Introduction

Mike Bull, Matt Denmark and Will Mulholland were joined by a couple of former lightweight triallists to win Senior 4 IVs at City of Oxford Royal Regatta. It has to be said, they actually rowed quite shockingly badly even if the semifinal was their first outing. Luckily I don't think any of the Lightweight coaches were around to see what had become of their hard-taught technique.

The winning Sen 4 IV+ at City of Oxford Regatta: Matt Denmark (bow), Jonny Holliday (New), Will Mulholland, Mike Bull (str), coxed by James Fullerton (New).

Training rather more seriously, and certainly rowing more smoothly, Tony Mitchell (M.78) and Sarah Payne (originally New College, now at Wolfson) have also been racing as a mixed double over the summer, getting a silver medal in the Veteran National Champs and winning at Stourport.

Tony Mitchell and Sarah Payne, after racing at the City of Oxford Regatta (tip for supporters: if you can't tell how it went, then don't ask).

Back in September I was warming-up for the start of the Isis Sculling Head (see tip in above picture caption) when a marshal called out the results from Seville which he'd just heard over his radio.

It had all been looking a bit predictable for Pinsent and Cracknell earlier in the season as they won the World Cup first round at Hazewinkel and the Silver Goblets at Henley. But then the Australians, Tomkins and Ginn turned at Lucerne and spoiled the party. Anyway, at least it ensured a large audience (myself and aforementioned marshal excluded) for the live TV coverage of their rematch in the World Championship finals in Seville.

For the past few years, while St Catherine's crews have enjoyed much success on the river, the College's name has usually featured somewhere towards the nether regions of the Norrington Table. However, last summer, although the performances in Eights were a little disappointing, only three other Colleges had better Finals results. This would appear to support the commonly held prejudice that dedication to rowing incompatible with strong academic performance. But let's see how the other Colleges did ...

Correlation between 2002 Eights and the Norrington Table

E = Position at end of Eights 2002
DE = Change in E 2001-02
N = Position in 2002 Norrington Table
DN = Change in N 2001-02
College	E	DE	N	DN
Balliol	13	-3	10	-9
Brasenose	13	-1	25	-22
Christ Church	3	3	8	-3
Corpus Christi	27	1	9	0
Exeter	18	-2	26	-16
Hertford	15	-3	16	-4
Jesus	19	0	7	8
Keble	16	4	15	2
Lady Margaret Hall	20	-4	29	-5
Lincoln	11	1	20	-12
Magdalen	10	-6	5	1
Mansfield	28	-1	28	-1
Merton	7	4	1	6
New College	2	1	3	1
Oriel	7	1	23	-12
Pembroke	1	0	27	-4
Queen's	21	2	12	9
St Anne's	24	-1	6	10
St Catherine's	3	-1	4	16
St Edmund Hall	5	1	18	8
St Hilda's	5	4	21	4
St Hugh's	29	0	17	2
St John's	22	-1	2	0
St Peter's	26	-1	19	10
Somerville	16	0	24	4
Trinity	23	-1	22	-4
University	11	4	13	0
Wadham	7	-2	11	10
Worcester	24	1	14	0
Correlation E	+1	-0.22	+0.16	+0.02
Matrix DE	-0.22	+1	-0.12	+0.17
N	+0.16	-0.12	+1	-0.50
DN	+0.02	+0.17	-0.50	+1

For the 29 undergraduate colleges competing in Eights 2002, the table shows their ordering based on the average position of their men's and women's 1st crews at the end of racing, their change in position in this order from the previous year (e.g., Catz dropped one place from 2nd to =3rd), and equivalent results from this year's Norrington table.

Statistical correlation is expressed as a coefficient varying from +1 (=fully correlated) to -1 (=fully anticorrelated), with numbers close to 0 indicating uncorrelated quantities. The matrix at the bottom of the table shows the correlation between each column. Obviously every column of numbers is fully correlated with itself (+1).

Statistically the most significant figure (-0.50) shows an anticorrelation between a College's position in the Norrington Table and its change in position; not unexpected since the lower a College is placed one year the greater the potential to rise a large number of places the following year (and vice-versa). A similar anti-correlation (-0.22) is evident in the Eights results, but rather smaller since crews can only rise or fall a limited number of places in any one year.

Now the interesting bit - the correlations between Eights and Norrington Table (top right or bottom left quarters of the Correlation Matrix). A positive correlation (+0.16) is observed between a College's position in Eights and the Norrington table, meaning that the better academic colleges tend to be the better rowing colleges. This could, of course, reflect external factors such as funding or intake. However, more significant (+0.17) is the positive correlation between the changes in position. St Catherine's results notwithstanding, the Colleges which improved academically this year also tend to be the Colleges whose 1st Eights gained bumps.

Michaelmas Term - Novice Report

Mike Bull coaching a novice crew yesterday morning.

Another hectic Fresher's Week saw this year's novice programme get off to a strong start, with a very popular drinks reception despite some ''behind the scenes'' last minute panics ! [I can only think of one cause for panic at such an event, so presumably the drinks arrived eventually? - AD]. Some 50 new rowers and coxes have been in a boat, and we currently have 4 crews preparing for Christ Church Regatta, and - even more of a surprise - 6 new coxes to share between them!

Although the weather has given us a few scares, so far there has been very little disruption from the elements, which makes a pleasant change from the last 2 years, so here's hoping that it lasts for the next 4 weeks. There has been a slightly disappointing level of interest from the women's side, with only 1 all-girls novice crew (and one or two more in the mixed men's 3rds) however there is some promising talent - both from the men's and women's crews - so we have quality if not quantity.

Boathouse

The 'honours boards' in the boathouse club room, showing major donors, sponsors, Captains of Boats, University and international rowers.

The buffet lunch in the boathouse on the Saturday of Eights seemed to be popular so we'll probably repeat it next year. Those of you who've seen the newly decorated boathouse will notice some space left above the honours boards for shields to commemorate 'distinguished' (in the broadest sense of the word!) past crews. These cost £90 each (i.e., £10 a person) so if you would like your crew commemorated it might be a good time to start phoning around anyone you're still in contact with and see if they'll pay up. We are hoping to unveil the first batch on the Saturday of Eights, 2003.

However, we'd also like to hear from the rest of you if you have any news, or even if you just feel you've been out of touch for too long.

• 7 Dec 2002 Deadline for next newsletter
• 19 Jan 2003 RS Committee Meeting
• 5-8 Mar 2003 Torpids
• 8 Mar 2003 Rowing Society AGM & Dinner
• 28-31 May 2003 Eights