In order to promote rowing and expand the appeal of the sport, British Rowing created a new programme; “Explore Rowing”. BrightLemon built a social network and a site for Explore Rowing which has encouraged new rowers to participate in the sport as well as acting as a valuable resource for existing rowers.

The social network incorporates a range of community and web functionality to engage users and encourage new rowers by helping to change the attitude that rowing is a logistically difficult pursuit. 

The site is carefully designed with the user in mind and presented in a way that makes it feel open to everyone. People who were already users of the British Rowing website can use their same login to be active in the Explore Rowing online community.

The programme already made a major contribution to British Rowing’s target of increasing the overall number of UK rowers by the Olympic year, 2012.

Key Features

Groups and Clubs Users are able to create groups for like-minded individuals which allow users to interact around a specific subject and exchange ideas and news. Any user can join a group or club. Groups are generally a good method in uniting like-minded individuals around a specific subject. Each club has their own profile, similar to a registered user; they have a logo, basic information, Google map indicating their location and related content they have contributed throughout the site.

Nearest Club Finder To make it easy for anyone to get involved, we included a rowing club finder which uses a postcode to locate their nearest rowing club. The club listing also includes a summary of the facilities each club has available such as whether the club can accomodate disabled rowers or whether the club is suitable for junior rowers.