Folkestone Rowing Club - Sandgate | UK Rowing Clubs | Row HQ

Folkestone Rowing Club is a coastal club on The Parade at Sandgate, Kent. Founded in 1852, it is one of Folkestone's oldest organised sports clubs and moved from Folkestone seafront to Sandgate between the First and Second World Wars.

Women joined the rowing team in the 1970s. The club now spans junior, novice, senior and masters rowing, with coxing available from age ten and competitive rowing from age 14. A 2021 account recorded around 40 active rowers using singles, pairs and fours.

The wider member-run centre also supports running, sea dipping, a sauna and social activity. Its rowing mission is to promote coastal rowing and provide a family-friendly community base across South Kent, with monthly suppers, club awards and music nights complementing training and racing.

Folkestone competes through the Coast Amateur Rowing Association circuit. Its junior men and masters 50 crew both won CARA championships in 2021 before representing the club at the South Coast Championships.

The club hosts Folkestone Regatta under CARA rules. It also staged the South Coast Rowing Championships in 2009 and again in 2023, when the event brought together 38 clubs from Kent to Cornwall.

In 2025 Folkestone introduced a beach-sprint regatta at Sunny Sands, with running and rowing in head-to-head knockout races using singles and doubles. The club's community work has also included a young-rowers initiative that funded boat modifications for junior use.