Do check the schedule and ask if anything is not clear (e.g. conflicts between google calendar and emails).
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The Neptunes cover our trip to the Henley Boat Races, our rowing camp in Cheshire, introduces our newly elected committee and summarises the purchase and naming of our new VIII, Octopussy. Georgie Field, W2 cox
Regattas are always challenging for a cox; keeping an eye on the other crew as motivation for your own rowers, making sure you get the best line whilst avoiding leaving your station and clashing blades with your opposition… however, Nines was awesome!
Marshaling was surprisingly simple, except from the insistence of marshals to make us spin on the narrowest parts of the river. The racing was well organised so there wasn’t too much hanging around and spirits were high as we sat eating haribos in between races.
W2 attacked each race with gusto (yes I just said gusto) and it paid off. Our starts were very fast meaning that we could get ahead early on and psyche out the opposition. It also meant that I could move across the river to get the best line around corners, leaving the other crew to fight through our dirty water. The crew responded well to “two seat moves” and power 10s, including some motivational calls dedicating each stroke to each member of the crew. We finished off our final against Queens with ‘hammer time’ and took tankards home for the second time in two weeks.
So proud of w2, they worked really hard and made coxing Nines really enjoyable, go and have a rest- you have deserved it, and watch out Cambridge, bumps is approaching… xx
Race video:
Results:
round 1 – beat Christs W2 round 2 – beat Corpus W1 round 3 – beat Queen's W2 (2.5 lengths) winner of women Div B Marina Steketee, W1, 5
After a very successful Head to Head race for W1 in which we came first in our division, we were determined to end the Champs Head race with even better results. The weather was windier than we would have liked but the presence of the sun was enough to get us fully into racing mode as we rowed down to the lock for marshalling. As we were sat waiting for the division to go off, the wind was getting steadily more powerful, prompting a lot of discussion from the crew as to how we should deal with this during the race. After a long period of waiting, we were finally pushing off and making our way to the start line. The start was not as clean as we liked. It was definitely not helped by the man who called it; i.e. practically whispered “go” as we were sat at front stops. We quickly regained our focus, though, and fully geared up into our race pace as we approached Ditton Corner. Around the corner we were met with a barrage of wind, prompting Chloe to remind us to sit tall and drive with the legs. Our piece down the reach was messy due to the choppy water, and exhausting, but we kept it up and got ready for a “mental re-start” under the railway bridge. The boat speed visibly picked up at this point, and we kept powering all the way through to the finish line. Despite being in the windiest division of the day, W1 came second in their division by 2 seconds. This was not the result we had been hoping for, but still proved that MECBC are able to perform in less than ideal conditions. Bring on Bumps! — Results: W1 – time – 6:03.5 -2nd in Mays 2nd division behind King’s (6:01.5) -7th of college W1’s behind Downing (5:52.6), Queens’, Christ’s, Emma, Newnham and King’s -beat 12 other W1’s (Clare, Pembroke, Jesus, Caius, FaT, Churchill, Selwyn, Sidney, Hughes/Lucy, Robinson, Wolfson and Clare Hall) -8 of the boats W1 beat today are ahead of them in May Bumps, 7 in the 1st division, 4 are in the top 10, and Pembroke is second from the headship -W1 beat a crew who is 21 places ahead of them in May Bumps -beat 9 men’s crews -beat last year’s W1 Champs Head time of 6:10.5 Wing Ying Chow liked this post Harriet Christie, W2, seat 3
Some last minute crew changes and relatively few outings as a complete crew were not able to stop W2's determined course to victory on this beautifully sunny May morning. A nice neat row down and some promising practice starts had the crew excited and eager to prove themselves. We knew the race was short, and so we would have to give our all right from the beginning, and all nine crew members were ready to do just that.
We went off with a good fast start and attacked the race head on. Georgie guided an excellent first corner, calling names individually for that extra push to bring us around. Rounding the bend, we hit the headwind, but managed to keep our drive speed up by staying loose and relaxed through the pressure. Calls along the way kept us focused and pushing hard, and there were some excellent pickups on the Reach and a particularly good change under the railway bridge coming into the last 500 metres of the course. We were gaining fast on Girton, giving us all that extra motivation to catch them, and heard Matt, our coach, calling '5 lengths!', '3 lengths', '1 length!!' (speckled with some slightly less restrained language), until as we were just crossing the finish line we had managed to were overlapping by about half a length.
It was an excellent performance from every single crew member and the success of the day really lifted the crew and gave us some confidence in our abilities. Now we will use this lift to get us training hard for bumps, where hopefully we can continue to rule the river! Well done W2!
— Results: W2 – time – 6:20.8 -1st in Mays 3rd division – CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! -1st of college W2’s -beat 13 other W2’s (Downing, Newnham, Emma, Jesus, Christ’s, Queens’, Caius, Selwyn, FaT, Girton, King’s, Sidney and Hughes/Lucy) -beat 7 W1’s (FaT, Churchill, Selwyn, Hughes/Lucy, Robinson, Wolfson and Clare Hall) -17 of those boats are ahead of W2 in May Bumps, 6 in the 2nd division, 3 in the 1st division -FaT W1 is 12th on the river in May Bumps, MECBC W2 is 50th (16th in 3rd division), W2 beat a crew who is 38 places ahead of them in May Bumps -beat 3 men’s crews -beat last year’s W2 Champs Head time of 6:37.6 W1 coach: Mark Jacobs W2 coach: Matt White, Rob Watson W3 coaches: Richard Dearden, Pete Wilkes W4 squad cox: Teresa Krieger
Jessica Irving Tehnuka Ilanko
Gemma Chapman
Ayla Haddenhorst
Lizzie Allen
Bethany Parker
Stacey Jo Parker
Caroline Appleby
Emma Bornebroek
Sara Velezmoro
coach: Reana Maier Novice squad coaches: LBCs Laura Desert, W3, 4 Champs Head 2012
The weather was beautiful and very warm as we marshalled all the way down to the lock. Spirits were high, and were kept high by the motivational speeches of coaches Pete and Rich. As we were marshalling, someone's oar did come out of their gate though, so we were extra wary of tightening them before the race. Only as we were marshalling did we realise we would have to do a standing start, but the practice start we did before the lock was good enough to get our confidence up.
We were off to a strong start, and cox Christina took a good line around Ditton corner as we powered through onto a windy reach. Our speed kept us going however, and we settled into a steady race rhythm, punctuated by extra hard pushes for ten, called by Christina.
This race was a particularly enjoyable one for me, having been in Robinson Head last term, when we had to marshal for more than an hour in the freezing cold weather. Today was not only sunny, but our crew really came together and produced some fine rowing.
Bring on May Bumps ! — Results: W3 – time – 6:36.7 -2nd in Mays 4th division behind Tit Hall W3 -2nd of college W3’s behind Tit Hall W3 -beat 3 other W3’s (Pembroke, LMBC and Queens’) -beat 10 W2’s (Newnham, Emma, Jesus, Caius, Selwyn, FaT, Girton, King’s, Sidney, Hughes/Lucy) -tied with 1 W1, beat 2 other W1’s (Robinson – tied, beat Wolfson and Clare Hall) -WHEN W3 gets on into May Bumps, at least 11 of the boats they beat today will be ahead of them, 7 in the 3rd division, 4 in the 2nd division -W3 was only 5 seconds off the time of a Mays 1st division boat (Selwyn W1) -beat last year’s W2 Champs Head time of 6:37.6 -last year we didn’t even have a W3 to enter in Champs Head Lizzie Gorton, W1, 6 Our first race as Easter Term crew and this was our first opportunity to see how we looked compared to other crews. 13 minutes and 52 seconds later, we needn’t have worried. We were strong and consistent and came out top in our division, and 4th W1 overall. Next up will be Champs Head… 
Murray Edwards College Boat Club  LBC Complaints Ying has emailed Owen regarding the complaints, but he has not replied. She will try to talk to him about it again.
9) Blades Gina is organising this. She is in the process of getting a cost for the blades before passing this on to the relevant people.
10) Races W1, W2 and W3 will do Champs Head; W2 will do Nine Regatta; W3 will do the getting on race; if there is enough interest, maybe W4 will do the getting on race as well; W1, W2, hopefully W3, and maybe W4 will do May Bumps.
11) Boat Handling According to Bomber, Owen is becoming damaged and is likely to be going the same way as Harold (who broke in Lent Bumps 2011). He went mouldy because he had been repaired too many times due to too much accidental damage. It will be the role of the committee members in each of the boats to ensure that boat handling is done as carefully as possible. They must report any incidents (however small) to either Reana, Ying, or Sally-Anne as soon as possible so that they can pass it on to Bomber who can check that everything is alright. The sooner that something is reported, the more likely the boat will be able to be repaired well and last longer. Damage to blades should also be reported to Reana, Ying and Sally-Anne so that they can tell Bomber. Each cox, and the LCB for W4 and novices, is responsible for reporting any damages. Many W2 blades have chips out of them. One of the W2 blades is unscrewing out of its shaft. Bomber needs to check the scratches on Two Fat Ladies.
12) Subs Subs for this term were decided to be: W1: at least £25. W2: same as W1 unless conditions during the rest of term mean that a yellow flag prevents them from having outings. W3: £5 (dependent on whether or not they do bumps). W4 and novices: £10 LBCs need to tell novices now that they will have to pay so they can drop out if they want to. Sally-Anne will email everyone telling them the subs they will have to pay.
13) AOB
Georgie will record the days that Matt/Watson coaches W2 so that we know how many sessions each of them has done. In this way we will know how much to pay them.
Reana will make sure that W1, W2, and W3 are on the MECBC mailing list.
It is important to send out emails asking for subs for outings to the hermes mailing list, not just to the facebook group. Any MECBC members not on the facebook group should be added.
Reana will find last term’s document with everyone’s contact details (phone and email) and will distribute it so that people can update it if necessary. It will then be stored in a public place.
Ying has bought plasters to refill the first aid box. If anyone thinks that something is missing from the first aid kit they are free to buy it and be reimbursed by Sally-Anne or Emma, providing that they have a receipt.
We may possibly make a piece of general rowing related stash to sell to college in order to make a bit of money. Holly will do a possible design and then publicise it on the college bulletin to gauge how much interest there would be. Sally-Anne will check the cost of producing a simple t-shirt with a design on the back and the crest on the front. If a cheap option can be found then we may go ahead with the idea.
Siena will be responsible for putting up race results on the bulletin board so that we can advertise the success of the boatclub. Izzi’s success in being President of CUWR and winning the boat race should also be more widely publicised. Ying will give our race reports to college so they can publicise our progress.
Small Boats Regatta took place during a stretch of the most miserable weather I've seen since living in Cambridge. I woke to find Wednesday morning much the same as it had been the past two weeks – windy, rainy and cold. Not exactly ideal conditions for my first race in a scull. When I arrived at the boathouse, Simon Kirk (Captain Kirk to me, because it's cooler) my Peterhouse mixed double partner, seemed completely unfazed by the crosswind, rain and chilly temperatures, telling me that it would work to our advantage since we're actually a bit overweighted for our boat. We'd be more stable. Though I could see the logic of this, I wasn't really convinced. You see, I've never steered the whole course at race pace before. The corners were slightly terrifying me, partly because I knew that if I crashed or capsized us, Captain Kirk would likely never scull with me again. Just kidding. But not really.
The row up to marshall felt surprisingly good, together and strong, despite getting increasingly soaked the closer we came to the starting stations, and a few power ten's helped to settle my nerves a little. We marshalled near the motorway bridge, waiting for the other entrants in the event to arrive. For some reason, the mixed doubles is hugely popular this year. I asked Simon if he was nervous. No. Of course not. Captain Kirk does not get nervous.
The umpires told us to take our places, and we attempted to align ourselves next to the upstream station. The crosswind was heavy, though, and it was obvious that we'd have to fight to keep from being pushed into the towpath bank. After a decent start, we were off, settling into a racing rhythm as we came out from under the motorway bridge on our way to first post corner. My hands were cold, and the blades were slippery from backsplash and rain, making it a little difficult to keep a good grip, but the rowing felt fairly strong. In between checking our line, maintaining the rhythm and trying not to crab, I couldn't help but notice that something felt strange, though I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I suddenly realised that it was oddly quiet – there was no cox. I didn't have time to really ponder the weirdness of not being shouted at during a race, though.
We took a decent line around grassy corner and made a good push past the Plough. The double chasing us, a Jesus/Downing team, didn't look like they were making any ground on us, but also didn't look like they were falling much behind. The line around Ditton was a bit tight, which brought us onto the reach closer to the bank than was ideal. Under normal conditions, this wouldn't have been a problem, but with the crosswind, we had to give a good bowside push more than once to keep our blades from hitting the bank. A final surge toward the railway bridge saw us across the finish line . . . just a second after the Jesus/Downing team crossed their finish line.
Though I was disappointed we didn't win, I was still quite happy with things – first race in a scull, no crashes, no capsizing, and a close finish, not to mention the prospect of being dry again soon. Captain Kirk wasn't too upset about our loss, either, perhaps due to the consoling effect of post-race chocolate chip cookies back at the boathouse. We live to scull another day.
Reana Maier Murray Edwards College Boat Club, 1st VIII Lower Boats Captain 2011-2012, Captain of Boats 2012-2013 Wing Ying Chow liked this post |
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