Rowing world mourns 'dominant' Cornwall champion Penny Chuter OBE

Britain's rowing world is mourning the death of one of its own. Penelope Ann Chuter OBE passed away at home in Mylor Bridge on November 16 after a courageous battle with cancer.

Penny, as she was known, represented Great Britain with distinction, coached numerous GB teams and was the visionary behind many successful Cornish Pilot Gig crews.

Tributes to the 82-year-old have been pouring in from her local club in Cornwall as well as from British Rowing. In a tribute to Penny, British Rowing, the national governing body for the sport, said: "The impact of her contribution has been enormous, and much of it created the foundations on which decades of subsequent GB Rowing Team success has been built.

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"Her commitment and dedication to rowing and to the athletes within it was characterised by incredible hard work as well as vision, which came at the expense of a personal life, and often to the detriment of her physical and mental wellbeing. Yet she made many, many friends within rowing, and there are countless others who also recognise that their achievements were thanks to her."

The Carrick Rowing Club Cornwall also paid tribute to Penny. In a post on its Facebook page, the club that Penny founded, said: "Penny's accomplishments transcended Carrick Rowing Club and the Coastal Rowing League; she represented Great Britain with distinction, coached numerous GB teams and was the visionary behind many successful Cornish Pilot Gig crews.

"Despite her illness, we were fortunate that Penny was able to attend our first coastal regatta in September, held in her beloved home village of Mylor. Her presence and spirit were a source of inspiration for everyone present, and we take great comfort in the knowledge that we have learned so much from her dedication and expertise."

Penny's passion for rowing started at an early age at her family home in Surrey where she rowed on the River Thames. She won her first competition at 15 and a year later won the first of 21 Skiff Championship titles.

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A spokesperson for British Rowing added: "Her dominance eventually became so complete that she retired, unbeaten, for the good of both sports as others had been unwilling to race against her."

In 1959 Penny was encouraged by her skiff coach to switch to sculling. Penny rapidly established herself as Britain’s leading female single sculler and raced from 1960 to 1964 at the Women’s European Rowing Championships, the only international competition for women. In 1962 she won the silver medal, only the second women’s international rowing medal, and the first in single sculls.

In their tribute British Rowing said that as an athlete, Penny had to take responsibility for her own development as she didn’t have a coach. She learned sports science and adopted innovative training methods from the Eastern bloc countries who were professionalising rowing training at a time when the UK still took great pride in ‘amateurism’ and many upheld the importance of ‘form’ over speed.

After retiring from international competition, Penny spent some years as a PE teacher before being appointed as National Coach for women’s rowing and coach education in 1973 – the first paid female rowing coach in the country. She created and led a new GB women’s national squad, which went on to compete in the first women’s events at the World Rowing Championships in 1974 and then at the Olympic Games in 1976.

In 1977 she switched to a role with the GB men’s team. In 1982 she was appointed director of coaching for all teams, a role she held until 1986, when she became director of International Rowing. She received an OBE for services to rowing in 1989. In 1990 she stepped back from her role to work in coach education before leaving the Amateur Rowing Association in 1994.

Penny moved to Penryn after retiring and became involved with gig racing and the new discipline of coastal sculling. In 2022, at the age of 80, she took part in her last competition when she coxed the Carrick RC women’s quad at the World Rowing Coastal Championships in Saundersfoot in Wales.

The spokesperson for British Rowing added: "As a coach, Penny’s innovations were transformative, in particular, the change from ‘compressed technique’ to what she called ‘reach technique, and the standardisation to leading with the left hand in sculling so that crews could be more easily formed. She also introduced the use of video for coaching.

"In terms of the organisation of international rowing, she was instrumental in changing the selection process from one where external selection boards passed judgement on individual crews, to one overseen by the director of International Rowing. When National Lottery funding was first made available in 1997, the structures that she had put in place meant that GB rowing was in good shape to apply, and it became one of the first sports to gain Lottery funding."

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