• news.cision.com/
  • Kallaway/
  • 10 July Olympic Torch Relay at River & Rowing Museum: Experience Olympic Rowing History First Hand
English

10 July Olympic Torch Relay at River & Rowing Museum: Experience Olympic Rowing History First Hand

Report this content
  • Press breakfast 0800hrs – 1100hrs 10 July 2012 Torch Relay.
  • Priceless Olympic artefacts on display and previous torches available to handle.
  • Hear some of the most compelling Olympic Rowing Stories from expert historians, Olympic Medallists and through rare artefacts.
  • Outside broadcast, free parking, broadband and desk and office space for filing copy and images available.
  • RSVP required: jack.hickmott@kallaway.com / 020 7221 7883

The River & Rowing Museum (www.rrm.co.uk) is the world's most significant museum dedicated to the Olympic sport of rowing. Based just 20 minutes from Dorney Lake, the London Olympic Rowing venue, the Museum attracts over 114,000 visitors a year with priceless permanent exhibits ranging from Anglo-Saxon longboats to contemporary cutting edge Olympic racing boats. Along with the unparalleled permanent collections, which include highly significant Olympic memorabilia from the 1908 and 1948 games when the rowing was held metres from the museum on the Thames, the museum is host to an exciting programme of temporary exhibitions. New for 2012, The Perfect Rower – 100 Years of Racing for Glory is a special exhibition that celebrates Olympic Rowing successes through fascinating artefacts and inspiring human stories. Highlights include:

  • Alan Campbell’s single scull - the second fastest single scull in history.
  • The gold medals of the 1948 rowing duo Burnell and Bushnell who, after being thrown in a boat together from polar opposite backgrounds just six weeks before the Games, went on to become Olympic champions – now the subject of a BBC film.
  • The return of the Olympic Statue of Athena – once a floating trophy for Olympic Eight winners and first presented at the Henley Games in 1908 - on loan from the Olympic Museum in Laysamme and in Britain for the first time in 100 years.
  • The charting of rowing developments including the fascinating change in diet over the past 100 years – from ale, mutton and claret to protein shakes and weetabix.
  • Tom Aggar’s gold medal from the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.
  • Hear audio memories from those who attended the 1948 Olympic Regatta in Henley where Great Britain’s Richard Burnell took the Gold.
  • Objects from the 1908 Olympics, including an illuminated oar awarded to the victorious British eight.
  • The 1912 gold medal awarded to William Kinnear in the Single Scull in Stockholm.  

Official Press Host for Olympic Torch Arrival - 10 July
The River & Rowing Museum is hosting a press breakfast and museum tours to accommodate press visiting Henley-On-Thames to view the Olympic torch relay on 10 July. Press are invited for breakfast at the Museum’s award-winning café before and after the torch’s arrival and will be guided through the Museum’s permanent and temporary exhibitions by leading Olympic Rowing Experts. Full timings:

  • 0800hrs – Museum opens for media and guests, breakfast and opportunities for tours.
  • 0915hrs – Torch on route to RRM and the jetty.
  • 0927hrs – Torch leaves RRM pier and travels up the river.
  • 0930hrs – Museum open for press tours, opportunities to view the rare rowing objects and memorabilia, interviews with rowing experts – and breakfast.

The gallery tours will be lead by Guin Batten, British Olympic rowing medalist and rowing record breaker, Chris Dodd – rowing historian and author of three books and Paul Mainds – Chief Executive and Trustee of the River & Rowing Museum.

Notes To Editors:

Press Contacts:

Jack Hickmott: jack.hickmott@kallaway.com; 020 7221 7883
William Kallaway: william.kallaway@kallaway.com; 020 7221 7883

IMAGES: http://mediacentre.kallaway.co.uk/rrm-picture-library.asp

Twitter: @River_Rowing

Press attending the Olympic Torch Relay at the River & Rowing Museum will be offered free parking, outdoor broadcast support and high-speed broadband connection.

About Guin Batten:


Guin Batten is a British rower (born 27 September 1967). Part of the first ever British women’s crew to win a medal at Olympics winning silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the quadruple scull with her elder sister Miriam Batten and Catherine Grainger – competing at Dorney Lake this year. In 2003, she set the record for the fastest solo crossing of the English Channel in a rowing shell (Olympic Class) and became the first solo female crossing, in a time of 3 hours and 14 minutes. This was eight minutes faster than the men's record set by her friend Bob Gullett on the same trip.

About Chris Dodd:

Christopher Dodd is an author and journalist who has written about rowing for forty years. He was rowing correspondent of The Guardian from 1970, and for the Independent since 2004. He was founding editor of Britain's Regatta magazine and FISA's World Rowing magazine, and left the Guardian's after thirty years as an editor in the Features department when he co-founded the River & Rowing Museum at Henley-on-Thames in 1994. He continues to contribute to newspapers and rowing magazines, including the electronic magazine RowingVoice of which he is co-editor, Rowing & Regatta magazine and the US magazine Rowing News.

He is an Honorary Vice President of the River & Rowing Museum Foundation.

More about the River & Rowing Museum
Designed by David Chipperfield and located on the banks of the River Thames in Henley on Thames, the Museum celebrates and explores four core themes through a wide variety of exhibitions and events across four galleries and special exhibitions:        

  1. Rivers: Using the Thames as a starting point, the Museum explores the environmental, ecological and social impacts of water and rivers across the world.    
  2. The historic riverside community of Henley on Thames: This historic town home to the Henley Royal Regatta and host to the Rowing competition in the 1908 and 1948 Olympic Games has colourful history dating back to the stone age all captured in a dedicated gallery explored through hugely popular temporary exhibitions.  
  3. The international sport of rowing: One of the world’s most significant collections of rowing memorabilia, charting the sport from ancient beginnings to present day is held at the Museum.  The sport is also celebrated through temporary exhibitions throughout the year.     
  4. The Wind in the Willows – hugely popular with children and families, this exhibition recreates the the timeless E H Shepard illustrations from Kenneth Grahame's famous novel, taking visitors on a journey through the world famous riverside tale of Mr Toad and his friends.

- END TO ALL -