Girl on the River’s ultimate wild swimming kit list
In the last few months I've been taking every opportunity I can to plunge myself into cold bodies of water. I've swum in the River Usk, two spots on the River Wye and even in a sailing lake in the Cotswolds and I'm planning a few British sea swims later in the week....
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My beautiful new boat and what I’m calling her
It's a bit of an indulgence, I know. I don't actually NEED a single of my own. I'm lucky enough to be in a club that has a few nice single sculls that are not massively outside my weight category. I'm a featherweight 53kg and we have a couple of lovely singles that...
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Banya No.1 – muscle recovery, Russian-style
Anyone who's been following Girl on the River for a while will know I am a passionate convert to saunas and their beneficial effects, ever since I raced in Finland a couple of years ago and a lakeside sauna session transformed me from a wobbly, aching,...
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We’re going to the Worlds!
So the entries are in, and as things stand I'm going to be racing in a 2x at the Worlds Masters Championships in Hungary in September. Which is completely ridiculous. Even I can see that. So far we've managed to come second out of three in a band 2 race, at a local...
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Dryrobe – your new best friend for race day
There are people out there who, when it comes to race day, just fling an all-in-one in the car and consider themselves ready to go. I am not one of those people. I like to be super-prepared with a lengthy list of essential items to throw in my kit bag. I also need to...
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Rowing Together for Healthy Minds – what you can do to help
As Mental Health Awareness Week draws to a close, you're probably now fully aware that mental health problems can be a real challenge for a huge number of people. The press and social media have been full of tragic and worrying cases of people - especially young...
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The one where I end up in an ambulance…
It started with a grandiose plan, as so many things in my life do. In a sudden rush of blood to the head I signed up for the World Masters Championships in Hungary in September, not really thinking too hard about what that might involve. I knew I wasn't really worthy...
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What do Rowers Wear Under their AIO?
It was just a regular Thursday afternoon when I accidentally split the rowing community in two. All I did was tweet a fleeting thought that had passed through my mind, little imagining that the next 24 hours would be taken up in a flurry of intense notifications,...
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