This is aimed at those athletes who are at UL colleges who do not have a crew for Henley Royal or Henley Women’s Regattas.  We will be starting this project from Saturday 26th May and any athletes who are interested could you please get in touch with UL Assistant Coach Phil Gray at 07939043776 or email p.s.g@hotmail.co.uk

Last weekend saw UL take their largest squad to BUCs in the recent history. Backing ourselves to take on top events against the best in the country we managed to win a medal in 19 of the 24 events entered. With so many medals it would be impossible to go through each race but I will pick out the highlights.

Saturday:

MChamp 8+: There was a setback on the morning of the race losing our 5 man to a nasty gastro bug, fortunately with a strong squad system we had an excellent replacement in Will Thompson. The attitude of the guys was exemplary and they took the heat by the scruff the neck and proceeded straight into the A final. The crew had one thing on their mind, “Gold”.  Newcastle, last years winners were going to be tough opposition but we believed there was a chance to win through adversity. The first 250m  went well, holding our own against Newcastle and had a nudge on Durham. After 500m we were still holding on to Newcastle but in doing so there was no free speed coming from the hull and an inefficient rhythm meant this was going to be hard work. Newcastle began to edge out into the lead with Durham lurking on our shoulder. At 1,000m Durham had pushed into second, rating 39 we had very little room to move but the guys dug deep and managed to push through again to re-take second place however with 150m to go the crew was spent and the lack of cohesion from a new combination shone through opening the door for Durham. We finished a disappointing third but the crew went out to win and always will. We finished 1sec off Durham 4secc off Newcastle and 3sec in front of Imperial College.

WChamp Lwt 2x: Helen Van Kempen and Emily Craig showed that UL is the place for women’s lwt rowing with and excellent weekend begun with this emphatic victory. The time of 7:34 was not too shaby either.

Sunday

WInt 1x: Finishing 6th in the time trial our Women’s Captain Constance Rowell had a lot of work to do to fight for her place in the final. The heat was tough after a blistering start the finish couldn’t come soon enough, she managed to hold on to a place in the rep but after looking at the times a final place was still a long way off. In the rep a second place finish meant a place in the final but she was beaten for the second time by the IC sculler by 6 sec. With confidence coming from this performace Connie went into the final with a spring in her step. In the final the Strathclyde girl was in a different league but Connie managed to put the IC girl behind her aff the start and she never got a look in. The Cardiff sculler was keeping Connie in third place but with a huge performance in the last 500m Connie moved into second position and an incredible win.

MInt 4+: This crew had 3 guys entered in the Int 8+ up against oarsmen who had featured in the final of Champ 8+s it was going to be a tough assignment. There was never more than 2sec covering the top three crews with us in the lead. With 150m to go Durham and Newcastle threw in the kitchen sink, however Ertan Hazine kept a cool head and from the stroke seat edged out with a 10 stroke push for the crowd.

WInt lwt 1x: Once again this event was dominated by UL with Helen and Simone out in front it was a race for bragging rights which were won by Simone after a great race.

WChamp 1x: As always the Champ 1x’s are  tough events as it was here, Emily was up against a number of trialists, and ex-UL and GB U23 Beci Humphreys. In a tight race Emily kept a very steady speed and while she was unable to turn over the strong sculler from Bristol she did manage to wear Beci down to win a great silver medal.

MChamp lwt 8+: This was without doubt the race of the day. Cambridge had been in the eight all year winning their boat race and finishing well in the head of the river they had no other races and were going to be fresh, IC were last years winners with most of the crew back again and Nottingham have been building a strong crew and were just off winning last year. Our crew had a very hard racing on the Saturday and had one outing in the boat with a sub which was disrupted with equipment failure. None of this seemed to bother them in their heat, they showed scant regard for reputation and took an early length lead and watched Nottingham and Cambridge fight it out for the other direct berth into the final, won by Nottingham. The final was a different story with Cambridge pushing from the word go, the lead was swapped the entire way down the course and with 100m to go it looked like Cambridge were going to get the victory by a foot. With the last stroke of the race the UL crew managed to surge and win in a photo finish by 0.02 of a sec for a fantastic Gold.

W Lwt 4-: The last race of the day was a victory for UL in a tough field UL always looked in charge and cruised to win by over a length from Exeter and Oxford.

Monday

WChamp lwt 4x: While Sunday exceeded expectations, the long weekend of racing had taken its toll and medals were not as easy to come by. The stand out performance once again came from the women. They managed to win by over 11 sec finishing the weekend in style.

Review:

We managed to finish 2nd on the medals table, with some results which could have easily gone our way. We also finished 3rd in the Victor Ludorum, which is a massive performance considering we have no entries in a whole category, beginner. A major thanks to ULU for paying for the entries and as always to the Trust who are as always incredibley supportive. Looking at next year the VL is now well in our reach. Durham won the VL but enetered 74 crews versus our 24. For us to win the VL we need to take more athletes, more boats, more coaches and we will need to find ways of raising funds.

Well done one and all and good luck for nect year.

This weekend sees the start of the regatta season with UL competing on three fronts.  The student side of the club sees the vast majority of athletes heading to Nottingham for the BUCS Championships.  This three day long regatta is one of the biggest regattas in Europe and gives all the universities a chance to compete across a number of events and show the strength in depth as well as individual strength.  The club is looking to have a very strong overall showing with 24 entries spread across the three days.  The main event on Saturday is undoubtedly the men’s eight where the successful Head of the River eight have a chance to show their speed over the shorter distance.  Sunday sees the lightweights get there chance in the eights while the heavyweights get a chance to see how the coxed fours go compared to the eight.  The lightweight women hopefully get there chance to show there dominance in the small boats on the Sunday as well as seeing how they fair in a coxless four.  Monday sees all the boys switch to the pairs and doubles while this is the main day for the girls with the lightweights in the quad and the open weights in the coxed four.  This regatta will hopefully give an idea as to how the squad is shaping up heading into the rest of the summer and the Henley regattas.

The non-student side of the club is splitting itself between Wallingford and Chiswick Regatta.  The sweep guys are heading to Dorney to compete in a pair while the girls and Charlie are competing in singles on our home stretch of water.  This group are in the early stages of the summer and crews will start to come together over the next month.

After a strong winter of training and results the regatta season is looking fairly exciting and we all hope that this weekend is the start of more to come.

Of course there are also those racing in Belgrade, good luck to one and all. We will be cheering on from Sunny Nottingham

Last high rate practice before Liz heads down to California tomorrow – we did 10 x2 min, some starts, some base race pace, and some sprint at the finish.  This is number 7 or eight and you can see we are getting pretty tired/tight in the shoulders!  Any thoughts/feed back welcome! I am at bow.

Apologies for the delay in this report, our website was hacked, but has been expertly retrieved by Fil Ljubicic.

These reports are from the horse’s mouth, of athletes taking part in the race.

1st eight:

3rd eight:

“The Head of the river race was an exciting experience for all involved but especially the third eight. We had a lot to prove and by the week before the Head with hard work and commitment we were only marginally slower than the second eight in training and we felt the Head would be our time. We had a good start to the race and after some nifty steering round a crew at Barnes Bridge we set ourselves up for a strong middle sector. We were rowing well in the conditions, however we were unable to push on as well in the headwind after Hammersmith Bridge and lost some valuable seconds. Despite this we felt that our result signaled a good end to the winter season and we heartily celebrated at UL with some help of donations to the bar by alumni.”

By Clarissa Coveney

5th eight

The 5th eight took to the water for the first time last night and is a mixture of students coming back from injury and illness with some cool heads of the alumni. Start No. 212

4th eight

Our 4th eight is based around the development squad which has been working hard over the past few months and are doing the club proud. The athletes in this crew have not been rowing for a long time but under the tutelage of  David Sprague and David Townsend they have been making great strides forward. A new boat rented for the race and a fighting spirit will hopefully mean they are able to achieve their target of top 100. Start No. 113

3rd eight

The 3rd eight has had the most time together starting by winning a bronze medal in Intermediate eights at BUCs Head finishing 6th overall including first eights. Another solid but uninspiring  race at Hammersmith Head won them another pennant. With plenty of time and hard work from the crew and Phil Gray (coach) should set them up for a great shot at the IM3 pennant. Start No. 71

2nd eight

Our 3rd eight has come together late and has had a poor race at Hammersmith Head. Training has been hit and miss but the crew is made up of some great racers and will have a good shot at the IM2 pennant. Start No 65

1st eight

The 1st eight has been working well. They began racing at Quintin Head finishing 3rd behind IC and TSS with less than 2 seconds covering the three crews. Next up was a match race against Cambridge Blue Boat which was a great boost with 3 wins from 3. Reading Head was the next test which reminded the crew the standard which is required to be competitive at the top of the HORR. At this race we finished 3rd 15 and 10 sec behind Oxford Brookes and Molesey respectively.  A new boat and a new seating order has brought the crew on again which was proven against Isis last Sunday with two convincing victories. Finishing 17th last year was a solid performance but with better preparation this year and a strong performance on the day should mean we will be able to move up the ranking.

As always getting these crews to this stage would be impossible without volunteer coaches and the backing of the Trust, so a big thank you from the athletes. Everyone is welcome to the club afterwards to enjoy a pint and to watch the rugby.

UL’s first eight took on Oxford University’s second eight (Isis) today over two pieces on the Boat Race course. The day started with a setback as our two man was taken ill and a shout was put out on the UL “Batline”. A bleary eyed but ever ready Richard Hardy was shortly on his way to the Purple Palace. With the sub onboard the crew had a good paddle to Putney and rested up at the Kings Wimbledon Boathouse, thanks to Patrick Duggan KCS Director of Rowing for his hospitality.

Isis were the victors on the coin toss and choose the Surrey station. Conditions were as good as one could hope for but as always the top of the tide created its own bounce.

Race one:

Our first eight’s sharpness from a well set up new boat and extra millage in preparation for the HORR paid off over the first minute of the race pushing quickly to three quarters of a length lead. Isis were in no mode to give away clear water easily and it took until a well placed push from UL just after Barn Elms to break clear water. Our cox Max Gander was under the wrath of the umpire for most of the first period of the race but once his crew had put him into this stronger position he was free to take the optimum line. From the Mile Post on our crew kept the pressure up and continued to edge out until they were almost a full length of clear water ahead. Coming under Hammersmith Bridge the eight lost some of its cohesion and Isis moved back to finish at St Pauls only one and half lengths down.

Race two:

The second race from Chiswick Eyot to Chiswick Bridge was always going to be test of nerve. Isis had the inside of the bend for the first three minutes, they were not going to gift an inch and it seemed the Umpire was not going to leave Max have any quarter. After a much more aggresive start from Isis our eight still managed to get a canvas in front by Chiswick steps. Coming to the Bandstand they were half a length in front and turning the screw. Going under Barnes Bridge a strong rhythm gave Max the clear water he needed to decide the result, now it was a question of the verdict. From this point on the first eight were rating 37 showing a ferocity of intent which gave them a final verdict of three lengths.

Once again our first eight raised their game on race day to perform as well as we could have hoped for. After loosing an oarsman on the day of the race they could have been fazed, however they showed a steely determination which will hopefully mean a they can perform well at the HORR.

Good luck to Tom Hilton (Tyrian oarsman last season) and his Isis crew at the boatrace.

Fingers crossed and good luck from all.

Saturday saw the annual UH head take place between the Pink Lodge and Mortlake.  This is a good opportunity for UL crews to race in with the college crews and support an event that is ran for the colleges.  The aim for the UL boats is always to finish ahead of the colleges and justify UL’s place as the elite section of the University of London.  This place was justified with UL finishing in the top four positions in the head with UL 4 coming home 27 seconds ahead of the highest placing college which was RUMS.  With the Kings and UCL first eights to come into the equation UL 4 need to keep improving to hold their place ahead of the colleges.

At the top it was UL 1 that finished first but they may have liked to have won by a slightly larger margin.  UL 2 had a storming row to finish just 10 seconds behind and put themselves in a strong position as the head crews really take shape.  Having to sub someone in during the pre paddle UL3 had a good row to give themselves confidence going into Sundays BUCS head.

Hammersmith Women & Junior Head

Having spent the Saturday getting some good training in, the girls eight went into this race with a lot of confidence having won the IM3 pennant at Quintin in comfortable fashion.  If the girls want to win the IM3 pennant at the head they know that they need to keep improving each session and they gave another strong performance to take the IM3 pennant again by a clear 15 second margin.  This means that in 2012 the girls are undefeated and with the added confidence hopefully can move UL up the order at the head.  This weekend at Reading Uni Head is another chance for the girls to show their dominance in the IM3 category and also a good chance to race a lot of the other universities for the first time.

BUCS Head

After their race the previous day the preparation went a lot smoother with a clear drive up to Peterborough and a much less chaotic than usual riverside greeted the truck as we arrived.  This event provided a good bit of training ahead of the Head and was a first chance for us to see how we fared in the intermediate eights event ahead of the regatta in May.  The lads felt they learnt from the race the previous day and had a much smoother row coming home with the Bronze medals in a good time that would have put them 6^th overall out of both Champ and Intermediate eights.  This was a really good starting point to take into the next two weeks of hard training before Hammersmith Head.

A long and tough weekend for all but a successful one and with the Head crews only just coming together this week the future looks bright for UL!

After a poor race at the United Hospitals Head on Saturday, the first eight knew that they needed to get it right if they wanted to challenge The Blue Boat. Earlier in the season a very similar crew were unable to beat a CUBC trial eight due to being far too sleepy off the start.  They were not going to let this happen again.

Race one:

The first race began on an incoming tide between the mile post and Harrods, UL were on the Surrey station with CUBC on Middlesex. The UL eight were sharper of mind and effort off the start and quickly moved to a full length lead, while CUBC struggled in the very challenging conditions. While UL had the advantage of the Hammersmith bend it didn’t make any difference as by the time the bend came into play UL had clear water and the CUBC crew were following on the same course. The race was abandoned due to sailing boats outside St Pauls, finishing after 4min approx.

Race two:

The second race began at Chiswick Eyot with UL once again on the Surrey station. CUBC were far sharper at the beginning of the second piece but still lost half a length to the higher rating UL crew. The far bigger and lower rating Blue Boat looked to have a better rhythm and were pushing through coming towards their bend at Barnes Bridge. The UL cox was having the better of the duelling and while being called by the Umpire Martin Haycock he still did enough to keep the UL bow in front. Going under Barnes Bridge UL were clinging to a canvas lead and it appeared that CUBC were going to come out on top due to the bend, however, UL seemed to find more confidence and another gear for the last 90sec (Picture above). UL pulled away to a half length victory on the outside of the bend.

Race three:

The final race began at Chiswick steps with UL on Middlesex. UL once again showed greater intensity off  the start and almost pulled out to a full length. CUBC really began to move well in this last piece and were edging on the UL for the first four minutes. With one minute to go  UL’s bend was finished and CUBC looked odds on to finish well in front, but once again the UL crew showed huge nerve, skill and pride and would not relinquish the lead. Jamie Cook in the stroke seat had decided that “None shall pass” with 15 sec to go there was 2 feet in the difference and Jamie pushed the rating up to 40 spm, with this CUBC knew there was no way past and UL pulled out to just over a full canvas.

Cambridge have a very strong crew and I’m sure they have a lot of speed to gain and we wish them well. Our first crew can also gain in speed and with the IM2 eight only 10sec behind at UH head, the IM3 eight winning a bronze at BUCS head and our women’s eight collecting another pennant at Hammersmith head, things are looking up for some good results at the major heads.

UL crew: Bow Inigo Atkin, Mat Bedford, Rory Buffachi, Ollie Cook, Paul Bennet, Ertan Hazine, Dominic Meyrick-Cole, Jamie Cook, Cox Max Gander