Welcome to Mendota Rowing Club's website. Madison's oldest and largest community rowing club, Mendota offers programs for both adults and high school students (juniors).
Rowing can be learned by people of all ages and doesn't require prior experience in organized sports. Rowing is one of the few non-weight bearing sports that exercises all the major muscle groups, including quads, biceps, triceps, lats, glutes and abdominal muscles. Rowing improves cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength. Rowing is a low impact activity with movement only in defined ranges, so that twist and sprain injuries are rare. Over the past 35 years, hundreds of people in the Madison area have found huge enjoyment from rowing out on beautiful Lake Mendota.
Currently, our members range in age from 13 to 76. Rowing out of the Bernard-Hoover boathouse, we use 25 high quality rowing shells and more than 20 rowing machines to teach, practice and excel at rowing. Mendota's rowers come from all walks of life and the majority of them first learned to row at Mendota. People interested in learning more about rowing and/or Mendota are welcome to observe practices, talk with existing members and/or visit our historic boathouse. Each year, usually in June, we have an open house complete with rowing demonstrations. Learn to row programs are offered for both adults (each session running two weeks) and juniors (in the summer). Thereafter, there are opportunities for novices, scullers and sweep rowers. Rowers with prior experience are welcome to directly join our junior, adult sweep or adult sculling programs.
Mendota welcomes both people who wish to row recreationally as well as those interested in racing at the highest levels of the sport. Three juniors have gone on to be members of the U.S. National Team; many juniors and adults have won races throughout the United States.