Newsletter#2, Trinity Term, 1999 (19th June)

First of all, this is an invitation to all Rowing Society members, to come down to the boathouse on the afternoon of Saturday, 3rd July and to play with all the toys. Those who will still be involved in racing at Henley are excused, but for anyone attending the Gaudy later that evening, I'm afraid participation is compulsory. Contact me for more details.

Report from Emily Woodeson, the Women's Captain

It is difficult to know how to write about a term that on the surface looks like it was unsuccessful with both women's crews going down. However, without wishing to sound like I am dragging up excuses, I was happy with the performances of both crews. The 2nd Eight started 9th in Division 3 sandwiched between two 1st Eights. As a crew they were highly inexperienced and much changed from last term's crew. This was not aided by a couple of last minute injuries, one with a week to go and one with 10 minutes to go. The spaces were filled by members of last term's 1st Torpid who, for one reason or another, had decided not to row this term. On day one they rowed extremely well and managed to hold off Mansfield 1st VIII all the way to OUBC. The next day they were rowing over strongly when the race was stopped by swans in the racing line. On the remaining two days they were bumped by strong 2nd Eights in LMH and Christ Church. The disappointment on the faces of all of the crew as they came off the water spoke volumes about the amount of effort and commitment that they put in all term.

The 1st Eight, again changed from last term, rowed over well but without any pressure on day one as the entire division bumped out below us. One of those bumps was Pembroke on SEH just behind us and we realised from watching that, that having Pembroke behind us meant that we had a 'death or glory' day for day 2. We were extremely relaxed going into day two and put absolutely everything into it. I was pleased that we managed to row to top of the Green Bank before Pembroke caught us, given that half their crew were University rowers, and they were very distressed that they had to row so far! The following day we were caught by a strong and fast Wadham crew. On the final day, we knew that we had to row over and when SEH came to within 1/2 a length going through the gut we pushed away strongly and just kept going. We finished a good 2 or 3 lengths clear, and rowed the best we had all term.

This year has been a difficult year for the women but I think that we have done well. My thanks go to Greg Lee for helping me to coach the women's 2nd Eight, and to Ben Brookes for his help with the women's 1st's. I have enjoyed myself and as I hang up my blade I wish next year's captain and committee the very best of luck.

It went a little like this......

We returned for the first time this year to an open river and managed to row through most of the term without disturbances. After spending a week convincing people to row and then picking crews, we started to row in 1st week. The term was spent mainly concentrating on technique in the boat with 'work' getting done on the ergs. Due to various commitments we didn't manage to get out to race during the term and both 1st and 2nd Eights arrived at the bunglines with little racing in them but with quite a lot of experience to make up for it. On Wednesday the 1st Eight caught Lincoln to move up to Sandwich Boat. It then took until Thursday to bump up and finally secure a position in Div. 1. The 2nd's had a similar week moving into Div. 3 when they caught Keble II at the third attempt putting them as the fifth highest 2nd boat on the river and almost entirely surrounded by 1st boats. The 3rd Eight continued its oscillations of the past few years, unfortunately going down three places. As I write this we still have a number of boats training for various regattas. A possible Queen's/Catz attempt at qualifying for Henley seems to be getting off the ground and a four from the 1st Eight may be doing a regatta or two. I have greatly enjoyed my year as captain and hope that next year's captain will have as much success.

For the record, the men's 1st Eight is now at its highest position since 1883 and St Catherine's joins the select group of colleges which have 1st division crews in all four events: Men's and Women's Torpids and Eights (Pembroke and New College being the only others). Perhaps as good a time as any for someone to produce a History of the Boat Club. While I get back to working on that, I will leave the last words to Tony Hancox, President of the Rowing Society, whose article 'Rowing, fin de siecle' is enclosed.

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

Links

St Catherine's College

Oxford University Rowing Clubs

St Catherine's College Boat Club

St Catherine's Rowing Society