Fours Head

Or the Vets Fours Head, for those of us not pointy enough. First the Ladies, by Lorraine. Then the Men, by William.

Saturday - Fours Head (Robert; Bailee, Jo, Amanda and Lorraine)

The start of the race on Saturday was delayed whilst a decision was made on whether it should go ahead or raced on a shorter course to Hammersmith.  In the end it went ahead as planned and as no one sank it was obviously the right decision.  Starting at 462 out of 467 at least we would have had plenty of warning.  Although prepared for the worst donning bin bags the the wind and rain had mostly past once we got on the water.  The first part of the race (to Hammersmith) went well we pushed off two crews behind and Robert held his line whilst we overtook a crew with a fairly aggressive cox behind trying to take the stream. We were cheered on from Hammersmith bridge by Simon with the Chesterton flag. But the conditions then became more choppy, we lost a bit of momentum and a couple of crews overtook us at that stage.  The final stretch to Putney was tough as always but we finally crossed the finish line pleased with our race.

The Ladies, and an extra from a nearby audition for a remake of "This is Spinal Tap".

Women's IM2 4+:23.21     22/27 in category 345/372 overall

Sunday - Vets Fours Head (Will; Anne, Meg, Jo and Annie)

The pre-race photo in Furnival Gardens looked calm and peaceful but the conditions past Hammersmith were described by some as the worst they'd witnessed in 15 years!  By all accounts the race to Hammersmith went well but as the conditions worsened after Hammersmith the crew tried to hold it together and battled on through the waves.

Women's Vet D 4+: 26.20   6/7  in category

A special mention to our lovely coxes Robert and Will and to Jo for braving the conditions both days.  As always racing on the Thames is a unique experience so different from the Cam.  Challenging, slightly scary at times but fun!

Sunday, Men - Vets Fours Head (James T; William, Chris, Steven, Dave)

We'd trained hard - two whole outings, a total of five yes I tell you five reaches - and were determined to put the full depth of our training to the test. Although there was some doubt if the riggers were on properly. Never mind. The boating went well, I even got a last minute wee, and we were off. There was none of yesterday's torrential rain, indeed conditions were quite pleasant, though there was a bit of a breeze. Comedy of the row up was when we started zig-zagging uncontrollably, and the marshalls starting patronising James and telling him that he needed to take account of the stream. We pulled in at Quintin - they were frightfully nice about getting out of the way for us - and James checked the rudder - no - then the fin - oh, yes, there's a big block of wood stuck to it. Oops. Things went rather better after that. Sadly we forgot to keep it and mount it as the "tideway coxing prize".

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Fettling the boats before the off. Who let that giant into our crew of pygmies?

After that we had to actually row. As IM3 IV+'s we were a block of five between the women's quads. Maidenhead were in front of us at 153, Lea behind us at 155, then Oxford Academicals and local rivals Press. After say a minute it was clear that we'd got off to a tolerable start, and were unlikely to be troubled from behind, which is always nice. Somewhat later James was calling us as three lengths down on 153, and gaining nicely. Then two and a half, then two, then we had quite a long phase of gaining nicely but mysteriously staying at two lengths, I do like that. But then we went past them, hurrah, aided by getting a better line on the stream. In the moderate distance behind us it looks like the Evil Demons of the Press were going past OA and then Lea, and were probably gaining on us; but sice Lea had faded to a long way back that was still quite a way behind us. At some point we overtook our second victim, which may have been 148, Ardingly, WC 4x. After Hammersmith the river turned and the water grew really quite choppy, which slowed us down a good bit, since it exposed our distressing lack of balance; and pulling the blade back through a wave is tricky. Opinions differ as to whether dropping down from 30/31 to 27/28 was a good way to deal with the poor conditions in that section, or whether we should have bruted it through. Suffice to say that no-one got what they actually wanted. But, we finished.

GPS trace, including heart rate, so you can tell that I was working.

Having started at 154 we finished at 98, in 22:47; 2/5 in the IM3 category. Or 22:52, if you include the as-yet-unexplained 5 second penalty they gave us. Was it because they knew we had Tidy in the boat? I've mailed them; if they reply, I'll update this. Press beat us by 27 seconds, boo.

"row like dogs, get up with fleas" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoqCyGIguLc

There's the video. I challenge you to watch it all, its pretty dull :-). BTW, we were entered as IM3 because we didn't know exactly who would be in the crew when the entry went in, so didn't know if we should have been Vet C or D.

Huntingdon head, 2015

The Huntingdon head was something of a mixed experience for us.  The ladies did well, winning pots as VIII and IV+, in 16:51 (fastest women's crew) and 18:51. The men however suffered from an incomprehensibly stupid draw (who puts a 2- in front of an VIII?) and had to settle for 4th place in 15:15. But as Simon E said, one of the men won two pots. Division 1 was still, grey, but dry. Division 2 was a little wet, I understand.

Simon E (cox); Anne, Annie, Jo, Meg.

The men's row wasn't our finest - we rated 32 for most of the course, and would probably have been faster at a longer 30 - but it was quite decent. Unfortunately the aforesaid 2- was ahead of us, and we left it a large gap (alas either not large enough, or too long: with a small gap we'd have got past in the first 2 k where you can overtake) which lead to us overtaking it - on the fourth attempt - towards the end of the course (one, two, three, at last). And then there were the comedy ducks (just as we'd got past the pair, James called us "OK, settle down now, concentrate, our race...").

How much time did the draw / pair lose us? We'll never know for sure. My estimates range from 1:30 (looking at the GPS track) to a rather conservative 0:45 based on a rough guess at splits. Just 1:00 would have won us the event, which is frustrating.

Crew: Me, Dan McGreal, Simon Lloyd, Steven Andrews, Simon Green, Mike Prior-Jones, Brian Stevens, Keith Lee. Cox: Mr Tidy.

Trailering by Mr Emmings; our thanks again.

Notes on the course: its a nice place to row, and fairly close to Cambridge, so it was good to go and see it. If you're going to overtake, do it in the first 2k or so, after that its a nightmare. The course is 3800 m not 4k. Slightly regrettably the boating stage, which will take one VIII, is just on the course side of the finish line, so everyone stacks up around the town bridge waiting for the division to finish before they can de-boat. If I were them, I'd buoy off a thin channel so that people can sneak back off while the race is still on.

Autumn head

As Chris put it: the same as the others, but in the Autumn.

For the men, our first race of the new post-summer-holidays season, and looking towards winter. We came third of eight IM3 VIII's in 10:02.5 and 12th overall; there's the usual GPS trace if you're interested. What to compare it to? Well, not to the race winners, Lea IM3 VIII in 9:18, who were in a class of their own 15 seconds ahead of Lysander and then Downing. However, we were only 10 seconds behind Clare and Christs. We were significantly better than the 2015 Winter League (11:30, 10:34, 11:11) but not as good as two of the legs of 2014 (09:28, 09:28, 10:05) but better than 2013 (11:08, 11:21, 10:20). But 2014 was a good year; today was nearly windless and the river calm. In terms of technique, we weren't quite as solid as we could have been - a few wobbles, not rock-solid - but decent; and there's still the rush waiting in the background ready to pounce at any opportunity. In conclusion: just over 10 is a decent time we can be happy with and build on.

The women had two crews: and VIII in division 1 and a IV in division 2. There's some nice video of the IV which I'll include here.

Autumn Head 2015 W4 from Dawn Hawkins on Vimeo.

The women's VIII came in at 12:17.7 - 6/6 at IM3 and the IV at 12:23.1 - 3/3 at IM3. Of the latter, L says "A really excellent time (our best yet!) and a good overtake too; a competitive category". Of the former, "It's fairer to look at the results in context of the Novice category.  We would have been 6 out of 11 which is a really decent result given we had three rowers with very little race experience".

The Boston Marathon

Ah! Its that time of the year again, when I am forcefully re-reminded of my father's saying.

TL;DR: 3:52:04; fifth overall. Mx IM3 VIII course record by 10 minutes, and pots in that category.

After the traditional last minute breakages (Sarah, dearly departed, slain by the Great Ouse; Big Simon, diverted into a bike ride; Chris Wood, suffering from too much humping) we ended up with the following motley crew, which was like the Ouse but with Dave R in for Simon L, and Anne for Sarah. Simon E nobly fell on his sword and offered to trailer; and Simon L, reprieved from his bike ride, joined the transport crew, completed by Meg. Thanks to the efforts of our support crew the day, excluding the rowing itself, was remarkably painless and pleasant. Decent weather helped, too.

Bailee (S), Amanda (B), Keith (3), Dave R (4), the Mayor, Dan (5), William (6), Lorraine (7), Anne (2); Will (Cox).

We didn't take the mayor along, apparently he'd done it 57 years ago. Not to ruin the suspense but as the photo suggests, we won pots.

Before I go on, between the Great Ouse and Boston a lesser-known event occured in Germany. It was only 12.7 km, which is probably how they managed to sustain 1:30 for the distance :-).

I wrote some wise advice up in advance; you may care to read that if you're interested in generalities.

As for the race: if you look at our GPS trace, you'll see its quite consistent. There's a little period at the start while we wind ourselves up to 24, after which we're fairly constant to 10 km. After about 10 km the route goes from being due E to nearly SE; our split drops about 10 pips, because we come into a slight head wind. The three breaks in 6's for food and drink are clearly visible. We hadn't practised those, and could probably optimise about 30 seconds out of each. Going over the lock was quite efficient; short of actually running with the boat we couldn't have done much better. You can see a slight fade over the course, mitigated over the last 6 km by the approaching end, and another turn of the course back to the E. At the end we wind it up, finishing with a grand 32.

The usual Boston problem is Hands. Keith and Bailee win the bravery award. Anne I think wins the sanity award. I found gloves helpful.

Our time, 3:52:04, was good; fifth overall, fastest VIII, beaten by two quads and two doubles. Nick Thorn and his Nines IV+ were 6th. In 2013 we were 6th in 3:56 if I recall correctly. This year's crew wasn't really faster; 2013 had a respectable headwind. It was a pleasant row: a well sat boat, a good feeling to the rowing, good coxing, and good weather. Will's best call was to remind us of our finishes, and no matter how often he called, it always had a salutary effect, which I think means our finishes persistently slip off. I mean theirs do; mine don't, obviously. We kept to 23-24 without much need to push it up; our average split over the GPS record is 2:21. Our before-the-race estimate of what we needed to do to beat the former record of 4:02 was 2:22 to the lock, and 2:25 thereafter. That would have us pushing off from the lock at 1:02; as it was, we left at 1:00 so were two minutes up already; and despite the slight headwind we kept beating 2:25 splits and so salting down margin every k. At about 30 km we overtook the other Mx VIII, thus guaranteeing us the pots; to be fair they were 7 women and one man and so only technically mixed.

Here are the sweep-oared mixed records - we have no truck with sculling-type folk, of course. Elite, Sen and IM2 are up for grabs next year. As are IM2/3 IV+ records; or indeed, the 2- if anyone would like to accompany me..?

And... that's it. "Traditionally" Boston is the last act of the outgoing committee, and Simon E is now men's captain. Over to you...

Committee 2015-16

The current committee, with contact details, is at chestertonrowingclub.org/contact.

At the AGM in September 2015 the following were elected:

Club Captain, Simon Emmings

Women's Captain, Lorraine Turville

Men's Captain, Simon E

Secretary, Annie West

Treasurer, Dawn Hawkins

Kit officer, Kate Winter

Equipment officers, Hannah and Andy Southgate

Vice Admiral (social sec'), Barney Brown

Race Sec,' Meg Richards

Safety officer, Dave Richards

Webmeister William Connolley

Great Ouse (half) Marathon

Isle of Ely run the Great Ouse (half) Marathon. Its about 22 km, approximately the same distance as a half marathon,  and significantly shorter than Boston. Hence, an excellent training opportunity. Here we all are waiting for the start:

L to R: Keith, Big Simon, Will, Little Simon, William, Bailee, Sarah, Amanda, Lorraine, Dan.

We'd been through the traditional faff of exactly which crews we could put in, who was available, and so on; which resulted in a few late subs and ended up with Keith in the mixed VIII instead of a double, and Simon E generously offering to trailer. Just before the start, we all made our careful preparations:

And... it was all great. There's a GPS trace, of course. We managed 2:08 average. We started at 18-20, went up to 24 after a few k, stayed there for a fair while (with a break in pairs at 11 k), up to 26-27 for the last ~6 k and up to 30+ for the last 2k.

Afterwards, we were all smiles. Well, nearly. This is by me, standing up at 6 and looking towards the landing stages, with the cathedral in the distance. Sarah at 7 was a touch less smiley, having got something a bit like cramp for the last 2 k.

Our time, 1:31:58, gets us the IM3 Mx VIII course record. It would also have got us the Men's IM3 course record, had we entered as all men -). Or the IM2, since there's no record yet in that category. We were 5th overall. Winner was a very impressive MasE VIII from Monmouth in 1:27.

Peterborough summer 2015: wins for men's and women's IVs

We win! The men no longer novice, and the ladies at IM3.

Simon Lloyd, Dan McGreal, Simon Emmings (cox), Bailee Stratton, Brian Stevens, Keith Lee / Lorraine Turvill, Jo Raskin, Amanda Clarkson

Photos "courtesy of", i.e. nicked from, Brian Stevens. Now, if someone photographed the men racing...

Results (from http://www.peterboroughcityrowing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Summer-Regatta-2015-Results-Board-Sun.pdf)

Bumps: day 4

W3: row over. W2: down. W1: row over. M2: up! M1: down.

The last night of the bumps loomed like a giant grey rain cloud on the horizon, which is exactly what was coming. The early divisions got the worst of it.

Afterwards, we all repaired to the Waterman for drinks, speeches and prize giving.

M1: back row: Mike Parrott (5), Andy Southgate (stroke), Dan McGreal (3), Connor (pushing off), James Tidy (shouty person), Rob Doubleday (4), Chris Wood (7). Front row: Dave Richards (1), Simon Emmings (2), William Connolley (5), Paul Holland (retired hurt).

Here we see M1, somewhat damp: the row down was dry enough, we timed it to not to have to wait much at Stourbridge, and the rain only really got going for the row back. But what of the race itself I hear you cry? Well, It wasn't our finest hour. We had Nines 2 behind us who had got City 3 the previous night, but not till the reach; and we'd held City off easily enough. But alas we went down in the gut. They probably got a better than usual start; we certainly rowed worse than usual after the bridge and it didn't really come together. Its always disappointing to end bumps that way; but for a crew lacking many of last year's M1, down two overall with two good solid row-overs is decent.

M2: bumped up! Yay for them, a fairly short row mowing down Champs just after the bridge. Our roving reporter reports "It wasn't pretty but it was brutally effective. Stroke showed us no mercy with a rating of 38 and we put Champs to the Sword within 100 metres of the A14. Well done M2!!! Yeah!!!!".

An ex-spoon.

W1: rowed over.

W2: awaiting report.

W3: rowed over, but it was epic.

Bumps: day 3

W3 and W2 down. W1: up. M2 and M1: row over.

W1 looking happy, having bumped City 4 on Ditton.

W3: Bumped on Ditton alas. Pic. Video.

W2: no report yet. Pic.

W1: bumped City 4 to go tenth; only one more to single-digits. Well done.

M2: rather more of them in the Waterman tonight, and they were looking much happier, having put the threat of spoons behind them with a gutsy row over. From the horse's mouth: "So a streadfast row over tonight. We held Aquaphobes nicely and they looked shattered by the finish. Another smooth start - we really have got those down to a tee now boys. They took a length out of us by the Plough but could not press home. We kept our style and rhythm beautifully - unlike last night. Will asked us to lengthen and push and we did. Never seen a Cox so excited to get a row over!" Video, with more of Jo's enthusiastic commentary. And from Will the cox (speaking on Friday): "Yesterday - it wasn’t the row over as such that got me so excited, but rather the way you guys raced; I think it was your best performance since I have been coxing you. The start was good, then we hit a pretty good rhythm after the outflow to start ourselves moving away. The focus was there when it was needed, particularly around corners where they appeared to get closer quite quickly (purely due to the fact that we have started cornering and they haven’t). Having watched the video their bank party was being extremely optimistic with their whistles - at times I thought they were a lot closer than they were, but top job for absorbing their pushes and stepping away. The best part for me was the first 2/3 of the reach where we pushed up the boat speed and hit a sweet rhythm, their whistles stopped and you guys were flying - that was what got me so excited. Today - very simple objective: give Champs spoons! For the past three days there have been crews above us that I know we could catch, the only problem was that they weren’t one station ahead - but today they are! Same attack, same control, and same length as yesterday. Don’t wait for the bump to come to you, make it happen."

M1: as always, bumps continues to surprise. Today, for the first time ever in my long and -ahem- illustrious bumps career, I was pretty sure I was going to have an unexciting row over: Tabs 3 would walk away ahead, and behind us City 3 had nothing extra to give. Both of these things happened, but what I failed to foresee was Tabs 3 failing to take Grassy in a blades-on-the-bank-need-a-restart type of way. Which left us suddenly going from 3 lengths off to half a length off. We didn't really know what was going on. I had a brief moment of worrying that we'd get so caught up trying to catch them we'd exhaust ourselves in their wash and get caught by City. But happily after we kept half a length down Plough reach, they pulled away down the reach, and City dropped back before having the decency to be bumped by Nines 2. Another might-have-been: had we pulled out all the stops at that point, we might well have got them. Or we might have fallen apart instead; so probably just as well. And tomorrow? We have someone new behind us. Nines are clearly faster than City; but we'd dropped City by the time Nines got them; so I'm quietly hopeful. Video from the Gut. Video from Jo (3:50 for Tabs crash).

Nothing to do with our club, but I really liked this pair of pix of Robs and Tabs1, from Wednesday:

Bumps: day 2

W3: row over. W2: down. W1: up! M2: down. M1: row over.

W1 rowing proudly back with their willow having bumps COWS.

W3: row over, but looks very promising for tomorrow.

W2: down to Tabs 5, apparently their dev squad. Video.

W1: bumped the once-mighty COWS. Video. Nice line into Grassy and the inevitable bump. Great commentary from Jo. Pix.

M2: down to St Neots 2. A long race, and they were only 400 m from the finish when hit. From the boat: "A very smooth solid start - even stroke was pleased (and he doesn't please easily). We held off a good St Neots 2 boat until the Plough when they started to gain. We think they had a "killer" 20 stroke call that we couldn't respond to. A good performance and once again no disgrace losing to better opposition. In fact maybe St Neots might be a touch embarrassed that they didn't catch us sooner."

M1: row over, but an excellent one. City 3 came up a little, just outside a length at the bridge, but we were back on station by First Post, held them from there to the Plough, and pulled away to a couple of lengths by the finish. Very nice. Riggercam. From the towpath.