SCCBC - Captains' Reports HT2010

Men's Boat Club

Phillip McCullough, Men's Captain

We started this term with our returning seniors, and a plentiful number of committed novices. This gave us enough oarsmen to enter three boats, who had varying levels of water time. Coming back to a winter wonderland made 0th week outings a fun challenge. Soon enough, the red flag came, and we turned to the bane of our lives - ergs, runs and circuits. The river cleared in time for Isis Winter League D. To stop our returning coach, Rachel, going insane from lack of water time, we entered the senior boat three times, in order to ''buy'' three pieces on the Isis on a Sunday. The crew posted some impressive times. The second and third squads entered a composite boat and clocked an acceptable time given their lack of experience.

Soon afterwards, we held our 2k selection test, and the boats took on a definite form. The first boat took on two very powerful novices, Jeff Douglass and Chris Rees, and Alex Sanders, a German with past high-level experience who was now free of injury. Following a committed training plan, training on the water 4 times a week, the boat soon picked up a lot of speed. Competition for the second boat was also fierce, affording us the opportunity to choose the boat and push it hard.

We sent the first boat to Dorney, and the crew looked very promising. However, after one morning outing, Hugh dislocated his shoulder while taking the boat in, ruling him out of Torpids. We can only guess at his frustration, but know he will be an asset when we return for Eights. Having lost our 6'5'' oarsmen, reserve Felix van Litsenburg stepped up to the challenge, having trained ruthlessly for several weeks in the hope of such an opportunity.

Rowing On arrived, with an ominously fast river. The thirds, whom I am forever apologetic to owing to lack of outings, put up a brave effort but didn't qualify. Obviously, the weather Gods were furious with this result, raining their fury over Oxford all of Saturday, putting racing at jeopardy. As a result, the first day's racing was done in half divisions, and the second allowed all fixed division boats except the lower half of Div 5 (housing M2) to race. We didn't get to join the fun until Friday.

On Wednesday, Oriel gained on Catz early on, but the crew fought them off with ease. Thoughts turned to catching Magdalen on Thursday. Having been slated from the offset, the firsts showed the river they were a force to be reckoned with, gaining overlap. However, our rivals evaded us. Friday brought a new sense of determination and their best rowing of the term. How Magdalen got away from us is something I am still unsure about, with our bow ball at hand's length away from their stroke's rigger for at least 300m. Failing to get the bump was a kick in the teeth for the crew, but more significantly, it offered no immunity from a highly-tipped and fast-rising Balliol crew, who got Catz on the Saturday. Despite going down one, the crew should be immensely proud of their efforts. Even holding a spot in the upper half of Div 1 takes a tremendous amount of work, and for their dedication, I am proud.

The second boat managed to easily secure an overbump on Trinity. On Saturday, still directly behind Wolfson, we were again going for the overbump on St Anne's, a crew who during training we managed to catch up in a IV. However, the race got klaxoned after 45 seconds, when the top of the division were involved in a massive pile-up. Due to two fixed crews above us not entering, we are now three places higher compared to last year. Given the aims of climbing the depths of the lower divisions, this is a result that is great for the club, and is something that next year's crew can build upon.

I'd like to thank Jack Plummer for happily coxing crews under amber flag, and Anu for all his support, especially allowing us to swap Jack between both first boats. I'd also like to thank Rachel for putting up with my constant moaning and complaints for another term, and to the college who came down in their masses to support us.

Next term our prospects include having a lightweight join us in the first boat, a strong second boat with a chance to rectify last year's ''spoons'' incident, and seeing whether we can finally qualify M3 for racing.

Women's Boat Club

Ilsa Haeusler, Women's Captain

After training consistently during the holidays, the women came back during 0th week to try and make use of the quiet river. During the week, many of the women continued the trend of early-morning training sessions, despite the ice and snow which made getting to the river difficult, as well as rowing! Unfortunately the weather remained tortuous for a long time, really putting the dedication of the women to the test. Of course, they made use of all the water sessions they could before the inevitable red flag after the snow had melted.

During the long red flag period, the women turned to land training, which included circuit sessions at Brookes, long runs, ergs and weights. Despite the frustration of not being able to use the river, the women's hard work began to show early on, in the form of personal-best erg times. Encouraged by their improvement, the women became more determined than ever to make best use of the remaining few weeks until Torpids.

Problems arose midway through the term when an injury cost the women's 1st Torpid one of their number. This was not easy to recover from as there were too few women to substitute without drawing from the women's 2nd boat. After a stressful period of swapping around both the 1st and 2nd crews, the numbers finally settled, in the nick of time before Topids week.

Heavy rainfall occurred the weekend before Torpids which resulted in Torpids being run under Red and Amber flags. The women were lucky to have Jack Plummer offer to cox them for each of the four days of racing. The women's 1st Torpid were lucky to be able to race the full four days, but the 2nd boat were only able to race on the Friday and Saturday.

Despite the disappointing conditions, the women's 1st Torpid did incredibly well, holding off Christ Church and Magdalen on Wednesday and Thursday, but were bumped by Magdalen just after the Gut on Friday. They fought very hard during their race but it wasn't to be; the women's 1st Toprid finished at a very respectable 2nd place on the river. The women's 2nd Torpid were bumped on both days of racing but were able then went on to bump another crew on each occasion!

We now look forward to another successful and exciting term of racing in Trinity Term. Let's hope the weather is kinder next term!

Many thanks to the committee to for their enormous support during the term, particularly to Alice Pooley for training the women's 2nd Torpid, Lucy Tester and Amy Carr for organising coxes and Sarah Hodgson for her enthusiasm and help with the women's First Torpid.

Finally, best wishes are sent to the Third years sitting their exams next term.