This term Catz has managed to recruit some very committed and highly enthusiastic novice women. We easily made two crews that were eager to give Christ Church their best shot. Both crews were extremely strong and showed the potential to do really well in Christ Church Regatta very early on.

As well as an impressive commitment to their novice crew six, of the novice girls took on training with the senior boat. The senior boat has been training hard all term both on and off the water. This paid off when we entered Isis Winter League A and came second in the women's senior division despite the fact that the crew consisted of 5 novices. As well as the IWL the girls also entered two crews in Nephthys Regatta in order to gain experience for Christ Church. Unfortunately, despite an excellent effort, the novice first boat caught an early crab against Balliol A, but made an excellent effort at fighting back once they restarted. Unfortunately the other novice crew had to be entered in the senior division when two senior rowers had to sub in at the last minute. However they made an excellent attempt at racing the Balliol senior boat which went on to win the event.

Although the weather was kind to us all term it was not to last; the heavens opened just before Christ Church and day after day came the e-mails cancelling racing. This was a huge disappointment for the girls who had put in so much time and effort into training. However, as we all know, it doesn't stop here! All girls training with the seniors have got their sights set on Headship and will be training hard over the holiday to give it their best shot. Also the second boat is set to get blades as they start from a Rowing On position in Torpids.

The term took a very positive start for the men's squad, with very successful turnouts for both the trial water sessions, and the rowing BBQ. Helped by the run of good weather, we were able to put forward for training a squad able to fill three novice eights. Every member of the squad was keen to play their part in preparation for the upcoming Christ Church Regatta.

It was not only the novice squad who were active this term, with dedicated senior boat training for early preparation in anticipation of Torpids. Many of the novice rowers were prepared to sub in for outings and join in with land training, and this has shown in their quick development within the Boat Club. Although the vast majority of the rowing has been training in eights, we were still able to put forward a crew for Autumn Fours. After only one training session, the crew, over several knock-out races reached the final, losing only to Brasenose A, achieving a hard-earned second place result.

The novice rowers had trained at levels which would not be uncommon for a senior squad, and this had shown in their constantly improving ergo times, and the quick advancement of their ability to row out on the water. We had been able to enjoy several weeks of good weather for training, and this water time was invaluable. However, the weather eventually turned against us (and the rest of Oxford), and the crews were not able to prove themselves in Christ Church Regatta. However, although the novice men could not prove themselves on the water, they were more than able to prove themselves off it. The men's novice A boat entered New College Indoor Regatta, and won the event (by a considerable margin); a brilliant result.

The training for this year has taken a very positive start, with everyone dedicated to developing both themselves as rowers, and achieving success for the boat club through hard work and commitment. Everyone shared a genuine disappointment in the outcome of Christ Church regatta, but this has only spurred many of the rowers on in expectation of Torpids. With the men's first boat starting in 6th place in Division I, we have the ability to achieve a podium finish.

Finally, many thanks to everyone who has been involved in their support of the boat club, including the committee, the coaches, and most importantly, the rowers themselves. Everyone has played their part in helping achieve what was a very successful term, and I am sure that this success will continue into the New Year.

Tim Monger-Godfrey

Well, it's unfortunate that we have no record of novices who started in 2000 but, even so, I think it would be safe to say that the large variations aren't explained by whether or not Christ Church Regatta took place. Typically, about 50% of Michaelmas term's novices will continue rowing in the remainder of the academic year and 25% the following year. So how do we explain the large difference between years? I suspect if we knew the answer to that we'd be the largest College Boat Club in Oxford rather than (last summer) equal 9th largest.

Four Catz men took part in the OUBC Trials Race held over the Boat Race course last Wednesday, including the coxes of both crews. Skins were coxed by Nick Brodie, this year's OUBC President, with Jan Herzog, a German international, rowing at no.7; Shirts were coxed by Colin Groshong, from University of Pennsylvania, with Irish U23 international Martin Walsh at no.2.

Rowing in near-perfect conditions, there was little in it for the first mile - too little, in fact, resulting in a couple of blade-clashes - but coming up to Hammersmith bridge and with the advantage of the bend, Shirts put in a strong push and broke clear, going on to win by 9 seconds.

Incidentally, I'm sure that each year's choice of crew names is partly intended to trigger Pavlovian responses in professional hacks looking for a juicy headline, with obvious variations along the lines of `rowed out of their Skins' or `lost their Shirts' - but unfortunately these don't seem to work so well given that Shirts actually won. (In the Cambridge Trials Race the previous day, One Night Stand beat True Love - go on, see if you can make something of those!).

Results for 1988 St Catherine's crews and comparison of finishing positions with current positions on the river

	1998	1988	2008
	Change	Finish	Start
Men's Crews
1st Torpid	-1	10th	6th
2nd Torpid	+1	30th	57th
1st Eight	+1	17th	8th
2nd Eight	-2	43rd	40th
3rd Eight	+7	69th	79th
4th Eight	-3	81st	-
Women's Crews
1st Torpid	=	7th	3rd
1st Eight	-2	17th	17th
2nd Eight	-4	40th	48th
3rd Eight	+2	55th	-

During the Easter vacation, crews were entered for both the Men's and Women's Eights Head of the River Races. It was the first time the women had entered and they finished 67th out of 127 crews. The author of the 1988 newsletter expressed some surprise that there were that many women's crews in the country (nowadays more than twice that number compete). There were also the first stirrings of an idea of publishing an official History of the Boat Club, with the first edition emerging the following year.

In summer term the Men's 1st Eight headed downstream to Radley for their usual couple of weeks under the eye of local coach Jean le Manac'h. He's still around, by the way, and still coaching Radley. I bumped into him at Bedford Regatta last summer where we indulged in our ritual exchange of insults.

To round off the year, one of our old girls, Jo Gough (M.82), rowed in the GB women's coxed four in Seoul, the first British women's crew ever to qualify for an Olympic final.

Time:	Saturday 2nd February, 2008. 7 till late.
Place:	Imperial College Boat House, Putney.
Dress:	Boat Club Blazers, Black Tie.

This will be a super evening, and will hopefully be a chance for all alumni to get together at the Imperial College Boat House, on the Putney Embankment. The evening will start with a champagne reception, with live music and entertainment during the whole evening. There will be a cash bar throughout and also a charity auction, with all proceeds going to the Boat Club.

There are a limited number of tickets available priced at \pounds 12. If you would like to attend, please contact Darren Chadwick by email (darren.chadwick07(AT)imperial.ac.uk) or by post (42b Maldon Road, Acton, London, W3 6SZ). Cheques should be made payable to St Catherine's College Rowing Society.

Please get your tickets as early as possible to avoid disappointment. Why not try to get in contact with the members of your old crew? The London Party will be a perfect chance to catch up.

Anu Dudhia (email: dudhia@atm.ox.ac.uk )