Curlew Rowing Club is a rowing club based on the Tideway of the River Thames at Greenwich, London, England. It was founded in 1866 and has been in Greenwich without interruption for over 130 years, though not always called Curlew.
The first regatta at which a “Curley” crew is believed to have rowed was held at Greenwich in 1787. In the first half of the 19th century “Curley” was one of several crews, along with a crew called “The Argonauts”, who had their own boats in the Greenwich and Deptford reaches. The Argonauts grew substantially in numbers until some of its members transferred their activities to Putney, to form the London Rowing Club with the object of rowing at Henley.
The “Curley” crew remained in Greenwich and in 1866 a club was formed in order to rent the (now demolished) Crown Sceptre Pub in Greenwich.[1] “Curley”, by this stage had become “Curlew” and had incorporated the residue of the “Argonauts” and another crew “Lurline” who had been unable to carry on independently. Curlew then occupied the "Crown and Sceptre" until the building was demolished in 1934. So after 68 years Curlew moved to the "Trafalgar Tavern" where Curlew had a Club room / bar and a small basement gym. These premises where leased at that time from the Greenwich Hospital Estates.
Modern day
Curlew Rowing Club is now based in out of the Trafalgar Rowing Centre [2] only a few doors down from their old home. Curlew moved to the Trafalgar Rowing Centre in late 2003, and with the Trafalgar Trust (Curlew Rowing Club and Globe Rowing Club) now own a new boathouse and gym in Greenwich. Furthermore, on the water training takes place at the London Regatta Centre based at the Victoria and Albert Docks, where Curlew has access to a complete multi-laned buoyed 2 km racing lake. Recently some boats have been relocated to Greenwich to train on the River Thames again.
Curlew has had much success on the water qualifying and competing at Henley Royal Regatta most years since 2000. 2011 saw the club qualify two VIIIs to The Thames Challenge Cup, the first time in the club's history and the first time a club east of Putney has done so. In 2016 Curlew Rowing Club won the Ampthill Cup for elite pairs at The Metropolitan Regatta, this is the first time and only time Curlew Rowing Club have won this event.
Curlew Rowing Club have qualified for Henley Royal Regatta 18 out of 22 seasons since 2000, making Thursday on a number of occasions during this period. In 2011 and 2012 Curlew have managed to qualify both a 1st and 2nd VIII into the Thames Challenge Cup, a feat only matched by Thames Rowing Club in West London.
2000 - Wyfold Challenge Cup - RD1 Curlew bt Furnival SC by 3 lengths. RD2, Lea RC bt Curlew by 1 length
2000 - Thames Challenge Cup - RD1 Molesey Boat Club 'B' bt Curlew by 4 lengths
2001 - Wyfolds Challenge Cup - RD1 Aberdeen Boat Club bt Curlew easily
2002 - Wyfolds Challenge Cup - RD1 Aberdeen Boat Club bt Curlew easily
2002 - Thames Challenge Cup - RD1 Curlew bt London Rowing Club 'C' by 1 1/2 lengths, RD2 London RC 'A' bt Curlew by 4 lengths
2003 - Thames Challenge Cup - RD1 Curlew bt City of Oxford RC by 2 1/4 lengths, RD2 Lady Victoria Boat Club bt Curlew by 3 lengths
2004 - Thames Challenge Cup - RD1 Mitsubishi BC* bt Curlew by 5 lengths (*Mitsubishi were subsequently disqualified as being ineligible to race)
2005 - Thames Challenge Cup - RD1 Curlew bt Mortlake Anglia & Alpha BC by 1 3/4 lengths. RD2, Molesey bt Curlew by 1 3/4 lengths
2006 - Thames Challenge Cup - RD1 Hamburger und Germania RC bt Curlew by 3 1/4 lengths
2007 - Thames Challenge Cup - RD1 Nottingham RC bt Curlew by 2 lengths
2008 - Thames Challenge Cup - RD1 Tees RC bt Curlew by 3/4 length
2009 - DNQ
2010 - Thames Challenge Cup - RD1 Reading RC bt Curlew by 1 3/4 lengths
2011 - Thames Challenge Cup - RD1 Lea RC bt Curlew 'A' by 1 1/2 lengths, RD1 Greenlake BC (USA) bt Curlew 'B' by 2 1/2 lengths
2012 - Thames Challenge Cup - RD1 Curlew 'A' bt Curlew 'B' by 4 3/4 lengths, RD2 Thames 'A' bt Curlew 'A' by 2 1/2 lengths
2013 - Britannia Challenge Cup - RD1 Thames 'A' bt Curlew 'A' by 1 1/2 Lengths
