Rowing at Schinias Olympic Rowing Center
Updated: Mar 1, 2022
The Schinias Olympic Rowing Center was built in 2004 and hosted the Rowing and Canoe Sprint Competitions at the Olympic Games in Athens the same year.
The entrance is free for the public as for walking and cycling. In order to use the rowing facilities you must be a club athlete with a license but you may also attend some training sessions in a official rowing club as an amateur athlete as well. The WLM team visited the rowing center to try out the sport of rowing and we were left with a very positive impression!
Rowing Club
At the Schinias Olympic Rowing Center the only club that trains non-professional athletes, is ENOA. The Hellenic Nautical Club of Greek-Egyptians was founded in Athens in 1965 by repatriated Egyptian Greeks. The Club has great distinctions in rowing such as the bronze and silver medals won by Vassilios Polymeros in 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games.
Rowing sport | for young and elder amateur athletes
Rowing is one of few sports that can simultaneously target 85% of your body muscles in order to perform the whole movement correctly.
More specifically when rowing, all muscles in legs, arms and back must be activated. The result is to get a total workout while doing aerobic (cardio) exercise as well as muscle strengthening exercise, thus increasing your strength and your cardiovascular capacity.
Regardless of your age, a fitness plan that includes aerobic exercise is important for your health. The benefits of regular aerobic exercise include weight loss, increased endurance and a stronger immune system! The endorphins that are released while exercising, especially in such a beautiful outdoor environment as the Schinias Olympic Rowing Center, can also help improve your mood and the quality of your sleep.
Below is an illustration of the muscles involved in rowing >>
Regular exercise can help you burn calories. For example, in our third workout, during one hour we burned 200 calories, but keep in mind that we are still learning so our pace is low ... While rowing normally you burn an average of 600 calories per hour! An other important thing is that it is a gentle exercise, as coach Chryssa Biskitzi tells us, so there are no injuries during work out.
Finally, it is a team sport, so it pushes you to constantly strive to improve and play as an entity with the rest of the crew! After all, socialization is something that we have missed a lot, where here in fact it is completely safe since the training takes place outdoors.
The lessons | The workouts
Classes and trainings take place every weekend in Schinias, when the appropriate weather conditions prevail. The first 4 courses (15 € / 1.5 hours) are individual courses where the goal is to learn the basic skills of rowing and familiarize yourself with the sport, the equipment and the environment. Then the teamwork starts (12 € / hour) where you now get on a boat (skiff) with other athletes. Obviously you have to be water friendly and have some basic swimming skills, although to date none of the WLMs have fallen into the water during rowing work out!
The main coach is the Olympian Chryssa Biskitzi with 4 participations in the Olympics (Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and Beijing) but also a world and pan-European rowing champion. With the assistant coaches, Nikos Bistina and Panagiotis Bistina also champions in the sport of rowing, they compose a very beautiful coaching team.
The training takes place on the weekends 9:00-14:00 & last 1.5 hours.
The rowing trainings are aimed at all ages, regardless of gender! To book a session on a day and time that suits you, you can contact Chryssa Biskitzi directly at +306945580808 (viber also available).
The Olympic Rowing Center in Schinias is located at the end of Schinias Avenue in the municipality of Marathon. It has free parking just outside the premises. Make sure you have water and a hat with you. Take the advantage of having an amazing experience during your holidays in Marathon!
Enjoy the video of Christos Maletsikas which I am sure will convince you at least once to try rowing in Schinias!
And more photos to have a look at!
Sonia Gerodimou
Gymnastics
We thank our volunteer photographer Christos Maletsikas for covering the report
Sketches: Concept 2