Durham has been the #1 Team Sport University since 2013.

£32 million has been invested in the Graham Sports Centre, providing state-of-the-art facilities for all of our teams.

Since 2020, 6 brand new pairs, 3 eights and a 4- have been aquired from Filippi.

Tyne Boathouse

Our primary boat house is located on The River Tyne, a 25 minute drive from Durham. The facility houses the majority of our fleet and is where we do our on the water training. We share a clubhouse with Tyne United Rowing Club are situated right next door to local rivals Newcastle University Boat Club.

We have a 15km rowable stretch which reaches all the way into the center of Newcastle, which grants us freedom to do wide range of sessions in all boat types.

The Ergo Gallery

Our Ergo Gallery has 24 Concept 2 Model E Rowing Machines. These are well maintained by our squad after each session.

We also have 8 RP3s, 6 of these were purchased in the last three years. We are looking to upgrade two of these this season. Further to these, we have four spin bikes and access to the 8 WattBikes in our Performance Gym.

Performance Hub

Opened in 2019, our new Performance Hub is equipped with world class kit, including dumbbells up to 50kg, 8 new WattBikes and a full selection of bumper plates for Olympic lifting.

Jon Boyle, our Strength and Conditioning coach, has created our rowing specific lifting programme with expert care, keeping us robust and injury free. In 2019 Jon coached the GB Junior rowing team on their training camp in Spain and has been working with our rowers for the last ten years.

Our fleet

We primarily race eights, so our flagship mens’ and womens’ boats, the “Simon Brooke” and the “Diana Bishop”, are carbon rigged Filippi shells, new in 2020 and 2022 respectivley. We also have new aluminium rigged second 8s for both the mens’ and womens’ squad too.

For smaller boats we also have a Filippi fleet, with 6 new pairs in 2020 and top race 4-s and 4+s on both the mens and womens sides.

Sophie Hosking Rowing Tank

The Rowing Tank, named after Olympic Gold Medal winner and DUBC Alumni, Sophie Hosking, allows for our athletes to develop a feel for the water regardless of their boat experience or the weather conditions.

The tank is mainly used for individual technical coaching and also our development program, but we also open up the facility for colleges and local clubs to use.

Robert Gillespie Boathouse

The Robert Gillespie Boathouse on the River Wear hosts the majority of our fleet. At just a ten minute walk from the the Bill Bryson Library, the boathouse is by far the closest to the university of any other British Rowing High Performance Centre.

We also have a boat-bay at Tyne United Rowing Club, just over half an hour away from Durham, where we store our Eights and bigger boats, giving us a 24km stretch of river. We have access to Tyne United’s changing facilities, squad room and kitchen while there, allowing us to relax and refuel after our training sessions.