The Crew Cut

We will be extending a welcoming warm hand of hospitality to crews from around the world as the rowing season’s winter races get underway next month. Our Hub headquarters is a stone’s throw from Putney Pier, where all the races end, events such as the Women’s Head of the River (Saturday March 14), Schools Head (Monday 16th) and Men’s Head (Sunday March 29). The races attract a wide range of international crews, and many of them will be competing wearing the award-winning kit produced by our friends and partners in sunny California, JL Design. They produce top-flight technical, quality rowing kit for rowers worldwide and next month it’s London’s turn to play showcase for their highly-respected sports gear, which includes unisuits, splash jackets, tech tops and, one of our favourites, the Turtleshell. JL manufacture fully bespoke team wear and Crewroom, as their UK distributor, work with many clubs, including Vesta RC, Thames RC, Tideway Scullers, Durham University Boat Club, Headington School Boat Club, Westminster School Boat Club, Royal Shrewsbury, and Kings Chester Boat Club. "Crewroom’s Putney Embankment HQ is very close to the finish line for all these races, and as the weather is likely to be a little nippy, we’ll be sure to have the kettle on!” said company Founder Kate Giles. “Crews and their friends are all very welcome to pop in for a cuppa – you can’t beat a good English cup of tea on occasions like these. Our full range of kit and apparel will also be on display.”

As the Official Performance Wear Partner of The BNY Mellon Boat Race and The Newton Women's Boat Race, we’ll be launching a new retail range of branded technical clothing to support both the races. We’re proud to already supply both the men’s and women’s crews with race and training kit for the April 11th event. The Boat Race retail range offers members of the public the opportunity to display their support for their chosen team. Effective later this month, the range of merchandise will be available for purchase from here. Highlights of the range include: Softshell Jacket: An all-rounder of a jacket with a few notable features including a zip chin guard, internal pockets for modern media devices, a soft fleece lining, a water-resistant softshell outer and popper/velcro cuffs. Great for throwing on post training, this jacket keeps you warm and dry in the elements. VX Bodyshell: We've designed this as a form-fitting garment – a contoured second skin – making this a perfect base layer for our cold winter months. The fabric uses their bamboo charcoal technology to keep you warm and smelling fresher for longer whilst the stretch nylon shell and raglan sleeves give you ultimate manoeuvrability. VX Cap: We've included a long peak and dark underside to reduce the sun’s glare. The soft and supple Vapour-X fabric moulds the shape of your head beautifully so you barely know you’re wearing it. Other features include carbon particles woven into the fabric which protect you from UV rays whilst wicking away sweat. Added to this, the internal towelling band keeps sweat away from the eyes so you can train without distraction. Speaking about the retail range, Kate Giles, Founder and CEO of Crewroom, said: “For the first time, we are proud to offer supporters of the BNY Mellon Boat Races high-quality sportswear which both shows off the individual’s allegiance to their chosen club and is an award-winning performance range. “Some of these garments are used and worn by the athletes themselves. We’ve developed these products using the best possible fabrics and finishes to produce a retail range which is fitting for such a prestigious event.” The BNY Mellon Boat Races will take place on April 11th 2015. The BNY Mellon Boat Race and the Newton Women’s Boat Race will begin at 5:50pm and 4:50pm respectively.

Crewroom-kit-clad Anna McNuff, our roving Ambassador and intrepid athlete-adventurer has clocked up an epic first leg to her amazing run across New Zealand. Anna’s braved 35 degree heatwaves, trekking through swamps and dense bush forests, and is now navigating around huge glacial lakes as she crosses South Island. “New Zealand does rugged rather well,” says Anna, who has already covered hundreds of miles on her adventure. She posts regular updates and videos on her popular blog, Mischief with McNuff, which you can check out here. “If there were a World Championships for ruggedness and each country had to flex their sandy, dense forest, windswept trail-guns, New Zealand would definitely have a shot at the medals podium,” adds Anna. Anna has been proving she is super-fit as she’s climbed mountain ranges including the Motatapu Mountains and Jack Hall’s Saddle (1,275m above sea level), to which she ascended from a valley. Anna, who’s helping spread the word about Britain’s favourite sportskit brand, is running 2,000 miles across NZ, following the Te Araroa Trail. During the next five months, she’ll run from the southernmost point of the South Island, to Cape Reigna in the very north. There are lots of ways YOU can support Anna, like by telling the world about her on social media; in New Zealand, you can invite Anna to a school or local community group, you can follow Anna on Twitter or Facebook – and embrace the #AnnaRuNZ hashtag. Why not drop Anna a line here? Anna has also revealed what keeps her motivated – singing while she runs! “If there was a fly on the wall here, it might have caught me trotting along a deserted, and rather windy, Oreti beach, belting out Paloma Faith at the top of my lungs.”

Befriending customers at Crewroom’s Pop-Up store in the Putney Exchange shopping centre will be a piece of cake for our latest recruit, retail assistant Jacqui Beer – she used to work in her sister’s cake shop and also ran an ice-cream van. “I spent a few Christmases helping out at ‘Lindsey's Cake and Dessert Shop’ in Devon. I’d serve up cheesecakes (my favourite), muffins, chocolate fudge cakes, flapjacks and caramel shortbread,” says Jacqui, who admits to a sweet tooth herself. “I also used to work in an ice-cream van in the summer, along the North Devon coast. They wouldn’t let me drive the van, just serve in it, because I drove too fast.” Now Jacqui, 30, who is passionate about involving members of the community in sport and has a string of academic and professional qualifications linked to sport, is delighted to have started work at Crewroom. Currently studying for a PhD in Sports Participation, she used to work for British Rowing as a Project Officer and was also involved at the London 2012 Games when she worked in the spectator experience tent at Dorney Lake, where members of the public could get a taste for the sport by having a go on rowing machines. Jacqui is also a keen sports enthusiast; she has played netball for 14 years, raced alongside 118 gig rowing boats at the World Pilot Gig Rowing Championships off the Isles of Scilly, and has rowed and coached at Thames Rowing Club. Her idea of happy days is walking around in her lycra and wellies after a race. “When people come in to the shop they chat to us about their different activities and it's nice to find out what they're doing, and we also spot regular customers coming in now. When we tell our customers the Crewroom story, they're impressed, and they seem to like the fact the business is local to them. “The reason I wanted to work for Crewroom, and why being at the Pop-up is great, is because I have been involved in sport for so many years, and it's nice to have that continuing link,” adds Jacqui.

The wintry chill descending on Britain at the moment isn’t quite as severe as the sub-zero temperatures that challenged famous polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton when he led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. But that doesn’t mean we can’t mark his historic achievements by celebrating our Shackleton Jacket, which is named in his honour. This wonderfully warm winter jacket is one of our most popular premium products and is the perfect garment to beat the current cold snap. The Shackleton Jacket uses the unique Primaloft® Silver Insulation Blend, making it superwarm yet easy to pack down. Unlike traditional down fill, the insulation is water resistant and breathable so your jacket stays nice and light if you’re caught out in the elements. Sadly, disaster struck Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1917 when his ship, Endurance, became trapped in pack ice and was crushed before shore parties could be landed. The crew finally made it to the inhabited island of South Georgia, a stormy ocean voyage of 720 nautical miles that became Shackleton's most famous exploit. They don’t make heroic explorers like that anymore. But in his name today, we make epic jackets!

We love getting out there and enjoying the Elements, and our favourite physio, Paul White is starting our exercise schedule with a fascinating and FREE talk about running biomechanics. Held at the Crewroom Pop-up in the Putney Exchange shopping centre, on Friday January 16 at 6.30pm for a 6.45pm start, Paul's 45-minute talk will cover everything from what shoes to wear to how to run a marathon in under three hours. How much does that session cost again? It’s absolutely FREE, so you have no excuses not to come along and get your New Year resolutions off to a flying start! For many of you, January is a crucial month as you get your training underway for the Virgin London Marathon in April. And Crewroom and its experts will be here to support you throughout the months ahead as your epic race day draws near. As you increase your exercise levels, don’t forget to check out all our amazing kit bargains in our fabulous New Year Crewroom Sale, running now. Paul is following up his talk with a series of monthly classes at Crewroom's Hub HQ on Putney Embankment. First up, at the Putney Exchange Pop-up, running strength classes will be staged every Wednesday from January 21. The 45-minute classes start at 7pm and cost £10. And back at the Hub on Putney Embankment, we're staging running master classes for long distance runners. The two-hour sessions will be on Jan 18, Feb 8 and March 8, all starting at 10am. For full details, see below.