![[Lydia Hutchinson]](../../sccbccrews/2004//lydia.hutchinson.ht04.jpg)
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This term, as with any first term, has been focused on the novices. The Christ Church regatta, a novice event, is the main competition. The term started with a large number of female freshers expressing an interest in rowing, along with a few already at Catz. Unfortunately, the women's novice programme was slow in getting off the ground, so we only had one Christ Church boat rather than the two I had initially hoped for. Training was going well, until at disaster struck one of our girls burst her eardrum, literally days before the regatta. This meant that the girls rowed with a last minute sub, Kate Lampe, who, despite having only had two training sessions before racing, acquitted herself admirably! Sadly, we lost both races and so were knocked out of the regatta on the second day, but the crew are enthusiastic and will hopefully do better next term!
The senior women had two experienced freshers coming in Amy Banham-Hall and Claire Shakespeare. We did not compete in any events this term, due to academic commitments, but have been training all term. We have also just purchased a new women s eight a Janousek. It will be called Alan Bullock.
![[Darren Chadwick]](../../sccbccrews/2004/darren.chadwick.ht04.jpg)
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In the men's camp, we've had a rather encouraging start to the year. This is largely because I have had the support of an amazing committee, Steve and Erik in particular, and the novices were full of enthusiasm, responding well to everything asked of them. As I sat in the Isis tavern with some of the guys on the Saturday of Christchurch, I was proud to feel the club spirit and team feeling which we wanted to aspire to when we wrote our mission statement for the year. The strong club feeling is something that will hopefully be converted in hard work on the gym and results on the water.
Erik has done a brilliant job on organising, cuddling (in some cases!), and waking (in more cases!) the novices this year. I'm sure we couldn't have done it without you - many thanks for your untiring effort. Steve has also been an incredible asset to the boat club so far this year. His enthusiasm for the training schedule could not have been further from his attitudes to erg tests last year. (for those that don't know, Steve stopped during a 2k test to complain that it hurt! Steve, I think now knows that is the point and has found lots of innovative ways to add to the training pain since!)
Our main priority this term has been the novices. There was a large intake this year, with nearly 60 names on the men's mail lists alone. This also included some notable rowers, who, because of their wealth of experience were not able to row in CHCH. Even with these guys taken away, our chch crews did very well. The Men's N C boat went on till the Friday, with the infamous naked Jo friend at bow! They improved so much over the last few days had you seen them on the Wednesday and then again on the Friday you would not have believed they were the same crew. Their race on Friday saw them row the best the have ever, so my heartfelt congratulations to you all, I'm proud of you. The Men's N B boat was commented on the OURC notice board and picked out as the Boat to beat, thinking they were the first boat! The pressure for seats in the top boat was hot, and the crew that went out to the later disqualified Keble were looking pretty hot.
A few adjustments and we should have lots of competition for the 1st torpid from a number of the Men's N Bs. The men's N A boat did very well in CHCH. They won by a `fair margin' on the Wednesday, had a bye on Thursday, and rowed incredibly well to win by a number of lengths on Friday. The lost to a much bigger crew from St. Bennets on the Saturday, but raced well, and were only beaten by the narrowest of margins. Well done to all of you, all three boats gave their all, and have shown that with a little hard work over Christmas we have the potential for not one, but tow quick crews in Torpids.
Although our focus has primarily been on novices this term, there are a number of other events that the men have competed in. The Saturday gold standard challenge has been moderately successful in achieving its aims. With so few senior and experienced coxes this year, we have sometimes had little chance to race boat after boat, but this will be a little better after Christmas hopefully. The course runs from the barber's pole to the mouth of the gut, and the record it held at the minute by the men's mixed (senior and novice) eight.
WE have also had crews in the Isis Winter league, the Nepthys regatta and the
Nepthys head, where the two senior fours came 2nd and 3rd in the head, and the
men's novice lost to the eventual overall winners,
Hertford, and we came 5th in
the Isis winter league autumn fours.
We also entered five men into the National
Indoor Rowing Championship in Birmingham.
This was a chance to race against the
blues boys and the best of BUSA. We also had three representatives racing for
the blues, Andy Hodge (5th overall), Chris Lewski (6th overall), and Colin
Smith (29th).
We also had the tow fastest college rowers, Evan Burfield (Pres.)
and Darren Chadwick (Capt) coming in 87th and 99th respectively. Steve Wicks
was not far behind in 102nd.Not a bad start, but there is still much to do.
Lots of training, lots of racing.
The new rowing year started hesitantly. As the summer vacation drew to an end,
the rumours about my continued involvement with St Catz were both mixed and
contrasting. So, having spoken to Colin Smith and the new captains, I was
delighted to be offered a year s contract, giving me responsibility for the
development of a rowing programme at St Catherine s. I was further encouraged
by the college s undertaking to fund a separate novice programme which I had
submitted via the captains.
At the beginning of the academic year there is bound to be difficulty in
determining how the new officers of the club should delegate responsibilities.
Some work on job descriptions undertaken under Evan s guidance as last year s
captain was helpful but more needs to be noted this year and implemented in
2005/06.
This inertia delayed the initiation of my proposed beginners programme. Issues
with booking tank sessions meant that totally raw novices were getting into
boats expecting some miraculous telepathic skills transfer which just wasn t
going to happen. After a number of frustrating and mainly ineffective
sessions, I laid down a requirement that everyone attend at least one tank
session before being allowed into a boat. This had a marked effect on
progress. The river had the bad grace to go Blue and later Amber flag at a
time when we had no available senior coxes to cover outings. Despite this, my
ancient cox s registration and subsequent status allowed my significant frame
to steer to some effect during this period. We probably had as many outings as
most colleges but this did require me to be involved in sessions which had
been planned in order to reduce costs - to be run by senior rowers.
Fortunately, my new contract is not based on hours worked, so the College
should be doubly pleased! The general support for and appreciation of the
beginners programme has been covered elsewhere in the Captains reports. Given
the challenges, the commitment was good, the leadership and contribution made
from within the club was exemplary and the rowing wasn t too bad, either.
I am confident that our novice programme is both robust and effective. It was
influenced negatively by losing two weeks out of a six week schedule and yet
delivered some reasonable results, a great deal of enthusiasm and the promise
of a high proportion of transfers into Torpid and Summer Eights crews. Senior
rowing was continued in the background with a weekly training schedule and a
new initiative referred to as the Gold Standard Races. These came out of a
conversation with Colin Smith who wanted to see some regular and enjoyable club
based activity taking place. Accordingly, I designed a short (about three
minute) course from the Barber s Pole at Haystack s Corner, to the mouth of the
Gut. Races are planned to take place each Saturday morning with both scratch
and selected crews competing against the clock. The sprint piece is covered
twice once rate capped at 20spm and once free rate. The feedback we have had
so far has been very positive. Racing starts are practised, the early part of
the Torpid / Summer Eights course is thoroughly assimilated and experienced and
the club members congregate and row together on a regular, predictable basis.
Apart from some very promising beginners, we have also welcomed some more
experienced college rowers who are available for our Torpid boat. Without
looking beyond those who have already been rowing this term, I can expect to
build a fast, competitive and committed crew. Any others looking to join this
squad will have to work hard to find a seat. We are currently planning a
training camp next term, probably starting at the beginning of 0th week.
During the vacation, we have squad members sharing their 5-day a week training
experiences by email and we are debating just how painful the weeks up to
Torpids are going to have to be. You can sense the adrenaline levels rising in
anticipation. I am not one to predict results. We have no control over the
performance of other crews. What I do know is that St Catz, having survived
last year with eleven novice rowers in its first Torpid crews, can look forward
to its crews demanding respect, showing commitment and delivering performance
in the events of 2005.
From the Back Seat of the Coach
From John Hill, Head Coach