This a collective report by Nathan, Gabriel and Josie. It starts on yet another bitterly cold day – you’ll probably have gathered from our first report from Worcester that a lot of rowing takes place in adverse weather conditions until the British summer arrives. But we still love it! Thanks to the rowers who have written these accounts – we have a record of these days to look back on in the future. The Boys
The Triumphant Seniors
The day started at a very bleak and cold 5am and when we arrived at Peterborough, it was still very grey. With just the flatlands stretching for miles and a couple of concrete bridges to pass under, we certainly weren’t there for the scenery but to smash out some results and build on the positive start of our second term.
Our coxed four of Nat, Cyril, Christian, Nathan and Ryan won the 2.5km race despite Nathan being ill for the last week or so and on serious medication. In fact, they were only a few seconds away from winning the whole division. After Cyril and Christian had wolfed down packed lunches made with “extra love and including an inspirational note,” the two of them jumped into a boat and took off at speed to win the men’s pair, and then Scotty B won third place in the singles.
Then the senior eight turned up: that’s Paddy, Chris, Gus, Shanly, Adam, Reimund Scott and Ryan (who’s in great shape if you haven’t heard) plus cox Emily. Ryan stepped in to help semi-crippled Ollie, and Scott replaced Tristan who had a commitment on Tinder, according to the press release from his modeling agency. They guys consistently gave it their all over the 4.7km course and came in a very respectable second. All in all, it was a good day for the senior guys!
Some of our winning Senior men’s rowers are in our calendars and films if you’d like to take a look!
Here’s a photo of some winning rowers! Thanks Warwick Rowing Club for the photo:
The Novice Men Hit a Rocky Spot
The 5am start was a bit of a shock, but the party pop anthems playing on the minibus helped mellow us out a bit. The lake was frozen over in Peterborough when we arrived, just to give you an idea of how cold it was, so we went about trying to make sure we looked hot enough for some new photos for our Facebook profiles.
Jack, James, Tiago, Gabriel, Lucas, Tom, Zach and Stan made up the novice men’s first eight, and our cox is Ralph. We got off to a pretty fast and aggressive start, and managed to keep a consistent, balanced rhythm that surprised everyone. However, because we are novices, this suave start didn’t last too long, and we hit a rocky spot that produced some motivational swearing and a bit of wobbling. But, wobble over, we went on to win second place! The second eight and the third IV also had good results on the day. To sum or efforts up in one word – progress. A special mention must go to Zach’s parents who brought a truckload of donuts to the boathouse for our post-race celebration.
The Novice Women Borrow a Boat
The girls piled into the minibus, a little bewildered by the time of morning, but excellent DJing on the bus by Sophie and Olivia made the trip pass quickly, even if Catherine, the driver, doesn’t agree. We didn’t get the boats rigged as smoothly as we’d like, especially as we had to scavenge around for some bolts to hold the boat together. Because of this ‘issue’ we had to use the Senior’s Hudson 8 boat, rather than our Eton. They weren’t too happy and went ‘parental’ over the boat, while we were buzzing with excitement about being allowed to row in such a quality craft. We paddled up to the start of the race without any mishaps and were careful not to let anything else within a mile of the Senior men’s beloved boat.
Then we were off and things were going well. Sophie was an excellent cox on the day and we finished in style. We rowed back and landed the boat like pros, which was just as well because the Senior men were all watching us. We got the boat off the water, with the help of the Senior men, and returned it to their safekeeping. We don’t think we’ve ever had so much attention from the Senior men, and we doubt it will happen again – unless we take their boat. But, it was a great day – we can’t wait for more!