In this Issue ...

Boathouse Fire

Left, the inside of the boathouse the day after the fire and, right, as it is now. Just needs a few more boats ...

However, we did finally move back into our own boathouse earlier this week and, with replacement boats continuing to arrive, we should reach a total of 6 brand new eights by the end of term, plus an old wooden eight bought from St Anne's (for the princely sum of £100) for the sole purpose of allowing the complete novices to work off some of their more destructive habits. Most of the cost has been covered by the insurance with the College and the Rowing Society funding the remainder.

So, despite the initial concerns, Catz rowing will not have been seriously affected by the fire. Reducing a potential disaster to mere nuisance value has actually involved a great deal of work by many people, but two in particular should be singled out for their efforts over the summer: Peter Goult, the men's Captain, and James Bennett, the Domestic Bursar.

Henley Women's Regatta (17th-19th June)
Intermediate 4+
Round 1	MAA bt St Catherine's	Easily

Henley Royal Regatta (29th June - 3rd July)
Temple Challenge Cup (Academic 8s)
Wed	Colby Coll, USA bt Isis (Peter Goult)	½ L
Thames Challenge Cup (Club 8s)
Wed	Peterborough City by Wallingford (Mike Bull, M.99)	1 ¼ L
Grand Challenge Cup (International 8s)
Semifinal	Dortmund Rowing Centre, Germany bt Oxford University (Chris Liwski)	½ L
Stewards Challenge Cup (International 4-)
Semifinal	Leander & Oxford U. bt bt Dukla Praha, Czech.	3 ½ L
Final	Leander & Oxford U. bt bt Victoria City, Canada	Easily

U23 World Championships (Amsterdam, 21st-24th July)
GBR 2x	Colin Smith	4th

I'm still rowing for St Edmund's in Cambridge and (despite my best efforts to return to bow pair) still in the stroke seat. May bumps didn't go quite as well as Lents - I actually got bumped for the first time ever on Wednesday! Fortunately this was just a minor blip - a combination of 3 of our crew being absent (U2 concert in Manchester) and being replaced by rookie novices, and FaT [1st & 3rd Trinity] III being a reasonably fast schools VIII (meanwhile FaT II were in free-fall in the division above).

On Thursday we were back to full strength, with the novices safely confined to the tow path. The 4 crews ahead of us and the 4 crews behind us all bumped out, leaving us with a comfortable row-over. By Friday things were beginning to get interesting. Pembroke III needed to bump us in order to keep their hopes of blades alive, sadly (for them at least) we bumped Sidney Sussex II while they were still a length behind us, leaving them with a long, painful row-over.

Tony Mitchell in action at this summer's City of Oxford Royal Regatta.

I had complete control of my VetC 1x race but allowed a determined Italian to slip past me in the last metre of the race. I have no idea how or why I had another gear or two in me but decided not to use them or the length to two lengths extra boat speed that was available. I decided to play safe and paid the price and misjudged the boat speed. I was really hurt by my stupidity.

The following day I raced against a bunch of 38 year olds and was going well and in a good challenging position then just let rip in the last 250, got the commentator very excited but ran out of water with half a length to go.

So I made one man from Tuscany deliriously happy and gave one youngster from Poland a fright.

Members of the successful 2001 Catz 1st Torpids

After the success of the coxless four in the Sydney Olympics, rowing clubs all over the country benefitted from a huge surge in interest. Unfortunately then followed one of the wettest Autumns on record resulting in most inland waterways becoming unrowable. However, having participated in that summer's Gaudy paddle, Tony Mitchell (M.78) was one of those who was inspired to return to the sport and stuck with it.

In Oxford, the flooding continued to disrupt training in Hilary Term. This was the year many College crews discovered the delights of weekend commuting to the newly-opened Dorney Lake. Torpids, much to everyone's surprise, did actually take place (unlike the preceding and following years), and ran for all four days, albeit restricted to senior divisions. Catz were fortunate to have the combination of an inspirational coach, Bobby Gibson, and experienced crews so Torpids 2001 turned out to be something of a high point in our rowing history. The men won blades, equalling their highest ever position of 6th on the river and the women, of course, took the Headship in convincing fashion.

OUBC Triallists

In the next newsletter there will reports on this term's rowing (although given the amount of rain recently ...), a piece from Graham Kaye on the barges of 50 years ago, further news of our new boats and OUBC triallists, and a look at the Boat Club of 15 years ago when Matt Wood and Jen Atkinson were captains. If you rowed that year, you are particularly invited to contribute something for the 'News from Alumni' section.

1-4 Mar 2006	Torpids
4 Mar 2006	RS AGM & Dinner
1 Apr 2006	Henley Boat Races
2 Apr 2006	The Boat Race
24-27 May 2006	Eights