Spcbc Newsletter 2009 Issue1

CAPTAINS’ WELCOME Dear Boaties! What a year it has been so far. On the Men’s side Michaelmas saw our A boat win at Christ Church Regatta in a competition with over 80 boats entered, and Hilary saw Blades for the 1st and the 2nd VIII. The secret to success? There isn't one! In truth we have been doing

ST. PETER’S COLLEGE BOAT CLUB

what we always have at SPCBC; working hard and having fun. Both terms have seen all our boats out on the river do at least 3 outings and 3 ergs a week, with the first boats doing more and making the long, but rewarding, cycle out to Radley for outings. We have had some fantastic commitment this year from novices to more experienced oarsmen, all working together. Epitomising this, we were extremely lucky to have Tom Eaton take on coaching the first boat this year, and Francis working with both the 2nd VIII and the Novices. Both of them have been fantastic, and the success they have had just goes to show that with the continuing support of our more experienced boaties, and alumni, the ethos of St Peters Boat Club will continue to flourish and produce success. Most importantly this success has encouraged more and more Peterites to row, making the sport a thriving part of college life. Support at the river on the last day of Torpids and the finals at Christ Church was truly astonishing as a result. The first years have taken to it so much that they organised a 24 hr erg in the JCR!

NEWSLETTER

So with hard work and fun in mind we turn to 8's. Certainly looking to continue to succeed, allowing as many Peterites as possible to enjoy summer rowing in Oxford regardless of ability, and importantly setting up for next year

ISSUE NO.1

2009

by allowing those who do give it a go a chance to get hooked! Best wishes,

Hello, and welcome to St. Peter’s rowing!

CHRIST CHURCH REGATTA AN INSIDE PERSPECTIVE Before I came up to Oxford I had never given a

This year has seen St. Peter’s women’s

thought to rowing. My only previous exposure

rowing go from strength to strength. In

was watching the University Boat Race on TV.

Michaelmas term, two women’s novice crews

At the college Fresher’s Fair I was persuaded

entered Christ Church Regatta, trained hard

to go on a trial outing. I was apprehensive at

and, in racing, won one race each before

first, I had heard horror stories about cold early

being knocked out in the following rounds.

mornings, but as it happened my first rowing experience took

place

one warm, sunny

In Hilary term, two women’s crews also entered Torpids, this being only the

afternoon in October. I caught the rowing bug. It

5th time in the last 30 years that two women’s crews from St. Peter’s have

was new and exciting and was the talk amongst

got through the ‘rowing-on’ time trials in order to secure a place in Torpids

many freshers. We had a few more mixed

racing.

outings in first week before I was selected for the first novice 8.

In Torpids, W1 were extremely successful, bumping every day except Friday

Rowing seemed to fit in well with my timetable.

due to an equipment failure of the rudder, and managing to go up a division.

Early outings are a good way to wake up the

W2 also secured a bump on the last day of racing which was an excellent

mind before lectures. At first, 3 outings and 3

finish to the week! Around 30 girls are now keen to train and race in Summer

erg sessions was too much, but I soon grew accustomed to it and liked the

8s next term which is undoubtedly some of the best interest that women’s

idea that it was increasing my general fitness. At a time when all the first

rowing at St. Peter’s has seen in recent years. I am, needless to say,

years were still getting to know each other, rowing with 5 other

therefore extremely excited about Trinity term and the potential for

undergraduates gave the perfect opportunity to bond and create close

achievement and a wonderful team spirit as well!

friendships. Our Cox, Una, was also a novice; she took to coxing amazingly quickly and was soon as competent as she was confident.

Kind wishes,

Sarah Morrow

The words ‘regatta’ and ‘Christ Church’ were mentioned a few times, but while the event itself was still a long way off we paid little attention to our coach’s promising words. I was cynical and assumed that it was just for motivation. The thought that we might go on to win the Regatta didn’t cross my mind until very near the final.

During our training we had to contend with the varying stream, the changing

when Una called a big push and we pulled away to finish half a length ahead.

weather and punishing ergs. We pulled together as a team and took these in

The feeling of elation was fantastic; all our hard work had paid off. We were

our stride. Our first racing experience was Isis Winter League, where we

the first St. Peter’s crew ever to win Christ Church Regatta. This was the best

were the fastest novice boat on the river. At this point the regatta was only

introduction to rowing I could have hoped for.

Alex Yudin

two weeks away and we began to size up the competition. We began to make enquiries with our friends at other colleges to see what sort of training their novices were doing. I had a friend at Magdalen and beating him was a necessity. One cold Wednesday morning I stood on the banks of the Isis, nervous before my first ever rowing competition. Christ Church Regatta was upon us. Our first race was scrappy. The nerves showed but so did our power. We won comfortably and, more importantly, showed we could race well. We settled into the rhythm and by the weekend we had beaten Queens B, Pembroke A and Merton A. We had made it to Saturday, further than anyone would have expected a small college to go. Word amongst the captains on the other side of the river predicted that St. Peter's and Exeter would meet in the final. We stayed focussed and took each race as it came, growing more confident as time went on. We beat

THE VICTORIOUS MEN’S A CREW WITH THEIR COX UNA KIM AND THEIR COACHES ARTHUR DOWNING AND FRANCIS KING. WATCH THEM RACING AT WWW.SPCBC.ORG.UK

University College A, Worcester A and then St. John’s A

In Hilary term 2009, SPCBC ran a 24 hour erg session to

to make it to the final. It was the culmination of 6 weeks

raise money in aid of children in the developing world.

of hard training. By now we had a taste of success.

www.skipkids.org.uk

Exeter were a strong crew but we had character and we all wanted to win. Despite being exhausted having already raced 3 times that day, we were more than ready as we started the final showdown. We rowed the best and most exciting race we’d had all week. Exeter stayed level with us right until the end of the boat house stretch

Over 40 rowers and non-rowers alike kept the flywheel spinning for 24 hours. Over 30,000 strokes and 315,170

THE COLLEGE FLAG WAS HOISTED TRIUMPHANTLY TO CELIBRATE OUR WINNING OF CHRIST CHURCH REGATTA!

metres all in an effort to raise over ₤300 for SKIP Oxford.

TORPIDS 2009 What a fantastic week that was! After 4 days of racing SPCBC has finished with 7 ‘over-bumps’, 8 bumps, 2 sets of blades, and 5 competing crews. To put the results in context:

TORPIDS, WOMEN’S SECOND EIGHT

•

Five qualifying crews is the most we have had since 1998 • +15 net bumps places us 3rd out of every college in the University • 5 and 6 bump blades for M1 and M2 respectively are the best in a least 30 years (as far as our records go back!) • The two women’s crews achieved +4 bumps together with the Women’s First Eight going up one division. The men's crews achieved +14 bumps, placing them 1st in the University with 3 bumps more than any other college.

SIX-BUMPBLADES FOR THE

MEN’S SECOND EIGHT

WOMEN’S FIRST EIGHT IN THEIR TORPIDS, FIVE-BUMPS-BLADES FOR THE MEN’S FIRST EIGHT, STROKE ARTHUR DOWNING

NEW

BOAT

WOMEN’S ROWING AT SPCBC

training with a more experienced crew for three outings each week really

It all began on a late summer afternoon at the start of last Michaelmas term

survived erg sessions at the boathouse without my fellow W1 rowing novice

when a whole new generation of St. Peter’s rowers velcroed themselves into

Alex to sing the strokes away.

the shoes of one of SPCBC’s boats and pushed off to experience rowing on

Training became more serious in the run up to Torpids at the end of term.

the Isis for the first time.

This proved to be both another challenging competition and an opportunity to

After a gentle circuit up and down the river, we came back to dry land now

have pictures of myself pulling grotesque faces uploaded onto the RowPhoto

able to tell our strokeside from our bowside, feathering from squaring, and

and BigBlade websites. W1 managed to bump on all four days of the

rowing on from backing down.

competition! On day one, we overbumped St. Catz W2, and on day two we

After many hours of early morning outings and erg sessions, our first term of

bumped Madgalen W2. Unfortunately, day three’s bump was with a tree on

novice rowing culminated in Christ Church Regatta. Clad in fluorescent

the riverbank near the start, rather than with the boat we were meant to be

legwarmers and green and yellow face paint, all nine girls in the St. Peter’s

chasing. After fixing the broken rudder which had caused our collision and

Women’s Novice A boat put our new found skills to good use in front of a

replacing the damaged rigger at bow seat, we went on to bump Magdalen

crowd of cheering Peterites. We made it through to the third day of the

W2 (again) on the fourth and final day of Torpids.

competition when we went out in style following half of the boat catching

Since starting at St. Peter’s, I’ve fallen head-over-heels in love with rowing.

simultaneous crabs during our race against the Linacre A boat. However, the

Despite blistered hands, rowing in the snow last January and punishing 2K

upside of this defeat was that it left us free to cheer on the St. Peter’s Men’s

erg tests, I don’t think I could have enjoyed it more.

encouraged me to do as well as I possibly could. I don’t know if I could have

Rebecca Howett

Novice A boat to victory the following day. After a fantastic first term of rowing and the high of Christ Church regatta, I wanted to continue rowing through Hilary term. The new term saw me moving up to the Women’s First Eight boat and I finally got my hands on the glorious green and gold SPCBC stash. I’d only been able to call myself a rower for a measly three months, but

CHRIST CHURCH REGATTA, WOMEN’S NOVICE A CREW

HILARY BOAT CLUB DINNER, WOMEN’S FIRST VIII

ow when they came to the ford of the full-flowing river Isis, Becky sent down

WE

KNOW THAT IT IS NOT STATISTICS WHICH DEFINE THE HISTORY OF OUR CLUB, BUT THE MEMORIES, FRIENDSHIPS AND EXPERIENCES THAT YOU TAKE AWAY FROM IT. THAT IS WHY WE WANT YOU TO COME FORWARD AND TELL US ABOUT YOUR TIME WITH ST. PETER'S BOAT CLUB.

WHEN DID YOU ROW WITH ST. PETER'S? WHO DID YOU ROW WITH? WHICH CREWS WERE YOU IN? WHAT WAS YOUR GREATEST RACING EXPERIENCE? DO YOU HAVE ANY FUNNY / INTERESTING / STORIES TO TELL OF YOUR TIME WITH THE CLUB?

a thick mist on the boats ahead of them to confuse them. Forthwith St. Peter's Men's second VIII dekitted upon the bank and plunged their boat into the river like gods, armed with their blades only. Bumping was their purpose as they closed in on Teddy Hall. Only a short time later

UNUSUAL

the groans of Teddy Hall rose hideous as St. Peter's bow bumped them. (inspired by the Iliad, book 21)

DO

YOU HAVE ANY OLD PHOTOS OF YOUR CREWS? - WE WOULD LOVE TO SEE THEM AND PUT YOUR STORIES ON OUR WEBSITE.

“Friends of SPCBC” now online! For more information please visit www.spcbc.org.uk.

OUR HOMER AND POET DANIEL IN VICTORIOUS POSE. HE INSPIRED THE 2ND VIII BEFORE EACH RACE BY HIS ILIAD ADAPTATIONS

Invitation to our SUMMER EIGHTS 2009 BOAT CLUB ALUMNI WEEKEND When was the last time you picked up an oar, or cheered for St. Peter’s? Our College Boat Club welcomes you again and invites you to get in involved in Oxford’s most exciting sporting activ activity! Enjoy the thrills that bump races races have to offer and meet your former crew members on

Saturday of Sum Summer Eights, 30th of May, for a special reunion. We do not only offer you an exciting day of rac racing but as well the naming of the new Women’s first boat, The Zona and David Hardy, which was was only made possible by your generosity, followed by a Boat Club black

tie Dinner with all the rowers in our Col College Hall. On Sunday afternoon former crews are invited to have their outings on the Isis. Bring your families and friends around and enjoy the the feeling of being back in a Peter’s boat on the Isis. Space is limited so book early. Please contact the Boat Club Secretary Andreas Kranke on [email protected].