Saturday 13th December - Walton Small Boats Head

It was such a cold, wet day all over the country on Saturday, so wet in fact that our boys threw in the (very wet) towel once the first section had completed. We therefore have a reduced set of results compared with our original starting list:

	Start No.		Personnel	Category	Time	Posn. in Boat Class
Section 1 10:00 a.m.	63		Mark Chatwin & Alex Page	S2 2-	11:02	14th
	76		Richard Ratcliffe	S2 1X	DNS
	78		Dov Ohrenstein	S2 1X	11:40	74th
	95		Kenny Almand	S3 1X	11:14	41st
	120		Ewen McLeod	S4 1X	DNS
Section 2 11:30 a.m.	225		Dick Findlay & Frank Webb	Vet G 2X	DNS
Section 3 1:00 p.m.	398		Mark Chatwin & Dov Ohrenstein	S1 2-	DNS
	449		Alex Page	N 1X	DNS

Full finishing order at waltonsbh_results08t.pdf.

Saturday 6th December 10:00 a.m. - Scullers' Head

Thirteen proved to be a slightly unlucky number of Quintin entries for the Scullers' Head, as we ended up with only eleven finishers this year. Mark Chatwin maintained fifth position in S1, with the fastest time for the club. Tom Bishop just missed out on the Veteran F pennant by 0.93 sec. It looked initially as though Geoff Potts had won the Veteran E pennant, but the time first reported for him was a minute less than it should have been - hard luck Geoff! The results for the club's scullers are listed below. The full results are available on the Vesta website. Hugh Davy was missing from the initial results list but finally got a placing. Nick Ryan and Frank Webb withdrew through illness and injury respectively.

Photographs of all the scullers are available at ../photogallery/2008_12_06/pic_01.html .
 

Finish Posn.		Time	Start No.		Name	Category	Posn in Category
38		21:38.56	20		Mark Chatwin	S1	5
88		22:06.15	157		Kenny Almand	Vet B	6
146		22:33.10	68		Charles Harrison	Vet D	2
174		22:45.28	94		Richard Ratcliffe	Vet B	11
206		23:03.02	174		Dov Ohrenstein	S2	17
219		23:10.95	500		Tom Bishop	Vet F	2
230		23:16.59	481		Geoff Potts	Vet E	2
256		23:32.59	489		Malcolm Cook	Vet E	3
402		25:32.59	396		Martin Carr	Vet C	23
413		25:53.29	521		Francis Brown	Vet H	2
425		26:55.98	523		Hugh Davy	Vet I	1
DNS			74		Nick Ryan	Vet C
DNS			519		Frank Webb	Vet H

Saturday 29th November 11:00 a.m. - Burway Small Boats Head

Burway Small Boats Head attracted over two hundred crews this year, and there were 224 finishers, made up of large numbers of single and double sculls, coxed quads and a handful of coxless pairs. The overall winners were an Ardingly S2 double scull, who sculled the course in 11 min 1 sec. Dick Findlay and Frank Webb flew the Quintin flag. Starting at No. 26 in Division 1, they finished 48th overall, in a time of 12 min. 33 sec. The full finishing order is available here.

Saturday 22nd November - Kingston Small Boats Head

Quintin stalwarts one and all took to the icy waters of the Kingston reach on Saturday to take part in the annual Kingston Small Boats Head. There were two divisions, starting at 10:30 and 13:30.

In division 1, the Senior 1 coxless four of Mark Chatwin, Dov Ohrenstein, Richard Ratcliffe and Kenny Almand, put in a sterling performance and were only just beaten by the division winners, a Thames Tradesmens' quad. The Quintin time of 16 min 12.3 sec. was just 1.7 seconds off the winning pace and made the crew the fastest sweep-oar boat in the event. Other successes included Charlie Harrison's 2nd in Vet D sculls (19 min. 42.4 sec.), Malcolm Cook in Vet E sculls (21 min. 5.6 sec.), and Tom Bishop in Vet F sculls (20 min. 11.5 sec.).

Now for the fun bit - Hugh Davy (Vet I) apparently beat Francis Brown (Vet H) by nearly 30 seconds, even though he started 15 seconds behind Francis and did not overtake. Still, the times stand at 22 min 27.0 sec. for Hugh and 23 min. 5.0 sec. for Francis.

In division 2 in the afternoon, Richard Ratcliffe decided to have another go and boated a Senior 3 quad scull, including Miguel Llanos and Alex Page, and John Ferrario drafted in at bow steers. This quad came 3rd in Division 2 in a time of 16 min. 42.1 sec. Bringing up the rear, although not literally, were Dick Findlay and Frank Webb in a Vet G double - their time 19 min. 9.3 sec.

Full results available here.

Photographs of all QBC competitors are available at ../photogallery/2008_11_22/pic_00.html .

Sunday 9th November - The Veteran Fours Head

More success in the Veteran Fours Head! The Vet E quad (Dick Findlay, Charlie Harrison, Tom Bishop & Nick Ryan) came away with the Vet E 4x- pennant , finishing 7th overall in a time of 20 min. 17.55 sec. and nearly 40 seconds ahead of the Vet D 4x pennant winners. The Vet H coxless four (Bill Burbage, Francis Brown, Hugh Davy & Jim Moyes) faired not quite so well, finishing 127th out of 140 placed crews in 25 min. 1.06 sec.

Full results can be found here.

Photographs of both QBC crews are available at ../photogallery/2008_11_09/pic_01.html .

Saturday 8th November - The Head of the River Fours

The club had somewhat mixed success in the Fours Head on Saturday. The S2 quad (Charlie Harrision, Pete Meaney, Roy Davies and John Ferrario) had a rather unsatisfactory scull and finished 155th in 20 min. 56.37 sec. The first S2 coxless four (Mark Chatwin, Dov Ohrenstein, Richard Radcliffe and Kenny Almand) faired better and finished 106th in 20 min. 34.15 sec. The second S2 coxless four (Ewen McLeod, Alex Page, Simon Barbour & Paul Persad) finished 311th in 22 min.13.26 sec.

Full results here.

Photographs of all QBC crews are available at ../photogallery/2008_11_08/pic_01.html .

Saturday 1st November - Teddington Small Boats Head

Nick Ryan and Ben Fowler did not, after all, take part in the Teddington Small Boats Head. I don't know if it was the reason they withdrew, but the weather was foul.

Saturday 25th October - Marlow Long Distance Sculls

Some belated news from Marlow Long Distance Sculls, where the club had six entries. Charlie Harrison won the Veteraqn D 1x division, in a time of 21 min. 11.3 sec,, Tom Bishop won the Veteran F 1x division in 21 min. 52.9 sec and Frank Webb won the Veteran G/H handicap in a time of 24 min. 4.7 sec, Dick Findlay (Vet G) did 23 min. 20.0 sec. but was beaten by Frank on the handicap. Geoff Potts missed out on the Veteran E 1x pot by 1.4 sec. with a time of 22 min. 35.6 sec. and Malcolm Cook did 23 min.19.9 sec. in the same category.

The full results are available here.

Saturday 18th October - Weybridge Silver Sculls

The club had six entries in the Weybridge Silver Sculls. Although there were some heroic sculls by our veterans, only Nick and Charlie won pennants (tankards actually), having three or more entries in their events (and coming first!).

Finish	Start No.		Personnel	Category	Posn. in category	Time
11th in 2x	262		Nick Ryan and Charlie Harrison	Vet C	1st of 5	13:39
13th in 2x	24		Nick Ryan and Charlie Harrison	Vet D	1st of 3	13:40
137th in 1x	209		Malcolm Cook	Vet E	2nd of 6	16:46
151st in 1x	438		Dick Findlay	Vet G	3rd of 5	17:03
167th in 1x	450		Frank Webb	Vet H	1st of 1	17:11
291st in 1x	451		Hugh Davy	Vet I	1st of 2	19:48

Full results are available by boat type and by category.

Saturday 11th October 3:00 p.m. - Pairs Head

The Pairs Head took place on a glorious Indian summer's day, with just a gentle breeze for the scullers and oarspeople to contend with. Miguel and Ewen continued on from their successes in the summer to be the fastest Quintin boat home. Nick and Ben were second, just 3/100ths of a second ahead of Geoff and Tom, who took the Veteran F 2x pennant. The results for Quintin crews were

Category	Start		Time	Overall finish position
S4.2x	111	McLeod/Llanos Sanchez	00:13:17.4	119
VetB/C.2x	58	Ryan/Fowler	00:13:19.0	123
VetF.2x	301	Potts/Bishop	00:13:19.3	125
VetG/H/I.2x	310	Findlay/Webb	00:13:59.5	236
VetE/F/G.2-	360	Lloyd/Hine	00:14:21.9	279

The full results may be found here, by time and by division.

Saturday 27th September - Quintin Summer Ball

Saturday 27th September saw over 90 people congregate at the Richmond Hill Hotel for the Quintin Ball held in aid of club funds with men in evening dress and the ladies looking fabulous in an array of fashion. Initial drinks were followed by a meal in the Ballroom with the tables surrounding the dance floor and dressed with blue & white table centres carrying on the QBC theme. During the meal the captain initiated the tradition ’Heads or Tails’ game with £50 going to the winner. Duncan was his usual self in promoting the sale of raffle tickets and I am sure nobody escaped his grasp and all to the good cause of the club. The many prize winners were spread around the tables and it seemed that each table managed to produce at least one winner. Dancing followed with the first set performed by Geoff and his happy band of musicians. Although only having met a few days before, and had one short rehearsal, they played like a well oiled machine. This year there was the addition of saxaphone and bongos which certainly produced a great full sound. The evening closed with the disco and it was good to see so many eager dancers boogying late into the night. A great time was had by all and we thank Jan Jakobsen for her unfailing efforts to organise this now popular event, see you all again next year! (Paul Gunn)

Saturday 27th September - Wallingford Long Distance Sculls

Just to underline the end of the summer and the beginning of the autumn season, Wallingford Long Distance Sculls took place on a sunny Saturday afternoon, 27th September. From the club, Geoff Potts, Tom Bishop and Charlie Harrison took part, and Charlie came away with the Veteran D pennant while Tom grabbed both the Veteran E and F pennants. Full results here.

	Class	Time	Handicap	Adjusted time	Position in class
Woods (Wallingford)	E 1x	15:22.4		15:22.4	1
Charlie Harrison	Vet D 1x	16:32.5	1:12	15:20.5	1
Tom Bishop	Vet E 1x	17:24.7	1:46	15:28.7	1
Tom Bishop	Vet F 1x	17:22.4	2:24	14:58.4	1
Geoff Potts	Vet E 1x	18:06.8	1:46	16:20.8	3

Malcolm informs me that the Veteran E handicap of 2:26 shown in the official results is wrong and should be 1:46. I have therefore shown the corrected timings above. Clearly it would not be greater than the Veteran F handicap.

Wednesday 23rd September - Autumn is here

With the close of the regatta season, Malcolm Cook can now safely be declared winner of the Potwinners' Chart 2008, returning to the position he last held in 2004. Well done Malcolm!

Sunday 14th September - Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of the club was held in the clubroom at 12:00 noon on Sunday 14th September. The following officials were elected:

• Captain: Mark Chatwin
• Vice-captain: Graham Lloyd
• Treasurer: Bill Burbage
• Secretary: Malcolm Cook
• Other committee members: Martin Carr, Paul Gunn, Roger Hine, Duncan Hughes, Dave King

The AGM voted in favour of the outgoing committee's proposals for subscriptions and rack fees.  For the year starting 1 September 2008 the subscription is therefore £330 less a £15 discount for those who pay before 1 November and the rack fee for private sculling boats is £155.

Thus those without a sculling boat rack should pay £315.  Those with a rack should pay £470. 

Please give your cheque (payable to Quintin Boat Club) to any member of the committee or send it to the treasurer, Bill Burbage, at “Beechlee”, Bank Green, Bellingdon, Chesham, Bucks, HP5 2UT.  Thanks to those of you who have already paid.

Saturday 9th August and Sunday 10th August - Stourport and Stourport Sprint Regattas

As is becoming a habit, the club rounded off the summer racing season with a clutch of wins over the Stourport weekend. On Saturday, the club entered Senior 2 coxed fours, Senior 2 coxless fours, Veteran C coxed fours, Senior 1 coxless pairs, Senior 2 double sculls, Senior 4 double sculls and Senior 4 single sculls. Miguel and Ewen consolidated on their novice doubles win at Staines with a win in Senior 4 doubles, and Miguel also took Senior 4 singles. On Sunday, our entries were Senior 2 coxed fours, Senior 2 coxless fours, Veteran C coxed fours, Senior 1 coxless pairs, Senior 2 double sculls, Senior 3 double sculls, Senior 4 double sculls, Senior 4 single sculls and Veteran F single sculls. Mark, Dov, Richard and Simon won Senior 2 coxless fours and Graham won Veteran F sculls. There were also two narrow defeats in finals on Sunday (2 feet and 4 feet). The captain puts it down to too much quadrupling up! So quite a successful weekend, with everyone of the team winning a pot except poor old Catt.

Dov Ohrenstein also lodged the following report, which gives a little more insight into a hectic weekend:

"Thanks to Mark for dragging us all up to Stourport for an end of Season spectacular & to Graham for trailering the boats. Mark clearly decided that we had to help Stourport's finances by entering as many events as possible:

Saturday (1200m course)
S4 1x- Miguel (Winner)
S4 2x Miguel & Ewen (Winner)
S2 4+ Mark Richard Simon, Dov, Catt (lost to winners)
S2 4- Mark, Richard, Simon and Dov (lost in final)
S1 2- Mark, Dov (lost to the winners)
S2 2x Mark, Richard (lost in final)
VC 4+ Graham, Richard, Ewen, Dov, Catt

Sunday (450m)
S3 1x- Miguel (lost in final, 1 length)
S3 2x Miguel & Ewen (lost to the winners, 1 length)
S2 4+ Ewen Richard Simon and ??? + guest cox (lost in final - 2 feet)
S2 4- Mark, Richard, Simon and Dov (Winner)
S1 2- Mark, Dov (lost in final - 4 feet)
S2 2x Mark, Richard (lost in final , 2 lengths)
VC 4+ Graham, Richard, Ewen, Dov (lost in final 3 feet)
VF 1x Graham (winner - 3 lengths)

Being greedy on the Pot Hunting nearly but not quite resulted in a stack of pots for each of us. Unfortunately the late injury to Kenny "The Paintball" Almond meant that we were putting together scratch crews for a lot of the events which made the task a lot harder.

Special congratulations to Miguel who stormed through to victory in the Saturday Senior 4 in his single and then repeated the result in the Senior 4 double with Ewen. Bumped up to Senior 3 for the Sunday Miguel was not far off the winning pace then.

The most memorable event for me was S2 4- semi final on the Saturday when we were 3/4 of a length down with 100m to go and a storming finish resulted in my first dead heat - Winning the rerow by a length and half felt like a final even though it was not. Unfortunately by the time the final came round there was nothing left in our tanks.

The finals, particularly on the Sunday came in quick succession with little space for recovery between races.

In the Sunday Sprint Lloydy appeared to cruise over the line at a low rate to take a comfortable victory in his veteran F single but then seemed surprisingly knackered. He later confessed that in the best Quintin tradition he was not in fact coasting but had put all his effort into the start.

The S2 2- of Mark and I faced a Worcester Crew who had not raced all day and were so fresh that they had to go on the ergos to warm up! They had beaten us comfortably on the Saturday and we were determined to do things differently and came close to pulling it off. Off at 48 and settling at 41, Mark thought the tempo was a bit on the low side so called for an up one as the crews were nearly level coming into the finish. Unfortunately, it was not quite enough and we narrowly lost.

The S2 4- brought home the bacon on the Sunday when it won the final against Stourport. Thanks to super sub Simon who was an able stroke despite claiming that he was rowing on the wrong side.

The S2 4+ were really unfortunate on the Sunday. The crew had its bowball in front most of the race but were just pipped at the line.

The final race of the weekend was the Senior 2 double. Mark and Richard faced the same crew that had earlier just beaten Ewen and Miguel. It took place only a couple of minutes after the S2 4- and about 15 minutes after the S2 4+ final and the Quintin Crew were well beaten, clearly having nothing left to give by that stage of the day. The combination of a lot of races (not to mention the previous nights' beers laced with disinfectant from the curry house) clearly took their toll but that won't stop Ewen and Miguel claiming bragging rights for getting closer to the winners!

All the rowers and scullers can be happy that to have come away with a pot (our cox Catt unluckily had to leave early and missed out on the chance to have squeezed an extra 2 foot out of Sunday's S2 4+).

Looking forward to next year!

Dov

PS Congratulations also go to Mark and Miguel for defeating some scary Stourport opposition in the Pool competition (local rules applying) at 2 a.m. during the late night pub lock in."

Saturday 26 July - Staines Amateur Regatta

The club had five entries at Staines and featured four finalists. On the first really summer-like day for many a week, with a blue sky and temperatures in the upper twenties, a good day's racing was had by all. Miguel Llanos and Ewen McLeod featured in Novice Single Sculls - Miguel had a disappointing first heat, but Ewen, after a row-over in his first heat stormed through in the quarter- and semi-finals only to lose out in the final in the last race of the day. As compensation, Miguel and Ewen triumphed together in Novice Double Sculls, winning both the semi-final and the final comfortably. Malcolm Cook kept up his near-perfect record by winning Veteran E/F Single Sculls, impressively making up the 4 second handicap in the final in the first 30 seconds of the race. The UWBC/QBC composite four raced in Novice Coxed Fours. Despite a huge shipwreck halfway down the course in the semi-final, which could have cost them their place in the final, they managed to hang on to their lead. In the final they never got their noses in front and went down by just over a length. Novice crew: Jack Gannaway (bow, QBC), Tom Sweetman (QBC), Lionel Eid (QBC), Andreas Kaefer (stroke, UWBC), John Peters (cox, QBC). Malcolm is pulling away in the potwinners' chart. Stourport here we come!

Photographs from Staines Regatta are available at ../photogallery/2008_07_26/pic_01.html.

Monday 21 July - News from an old member

News from an old member of the club, Laurie Hallifax, who represented the club at Henley Royal Regatta in 1957 in both the Thames Cup and the Wyfolds. He appears in our photogallery in a picture of the 1957 Henley squad.

Laurie tells us he competed at Henley Veterans Regatta again this year and was the oldest competitor taking part. Here's a photo of him winning his first heat, courtesy of BigBlade Photography.

He is hoping to compete in the World Masters Regatta at Trakai in Lithuania in September and was wondering if anybody from Quintin was going. Last year he took part in the same event held in Zagreb, Croatia, and came second in his heat of the 80+ single sculls. He was the fastest British sculler in category "I" (75+) , won the octogenarian heat of the double sculls by 11/100ths of a second and stroked the winning octogenarian coxed four.

Saturday 19 July - Molesey Amateur Regatta

The club had a relatively successful day at Molesey Regatta. The sun was shining, on and off, and there was no rain, but there was a howling gale blowing down the course. This seemed to spur our competitors on to success. Mark Chatwin raced Morosinato of S.C. Querini, Venice in Senior 1 Sculls at 11:15 and this turned out to be the final as neither of the scullers for the other semi-final turned up. The verdict was a comfortable win for Mark. Ewen Mcleod battled through two heats of the Novice Sculls to reach the final, but found his Molesey opponent and the fact that he had already raced over the course four times a little too much. Four times? Yes, because he was doubling up in the Veteran D eight which had raced a closely contested semi-final against a Walbrook/Kingston composite (¼ length to Quintin) and another close race in the final against Molesey, where the verdict was ½ length in favour of Quintin . The Veteran D crew were: Graham Lloyd (bow), Malcolm Cook, Ewen Mcleod, Nick Ryan, John Ferrario, Roger Hine, Roy Davies, Dick Findlay (stroke), Catt Campbell (cox). Malcolm is currently racing away in the potwinners' chart, with four wins.

Full regatta results here.

Photographs of Molesey Regatta are available at ../photogallery/2008_07_19/pic_01.html.

Friday 11 and Saturday 12 July - Henley Veteran Regatta

The club had two representatives at Henley Veteran Regatta: Tom Bishop in Vet F 1x and Dick Findlay in Vet G 1x. Competition was fierce, and neither sculler had any success.

Wednesday 2 July - Henley Royal Regatta

Once again our Henley has proved disappointing. The Thames Cup eight were confident they could beat Kingston, but went down by ¾ length in a closely contested race. Full results here. However, we did have some winners - in the Thames Cup Sweepstake, organised by Duncan Hughes. The results are as follows:

Overall winner of event £125:  Leander – Kevin McEvoy
Slowest heat winner on Wednesday £40:  London 'D' (7.11) – Mike Kidd
Slowest heat winner on Thursday £40:  Leander (7.09) – Kevin McEvoy
Slowest heat winner on Friday £40:  Tideway Scullers (6.58) – Ewen McLeod
Slowest crew overall £50:  Agecroft (3¾ lengths behind a winning time of 7.27) – Mandy Alington
Second slowest crew overall £25:  KRS Gent (1½ lengths behind a winning time of 7.33) – Leif Jacobsen

Because of the very slow conditions on Saturday, the two "slowest" crews in the event were the losing semi-finalists.

Shades of 1930!

This picture looks remarkably similar to the one above the Quintin Bar, except it's 2008 not 1930 (and in 1930 Quintin went on to beat Kingston by 2½ lengths). A further coincidence is that both races took place on Wednesday 2nd July - just 78 years apart!

Monday 30 June - New ARA Points Proposals

The ARA has published proposals for a new system of racing statuses. A summary of the proposals may be found here. You can email your comments to competitionreview@ara-rowing.org. The proposals may be summarised as:

New Scheme		NV	IM3		IM2		IM1		Senior			Elite
Points		0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Old Scheme	NV	S4	S3		S2			S1			Elite

where one point is awarded for each win where two boats complete the course (i.e no non-qualifying wins). NV=novice, IM=Intermediate.

Saturday 28 June - Richmond Amateur Regatta

The club chalked up its first veteran VIIIs win of the season with a convincing win over Sudbury R.C. in the Veteran C/D handicap event at Richmond. Our 'D' crew were given 5 seconds start over Sudbury Vet 'C's but consolidated their advantage by leaving the stakeboat striking 41 and striding to 36-37. The final verdict was 2½ lengths in a time of 4 minutes exactly - at the time of going to press the fastest time of the day. Thanks to Graham for organising the crew and getting the equipment to and from the regatta. The crew was Graham Lloyd (bow), Malcolm Cook, Ewen McLeod, Nick Ryan, Roy Davies, Roger Hine, Ian Roots, Dick Findlay (stroke), Catt Campbell (cox).

Friday 27 June - Henley Royal Regatta Qualifying Races

Our Thames Cup VIII has qualified. Full details of the Qualifying Races may be found here.

Saturday 21 June - Marlow Amateur Regatta (at Dorney Lake)

The club raced in Senior 2 VIIIs at Marlow on Saturday. There were 35 entries in this event, giving five seven-lane heats. The first three in each heat progressed to the semi-final. In their heat, the crew finished just outside the qualifiers, in fourth place. This was the fastest heat in the event by some three seconds and Quintin's time would have been enough to win three of the other four heats.

Posn.	Lane	S2 8+ Heat 5	1st 500m	2nd 500m	3rd 500m	4th 500m	Overall
1	7	Abingdon School	1:29.91	1:33.41	1:37.56	1:37.55	6:18.44
2	1	Commercial R.C, Ireland	1:33.40	1:33.22	1:34.37	1:39.57	6:20.56
3	3	Radley College	1:31.08	1:36.53	1:35.43	1:39.23	6:22.26
4	5	Quintin B.C.	1:32.67	1:37.69	1:36.58	1:37.08	6:24.02
5	2	Royal Shrewsbury School	1:33.98	NTT	NTT	1:36.65	6:24.54
6	6	King's School, Chester	1:31.50	1:38.09	1:35.90	1:41.06	6:26.54
7	4	Broxbourne R.C.	1:33.98	NTT	NTT	1:37.80	6:28.34

The final was won by Abingdon School, with Commercial R.C. in fifth place. Full results here (the S2 8+ final is race 96).

Sunday 15 June - National Veteran Championships

Nick Ryan and Charlie Harrison again ventured to Nottingham for the National Veterans' Regatta, this time in Veteran D double sculls. The competition was fierce, and Nick and Charlie finished fifth. Tom Bishop was entered in Veteran F single sculls, which he won, following on from his Durham victory the previous day. Tom is now vying with Malcolm at the head of the potwinners' chart. Pete Meaney sneaked in a win in Veteran D Eights in a Northwich/Agecroft/Quintin composite. Results of finals below.

Posn.	Lane	VD 2x Final	Time	Difference
1	3	Runcorn RC	3:39.26
2	4	Peterborough City RC	3:43.05	+ 3.79 s
3	2	Ardingly/Thames Trades	3:44.32	+ 5.06 s
4	5	Tideway SS	3:47.92	+ 8.66 s
5	1	Quintin BC	3:50.23	+ 10.97 s
6	6	Nottingham RC	3:54.43	+ 15.17 s

Posn.	Lane	VF 1x Final	Time	Difference
1	3	Quintin BC (Bishop)	4:02.45
2	5	Dart Totnes A (Tubbs) A	4:08.15	+ 5.70 s
3	1	Llandaff RC (Hellis)	4:10.95	+ 8.50 s
4	2	Tideway SS (Bagnall)	4:13.15	+ 10.70 s
5	4	Dart Totnes B (Harris) B	4:15.70	+ 13.25 s
6	6	Crabtree BC (Daws)	4:15.86	+ 13.41 s

Posn.	Lane	VD 8+ Final	Time	Difference
1	3	Northwich RC/Agecroft RC/Quintin BC	3:06.66
2	1	Walbrook/B on Avon	3:08.06	+ 1.40 s
3	2	Crabtree BC	3:13.61	+ 6.95 s

Saturday 14 June - Barnes & Mortlake Regatta and Durham Regatta

The club had three wins at Barnes and Mortlake Regatta: Malcolm Cook won veteran handicap sculls, beating Jock Mackerral of Vesta in the final despite a 15 second handicap. Miguel Llanos won Novice sculls in his first sculling regatta. The QBC/UW men's novice four also won, rowing in the Ernie Vincent for its first regatta and first win. The crew was Jack Gannaway (bow, QBC), Tom Sweetman (QBC), Lionel Eid (QBC), Andreas Kaefer (stroke, UWBC), John Peters (cox, QBC). Lionel was last year's captain of the University of Westminster Boat Club. Unfortunately the women's novice four which was due to race had to scratch.

A photograph of the winning novice four is available at ../photogallery/2008_06_14/pic_01.html.

At Durham, Tom Bishop was in Vet E/F/H handicap sculls, and travelled all the way north to race H. Jones of Thames Tradesmens' R.C. in the first heat! Tom went on to win the final. Results here.

Saturday 31 May and Sunday 1 June - Metropolitan Regatta

The senior squad competed in Senior 2 VIIIs and Senior 1 coxless IVs at the Metropolitan Regatta at Dorney Lake, Eton. In general they found the going tough, just failing to qualify in three of their four first round heats. The eight did, however, make it to the final on the Sunday. The result of the final was:

1	Eton College BC	1:29.10	3:02.65	4:39.62	6:11.44
2	Durham University BC (C)	1:29.91	3:04.08	4:40.50	6:12.83
3	Vesta RC (A)	1:33.83	3:10.13	4:45.69	6:18.45
4	Oxford Brookes University BC	1:31.80	3:08.33	4:48.60	6:20.27
5	Quintin BC	1:32.48	3:09.00	4:50.16	6:23.75
6	Grosvenor RC	1:34.56	3:11.30	4:49.48	6:24.16
7	Exeter University BC	1:35.52	3:13.46	4:54.21	6:29.63

Saturday 10 May - Bedford Regatta and Borne Regatta @ Chiswick Bridge

The first VIII (Quintin/MAA composite) found the going tough at Bedford, going out to a heavier Kingston crew in S2 8+ and to a Christ Church boat reputedly with three Blues on board in S1 8+. Meanwhile, back in Chiswick, Malcolm Cook cruised through his first heat in Vet E 1x, in which he was the only non-Putney Town sculler to have entered. He was then presented with a row over in the final as the Putney Town sculler who had won the other semi-final scratched from the race in protest, reportedly after a dispute with an umpire whilst marshalling for a double sculls event. Still, it doesn't say that on the pot, does it Malcolm? Bedford results here.

Saturday 3 May - Chiswick Amateur Regatta

Thank you to all the helpers at this year's regatta. The return of three-boat racing allowed a record number of entries to be accepted, and the day's racing went very smoothly, finishing slightly ahead of schedule. Thank you also to all competitors for some fine races. Results of finals here.

Sunday 13 April - The Bob Slade Sculling Handicap

This year's club sculling championship was raced  from the Pink House to Quintin on Sunday 13 April at approximately 11.00am.

The overall winner was our captain, Mark Chatwin, who keeps the Bob Slade Cup for the next twelve months. The winner of the sealed handicap and new holder of the Finlayson Cup was Miguel Llanos. Other notable results were from Geoff Potts and Tom Bishop, continuing their rivalry just one second apart from each other. Full results here.

Photographs of Mark and Miguel are available at ../photogallery/2008_04_13/pic_01.html.

Wednesday 9 April - George Marshall RIP

It is with regret that we announce the death of George Marshall earlier today. George was until recently an active member of this club and a regular both rowing in and coxing the vice-presidents' crews until, at the age of 85, his doctor advised him to stop. He was a bomber navigator during the war, serving in Egypt, the Western Desert and over Germany, and it was in the RAF that he learned to row. Many years later he returned to rowing at Ibis Rowing Club (who occupied what is now Mortlake Anglian and Alpha's boathouse). George joined Quintin as one of the "free transfers" when Ibis Rowing Club became defunct, and so for many years prior to joining us had also been a close neighbour. He won his novices aged 60 and then was successful as a coach.  He was well liked in the club and on occasion would fascinate other members with tales of his exploits on the Berlin raids with Bomber Command. On giving up rowing, he moved to Somerset to live with his daughter and had become increasingly poorly in recent months. George will be sadly missed.

The funeral is at 1pm on Wednesday, 16th April at Taunton Crematorium.  Family flowers only, but donations can be made to St Margaret's Hospice via the undertaker:  Grandfield & Son, Keenthorne, Nether Stowey, Bridgwater, Somerset TA5 1HZ.

Sunday 6 April - The Thames Towpath Ten

Roy Davies very bravely took on the wintry weather and competed in the Thames Towpath Ten on Sunday, 6th April. The snow had scared off about 300 competitors but Roy was one of the 337 to complete the course, finishing a creditable 82nd in a time of 1 hour 13 min. 35 sec. Results here.

Photographs are available at ../photogallery/2008_04_06/pic_01.html.

Sunday 16 March - The Vesta Veterans Head - cancelled

In contrast to the mild, sunny morning of the Head of the River, Sunday started extremely blustery and wet, and the conditions were such that the organisers were forced to cancel the event. The club had two men's crews entered, the Veteran Ds starting at No. 82 and the Veteran Fs starting at No. 117, but it was not to be.

Saturday 15 March - The Head of the River Race

9:45 a.m. saw the start of the 2008 Head of the River Race, a race in which Quintin Boat Club is one of the few to have competed on every occasion. Contrary to earlier weather forecasts, the morning was dry, and by the time the race started, the sun was breaking through the clouds. There was a slight head breeze heading round the Dukes Meadows bend, but compared with last year's ocean the conditions were relatively placid and there were no sinkings. The Leander (mainly) under-23s won by a comfortable margin of 7 seconds over Imperial College, who had strengthened their eight with four Italian internationals. Leander's time was 17 min. 39.57 sec. compared with IC's 17 min. 46.61 sec. The club had two crews entered, starting 98th and 218th. QBC I, boating in the new wing-rigger Empacher (not yet Christened), finished 76th in 19 min. 4.77 sec. - our best result for some years. QBC II finished 161st in 19 min. 40.10 sec. See the photo gallery for pictures of QBC I and QBC II.

Full results here and full details of the start order here.

Photographs of the QBC crews are available at ../photogallery/2008_03_15/pic_01.html.

Leander I - winners of the 2008 HORR.

Sunday 2 March - Hammersmith Head

The club had four crews entered for the Hammersmith Head (11:00 am on Sunday, 2nd March). The first men's crew. a Quintin/MAA composite, started 21st and finished 12th overall in 11 min 38.5 sec, the Vet D crew started No. 49 and finished 54th in 13 min 18.16 sec, the Vet E crew started No. 52 and finished 58th in 13 min 51.53 sec, and the women's novices composite with the University of Westminster started No. 64 and finished 61st (out of 61 starters) in 14 min 41.95 sec. Full details of the results here and the start order here.

Sunday 10 February - Molesey Veterans' Head

The "Bar Flies" and the vice-presidents took to the water in eights to represent the club at the annual Molesey bash. The weather over the weekend was some of the most benign for the time of year - blue skies, warm and sunny, with little wind. It must have had a soporific effect on the "Bar Flies", who managed to maintain only a ten second margin over the vice-presidents. The "Bar Flies" finished 21st in 10:14.4 and the VPs were 23rd in 10:24.7.

Friday 8 February - Annual Dinner

The annual dinner was held on Friday, 8th February. Once again the venue was the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall, and some 60-plus members and guests (that's numbers rather than age, I think) turned up to toast the health of the club. The meal kicked off with smoked salmon and caper berries, followed by succulent rump of lamb. The principal guest was Steve Trapmore MBE, who gave us his unassuming account of the Sydney Olympic Games and how to stroke a crew to the gold medal in the blue riband eights event ("Row as hard as you can for the first five hundred, then row harder for the next five hundred; at the thousand row even harder, and, with five hundred metres to go, row harder still"). It works every time! Steve's talk culminated in a video re-run of the Sydney Eights final - and GB won again, earning a tremendous round of applause from all present. Unfortunately Steve had to leave the dinner early to keep a coaching appointment on Saturday morning in Lincolnshire and so he missed not only the excellent apple and blackberry tart with clotted cream but also the Captain's speech and Leif Jacobsen's dazzling act, which itself culminated in Leif promising to give us a speech next year, possibly to talk us through the Lightweight World Championships in when was it Leif? Sad to say, much beer and wine was consumed by all.

Saturday 26 January - Quintin Head

The Quintin Head was again blessed by fair weather; a bright sunny day with a strong westerly wind. The following wind and torrential stream resulted in a record-breaking time of 10 min. 13.6 sec. for the University of Bristol, who came Head for the second year running. Imperial College also impressed, finishing second and third to take the Men's Senior 2 and Senior 3 pennants, whilst Westminster School retained their fourth position and the Men's J18 title. Another record broken was the number of entries; 88, with 82 actually racing, compared with 61 last year. Interest within the club was maintained by a Quintin/MAA composite finishing 10th and Dick Findlay's Veteran C crew assembled on the day finishing a creditable 16th, taking the Veteran C pennant - all the more creditable as they actually qualified as Veteran D! Full results are available here.

Quintin would like to thank all the officials and the clubs that helped with launches as well as all the competitors that took part in the event.

Check out the photo gallery for pictures of club interest. Photographs are available at ../photogallery/2008_04_06/pic_01.html.