Newsletter#1, Trinity Term, 1995 (13th May)

Dear Alumnus,

Firstly, you should find a Rowing Society Membership Card enclosed with this newsletter. If you do not, then the Membership Secretary, Bruce Mitchell, is under the misapprehension that you have not yet paid your subscription this year and I advise you to contact him immediately (Hoo Farm, Gloucester Rd, Tewkesbury, Glocs, GL20 7DD) to demand an apology for this unwarranted slur on your good character (also remembering to enclose the necessary 10.00 cheque or standing order). For those of you lucky enough to find a membership card, I should warn you that, at the Captains' Meeting at the beginning of this term, it was voted to move next year's Torpids from 6th Week to 8th Week, i.e. the last week of Hilary Term, in the hope that the Isis might be more rowable by then, or that they could at least get in a couple more weeks' training. I'm not sure if all the consequences have been fully thought through, e.g. when are the Boat Club dinners going to be held? But until that's resolved the date for next year's Rowing Society Dinner & AGM, printed in your card, should be regarded as tentative.

Over the Easter Vacation you may have seen Cambridge win the Boat Race (as expected), although, in the process, Laird Reed became only the 8th man from Catz to appear in the entire history of this event. Statistically, over the 110-odd year existence of SCCBC, our fair share should have been around 20-30 Blues, so clearly the OUBC selectors must have an anti-Catz bias. On the other hand, since 1990, Catz men have filled more seats in the men's Blue Boat than any other college, making us the 'college of choice' for any serious rowers arriving at Oxford in the 1990's. Amazing what you can prove with statistics. There were no Catz representatives in any of the other Oxford crews, which was probably just as well since Cambridge won everything this year except the Women's Lightweight race. At least that put an end to the Tabs' longest-running winning streak-Oxford last won the Women's Lightweight race in 1986. The margins were: CUBC beat OUBC by 4 lengths, Goldie beat Isis by 14 lengths (oops!), CUWBC beat OUWBC by 1 1/3 lengths, Blondie beat Osiris by 1 length, Cambridge Men's Lightweights beat Oxford by 1/3 length, Oxford Women's Lightweights beat Cambridge by 2 lengths.

Moving on to this term's rowing. The Catz 1st VIIIs, when I last saw them, looked like (*denoting ex-1st Torpid/Eight):

Men's 1st Eight	Women's 1st Eight
B Hassan Ahari*	B Adrienne Gumm
2 Dan Bebber	2 Cecilia Newbould
3 Dave Shoukry	3 Rebecca Killick*
4 Elliott Wiseman*	4 Natalie Waterfield*
5 Frank Wagner	5 Heather Booth*
6 Richard Copley*	6 Cheryl Hardy*
7 Sam Hakoura*	7 Nikki Collis*
S Dom Layfield*	S Emily Dana*
C Henrietta Lake*	C Sarah Jones

The three newcomers to the Men's 1st VIII all rowed in last year's 2nd VIII, although Frank, actually an SCR member, also claims to have rowed for Wolfson 1st VIII in a former life. There was talk of Laird Reed rowing for the 1st VIII in Eights Week, so things may change. Equally fluid is the Men's coaching situation: Tim Bramfitt, was supposed to be doing it but seems to have absconded to Spain, I filled in for a week or so before absconding to the USA and now, I'm told, they've got Richard Tinkler, head coach of OUBC last year (well, most of last year). I wonder if he's got any holiday plans, yet? Earlier this term the Men raced at Wallingford but, being right at the start of term, and having only been together a few days, well, you know how it is. Still, they were a long way off beating the record of the '85 Catz 1st VIII at Thames Ditton: boat already dismantled and the crew queueing up outside the beer tent all before 9:00~am.

The women don't seem to have any regatta ambitions this term, preferring to take things gradually and get used to their new cleaver blades. Of the newcomers, Adrienne, a fresher, and Sarah, a 2nd year, both rowed/coxed at the same school in Monmouth; Cecilia is a novice fresher. Heather, now a graduate, returns after a gap of 2 years. Their coaches also seem to have been stricken by the travel bug: Susan Erb (even if you don't know the person, you'll probably know the voice) heading off for India, while Matt Pinsent and Laird Reed are putting their feet up at Ratzeburg this weekend (Coach a Catz 1st VIII and See the World!)

Division times for Eights will be different this year - the Captains have discovered a taste for exercising their powers in recent Meetings - and on Saturday all divisions race an hour earlier. Racing starts 12.00/11.00 (Wed-Fri/Sat), the last race is at 6.45/5.45. The Catz Marquee will be open for business on Saturday in the usual place. In theory you should apply to the College for tickets but just waving your RS Membership card at the gate should do the trick. Our Men's 1st VIII start 5th in Div. 2 (5.45/4.45), followed by the Women who start 8th in Div. 1 (6.15/5.15). There should be two more men's VIIIs to take up the places in the permanent divisions, and three more women's VIIIs, all of which will have to Row On. Whisper it softly, but the Catz Women have been putting out more crews than the Catz Men the whole year. Time we reconsidered the Rowing Society's position on funding coaching?

A certain Robert Trythall ('Triffid') (M.81) recently popped up out of the woodwork. Seeing that name brought back memories of the glorious Catz 'long-haired weirdoes IV' .... but I'll tell you about them another time. Apparently he's still rowing - for Aberdeen - and was spotted at York Regatta 'looking very cool in his purple lycra' (thanks, Ros!), so I guess the long hair, beard and glasses have gone. From the LHW4+ it is but a mere couple of washers up to the heights of National Trials, recently held (don't ask me why) in Hazewinkel, Belgium. As last year, Matt Pinsent (M.89) and Steve Redgrave proved quickest, with Rupert Obholzer (M.88) and Tim Foster coming in second. Needless to say, Pinsent and Redgrave continue as the GB pair this summer, while Obholzer and Foster rejoin the Searle brothers as the GB coxless IV - the no.2 boat after the coxless pair. However, and remember you read it here first, there are rumours of a Pinsent, Redgrave, Reed & Michels (1992 OUBC Pres.) combo for the Prince Philip at Henley this year (so that's why they've both gone to Ratzeburg).

Coming back down a couple of washers, and maybe a couple more just to be safe, the Rowing Society paddle to the Trout is going to be a little earlier than usual this year: Sunday, 11th June. As ever, it would help if you could let me know beforehand if you're coming, but should Sunday roll around, and for once you haven't got too drunk the Saturday night, and if you wake up early, and if the sun's already shining - hey, what the hell, just turn up and we'll find a seat for you (even if it's only on the erg). Meet at OUBC at 10.00 am, car-parking available at the back.

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

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