OLA JANUSZ
The Neptunes
October 2012 Volume 5, Issue 1
Exciting new things
Sally-Anne Bennett, Captain of Club
exciting articles for you this issue. Firstly, we are delighted to announce that Barclays will be sponsoring MECBC over the coming year, allowing us to enter more races and replace much needed equipment such as lifejackets. Thank you to Holly, the previous Fundraising Officer and Ying, my predecessor, for the work they have put into it. Turn to page 4 to read more. On the river it has been a successful and busy Easter term on river for the Club—not only have we had five boats on the river, but we've also won three races, and come second when we didn't win. It was the first time for over ten years that our Clubs had three competitive boats WE HAVE MANY
in May Bumps, and by the Friday we hadn't missed a single bump. Congratulations to all our competing crews—a fantastic term. Read our crew reports on pages 2–3. Off river, we have been keeping up on socials with the annual Bumps Breakfast, a boatie trip to Peterhouse May Ball and Downing Tribal, a few (presentable) photos are on the last page. Even over the summer we couldn't keep away from rowing. Read about MECBC's first TV appearance (page 5), Reana's experience of rowing with the University Women's Development Squad (page 6) and Holly's trip to Eton Dorney (page 7). It's certainly been a great few months for MECBC!
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Easter Term race reports by
OLA JANUSZ
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W2 crew had plenty of opportunities to show off in Easter term and quickly cemented themselves as the fastest W2 on the Cam. We benefitted from some excellent coaching from Watson and Matt: the combo of Watson's push for power and stamina mixed with Matt's technical drills put us in a strong position to fight off any crew. Our first chance to prove ourselves was at Champs Head. On a personal level it was the best race I have ever coxed—we were really in tune with each other and victory made it all the sweeter. W2 have enjoyed eating regular crew meals together, competing to eat the most different types of carbs: our current record is 6. It has definitely paid off, unbeaten in Easter term, including a landslide victory in Nines Regatta, winning every race by over 2 lengths! Well done W2. THE NEWLY SHUFFLED
CAKE BY SIENA CARVER, PHOTO BY OLA JANUSZ
about W3? Not a lot does them justice, so let's just say that they are AWESOME. W3 came together as a competitive boat for Easter term: the first time in several years that MECBC had been able to put forward 3 senior boats for races. W3 gelled together well and pulled out a truly phwoarsome performance in Champs Head, coming second after a suspiciously fast Tit Hall ‘third boat’. They raced an epic GettingOn Race in some of the windiest conditions I have ever seen. Cox Christina should get a medal for keeping the boat straight in gusts of 30+mph!! The girls finished the term in style and carried the flag for MECBC by winning blades in May Bumps: 4 epic rows and 4 beautiful bumps, congratulations W3! All of that and they make pretty good cakes. WHAT CAN WE SAY
EVE BONNER
Georgie Field Mollie Jones Natalie Skorupska
EVE BONNER
W1 ENJOYED RETURNING crew members Liz (from trialling for CUWBC) and Gina (from Blues Netball) for Easter term. The crew quickly got back on their competitive game and stormed to victory in Spring Head to Head. They also had the privilege of rowing in women's hour so avoided the early mornings: so much jealousy from the other crews! As usual Mark's ‘imaginative’ coaching (and coxing and rowing) spurred them on to consistent and strong performances in both Champs Head and May Bumps. Complete with zephyrs and copious amounts of greenery, W1 impressively rose up the Bumps rankings for the third year running and will have the chance to get back into the first division next year. Congratulations W1 you have had an amazing year and definitely deserve to carry the badge WELL HARD. MECBC have had a fantastic year. We want to thank all of our coaches and we look forward to Michaelmas Term. We have great hopes for an awesome term of novicing, rowing and racing. Bring on another phwoarsome year!
Results Easter 2012
EVE BONNER
Murray Edwards College Boat Club is proudly sponsored by
Spring Head to Head W1: 1st in Mays second division Champs Head W1: 2nd in Mays second division W2: 1st in Mays third division W3: 2nd in Mays fourth division Nines Regatta W2: won Women's second division May Bumps W1 up 3 W2 up 3 W3 got on, up 4 Detailed times and rankings can be found on our website http://mecbc.soc.srcf.net
Michaelmas Term Races
MECBC is planning on entering these races for Michaelmas 2012. The most up-to-date events listing and race results can be found on our website. 20 October 2012 - Autumn Head (W1) 8 November 2012 - Queens' Ergs (novices) 17 November 2012 - Winter Head (W1, novices) 29 November 2012 - Novice Fairbairns (novices) 30 November 2012 - Senior Fairbairns (W1, W2)
Harri Christie WING YING CHOW
Fundraising Officer
is boatie-ishly enthusiastic: training hard and rowing their best. Rowing, however, is an expensive sport and the Club simply would not be able to continue without financial support. We are therefore delighted to announce that Barclays have agreed to sponsor the Club with a very generous £3000 this year. We would like to thank Pip Walters, NHBC Club Captain 2008-2009 and now working at Barclays, for her quick response to our fundraising drive and invaluable support in putting MECBC in touch with Barclays. The Club has ambitions to inspire our rowers to achieve success everywhere. The training camp that took place in Cheshire last year is one of the—hopefully increasingly common—opportunities for MECBC to display their talent on other rivers and forge friendships with other boat clubs.
WING YING CHOW
EVERY MECBC MEMBER
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The sponsorship from Barclays will subsidise transport, boat hire, race entry fees and coaching for more races on and off the Cam. Barclays may also be hosting an event in college this term, and we hope that they will get a feel for how the Boat Club is a valuable community to the College at large. It is an essential goal of the Club to make rowing accessible to everyone, and the help we receive, from both donations and our new sponsorship, enables us to do this by keeping termly subs as low as possible for our members. We recently incurred very worthwhile but large expenses in the purchasing of our lovely new boat Octopussy, and, as always, equipment needs fixing, coaching fees need to be paid, and we need to enter some races. We look forward to a great year with Barclays, and hope that this will be the start of a long relationship benefiting both parties.
EVE BONNER
EVE BONNER
Filming for Who Do You Think You Are?
Sally-Anne Bennett
Captain of Club
MORGAN O'DONOVAN, ASSOCIATION OF ONLINE PUBLISHERS (CC-BY-NC-ND LICENCE)
cold in a boat for an hour, not doing anything? Sounds suspiciously like marshalling for a race. But last January, it was for television cameras instead. MECBC were filmed for the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are? We put an eight together, excited by the prospect of being on TV. We were on the river and warmed up, then found ourselves sitting around, sadly without any marshalling Haribo. Seeing Hugh Dennis—the celebrity in our episode—and being reminded who he was (Mock the Week and Outnumbered comedian, as well as an alumnus of St John's) took a bit of time. Finally we were filmed rowing. Six months later, I'd forgotten about it until I saw that the new series had started. I was told we may or may not have made the final cut, so I sat down to watch the programme on the night, no idea if or when we might appear. Early on they mentioned Cambridge— then they were at St John's—then outside the LMBC boat house—then showing an LMBC boat. It would be now or never. My dad, watching it with me, said he saw our blades at the side of a shot. Finally, they showed a shot of ME rowing. I saw Chloe and Ying (cox and stroke) before the cut away and that was it. But we had been on TV! The programme is available on iPlayer until October 24th. We're on 23 minutes in, if you only want to see us, but the entire programme is interesting to watch. The short link to the episode on BBC iPlayer is http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01mmlx5/ or Google "Hugh Dennis iplayer". SITTING IN THE FREEZING
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an intense and exhausting and fantastic experience. For four weeks, I got to train twice a day, six days a week, with a group of girls and coaches who are as nuts about rowing as I am. It didn't matter how long you had been rowing or how strong or technical you were—everyone came in looking to learn and become a better rower. The work ethic and focus was inspiring, and the progress that we made each week, usually in different crews to the week previous, showed what was possible when everyone pushes as hard and as smart as they can every stroke, from push off to docking. We also had the opportunity to race in regattas at Kingston, Molesey and Staines. Hearing the cox or someone on the bank yelling, “Yeah, Cambridge!” took me a little by surprise the first time I heard it, and it was a moment before I realized they were talking to my boat. Not something I'll forget anytime soon. Made the horrific blisters and death squats all worth it. DEV SQUAD WAS
Dev Squad 2012
Reana Maier
Captain of Boats
A typical week in Dev Squad
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REANA MAIER
HOLLY SMITH
EVE BONNER
Monday 6:30am outing Tuesday 6:30am outing, 5:45pm weights Wednesday 6:30am outing, 6pm outing Thursday 6:30am outing, 5:45pm weights Friday DAY OFF! (evening de-rigging) Saturday RACING (and re/de-rigging) Sunday re-rig and possible sculling/outing
BEN RODFORD (CC-BY-NC LICENCE)
1ST OF AUGUST, I was lucky enough to have tickets to Eton Dorney, the London 2012 Olympic rowing venue. In order to reach the site two hours early, as recommended, my mother and I set out at the perfectly reasonable time of 5am (reasonable if you're a rower!). We were so early I even had some spare time to use the ergos in the ‘have a go’ tent. It transpired we had excellent seats, within the last 250m and opposite the big screen showing the progress of the boats down the course. The first half of the morning was occupied by heats and repecharges, while the last few races of the day would be finals. Anticipation was building steadily throughout the morning, so by the time Helen Glover and Heather Stanning took to the river, the excitement was nearly tangible. They had trounced their opposition in the heats, and in the process set a world record. High hopes and bated breath hung over the crowd as the competitors positioned themselves, everyone waiting for the green light. Silence, a klaxon, followed by a thunderous roar from the crowds—the race for ON THE
gold had begun. A strong start turned into a canvas lead, Glover and Stanning pulled away from away from their competition stroke by stroke, inch by inch. As the coxless pair reached the last 500m of the course, they were 5 seconds ahead of the next crew. The crowds in the stands rose as they passed, all willing, hoping, urging the boat on. I don't remember standing up, but I remember screaming useless encouragement as Glover and Stanning advanced on the finish line. Only when they crossed the finish line did I look around me and see the other forty-thousand spectators; jumping, cheering, waving flags and smiling. Regardless of prior knowledge of rowing, whether in the boat or a spectator, this was unequivocal proof that sport brings people together. For Glover and Stanning, theirs was the joy of victory; for us, it was the joy of witnessing that being realised. More than just a medal for GB, this was a medal for women's rowing, and I am both honoured and humbled to have witnessed it. So, Helen Glover, Heather Stanning, Anna Watkins, Katherine Grainger, Katherine Copeland, and Sophie Hosking—we salute you. London 2012 at Eton Dorney
HOLLY SMITH
Holly Smith
Holly is in Tsingdao, China this year for her year abroad 7
EVE BONNER
EVE BONNER
GINA DALGLEISH
EVE BONNER WING YING CHOW EVE BONNER
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Fairbairns Dinner 2012
Faibairns Dinner will take place on Friday 30th of November this year. If you are interested in attending, please email the Social Secretaries on boatclub-socials@murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk The Neptunes October 2012 by Murray Edwards College Boat Club is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Some rights reserved.