Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world: www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd
Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1
Instagram: www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/
Website: www.thelandingstage.net
Saturday Oct 14, 2023
Saturday Oct 14, 2023
To purchase a copy of 'Water's Gleaming Gold' with an exclusive Broken Oars Listener discount, please go to https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/biography/waters-gleaming-gold-hb and quote " BROKENOARS " at the checkout page.
This discount code will allow you to buy the book at a 15% discount - and enjoy one of the great rowing stories!
Enjoyed this episode?
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We return with another episode that looks like it might have been hand-tooled for the start of the new season - precisely because it has been.
Great changes are afoot in the Broken Oars world. Not content with being the world's best rowing podcast (Crossy aside), the Southern One (Lewin) and the Northern One (Aaron) would like to spread their wings. We'd like to carry on with the Broken Oars Podcast as you know and love it: wit, charm, irreverent asides, profound points, amazing guests - quite simply the best, funniest, most informative and pertinent podcast about the art, craft and life that is shoving a boat backwards down a river (they said, modestly).
But if you've listened to us before, you'll know that for all of their badinage, your genial hosts are men of wide-ranging interests. You've already heard the Northern One claim the guitar hero for Newcastle, for example; and you've heard the Southern talk about genetics and millimoles with the elan and insight of a qualified scientist - because he is.
As we move into our third year of podcasting, we're really keen to add on new elements: deeper dives into deeper subjects, adding to our fantastic guests with more fantastic guests to add the expertise in their field, and so on.
And so, we return to Broken Oars University for a conversational chat about getting old; not wanting to do something you love badly; the psychology behind that (which is the psychology of why rowers row, really); how we now feel about racing, having always loved it; whether we'll still do it; male TRT; PED's and the nonsense that are the Enhanced Games.
We look at what the Enhanced Games thinks it means vs. what it actually means; talk about what TRT as a cultural phenomenon means for rowing at all levels; male menopause; and what winning becomes if it's only something that happens to those who get the medals.
Class is in!
Get some!
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Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world: www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd
Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1
Instagram: www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/
Website: www.thelandingstage.net
Saturday Sep 23, 2023
Saturday Sep 23, 2023
To purchase a copy of 'Water's Gleaming Gold' with an exclusive Broken Oars Listener discount, please go to https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/biography/waters-gleaming-gold-hb and quote " BROKENOARS " at the checkout page.
This discount code will allow you to buy the book at a 15% discount - and enjoy one of the great rowing stories!
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Welcome back to Broken Oars Podcast, the world's best rowing podcast.
In this episode, to celebrate the start of the new season, the Southern One and the Northern One take a deep dive into coaching and coaches.
With that new season stretching ahead of us like a book full of chapters waiting to be written, with plans to be made, schedules to be agreed, and training and racing getting back to full swing, we get deep and philosophical on what a coach actually is; where a coach's responsibilities begin and end and the role of a coach within the club.
We look at the legals, the morals, the ethicals, as well as the technical and organisational requirements of coaching, and explore what makes a good coach.
Drawing on our experiences with various coaches and various clubs, we look at how good coaches organise, delegate and educate, aligning a club / coach's ambitions to a club / coach's resources, and ask the question: what should a rower / crew / squad / club expect from their coach, and what should a coach expect from their rower / crew / squad / club?
We look at the degree to which a coach is responsible for training plans, workloads and race schedules; how coaches select crews, and what crews should expect from their coach in terms of input and selection; and the thorny question of taking on responsibility for your own development and outcomes.
Exploring ideas around coaches having favourites and why they do, as well as looking at what happens when their favourites stop performing at the required level, we talk through the issue of whether a coach is responsible for setting the tone of a club's culture, and if a coach has responsibilities towards their rower / crew / squad / club ... what are the rower / crew / squad / club's responsibilities towards themselves and their coach?
Yeah.
There's a reason why we're the world's greatest rowing podcast.
No.
We don't know what it is either.
Get some!
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Enjoyed this episode?
Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world: www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd
Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1
Instagram: www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/
Website: www.thelandingstage.net
Friday Sep 08, 2023
Friday Sep 08, 2023
To purchase a copy of 'Water's Gleaming Gold' with an exclusive Broken Oars Listener discount, please go to https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/biography/waters-gleaming-gold-hb and quote " BROKENOARS " at the checkout page.
This discount code will allow you to buy the book at a 15% discount - and enjoy one of the great rowing stories!
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The world's greatest rowing podcast returns - and it couldn't be more timely.
As some of us head back to school (quite literally) and all of us head back to the water at the start of the new rowing season we are joined by Dr. Michael Cannon to talk about the impact on rowers, rowing and rowing clubs of balancing resources against ambitions.
(Right at the start of the season?
When every club in the land is setting its season goals and agenda?
Thank you, Broken Oars and Dr. Cannon! You're the best.
Yes.
Yes, we are).
Beginning rowing while at The University of Durham, Dr. Cannon went on to row, coach, and captain, helping out at college and university level before going on to teach and coach at schools level before moving on to row at and for Staines, Eton Excelsior, Maidenhead and Vesta.
One of nature's natural organisers and administrators, Michael's journey through the sport has taken in the side of the sport without which we wouldn't have a sport: the running and administering and organising of clubs, squads, boats, fleets, heads and regattas.
And while this all might sound about as fun as watching paint dry, not only wouldn't we have a sport without the Dr. Cannons of this world, but it (and a quick look at the books on offer at Companies House) raised the question:
What happens when clubs start raising their ambition levels above the levels of their resources?
(Or to put it more bluntly, what is UK rowing's current obsession with making Henley Royal Regatta costing clubs?)
We talk about the costs of running and maintaining clubs, membership levels and running a fleet. We discuss the perception of what a 'club' is supposed to provide and offer to its members, talk about how some clubs have gamed that and the current system to provide 'successful' programmes, look at what 'success' might mean, and what that means for the UK-wide representation within the sport. And we look at the impact of 'professionalism' on a volunteer-run and led sport, before addressing the realities of member turnover in metropolitan areas, and how cost-of-living / housing / work changes over time has impacted the sport as a whole.
Yeah.
We are the original and best.
But that's because our guests are.
Get some!
Bow Four! Provide a sunk-cost analysis by the end of this piece, or swim home.
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Enjoyed this episode?
Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world: www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd
Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1
Instagram: www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/
Website: www.thelandingstage.net
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
To purchase a copy of 'Water's Gleaming Gold' with an exclusive Broken Oars Listener discount, please go to https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/biography/waters-gleaming-gold-hb and quote " BROKENOARS " at the checkout page.
This discount code will allow you to buy the book at a 15% discount - and enjoy one of the great rowing stories!
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Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to Broken Oars Podcast!
It's often been said, usually by us, that Broken Oars Podcast is the home of world-class rowing and rowers on the web ...
... and we prove it yet again in this episode as we are joined by the one, the only, the incredible ...
Elizabeth Gilmore.
For those of you have been living under a rock, Eli is the world-class rowing athlete who has been tearing up the record book since starting in the sport barely two years ago.
Eli joins us for a chat about her sporting background, how she got into indoor rowing, and her transition to the water.
Hardly covering ourselves with interviewing technique glory, Lewin and I basically fanboy gush over an incredible person and athlete who had smashed several world records immediately before our conversation. We explore the vital importance of good and supportive coaching in Eli's journey, the pressures young athletes face regarding body image, weight and performance, and look at where Eli's rowing journey might take her next (we suggested Henley Royal and Henley Women's, but that's just us ...).
We've always been blessed with amazing guests on Broken Oars Podcast, but that's largely because we talk to rowers ... who are, basically, amazing people.
And Eli is one of us.
Just considerably faster than most of us.
Get some!
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Enjoyed this episode?
Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world: www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd
Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1
Instagram: www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/
Website: www.thelandingstage.net
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
Tuesday Jul 18, 2023
To purchase a copy of 'Water's Gleaming Gold' with an exclusive Broken Oars Listener discount, please go to https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/biography/waters-gleaming-gold-hb and quote " BROKENOARS " at the checkout page.
This discount code will allow you to buy the book at a 15% discount - and enjoy one of the great rowing stories!
Enjoyed this episode?
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Enjoyed this episode?
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Two of the Big Beasts of the Sub 7 Indoor Rowing Club sit down with us for a good old Trans-Atlantic chinwag, about Indoor Rowing, Type II fun, Long Covid, the C2 Cross Team Challenge, trying (and failing) to bring others into the sport and why belonging to and indoor rowing club is good fun. Albeit Type II fun.
Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world: www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd
Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1
Instagram: www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/
Website: www.thelandingstage.net
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
Wednesday Jul 12, 2023
To purchase a copy of 'Water's Gleaming Gold' with an exclusive Broken Oars Listener discount, please go to https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/biography/waters-gleaming-gold-hb and quote " BROKENOARS " at the checkout page.
This discount code will allow you to buy the book at a 15% discount - and enjoy one of the great rowing stories!
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Your genial hosts, Lewin (Southern, posh) and Aaron (Northern, illiterate) returns as warriors of old who have journeyed beyond the circle of firelight to gain the knowledge that men know not wot of and return with it for the general benefit and edification of the tribe ...
... and lo, the tribe turned around and said:
Where the hell have you two been? You've slid out of doing the washing-up again, we see ... ?
But we return with the secret that men ...
... and women ...
... and women, that men and women know not wot of and we ...
That's all very well, but no-one's done the floors, and there's nothing in the fridge for tea ...
... but we return with the secret that men ...
... and women ...
... that men and women know not wot of, and ...
Shush. Henley's on.
Ah.
Yes, we return just in time for Henley's weeks.
It's like we've got access to calendars and watches and diaries and the internet and stuff.
So, in this episode there is:
No poetry!
No dead authors!
A couple of living ones ...
And a brief discussion of killer hayfever; people trying to outfox the strict liability rule, the death of wonder in sports, the joy, absolute joy of small regattas, the wonder of Hexham (where Lewin asks why our Victorian forebears decided to take representative slices of Surrey and the better bits of the Upper Thames Valley and put them as Southern embassies in the North in the case of Durham and Hexham); racing while gypsies wash horses in the river next to you; Appleby; why the correct number of boats, horses and guitars is always 'one more ...'; and why Women's Henley could now be considered as 'proper' Henley now that Henley Royal has become a superslick paean to elite athletes and clubs ...
But because it's us, we don't leave it there, diving into the cyclical nature of success; the art of commentary (and why we both want to do more of it); why stockpiling elite athletes in HP programmes (Hi, OB ...) like America and Russia stockpiled Nazi scientists after WW2 does not lead to global armageddon but does cut down on the pathways to rowing at Uni that many of our best and brightest and stalwartest came through ... before we do something amazing:
We invent a whole new regatta.
And it's the regatta you've always wanted to do.
So, bow, you tell me that you have rhythm? And you also have music? And yet you still dare to ask for anything more ... ?
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Enjoyed this episode?
Buy us a coffee, download a training plan, and support us so we can carry on making Broken Oars Podcast, the best rowing podcast in the world: www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd
Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenoarspodc1
Instagram: www.instagram.com/brokenoarsindoors/
Website: www.thelandingstage.net
Monday Jul 10, 2023
Monday Jul 10, 2023
To purchase a copy of 'Water's Gleaming Gold' with an exclusive Broken Oars Listener discount, please go to:
https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/biography/waters-gleaming-gold-hb
and quote " BROKENOARS " at the checkout page.
This discount code will allow you to buy the book at a 15% discount - and enjoy one of the great rowing stories!
This is the audio version of the video we put up on YT some months ago about how to go about and what to look for in the purchasing of rowing coaching.
The Posh Southern One looks at -
Why you should and shouldn't buy coaching.
- The Pete Plan
- The Concept 2 Interactive Training Guide
- RowAlong with John Steventon
- Dark Horse Rowing, YouTube
- Asensei Rowing
What types of coaching and programming you can purchase.
- https://www.rojabo.com/
- https://www.live2rowstudios.com/
- https://ucanrow2.com/
- https://www.aliciarclark.com/
- https://tonylarkman.com/indoor-rowing/
- https://edgerowing.com/
- https://fletchersportscience.com/
- https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/about-us/faculties-schools-and-departments/faculty-of-science-engineering-and-social-sciences/sportslab/services-for-teams-and-individuals
- https://www.erg.zone/
What your initial interaction with a coach should be like, and the basics of managing the coach athlete relationship.
Friday Jun 16, 2023
Friday Jun 16, 2023
Dear Listener, thank you for your attention to our podcast, which, unlike many and most activities on the internet is not free to make. Should you be enjoying the podcast and wish to help us make more episode please consider buying us a coffee or purchasing one of our digital downloads at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank you again for listening.
Having previously examined the science informing the debate around Trans inclusion in Women's categories in sport, Broken Oars Podcast returns with an updated look at what remains fast-moving, ongoing and highly-contentious issue.
During a recent conversation, Lewin and I turned again to discuss what had happened since our first discussion of these issues, particularly with regards to highly-contentious issue of natal-men being allowed to compete against natal-women in sport; the pressures faced by NGB's to promote a sport-for-all approach in the face of quite incendiary activism on the Trans side and pushback on the women's side; and the questions of fairness and inclusivity that must be at the heart of every discussion.
Upon reviewing our intiial conversation, we decided that, on occasion, we had been too flippant about what is a serious subject. You will know, as regular listeners, that we take very little seriously, including ourselves, and treat everyone as fair game, including ourselves.
On this occasion, however, we realised that given how inflammatory some of the rhetoric, language, case-making and arguments have been in the discussion to date, what was needed was a sober look at the facts and realities of Trans biology, inclusion, and the current policies of rowing's regulatory bodies - and what they mean for the current state of play.
So here it is ...
Full Crew. From backstops. The first movement is down and it doesn't have to be fast. You aren't grabbing the last sausage roll at the party. Attention ...
Friday Jun 09, 2023
Friday Jun 09, 2023
To purchase a copy of 'Water's Gleaming Gold' with an exclusive Broken Oars Listener discount, please go to:
https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/biography/waters-gleaming-gold-hb
and quote " BROKENOARS " at the checkout page.
This discount code will allow you to buy the book at a 15% discount - and enjoy one of the great rowing stories!
Welcome back one and all to Broken Oars Podcast - the Rowing World's best and most informative podcast (bar Crossy's Corner - we'll hear no bad words about that man. He's a legend).
As you know, while the Southern One finishes up a professional qualification the Northern One has been taking his brain out for a spin to talk about poets and poetry.
(Yes, it does sound remarkably like listening to paint drying, doesn't it ... ?)
But fear not, this is the Northern One - a man incapable of uttering a snooze-inducing sentence, finding a subject he can't make a quip or point about, or being boring generally. And it is in that capacity that he's created the perfect series for people to dip into while the nights are long, the air balmy, and the weather perfect for sitting out in the garden and doing some culture.
Yeah.
Cultchah!
Having whistle-stopped through Thomas Hardy and A.E Housman, detoured into how a Brian called Geordie (should that sentence be the other way 'round ... ? Ed) is to blame for guitar heroes and all of their widdle, and then leapt back to look at Charles Dickens ... a theme is emerging ...
That's right:
How did we get here from there.
Or to put it more simply, why Britain today is largely the same as Britain then?
(Isn't this fun? We're learning all about caesuras and enjambments and what happened when and where and to who and asking cool questions! Who said no, when's the rowing stuff coming ... ?).
In this episode we engage with one of the most problematic writers in the canon: Rudyard Kipling.
An Anglo-Indian, with a deep apprehension of the realities and mythologies of Empire, Kipling was more famous in his day than Steve Redgrave (largely because Steve Redgrave hadn't been born then) but is rarely read now.
We learn why; explore why it's a short step from denying or revising books to burning them; and look at why should and what we can learn from engaging with a racist, and imperialist ... and the most important English writer since Shakespeare. We explore how Empire was not a benevolent force for good, or a civilising mission but instead always and forever an economic enterprise; and illustrate how its expansion ran alongside technological expansion - something Kipling was keenly aware of.
Examining Kipling's status as an Anglo-Indian, and thus a second-class person, we look at the way he explored and exposed the myths of Empire to show its realities: the overt racism of The White Man's Burden, the sham of Britain standing alone given its reliance on its connections to the world in Big Steamers; and the people who work alongside or create the technology that sustains the whole endeavour in McAndrew's Hymn and The King. We reclaim Mandalay from Boorish and see how Kipling's wide-ranging work in poetry, short stories, children's stories and novels should be engaged with if we are to overcome our cultural amnesia and beliefs about the missing 300 years of our history that we don't talk about or teach.
And that's before we get to Tommy - as pertinent now as it was then.
And it's out in time for the weekend? And there's a rowing episode coming out too?
Get some!
Bow? You're a jelly-bellied flag-flapper. Take a tap.
Thursday Jun 01, 2023
Thursday Jun 01, 2023
Dear Listener, thank you for your attention to our podcast, which, unlike many and most activities on the internet is not free to make. Should you be enjoying the podcast and wish to help us make more episode please consider buying us a coffee or purchasing one of our digital downloads at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank you again for listening.
Broken Oars Podcast returns with its celebrated Summer Shorts series.
After the fever dream that was Thomas Hardy as social climber; the weirdness that was A.E Housman inventing England; and an exploration of how a Geordie called Brian invented the guitar hero (true ... ), on our summer shorts programme we dive back to the early Victorian period ...
Why?
That was you, wasn't it, three? It's always three ...
Because a theme is emerging, an exploration of something that might loosely be called the condition of England. This is a term that hasn't been in fashion since before the First World War, but it's helpful in understanding why Britain is the way it is in the third decade of the twenty-first century if we also understand that many of the things we struggle with today were things we struggled with then ...
Step forward, Charlie boy!
Pour a glass of something nice, put your feet up, load an air-rifle in case the lady-next-door's determination to keep hens has led to a sudden increase in furry visitors (as it has in at least one of our cases) and we'll get into why imaginative leaps forward rarely come from elites; how the British national character has always been defined by a tension between the drive to be modern and the urge to look back and why it was originally the Conservative Party who were seen as the party of the meddlesome big state - and how that perception has flipped around in the last 150 years.
And yes, I know that this might sound as dull as ditchwater, but it's me - you know it won't be. Think of Broken Oars Summer Shorts Series as being like In Our Time but without Melvyn Bragg's hair, portentiousness and bevvy of researchers doing the heavy lifting and far more quips, asides and insight.
We'll look at why free markets didn't work then and don't work now - and how they've never been free in any era. We'll explore how and why Britain hasn't changed in 200 years; investigate why everyone's working class regardless of whether they know how to make their own pasta or not; explore what literature was considered to be back then; and see how Charles Dickens, through luck as much as acumen, tapped into a new audience; and in doing so, how his belief in the fundamental kindliness of human nature, embraced by this audience, helped to balance the undoubted issues and iniquities of the age and prompt some of them to be addressed.
Sounds good? Of course it does! And it isn't all doom and gloom. After all, if we hadn't been in such a terrible place back then, people wouldn't have left and as a result we wouldn't have got to talk to Drew and Berge and Macca - because they'd still be making shoes in a Leceistershire workshop somewhere for tuppence h'penny a decade.
And in the end, it really is true that kindness is all. We're told to be kind to ourselves nowadays - and being kind to others wouldn't hurt either.
Back soon with more rowing?
You bet!
Get some!
Yes, I know he's not a poet, three. There'll be more poetry along soon too.
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Try listening to us with a coffee - and if you're feeling generous, stand us one.
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Friday May 26, 2023
Friday May 26, 2023
To purchase a copy of 'Water's Gleaming Gold' with an exclusive Broken Oars Listener discount, please go to https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/biography/waters-gleaming-gold-hb and quote " BROKENOARS " at the checkout page.
This discount code will allow you to buy the book at a 15% discount - and enjoy one of the great rowing stories!
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I (Northern One), have thought of so many ways to introduce this:
The finest rower of his generation is joined by Drew Ginn, Andrew McNeil, Anthony Bergelin and Lewin Hynes to ...
You know - that tongue-in-cheek quippy thing that you've come to expect from your Northern Correspondent while your Southern Correspondent (Lewin) does all of the science-y bits and the intelligent questions.
Or, something like:
The world's finest rowing podcast (Crossy's Corner excluded. We'll not hear a word said against Martin. He's a living legend) returns and gives three unknowns from a land down under a chance to talk about shovelling a boat backwards down a river ...
You know - the self-deprecating / self-aggrandising stuff that we do so well on Broken Oars Podcast (while also being, you know, the best rowing podcast in the world ... ).
But I can't.
Because, ladies and gentlemen (and children of all ages), we bring to you:
THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN ROUNDTABLE!
It's our first ever roundtable, and we're not sure we'll ever be able to top it. Why? Not just because it's taken over a year to organise, but because your genial Southern One (Lewin) and your genially-grumpy Northern one (Aaron) are joined by Anthony Bergelin, Andrew McNeil and Drew Ginn.
Yes, this is an absolute brains trust of rowing and performance, and you, like us, get to join in with one of the best conversations about rowing you're every likely to hear, but unlike most in the field, Berge, Drew and Macca come at these elements from the refreshing perspective of engaging with and enjoying what you're doing first, and connecting who you're doing it with ... because if you tick those boxes, the first two will surely follow.
So, strap in, buckle up, and tune in to hear about the early years, why culture is not something you write on a piece of paper but live through your values; why lightweights are bitter and twisted; why the club system is so, so important; about how connection is all, not just to the water, but to those around you: how you build trust by empowering people to have a voice; why why is the most important question you can ask (and if people say 'because I say so' you're in the wrong place); why feel beats data in rowing when data in rowing doesn't also feel; why more mileage doesn't equal better rowers but buying a frisbee just might; how great coaches give of themselves, while lesser ones might take or look to over-control; that being fast going in straight lines is great, but rowing on rivers where there's a beer and bbq waiting for you at the end might just be the thing you're looking for; how jumping in a boat with the juniors or the masters lads and lasses doesn't take away from you as a senior (believe us, if one of the greatest to ever do it is not just willing but vocal about diving in with a mate's daughter and enjoying it, you should be too ... ); music, patterns, rowers vs. athletes, the athletic mindset, running thought experiments on yourself, and training back in the curiosity and love of life you had trained out of you by the 'this is how you do it ...' approach.
Seriously, get a notebook, get a pen, get a cup of coffee and take notes.
Berge, Macca and Drew are about to change your lives.
The Broken Oars listenership is a generous and giving one, so if you could follow back to vsk.org.au, and support their and Drew's work, we'd appreciate it. Cancer will hit 1 in every 2 of us at some point in our lives, so if it doesn't hit us, it's likely to affect someone close to us ... so let's get in this fight and push back.
And hit the guys up on Twitter with your comments, thoughts and feedback - or just to let them know how much they absolutely SMASHED this:
A year in the making?
Totally worth it!
Stern four? Quiet. Bow four. Easy oars. You're in the presence of greatness.
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Wednesday May 24, 2023
Wednesday May 24, 2023
Dear Listener, thank you for your attention to our podcast, which, unlike many and most activities on the internet is not free to make. Should you be enjoying the podcast and wish to help us make more episode please consider buying us a coffee or purchasing one of our digital downloads at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsd. Thank you again for listening.
Welcome back to Episode Three of Broken Oars Summer Shorts Series.
Try saying that quickly six times ...
In this episode, we shift from talking about poets working in one form (poetry, obvs ... ) to the man who invented the guitar hero. This poet of the instrument, responsible for refiguring the guitar from something with six strings into a mystical weapon in the hands of its practitioners, was a man called Brian
And he was from Newcastle.
No, seriously.
This isn't the Northern One's having one of his occasional flights of linguistic fancy.
It's all true.
So turn on, drop out and tune in to find out how Brian from Newcastle not only invented the guitar hero but also inspired every act of sonic magic created by six strings that happened thereafter. We'll talk about how its girls who rule the world while boys always remain boys - and why it's this reality that's responsible for the legions of spods and corksniffers who came along post-Brian to make the guitar, guitar music and guitar culture the heritage industry it is today.
But mostly it's about Brian, from Newcastle, who changed the world.
You're welcome, world.
(And if you're thinking: what has this to do with rowing, with training, with creating a culture, with leadership, with attaining goals and objectives ...
... on one level, nothing.
But on another, absolutely everything. You see, the perceived narrative has a dominance that means we often don't question it - which leads to things just being accepted 'because that's the way they are.' But if you go a little deeper, and you actually start looking at the processes that create the end product or the output, you often find that what's driving something is not what you originally thought.
And no, this is not a heavy trip to lay on a bespectacled Geordie called Brian.
It's true).
Try listening to us with a coffee - and if you're feeling generous, stand us one.
Buy us a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/brokenoarsD?new=1
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