Upper Thames Head 2009

Yuk. The only way to describe the conditions for yesterday’s Upper Thames Head. Heavy rain and driving winds for the first division with at least the rain holding off in the second division. This made for a very hard race, with a strong, gusting head/cross wind and a fast stream running.

W.IM1 4+
Although really an IM3 level crew, the ladies put in a strong performance in the worst of the weather in Division 1. Not surprisingly finishing last in their section, it was still a good time.

W.IM2 4+
Swapping Becks and Yemin from rowing to coxing was the only change for the IM2 boat in the second division. Again, still and IM3 crew, they did well to finish sixth of eight crews. Much praise for Becks’ coxing in this one, avoiding the carnage by Temple Island

IM3 2x-
Still gaining experience in the double, Josh and Paul found the rough conditions very hard going, finishing well behind the other IM3 double. They weren’t helped of course by the coming together with another crew…

Vet D 2x-
Despite coming together with another crew (yes, we did clash with Paul and Josh, but only as we were forced over into them by an UTRC double who needed at least half of the river to pass us) Steve and I put in a good row. The rough water allowed us to overhaul Paul and Josh off the start although they then came back at us as we tired and the water calmed by Temple Island. On the final straight, we managed to push past them again as their lack of experience told – in the conditions they had been tensing their arms so much they could hardly feather at the end! We finished well off the UTRC double, although losing time because of the coming together with the other two didn’t help.

Overall, very hard racing in very poor conditions. This one is a real test of endurance and technique.

Must comment on the (lack of) organisation. Firstly, the parking arrangements had cars parked nice and close to the boating area and the trailers parked about half a kilometre away; not fun carrying boats and blades that distance, weaving in between parked cars. Then, the marshalling (especially in division one) was almost non-existent and finally, there was the game of spot the start post! Considering this is one of the most expensive heads and UTC are a “big” club, not impressed. Oh, and the marshall shouting at Paul and Josh to come in from the far bank when we were being pushed across into them; had they done so, we would have had a major collision. I guess there’s no way they are going to yell at one of their own crews…

Photos are already on-line at the MKRC photo site and results are up at the UTRC results page

Cambridge Autumn Regatta 2009

The last regatta of the season saw the Women’s Squad bow out in fine style, taking the honours in the CRA Eight with two of this crew in the other winning boat of the day, a Mixed Coxed Four. The other crews didn’t fare as well, but another enjoyable day’s racing at Cambridge.

Mixed IM2 4+
A bit of a scratch boat (they’d rowed once together) but a very powerful crew saw off another X-Press crew in their straight final. A good hard race from start to finish saw our crew taking the honours by a length. A couple of firsts as well, with Tim getting his first rowing pot at MKRC after his move from Star and Steph picking up her first coxing pot. The crew didn’t have time to catch their breath before four of the crew had to leap straight out of this boat into the Women’s Eight for the final!

Women’s CRA Eight
The first round saw a comfortable win (four lengths) over X-Press Boat Club, with a strong performance from the crew in their first race together. Crew positions were rejigged from St. Neots, with Helen J taking up stroke duties from Charlene, to allow more conventional rigging of the boat. The final saw Champions of the Thames putting up a harder fight but again the strength and technique of our ladies proved too much and they pulled away for a one length win. Deserved pots all round, all the better as, being a CRA event, it was non-qualifying, so no points! A notable first was Tim coxing his way to his first coxing pot – a good day for him following rapidly on from the Mixed boat. All credit to Jo and Lindy who’d just raced in the winning mixed crew.

This second win allowed Lindy to bow out on a real high before departing to Derby Uni, with two pots from the day. We’ll miss you!

Women’s IM3 4+
A narrow defeat for this crew, losing out by under a length to a Peterborough boat. A good result considering this was this crew’s first race and they had to wait an extraordinarily long time for the race and consequently were very, very cold. This delay was unfortunate as Peterborough had their steering fail at the start and had to row back to get it fixed. I guess the lesson is that if this happens again, go back with the competition and not sit around getting cold.

Women’s Novice 4+
Knocked out in the first round by the eventual winners, Maidstone Invicta. Definite progress by the novice ladies though, tough luck getting such strong opponents in the first race.

Mixed IM3 4-
Yet another new crew combination, with Pierre-Yves making his steering debut in a quad. Despite a good start, against a strong looking Guildford quad, we dropped behind and lack of practice on a river course led us to steer across to the bank. After rattling a few blades on some of the crews heading for the start we then clashed heavily with a double that obviously didn’t feel keeping to the bank was an instruction for them and had strayed into the racing lane. This stopped us dead and, although we got going and sculled very well after this, we were to far adrift and had an “easily” verdict against us.

Vet C 2x-
This was Pierre-Yves’ and my first outing since our win at Peterborough and a combination of lack of outings and a very big and strong crew from Poplar Blackwell saw us drop away (although we did hold them for the first couple of hundred meters) to finish 3-4 lengths down.

Overall
Despite a big entry from the Juniors, a mix up on dates led to the whole lot scratching. Sorry Cambridge!

Very pleasing was the large number of supporters we had, so real thanks to Tom, Barry and Rob for braving the cold and wind to come along and cheer us on!

The organisation at the event is getting better each year – the delays this year were down to “incidents” (such as the Peterborough four losing their steering and a couple of capsizes) and a large number of river craft. Particular mention to the arrogant house boat who “couldn’t hear” calls to stop because there was a race on the course – fortunately the single scullers managed to avoid this moron.

A couple of great examples of coxing muppetry illuminated the day – one junior coxed quad so busy chatting amongst themselves that they ignored all the marshals and umpires telling them to keep in but award of the day was the eight at the end of the day. Despite two eights coming down the course their cox thought the appropriate line was 90 degrees to the bank! Fortunately, he managed to just get out of the way – just as well it wasn’t a close race as the losing crew had to switch lanes. The idiot then, despite being told to keep in, let his stern drift out again, right in front of the next race. His excuse – he didn’t expect there to be any races on the course….

Results and Photos

Results on line at the Cambridge 99 website

Photos on line at the MKRC photo site, including some extra ones from Barry Rivett

Peterborough Spring Regatta 2009

Following last week-end’s glorious weather at Dorney, for the Met, the Peterborough Spring Regatta took place in more typical British Spring weather. Cold, grey and wet, especially Sunday. Still, the racing more than made up for it, with some excellent races on Saturday, culminating in two wins on Sunday.

Saturday

First up were the Women’s IM3 4+ crew (Helen J, Paula, Becks and Clare with Lindy making a coxing début). Despite a very early clash of blades with Parr’s Priory they kept their nerve to finish second and secure a place in the repêchage. Next up were the Men’s IM3 4+ crew, a first outing together for Henry, Will, Dan and Pete, Karen coxing them. This was a really exciting race with a the guys making an incredible last charge to force a photo finish with Norwich – that last effort was worth it as they took the heat win and progressed to the final.

The W.IM3 4+ crew were then back in action in their repêchage, but were dropped to third place behind strong crews from Broxbourne and Trafford. Quite a hard race for the spectators with both us and Trafford in virtually identical black/green kit!

In the IM3 4+ final, the guys trailed in last – still, a good showing in their first race together (especially as Dan was trying so hard he came off his seat!).  Lots of potential here.

The last races of the day were the IM3 4x- boat (Pierre-Yves, Simon, me and Steve); a good start kept us in contention early on but we fell away in the latter stages of the race to finish last in a straight final. This race also took the edge off of Steve and I who raced just 40 minutes later in the Vet D 2x-, again trailing in last. Our final crew of the day were Nick and Paul as an IM2 2- pair, finishing second in their final (OK, only three boats and one was disqualified, but they were second!

No wins today but some very good performances, especially from the men’s four.

Sunday

Another Women’s IM3 4+ crew out today, this time the crew that finished fourth at the Met, Charlene, Jo, Lindy and Steph, with Paula making her coxing bow. Quite a surprise for some of the crews from yesterday as they thought it was the same boat (especially one Uni crew overhead saying they had an easy run as they’d beaten MK the day before…). This crew just blew away the opposition in the first round, finishing very clear of the others to move through to the semi-final. Putting down a marker, they were the only crew below 2 minutes in this round.

The second round race was pretty much a repeat of the first; dominating the race from the start to finish at least a length clear of second; again, the only boat under 2 minutes in the semis, this put them into pole position for the final.

Pierre-Yves and I took advantage of a break in our crews racing to get out for a quick practice session. We figured this was a good idea as we’d not raced together before and hadn’t been out in a double together for many months. A good session with quite a few starts thrown in – this was to pay dividends later.

We returned to the course to go out in the IM3 4x- crew that had raced the previous day; another good start saw us in early contention but our lack of race practice as a crew showed and after a couple of mistakes we dropped back to third. This was good enough to see us through to the final though, the first time we’d not finished last so another indicator of progress.

Straight out of the quad and into the double saw Pierre-Yves and I going off as a Vet Novice 2x-. The practice really paid off as we hit an almost perfect start which took us a couple of lengths clear. We were then able to sit on the other crews through the race, finishing first easily. A very nice feeling, watching the other crews trying to hunt us down – not been there before!

Just 40 minutes to recover and Pierre-Yves and I were back in the final of the VN 2x-. Another great start put us in the lead, although Beccles pushed us very hard over the first 200m we powered away to win and de-novice. Pretty proud of our time as well, at 1m 52s in the final. A really great feeling coming through the last 100m knowing we’d got this in the bag (barring any coconut related incident).

Having abandoned Steve for Pierre-Yves, he’d entered as a Vet D 1x in his first solo race for some time. A strong sculling performance saw him come second, still very much in contention with the leader.

It was now time for the W.IM3 4+ final. Clearly their performances had fired up the other crews and DMU flew off the start to hold the lead for the first half of the race. Our girls’ power and strength asserted itself in the second half and they stormed through to take the win with Jo de-novicing at last (15 pots, no points!). Again, they posted a sub 2-minute time – the only crew to break that barrier and they did so in each race.

Our final event of the day was the IM3 4x- final. Very similar to the other races, a good start but fading away during the race.

So, overall a pretty good week-end for the club in general and me in particular! I think I’ve just set a club record as the oldest person to de-novice; I suspect this one will stand for a long time! Sets us up well for the Nat Vets next week (although I’ve just blown our IM3 status!)

Photos on line now at MKRC fotopic site – do check out just how relaxed Pierre-Yves is in both races….

Abingdon Head 2009

Another successful day for the Women’s IM3 4+ crew saw them winning their category at our second visit to Abingdon. Showing real, solid progress as a club since last year (see last year’s entry) we entered twice as many crews and posted some very good results as well as the ladies second win in a row.

Division 1 saw the J18 2x double of Sal and John post a reasonable time in their first outing together (although see the adjusted times guys – you won’t be happy!). Steve and I were in the Vet C/D/E 2x class, rowing as Vet D. We had a really good row, with Steve steering a great line that saw us in an early lead, beating some respectable crews (Canterbury Pilgrims, Upper Thames). We finished second overall after the handicapping was applied, falling to a Vet E double from Upper Thames – we were the fastest Vet D crew of the day though, a really massive improvement from our first go last year. Really pleased!

Up in Division 2 were the two Women’s IM3 4+ boats. Mixed fortunes here, with the Charlene/Jo/Lindy/Steph boat storming away and posting a time of 8:57 – 21 seconds ahead of the second IM3 crew and a time that puts them in the mix for IM2. The other boat of Helen/Paula/Becks/Clare had an unfortunate close encounter of the barge kind and this pushed them down the field to finish 4th in 9:45 – still ahead of two other crews, despite losing probably half a minute.

Division 3 saw me back in rowing action (having coxed the winning women in the last division). This time a Vet C quad, with Simon making his MKRC competitive debut. A good solid row saw finish last of the four crews on handicap but a very encouraging start. Our other boat out in this division was a J18 quad, another first as this was a composite crew with Hollowell. Sadly, this crew also had a close encounter, this time with the bank and this clobbered their time.

The final division had me coxing again, the victims on this occasion being a Women’s Novice 4+. First time that this crew (Jo/Lou/Terri/Yemin) had raced together and they pulled out a good row to finish 4th equal, beating many other big names. Only Lou’s second race, too. John showed his continuing progress, to finish second in J16 1x.

Overall, a very satisfying day out for the club and me in particular (first coxing pot!). The weather was great – although chilly at first it turned into a really hot sunny day (having to explain tan at work today) and the location really nice. The course is a good one too; a mix of some really nice wide straights and some very challenging corners. Although the boat handling was every bit as good as last year, the marshalling at the start could have been better. To be fair, the marshals weren’t helped by the total ineptness of some crews. Some of my favourites were the two crews desperate to get to the front of our division – only to then block the river when the division started as they were out of order, the school crew who were across the river aimed at another boat when the cox called for “whole crew, normal rowing” (fortunately, the crew ignored him) and the cox determined to fit his four in a space not big enough for a single. Then there were the J14/J15 quads….

Results

Crew	Position
Vet C/D/E 2x	2nd of 7
Vet C/D/E 4x-	3rd of 3
W.IM3 4+	1st of 7
W.IM3 4+	4th of 7
W.NOV 4+	4th= of 10
J16 1x	2nd of 4
J18 2x	3rd of 3
J18 4x-	No competition

The results are now online at Abingdon RC Results

My photos are now on-line at MKRC fotopic site, with others from Big Blade

John Cunningham afloat!

Nope, not what you’re thinking!!

A really momentous event at training this morning. After many, many months of hard work by John (the person), John Cunningham (the boat) was ready. By good fortune we had nine guys down this morning and were able to take out the boat for it’s first run since we got it.

All of the effort from John (and Bob) is really worth it. The boat went really well, even with a scratch crew (including a couple of newbies) was quick and responsive and just sat so nicely. Mind you, I’d have loved to have seen John’s face (he was at bow for the maiden voyage) when Steve nearly steered straight into a buoy!

Even I enjoyed the outing (this is praise coming from someone who wonders where the second blade has gone in a sweep oar boat) – the funniest moments were seeing Nick and Pierre-Yves swapping seats; in the middle of the lake. Just a slight nervousness in Nick’s voice when he called for us to sit the boat, while he was standing up…

Good training outings for the ladies again, some very encouraging signs from these crews. Roll on the next race!

Training at last!

For the first time in what seems (and actually is) ages, we got out on the water this morning. Although a bit cold at first, there was no wind, no ice and no fog – we’ve lost sessions to all of those so far this year. This was only our second water session this year (plus the races at Northampton).

Encouragingly, we had quite a lot of traffic out on the lake. First session saw no less than five different fours/quads plus a pair and a single (plus the juniors). Nice to see several new or, in the case of Ed, returning faces. Gregg and Andrea had their first taste of a fine boat in a 4+ and Simon went out with us in the quad for his first ever try at sculling. All of them did really well. The second session saw Will braving a single – rather him than me with the water temperature still just off freezing.

Some really good work-outs but boy, the time off showed itself with the number of blisters!!

Now to start practicing for the next event – this will be Bedford Small Boats in April. Really missing the competitions, having had Bedford 4s and 8s canceled because of the flooding on the Ouse and having had to miss Henley as we were snowbound (even if Henley wasn’t).

Wasn’t terribly impressed by Henley – one of the biggest (and probably richest) clubs around and yet no consideration for smaller clubs unable to get to the event. They may be able to write off entry fees if they can’t make an event but that really hurts us. Given that around a third of the entries scratched, I would have thought someone would have had the decency to offer refunds….

Club captain Steve Lawson - ergo in the snow

More of this lunacy on YouTube

Training Weekend

After a bit of on/off drama on Friday, with the river state going from red to yellow, we finally got the “go” for the planned Ladies’ squad training weekend. This was at, for us, a new location at the RAF Rowing Club at Danesfield (courtesy of Steve’s contacts).
After normal training on Saturday morning (good weather for a change!) we loaded up and headed off. No dramas with the towing this time until we got to Danesfield – the turn into the club is a very sharp left hander, not possible with the trailer, so we had to go all the way into Henley, round a roundabout and back. Still, got there OK and offloaded boats for the first training session.

The first session comprised the eight and the quad. Steve, Paula, Steph and Charlene were in the quad (Steve and I being honorary girlies for the weekend) with the other girls in the eight with me coxing. Really annoyingly, I checked the cox box before moving the boat to the river – almost inevitably by the time the boat was on the water it had a fit of the sulks and wouldn’t work. Oh joy, coxing an eight without a cox box. For a long distance row.

The river was high and the stream running very fast. This made the first big corner extremely interesting – it’s almost 90 degrees and has an awesome cross stream. Getting round this was a bit hairy, having to stop and back down, spin, back a bit more and spin a bit more (all the more difficult with coxing directions having to be relayed down the boat as my voice didn’t carry). Still, we got round in the end and carried on. It’s a nice bit of river here and we reckon around two miles uninterrupted stretch with virtually no traffic on the Saturday (I guess sane people were still staying off the water).

It was really good for the crews to get in some good, long and hard practice – a run of well over 3k without stopping compared to our usual 1k on Caldecotte lake. We managed to get in two return trips before calling it a day. On getting back to the club we then did some work in the fours, with Steve compiling a video nasty to watch later in the evening! Parking the boats was an even greater challenge, with the stream determined to carry us off.

After finishing for the day, we then set up the barbie and cracked open a few beers. Everyone had chipped in with food, so there was loads to go round – still don’t know who got the burgers that dropped through the grill…

Following dinner, we watched the video of the earlier sessions, picking out some interesting styles and tips. Best one was a start with Laura – she’d never done a start before and Lindy was explaining what was involved when the “go” was given. Chaos ensued but she picked it up well on the second time. Paula then followed the family tradition of duck battering, whacking one round the head as it came up from a dive, neatly causing Charlene to catch a crab. Showing the competitive spirit in the club, we settled down for a quiet game of Rapidough afterward. Shall we say the rules were being bent to the maximum with very liberal interpretations of what was allowed…

So to the Sunday. Again the quad and the eight although different combinations this time. I managed the first bend much better this time, actually getting round without stopping. The session was a hard one this time, four minutes at half pressure, two at three quarter pressure. This was certainly starting to tell, mainly on hands (and my voice – the cox box still not working). It showed how fast the stream was, comparing return runs to the upstream ones.

After a quick lunch, time for the afternoon session. And time for me to stop being the shouty one at the back and get rowing (well, sculling actually). Steve and I headed out in the double, with two fours also going out. Great fun in the double, having to go at half pressure just to keep moving. We took it down to the far end of our stretch before spinning and coming back at Head Race pace. This got very interesting as the river traffic was picking up and we got hit by a couple of really big wakes. The first one of these caught me completely by surprise – this led to a major crab and this spun us into the bank. After extricating ourselves, we carried on to the end with no further mishaps. We did catch another couple of big wakes and by the end we had an inch of water in the boat an I looked like I’d been in the river.

At the end of this session we all headed back in. Although we’d planned to get another session in, all the girls were pretty much done in (mainly sore hands) so we decided to call it a day. In the end we’d got in some serious water time and long distance, high pressure work. It was a very worthwhile weekend and we all agreed it was a great location and stretch of water – definitely worth doing again.

I’ve written this from my perspective – how about one of the girlies posting their thoughts???