SCCBC - Captains' Reports MT2003

Men's Boat Club

Evan Burfield, Men's Captain

The Boat Club started off Michaelmas term with a major emphasis on recruiting new talent into the program through a series of recruiting events. These efforts were successful, in terms of both numbers and quality. At the end of the term, we had over 30 novice men and two novice coxswains participating in Christ Church. Their enthusiasm looks to carry over into next term, as over 25 novice men have indicated they intend to trial for Torpids boats. The new recruits this year are not only plentiful, but brimming with potential, as witnessed by strong erg times across the group and rapid improvement on the water.

The Boat Club also had a major long-term recruiting success in the form of a new Head Coach. John Hill has joined us from Magdalene College, where he was the Head Coach for several years. John coached the Magdalene 1st VIII boat as high as 2nd at Eights. He is excited about taking St. Catherine's even higher than that over the next few years.

Given the relative scarcity of experienced men training with the Boat Club this term, the emphasis on the water was novice rowing. We entered three Novice Men's VIIIs at Christ Church Regatta this year. We also worked with the women to form a Mixed VIII so that everyone who wanted to race had an opportunity to do so. Disappointingly, the lower Men's Novice VIIIs and the Mixed VIII all lost in their Heat and Repechage races against stronger crews. The 1st Novice VIII advanced through to the Fourth Round of the regatta, where they lost to Exeter, who ultimately won the Final. Overall, the novice men came away from Christ Church excited and determined to do better at Torpids.

We plan to kick off next term with momentum by organizing a Training Camp in mid January. We will be training three VIII's for Torpids and have a busy calendar of regattas including the Isis Winter League and the Stourport and Bedford Heads. The talent pool for Torpids and Eights will also be increasing, as Justin Mark Puleo will be joining us. Justin is a Harvard Varsity rower who has been training with Brookes this past term. While there are always many variables in bumps racing, all of the men are quite focused on the preparation necessary to take Blades at Torpids.

Our crew for Summer Eights is also looking strong. Colin Smith, Paul Holland, and James Woodrow (1st Eights '03) are all trialing for the Blues. In addition, Nick Heiney is trialing for the Lightweights. Our top four contenders for the 1st Eights boat this year have all posted erg times this term under 6:20 on their 2k tests, a significant improvement over last year's boat.

I would like to offer particular thanks to several people who have made significant contributions this term. First, I would like to thank Charlie Perrins, the Captain of Lower Boats, for his unending dedication to a huge organizational challenge. Despite cold mornings and confused Freshers, he maintained a contagious optimism that has infected all his rowers. Second, I owe a dept of gratitude to Katharine, my women's counterpart, who has showed incredible perseverance and organizational ability to has strengthened the Club as a whole. Third, I am incredibly appreciative of all that John Hill has brought to us in just a short time in terms of structure, knowledge, and discipline. I look forward to seeing what he can do now that he had his bearings. And finally, I would like to thank the Rowing Society for their generosity in helping us to secure a coach of John's caliber.

Women's Boat Club

Katharine Pierce, Women's Captain

This term the women combined our novice and senior programs: training, rowing and racing together. We entered a IV in Autumn Fours and a Novice VIII in the Nepthys Regatta. For the Christ Church Regatta our Novice B combined with the Men's Novice D, to unfortunatly lose to Exeter A, who went on to win the Regatta. Our Novice A rowed well in some very close races (coming from behind with great strength of will to beat Lincoln A by a bow ball) to lose in the third round, in another close race decided by the last 100m, to Magdalen A.

We have also been priviledged this year to hire a new coach, John Hill, who brings with him much coaching experiance and success, and whose sessions we enjoy for both their instruction and levity. We look forward to next term and the opportunity to build on the base of all we have learned this term and our novices who have come so far in their rowing ability. Under John's instruction we hope to field competative 1st and 2nd VIII's to challenge the other top boats on the river in Torpids.