Newsletter#1, Hilary Term, 1995 (28th January)

Dear Alumnus,

Looking back over the past few years, I see that the first newsletter of Hilary Term usually starts with a moan about the lack of rowing due to high stream conditions. In that respect, 1995 looks like being yet another normal year: both the Catz Ergometers seem to have been in continuous motion for a whole week now. Rowing on an Erg is tedious enough without having to queue for the privilege. However, if the Red Flag were not flying over the boathouses, I'm told that the present subjunctive 1st Torpids are:
*ex-1st Torpid/Eight

Men's 1st Torpid	Women's 1st Torpid
B: Dom Layfield*	B: Em Thomas*
2: Howard Wakerley*	2: Bluebell Martin
3: Sam Hakoura	3: Natalie Waterfield
4: Frank Wagner	4: Rebecca Killick
5: John Mitchell*	5: Cheryl Hardy*
6: Hassan Ahari*	6: Nikki Collis*
7: Elliott Wiseman*	7: Emily Dana*
S: Julian Batt*	S: Kath Simkins*
C: Henrietta Lake*	C: Flo Coutts

Both boats are bow-rigged. Richard Copley, hitherto a permanent fixture in the Men's 1st VIII, is taking a break to join Matt Pinsent in coaching the Women. The Men continue to be coached by Tim Bramfitt. To introduce the newcomers: Sam and Bluebell are both freshers who've previously rowed at Westminster School, Rebecca another fresher who rowed at school in Leeds, and Natalie and Flo are the only known survivors of the gruelling training regimen imposed on last summer's Women's 2nd Eight. Flo actually stroked that crew, but has obviously decided that there's got to be an easier way. I was a little surprised that Henri gave up the relative tranquillity of the Women's 1st Eight for the Men's 1st Torpid - especially given the treatment handed out to her predecessor, Quintin - but her stint with the Men's Lightweights last term seems to taught her some of the basic rules of 'coping with difficult people' (for instance, I notice she never apologises any more). Frank is actually an member of Catz SCR (ex-Wolfson 1st VIII) who's keeping a seat warm for Chris Mahne. In addition there should be at least another two Men's crews and another two Women's crews, but it's difficult to predict what'll be left once the floodwaters subside - nobody ever joined the Boat Club for the joys of land-training.

Assuming 'Torpids' does happen, the Men's 1st VIII start 11th in Div.1 (5:00), the Women's 1st VIII start 4th in Women's Div.1 (4:30) and the Men's 2nd VIII start 8th in Div 4 (2:30). The other crews still have to get through Rowing On the preceding Friday. If you're planning on heading down to the Isis on the Saturday of Torpids to whet your appetites for the Rowing Society Dinner, you might want to give me a phone call to confirm that there's actually some rowing going on. Racing is scheduled to start at noon each day, and I'll probably be lurking somewhere near the Isis Tavern trying my best not to look like the Senior Umpire. Of the three of us who did the job at various times last year, one got so much abuse he swore he'd never do it again and the other one got assaulted by an aggrieved supporter. I was the one who escaped unscathed, having long-since realised that discretion is the better part of valour.

I see I still have some space left on this page for a historical digression. Those of you who learnt to row during the '70s and early '80s will no doubt recall the agonies of trying to conform to the so-called 'West German Style' as advised by ARA coaches such as Penny Chuter. This was hailed as the only means Westerners had of combatting the dreaded 'East German Style', suitable only for genetically selected athletes trained since birth. (There was also an 'American Style', but, as I recall, this was always dismissed as blatant bum-shoving and the only reason Americans ever won anything was because they were very large and very fit). W.German style was fine if you were 6'5" and weighed 11 stone, but it was always a bit tricky for the rest of us to sit bolt-upright with our seats right up to our heels and still achieve any sort of reach forwards. My knees still ache just thinking about it. Well, earlier this week there was an OUBC lecture for College coaches to explain 'Rowing Technique' as we should all now be teaching it. The message was: less leg compression and more body lean forwards, i.e. what used to be known as 'East German Style'. And who was giving the lecture? None other than the OUBC chief coach, Penny Chuter. To be fair, she fully confessed the error of her former ways, and did introduce some new concepts: catches are now to be 'placed' rather than 'hit', and rowing arcs should be extended as far forwards as possible. Cynics might want to keep a note of this, and compare it with what's being recommended in another 10 years' time.

In my last newsletter, I started off with a reference to the College Appeal as the dreaded evening phone-call. I should, of course, have referred to it as the delightful evening phone-call, and I'd like to thank Jo James from the Catz Development Office for helping me see the error of my ways. This came about while discussing hypertext links between the Catz and the Rowing Society Web pages (I realise that won't make a lot of sense to 90% of the readership, but if it does you might care to inspect 'http://www-atm.atm.ox.ac.uk/rowing/rs.html'). Finally getting on to some real rowing, Laird Reed, Catz' sole remaining representative at University level, appears to be doing 'well enough' in OUBC trials - I'll not ruin his chances by speculating any further than that.

Anu Dudhia (e-mail: dudhia@atm.ox.ac.uk)

Links

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Oxford University Rowing Clubs

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