St Catherine's College Rowing Society
President: Colin Smith
Vice Presidents: Neil Chugani, Richard Peters, Sir Matthew Pinsent CBE, Ben Sylvester, Zoe de Toledo, Andrew Triggs Hodge OBE.
[Prev]

Newsletter#2, Trinity Term, 2024 (30th June)

[Next]

[PDF version]

Contents

Links

St Catherine's College
Oxford University Rowing Clubs
St Catherine's College Boat Club
St Catherine's Rowing Society

In this issue ...

You may recall images of the Prime Minister getting drenched while standing outside No.10 to announce that he was calling a General Election. That was the first day of Summer Eights. The weather improved but, alas, not the fortunes of our crews, the highlight being the one day that one crew didn't get bumped. The captains provide their reports.

There was no presentation of the Ben Sylvester Award this year; it seems that the Boat Club are still getting to know each other ('And you are ...?').

BBC Radio 4 continues to be a handy source for tracking our alumni, but we also have sad news of the premature death of another.

A huddle of umpires as Summer Eights gets off to a soggy start

umpires

Results

Eights 22–25th May
Wed Thu Fri Sat Finish

Men's 1 −1 −1 −1 −1 4th Div II
Women's 1 −1 = −1 −1 10th Div II
Men's 1 −1 −1 −1 −1 12th Div IV

Bumps Charts

St Catherine's Eights

Men's 1st Eight
B Alexander Scruton1
2 Hamza Ahmad2
3 Jacob Bowhay
4 Matthew Jackson
5 Thomas Aston
6 James Farmborough
7 Cameron Doyle
S Luca Nadig
C Sophie Marchent3
1 Lachlan Stewart (Fri)
Vincent Allott (Sat)
2 Vincent Allott (Sat)
Freddie Orpin (Fri)
3 Eugenio Vecchi (Fri,Sat)
Men's 2nd Eight
B Leslie Cheng
2 Andrew Dilts
3 Severin Scheiwiller
4 Kayvan Gharbi
5 Sam Lennon
6 Laurentius Heucamp4
7 Ben Beggs
S Hugo Cooper
C Ben Blackburn5
4 Jonas de Schouwer (Thu)
5 Ilayda Karadag (Thu)
James Wills (Sat)
Women's 1st Eight
B Lucia Pyne
2 Vivian van Dooren
3 Edith Darin
4 Freya Waterworth
5 Emma O'Donnell
6 Millie O'Brien
7 Valentina Antonaccio
S Emma Halliday
C Niamh Louwman
1 Brooke Reese (Sat)
Men's Coach: Matthew Gissen Women's Coach: Rowan Nicholls

Women's Boat Club

Emma Halliday, Women's Co-Captain

The Women's Squad was eager to make the most of the five weeks before Summer Eights and training started early on the first day of term. We were thankful for better weather this term which allowed us to have lots of time on the water after missing out previously. We also ran some good novice taster sessions and outings early in the term but ultimately didn't manage to get enough rowers for a second boat.

The Women's Eight at the start on the Friday

w1

Emma Halliday

EH
Our Summer Eights campaign wasn't entirely successful, and our first boat dropped three places overall in division two. Going into the week, we knew we had some competitive crews around us but took some confidence from training, where we knew we could be quite a powerful crew. On the first day we were bumped quite quickly by Exeter who were particularly fast. We rowed over comfortably on Thursday from L.M.H., who were chasing an over bump, and on Friday we were bumped by Mansfield. On the final day, we were being chased by L.M.H. again. Despite being within a quarter of a boat length behind us for most of the race, we held them off until Boathouse Island, thanks to some great coxing and hard rowing. We thought this race was especially exciting, and hope for more racing like this next year!

Men's Boat Club

Matthew Jackson, Men's Co-Captain

Matthew Jackson

MJ
The men's squad made fantastic progress throughout Trinity term in preparation for Summer Eights, despite what has been an incredibly challenging season with the heavy river restrictions. Whilst the number of Senior rowers was limited, M1 was able to commit to at least 3–4 water sessions per week, with M2 taking to the water 2–3 times/week. This term proved pivotal for the development of M2 as rowers given their restricted training time (most of whom were complete novices starting in October).

Although the Eights results were not in our favour this year, with both M1 and M2 dropping four places on the river, both teams demonstrated commendable spirit and resilience throughout the four days. Both teams showcased their unwavering commitment to the sport and to each other. M2 especially represent a strong future cohort which we're confident will set a sturdy foundation on which the club can build in years to come.

The Men's 2nd Eight conceding early to Brasenose II on the Thursday (having had to switch boats at the last minute)

m2

The Men's 1st Eight on the Friday

m1

Alumni News

Helen Millican (M.86)

Listening to BBC Radio 4 early one morning I overheard a familiar name presenting a report on, I think, something northern and farming-related (I did say it was early morning). A little light Googling revealed that this was almost certainly the same Helen Millican who rowed in the women's 2nd VIII back in 1987–88. Nowadays she's described as a journalist, a presenter/producer for BBC Radio Cumbria and, on Twitter/X, 'Arty, Sporty, Outdoorsy'.

Richard Peters (1963–2024)

I'm informed that Richard Peters died in Kingston Hospital, West London, on 2nd June. He'd been suffering from pancreatic cancer. Richard was the Captain of Boats in 1984/85 and one of the founding members of the Rowing Society. As RS Chairman from 1992–97, he was a major force in getting us a boathouse to call our own. He resigned from the chairmanship on being posted to Zambia, although continued to serve in an honorary capacity as one of our Vice-Presidents. He spent most of his subsequent career working for PwC in Vietnam, but with regular return visits timed to coincide with Henley Regatta.

Richard Peters at no.7 in the 1985 1st Torpid, which won blades. The sharp-eyed may notice that swans and lifejackets were less of a concern 40 years ago.

m1t_1985

Coming Up ...

You may have noticed another Olympics coming around. There are no Catz alumni competing, but who knows who'll show up in October. I see that OUBC have already announced that Tom Mackintosh, the New Zealand single sculler for Paris, will be their new men's president, even though he's not actually at Oxford yet.

I assume that the Catz Boat Club also has a plan to turnaround around their recent misfortunes, although hopefully not one that relies on an influx of ex-Olympic talent.

Anu Dudhia

fragile