Evening training again!

A combination of clocks going back and a nice day allowed us to escape the “joys” of circuits last night and get in our first water session in the evening this year. Nice to see so many small boats out, a four, a dobule and no less than four singles. Mind you, spotting the singles (and our “stealth” double – see pictures to see what I mean) in the gloom at the end was quite challenging.

A good extra session ahead of Bedford this week-end, allowing Will and I to get out in the double AHEAD of the race (not like usual) and Steve to dust off his single.

Can certainly tell it’s coming up to the Easter break as well. Suddenly our ranks are swollen by the (very welcome) return of the tax dodgers.

For info really, if you’re reading this and aren’t a member but would like to learn to row and/or scull, MKRC are running our first ever “Learn to Row” course, starting tomorrow morning. So, if you fancy a go, e-mail bob@mkrowing.org or just pitch up.

MKRC Open Day

It seems like quite a while ago (well, it was a good couple of weeks) but here’s my (belated) views on our annual Open Day.

Through great planning (OK, good luck) it took place on 16th August; this coincided with another little boat race taking place on the other side of the world and certainly seemed to boost the numbers of people dropping in. Needless to say, although we all started getting ready at 8:00, everything kept coming to a stop while we watched the Olympic finals unfold. It was really great with everyone gathered round the TV come the coxless four’s race and much cheering and celebrating come the end of the race.

After a bit more setting up (clearing vast quantities of pond weed from around the pontoons) it was all go from 10:00. Through the day we had around 40 people drop in (compared to under 20 in previous years). These ranged from total beginners through to a number of ex-rowers tempted back again and ages from 10 through to 50 or so. Despite the weather (usual strong winds!) we got a lot of people out in boats. The eight proved it’s value again, allowing us to give a lot of people their first taste of a crew boat and the little yellow virus boats were a great hit as well. We even had someone succeed in what we thought was impossible, managing to capsize one.

The following Monday was Bucks Sports Day and we opened our doors again. This was really a good idea as we were able to get back quite a few people who’d dropped by on Saturday and also Bucks Sports had done a widespread e-mail which hit a lot more prospective rowers (one for us to use in future?). We finished off the day with a club barbie, making a good end to the event.

Over the couple of days, we managed to sign up something like eight new members on “taster” sessions plus Martin gained another few juniors. All in all, a very successful event.