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Newsletter#1, Hilary Term, 2000 (12th February)
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Welcome to the new millennium, and my apologies for this newsletter being a week later than usual. I've been putting the finishing touches to the Boat Club History, which was delivered to the publishers yesterday.
One thing I've realised is that in the absence of minute books and Captains' diaries, nowadays these newsletters constitute the only contemporary written record of Boat Club events. So, just to give a helping hand to whichever unfortunate soul compiles the next edition of the History, here's what happened on this (admittedly not very typical) day.
At 8am this morning (Saturday), we had the Men's 1st and 2nd and the Women's 1st Torpids all out at the same time for a bit of synchronised mayhem: 4 lengths of 'head racing'. To try and keep things civilised I set a maximum rate for each length, but once the crews started catching each other up it's sad to have to report that these instructions were quite disgracefully ignored. On one occasion the Men's 2nd Torpid and the Women both ended up going for the Gut, side-by-side, and, well ... fortunately the river is quite empty at this time on a Saturday morning so no other Colleges were involved in the resulting carnage. The women got through, and the men got to ponder the rich variety of riparian vegetation. Both 1st Torpids are entered for Burway Head next Saturday - I might have to have a word with the coxes to make sure that they realise you can't treat crews from other clubs the same way you treat your 2nd Torpid.
We still have 4 people trialling for University crews: Emily Woodeson (OUWBC), Ed Foster and Matt Smith (OUBC), and Richard Law (OULRC). Ah yes, the Oxford Lightweights: you may have noticed that they attracted a little press coverage at the beginning of term due to certain incidents at the end of their Spanish training camp. I asked Richard if he cared to provide his version of the story for this newsletter, but apparently none of them is allowed to say a word about it, and questions are to be referred to the University Press Office. I gather (from other sources, I hasten to add) that the initial reports may have been ever so slightly exaggerated. However, I suppose it may also result in some tabloid journos covering the Varsity Boat Races at Henley in the hope of witnessing a bit more excitement from the 'bad boys' of Oxford rowing.
Current 1st Torpids are (*denoting members of previous 1st VIIIs):
As you can see, two fairly 'new look' crews. In the men's Torpid, James Johnston is a fresher who has rowed previously at Dulwich College; Chris, Simon and the cox, James Darbyshire, are from last year's 2nd VIII; Geoff from the 3rd VIII; and Matt, Michael and Ralph started rowing last October. In the women's crew, Sallie, Lyndsey and Laura also only started rowing last October; Katharine and Helen are former 2nd VIII rowers (Helen also having coxed the Men's 1st VIII in '97 and '98); and Lauren rowed previously at Amherst College (USA). Coaching of these crews this term has been almost entirely in the hands of alumni, with Tom Wright (M.95) and Jon Haynes (M.91) looking after the Men, and myself and Ben Brookes (M.95) coaching the women. I don't think the photos reproduced too well, but yes, the stroke is wearing football kit and the usual no.7 is recovering from a rugby injury (it's the women's crew I'm referring to) - I've encouraged them to do other sports as part of their training, but maybe that was a mistake.
Torpids will take place from 1st-4th March. The Men's 1st Torpid start 10th in Div.I (5pm), the Women 1st Torpid 3rd in Div.I (4.30pm), the Men's 2nd Torpid 10th in Div.IV (2.30pm) and Women's 2nd Torpid 8th in Div.III (1.30pm). There is also a women's 3rd Torpid in training, and possibly a men's 3rd Torpid so full of asterisks they won't bother to train, both of which will have to qualify in Rowing On on Friday, 25th February.
Unfortunately, or maybe not, I shall be in Paris for most of Torpids so I won't be able to send out the evening email reports. However, someone else should be putting the results on the OURCs web-pages each evening. The Boat Club web-pages might also be worth a peruse; they seem rather lively these days - clearly some ex-rowers have more time on their hands than they can usefully fill. I should be back in time for the AGM and so I might as well hang around for the Rowing Society Dinner afterwards as well. Slightly different format this year: we'll have the Annual General Meeting first, with the sherry, at 6.30pm in the Mary Sunley Building, with the Dinner to follow at 7.30pm. That way some of us might remember what actually happens in the AGM. Details should be enclosed (& sent by email when I have them).
Anu Dudhia (email: dudhia@atm.ox.ac.uk )
St Catherine's College
Oxford University Rowing Clubs
St Catherine's College Boat Club
St Catherine's Rowing Society