Selwyn College Boat Club Report 2015

SCBC Selwyn College Boat Club Supported by Selwyn College Permanent Henley Fund

Newsletter 2015

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Captains' Reports: Nick Jones on Lents and Mays in the men's squad The Lent Term saw a focus on the first eight, which was selected after a week of trial outings. We had a very positive early result in the Cambridge Head to Head which left the crew confident of a good Lents campaign. However, we spent the term on the wrong end of a series of illnesses and injuries, leading to missed outings and a lack of progress.

When it came to Lents this showed in our performance and we went down three places overall, which was a disappointing result after our initial expectations.

Due to a change in the number of divisions, the second boat was required to take part in the getting on race but unfortunately failed to get on. This was an unfortunate situation and one faced by many other colleges - which meant that a cohort of new rowers did not have the opportunity to experience the unique format of bumps racing prior to Mays.

For the first time in three years the Head of the River Race was not cancelled, meaning that our first eight was fortunate enough to race on the Thames during the Easter break.

The crew took the 260th place in the finish order with a time of 20:47.2, beating Magdalene and Hughes Hall among others.

The other big event for Selwyn rowing over Easter was the training camp, which this year took place in Gothenburg. We stayed at Mรถlndals Roddklubb and rowed on the Rรฅdasjรถn Lake, which allowed us to row on a larger stretch of uninterrupted water than can even be imagined in Cambridge. This was a useful camp and again provided opportunities to strengthen the capabilities of the squad overall, allowing knowledge about training and technique to be exchanged in a way that could not happen under the time constraints of Cambridge during term time.

With the start of the Easter Term we saw Will McDermott, Felix Newman, Charlie Cullen and Charlie Nye re-join the squad, leading to a renewed energy as competition for seats in the first boat increased. This led to some fierce performances in the seat racing and produced a very fast crew, one which repeatedly won its category in the head races held on the Cam during Easter Term. Rowing as sandwich boat on the first day of May Bumps, the first boat held off a fast - and perhaps overconfident - Robinson crew before going on to bump Girton and Fitzwilliam over the course of the campaign.

The lower boats had a less successful Easter Term, with both the second and third boats spooning, and the fourth boat relatively fortunate to only go down three thanks to a successful rowover on the final day. Whilst these results are not what any of us would like to see, the improvements which have been made over the course of the term have been very positive, as has the participation rate. Hopefully this will have sown the seeds for more successful performances next year, as individuals are inspired to avoid a repeat of a disappointing week.

Rob Galbenu on the men's Michaelmas term www.selwynrowing.org.uk www.facebook.com/SelwynCollegeBC @SelwynCollegeBC selwynrowing.wordpress.com

The Men’s squad got off to a great start this year, having put out the largest Michaelmas squad for some time. With a roughly even split of M1/M2/M3 rowers from last Mays, we decided to keep outings mixed for the first five weeks of term - allowing everyone to come up to speed.

Having kept outings mixed for the majority of the term, we decided to only enter Fairbairns this term. Our VIII finished 41st, which considering this was many of the crew’s first proper term of rowing was a solid performance for us!

The IV had greater success and managed to finish 8th in their division, and 5th out of Cambridge colleges. We faced strong competition this year including a lightning fast Peterhouse crew, who were last year’s winners, and a solid Caius boat, who are currently head of the river. Despite only coming 8th, we pulled a strong time which would have seen us come 3rd last year. Our stroke man unfortunately suffered a post-BCD injury earlier in the week, which affected both our training and the rowing itself having to find a last minute sub. While we were hoping for a stronger performance, we were happy with our performance and knew there was significant room for improvement had things gone our way.

Having kept training fairly relaxed so far, so as to not deter anyone from rowing, we plan to increase the intensity for Lents - meaning more outings and more land training! We find ourselves in a favourable position for Lent bumps and are keen to get back into division 1!

Our LBCs tell us conversion this year has been great and that many of our novices will keep on rowing for SCBC. Right now we’ll get at least an M3 out and maybe even an M4.

Sophie Gammage and Flo Powell on Lents and Mays in the women's squad The start of Lent Term meant the combination of the senior and novice squads, leading to two crews being formed. Five senior rowers and three exnovices were selected for W1, with W2 also being formed with a combination of promising ex-novices and returning seniors. W1 started the term strongly, racing in Newnham Short Course, the first senior race for the exnovices. The whole crew performed very well, staying calm but strong throughout the course W2 were a strong crew, however sadly due to the decision by CUCBC to continue to limit the number of divisions in Lent Bumps every W2 crew had to compete for a place in the bumps start order. This meant that W2, despite their best efforts were not able to get a place. This did not deter them coming third in the Talbott Cup. Selwyn W1 started Lent Bumps with a very strong row over behind Trinity Hall, scoring a www.selwynrowing.org.uk www.facebook.com/SelwynCollegeBC @SelwynCollegeBC selwynrowing.wordpress.com

whistle on them. They entered day two determined to get a bump, however bad luck soon struck and due to a forgotten life jacket the crew were left unable to race. Day three ended with a quick collision with the bank and a thorn bush led to them having to watch the crews pass them by once more. On the final day of lent bumps an extremely determined crew rowed down to the start. After an incredibly strong start they soon had whistles on Homerton. The bump finally came just before the Plough, a much deserved achievement.

Sadly W1 were not able to compete in the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race on the Tideway due to rules requiring greater off-Cam experience than the boat had. The crew still spent the last two weeks of term training hard in preparation for the next term. The women’s side ran their training camp in Cambridge, with fourteen rowers returning to Cambridge early. The camp was a success with many of the ex-novices making huge improvements over the week. We finished the week by racing in the Radegund Head Race.

Going into Easter term the club had very few returning rowers from previous years due to the majority having graduated last year. After running trials we decided with our coach to remain with mostly same crew as in Lent term. Despite the lack of experience this did not stop W1 from being determined to become into a good crew and to have a successful Mays bumps. The determination of W1 was unfortunately not fully reflected in our results.

After a strong row over on the first day, on the second day W1 started with a very strong Jesus crew behind them. After having three whistles on the boat ahead of us for a large portion of the course, they were sadly bumped just before they could complete their own bump. The next day led to W1 being bumped again by a very quick King’s crew.

As sandwich boat, Selwyn W1 was in for a tough final day of bumps. Determined as ever, the girls emptied the tanks on the first race, pulling off a strong enough start to put significant distance between their boat and that of their pursuers, Murray Edwards. As a result, W1 managed to row over comfortably, holding them off until Murray Edwards were bumped themselves. Although less eventful, the second row over was still very strong and a successful last race for the crew.

Due to the limited number of women’s divisions again W3 narrowly missed out on getting a place in Mays Bumps by 2 seconds. W2 started Mays surrounded by some very strong crews. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts the crew was bumped three times. Despite this the crew remained determined and each time gave their pursuers a fight. This was particularly evident on the second day where they were able to row over having pushed away from the pursuing crew.

Teresa Baron on the women's Michaelmas term SCWBC's women have had a cracker of a term. Our senior women spent Michaelmas working in IVs to work on technique, balance and coordination, both IVs entering Winter Head, W1 racing in University IVs and W2 finishing off the term with Fairbairns. We welcomed a few Selwyn freshers straight into the senior squad, and had plenty of freshers sign up to novice as well. Our novice crews saw some spectacular results, NW1 coming 2nd in Division 1 of Emma Sprints, and both our novice crews achieving excellent results in Fairbairns. Trials for the SCWBC senior squad will be starting on Tuesday 12th January.

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Selwyn Rowers representing the university over the last year: Hannah M Evans: Stroke of the Women’s Blue Boat Felix Newman: Stroke of Goldie Charlie Cullen: Five seat of the lightweight blue boat

Other News: Boathouse Coming Soon!

Work on the new boathouse is on schedule and we will be celebrating its opening on the weekend of May bumps (11th-12th June). Do check the attached calendar for more information and look out for further updates!

New Sponsorship Deal We are delighted to announce that we have once again secured sponsorship with Morgan Sindall.

Alumni Crew take on Fairbairns We do hope you've been following the progress of the alumni crew on our Facebook page.

Fresh from their success at the Boston Rowing Marathon, this term they took on Fairbairns, finishing a creditable 16th. They are raising money for the new boathouse so please consider sponsoring them. You can find the full race report on our blog, but here is a choice excerpt: “Unsparingly coxed by current SCBC overall captain, Teresa Baron, who steered a fine racing line, the stern pair of youth and experience in Robin Hellen and Huw Champion, middle four of Alex Goold, Hugh Wood, Richard Ingram and immediate past SCBC captain, Nick Jones, in the ejector seat, and the bow pair of Clare Heppenstall and Penelope Jarrett, had what can only be described as a very solid, very gutsy and very committed race, from start to finish. Ably supported by the all ginger bank party of John Pritchard and Jeremy Broadis, they powered 10 for Selwyn before winding again at the P&E, powered 10 at the Railway Bridge to “seriously gun it” along the Reach, before winding again at the Plough, giving it one more power 10 for First Post Corner and leaving it all out on the water by the Motorway Bridge –luckily, they also kept going for the finish at the Little Bridge!”

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Henley Fund Selwyn College Boat Club is grateful, as always, for the support of the Henley fund, without whom rowing at Selwyn would not be possible. This year the fund particularly enabled both men and women to go on training camp, with the men going all the way to Sweden, and facilitated the men's off-cam racing at the Head of the River. If you would like to support the Henley Fund, please visit https://www.selwynalumni.com/sslpage.aspx?pid=298 and select the Henley Fund option.

Photos of the alumni crew: Jeremy Broadis

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