About Us

Who are we?

The Invercargill Rowing Club has modern clubroom facilities situated alongside the Oreti River on Sandy Point Road.  Club members are supported by a focused team of committee members and coaches, which is demonstrated by their boat and equipment renewal programme and performance on the water.

Club members include students from James Hargest College, Verdon College, Southland Girls High School, Southland Boys High School, as well as adaptive, masters and recreational rowers.

We are a friendly and inclusive club that welcomes all rowers to fulfil their aspirations on and off the water.

What's on Offer?
Rowing is a sport that builds great team work, morale, disipline and respect. The Oreti River has some of the best training water in New Zealand, with more than 7km of rowable water available in two directions from the clubrooms. The surrounding Sandy Point Domain provides multiple opportunities for land based land based exercise, along with the well equipped gym facilities in the clubrooms.

Your participation in the sport can be seasonal and complement other winter sports, or commit to a full year, with a winter land based training, along with monthly long distance races.

The Invercargill Rowing Club has a healthy social mix of members, which provides strong support for those members and allows young rowers to aspire to a long association with the club.

Club History
The club was established on 26 August 1875 with its clubrooms on the New River Estuary. The club relocated to the Oreti River in 1958 and expanded its facilities in 1983 when the first women members joined the club. An additional boat storage shed was constructed in 2005 to accommodate an increase in competition and training skiffs.  The major upgrade and extensions to the clubrooms took place in 2010, along with significant site development work. This was followed soon after with a new administration structure to support the rapidly growing membership demands and more recently with an online management system to provide effective communication and records.

Coaches are very proud of club members developing into Maadi Cup, National and International champions, with gold medals being achieved by several club members, in the World Rowing Championships and Olympic Games.

Club Support

As a club we strive and encourage good values on and off the water. These values help set rowers up with life skills, which can take them on many pathways in life, building friendships and bonds.

The Invercargill Rowing Club proudly supports all levels of rowing including:​​​​​​​

• School age novice rowers
• Competition rowers
• Recreation rowers
• Masters Rowers
• Adaptive / Special Olympic Rowers

Have a go
If you are interested in taking up the sport visit our clubrooms for a chat with the coaches, or use the enquiries form on our web site to arrange a suitable time to try it out.