Christmas Presents for Rowers: a Couple of Great Ideas

Hot on the heels of my own, admittedly rather, ahem, aspirational, Christmas list, I thought perhaps I should come up with some more practical (and realistic) ideas for Christmas presents for rowers.

As everyone keeps insisting on reminding me, there are now (gulp) a mere seven days until Christmas. If you have a rower in your life, or have been spending more time on the river than shopping, the chances are you’re on the lookout for a handy last minute gift, and these beauties recently landed on my desk.

First up are gloves. Now, hear me out. I know technically rowers don’t wear gloves. But don’t forget that before you push off from the side, there’s a lot of hanging around and carrying blades and lifting cold boats, and you would be very well advised to have gloves for that bit. And if it’s really cold and you find pogies a faff, the right gloves – by which I mean thin gloves with plenty of grip – aren’t such a ridiculous idea for the first painful minutes of an outing before you get warm.

And if, like me, you also do the odd bit of coxing (very odd in my case, since I favour a unique zigzag course up the river), then good gloves are an absolute must.

The MacWet gloves, which I was sent just a few weeks ago and trialled during a chilly coxing session, are just the ticket. They are nice and thin, just warm enough, have excellent grip (I tried them out cycling, too) and are water resistant, which is obviously essential in our drizzly climate.

They’re not cheap – the Climatec Long Gloves, which I was sent, are an eye-watering £29.99, but they are very good quality. And it’s Christmas. And Santa might be feeling generous.

Next up is a book that’s a sequel to the excellent Go Faster Food book that I reviewed some time ago. This time it’s Go Faster Food for Kids – aimed at sporty, active children and teenagers. I let my 15-year-old loose on it, and he was full of enthusiasm. He tried a recipe from each section and gave them all between 8 out of 10 and 10 out of 10. The recipes are pretty straightforward but perfectly chosen to appeal to the palate of kids who like to eat heartily, and are nicely and carefully flavoured. Keeping an active child adequately fueled without resulting to junk food can be a challenge, and the book also has plenty of sound, reliable nutritional advice that parents will find helpful.

It’s attractively illustrated – much more attractive than Kate’s first book, which lacked pictures – and would be a great present for a hungry teen. It’s available from Amazon and currently retails at £9.09.

So there you have it. With the shopping all sorted, all you have to worry about is the decorating and the cooking and keeping Uncle Bernard from getting hammered on cooking sherry. I’m afraid I can’t help with that. Sorry.