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Olympic success inspires people to pull together

George Reed, Lee Buckley, Geof Reed, Hollie Skidmore, 15, and Zach Buckley, 12, at Queenborough Rowing Club, at Queenborough
George Reed, Lee Buckley, Geof Reed, Hollie Skidmore, 15, and Zach Buckley, 12, at Queenborough Rowing Club, at Queenborough

A Sheppey sports club says its membership has grown as a direct result of the success of British athletes at London 2012.

New recruits have been attracted to Queenborough Rowing Club according to vice-chairman and club captain Marco Devereux.

The 50-year-old, who helped to set up the group 11 years ago, said: “We have experienced the Olympic bounce without a doubt.

“We had three new rowers just on Sunday, two of them were under 16.”

The North Road, Queenborough, resident has spoken to other rowing groups that have also seen more people wanting to take part.

He added: “I’m obviously delighted, it is a good sport for men and women to enjoy together with each other because you do get mixed crews whereas you can’t have mixed football or rugby teams.

“I think it’s brilliant. [Team GB] had 13 crews in the Olympics and 13 of them got into finals and nine of them won medals.

Lee Buckley, of Sheerness, was so taken with the sport that after giving it a go, he brought his 13-year-old son Zach along with him the next time.

Mr Buckley, who works in the Morrisons warehouse in Kemsley, said: “The Olympics were the main reason I went down there. There’s been a lot made of how it has inspired a lot of young people to be more active and I think it has.

“It’s the sort of thing you can do together. My son wasn’t very active before but he wanted to try a bit of rowing so I took him with me.”

Dan Goodfield, 24, and his girlfriend Bobbie Harrison were both encouraged to try the sport after London 2012.

The builder said: “The Olympics was absolutely amazing. I watched a lot of the Olympics and out of all of them I thought that would be the one.

“I thought ‘that doesn’t look too hard’, but I got in the boat and it was a different story.”

Have you been inspired to try something new because of the Olympics? Let us know by calling 01795 580300 or send an email to timesguardian@thekmgroup.co.uk

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