Sunday 19 December — Plum Puddings Handicap

The annual precursor to the Christmas Sherry Party took place on Sunday with thirteen crews competing over the course from (ostensibly) the Dove Pier at Hammersmith to the club flagpole. I say "ostensibly" because most crews seemed to break into race pace at Hammersmith Bridge. Cygnet men won yet again — isn't it about time they earned a stiffer handicap? Second were Barnes Bridge Ladies novices and third across the line were Meaney’s Marauders, who had been given the stiffest handicap by starting last. The crew were, however, deprived of the prize by an officious moustachioed chief umpire for the sin of overtaking the Quintin men’s crew before the start, and the prize was awarded to Barnes Bridge Ladies’ Masters, if that’s not a contradiction in terms. Still, a good time was had by all and victories were celebrated and sorrows drowned at the ensuing party.

Saturday 11 December — Walton Small Boats Head

On a cold and dull winter's Saturday, three Quintin scullers braved the elements at the Walton Small Boats Head this year: Dick Findlay and Frank Webb sculled their double, while Ken Almand was our sole representative in single sculls. What was lacking in quantity was made up for in quality as Frank and Dick came away with the Masters D/E/F/H doubles pennant and Ken won the Masters C singles pennant. Frank and Dick were 51st overall (out of 138 finishers) in the doubles in a time of 12 minutes 15 seconds. Ken was 14th of 193 single scullers in a time of 11 minutes 42 seconds.

Full results are available at http://www.waltonrowingclub.co.uk/images/stories/wsbh_res_2010.pdf.

Saturday 27 November — Vesta Scullers Head

This year's Scullers' Head kicked off at the unearthly hour of 9:00am with sub-zerp temperatures. This did not appear to disturb the demeanour of our scullers, especially the "Masters", who managed to pick up five pennants. Well done everyone!

 

The Quintin Results:

Posn.	Start No.	Sculler	Time	Posn. in Category	Category
37	11	Mark Chatwin	22:19.24	1	Masters A Winner
100	78	Dov Ohrenstein	23:05.13	16	IM2
114	271	Ken Almand	23:14.20	3	Masters C
145	63	Peter Meaney	23:33.77	1	Masters E winner
163	71	Charles Harrison	23:45.08	7	Masters D
194	89	Tom Bishop	24:06.95	1	Masters F winner
203	98	Deborah Mallinson	24:12.68	1	Women’s Masters B winner
342	365	Frank Webb	25:48.55	1	Masters H/I winner (H)
418	367	Hugh Davy	29:44.32	4	Masters H/I (I)

The full results may be found at http://www.vestarowing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Results-2010.pdf.

Photographs of the head are available at ../photogallery/2010_11_27/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 20 November — Kingston Small Boats Head

The club had five entries in the Kingston Small Boats Head, but unfortunately Deborah Mallinson in the women’s elite singles and Deborah again with Nick Ryan in the Mixed Masters C/D doubles had to scratch dues to illness, leaving just Dick Findlay and Frank Webb in Masters H doubles, Hugh Davy in Masters I singles and the women's IM3 coxed four of Tegan Gowlland, Nicola Brooks, Stine Keyes and Sarah Blakeburn, with Jane Adams coxing. Dick and Frank finished 74th in 19 min. 26.1 sec. but there was no pennant for them as they were the only crew in their category. The women’s four finished 138th in 20 min. 56.4 sec. and Hugh Davy came 235th in 26 min. 31.4 sec, avoiding 236th and last by some three minutes!

Full results may be found at http://www.kingstonrc.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=254:kingston-small-boats-head-2010&catid=83:rowing&Itemid=124.

Sunday 14 November — Turin Silver Skiff

While the attention of most of the club was focused on events closer to home, Tom Bishop was metaphorically waving our flag in Italy, where he took part in the 11 kilometre "Silver Skiff" endurance race in Turin. This race has been taking place since 1992 and is rowed on the River Po, upstream, around a buoy and back downstream again, starting and finishing at the Cerea rowing club. Tom finished a highly creditable second out of twenty in the Masters F category, in a time of 49 min. 5.74 sec. The category winner was an Austrian called Willy Koska, who completed the course in 46 min. 54.66 sec! Tom was 41 seconds clear of the third-placed sculler. Well done Tom!

The event web site is at http://www.silverskiff.org/ and the results for the Masters F category may be found at
http://www.silverskiff.org/Download/2010/ClassificaSilverSkiff2010MMF.pdf.

Sunday 14 November — Head of the River Fours

The club had two crews in the main Fours Head this year. The race is now limited to a minimum points tally of six for each sweep-oar crew. Our Elite coxless four finished 116th in a time of 19 min. 59.45 sec, and an IM2 coxed four finished 342nd in 21 min 44.65 sec. There were 505 entries altogether and 461 finishers.

The full results are at http://www.hor4s.org.uk/results.htm

Photographs of Tom in Turin are available at ../photogallery/2010_11_14/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 13 November — The Veteran Fours Head

The Veteran Fours Head proved rich pickings for the club this year. The event now includes lower status crews who are barred from the Fours Head through its minimum points requirement. The club had six entries and claimed 50 per cent success by winning three pennants. The fastest crew from the club were the men’s Masters D coxless four, who finished 9th overall in a time of 20 min. 8.98 sec, won their category by 13 seconds and were the second fastest coxless four in the event. The Masters E coxless quad also fared well, finishing 17th in 20 min. 20.04 sec, winning their category by 10 seconds. The third win of the day came from one of our men’s IM3 coxed fours, who finished 49th in a time of 21 min. 19.22 sec, winning their category by 16 seconds. They were the sixth fastest coxed four in the event.

The winning crews: Masters D 4- — John Ferrario (bow, steers), Roger Hine, Fred Jefferies, Richard Lonergan (stroke); Masters D 4x- — Nick Ryan (bow, steers), Charles Harrison, Peter Meaney, Dick Findlay (stroke); IM3 4+ — Sean Pitt (bow), Mark Pascoe, Craig Russell, Alex Page (stroke), Catt McLeod (cox). See the expanded Pennant Winners Chart.

Also competing were a Masters G coxless quad of Jim Moyes, Hugh Davy, Mike Kidd and Charlie Shelton, who finished 153rd in a time of 23 min. 43.75 sec, a second men’s IM3 coxed four (Michael Cuthbertson, Max Wall, Joe Wood and Thomas Barnwell, coxed by Jane Adams), who finished 118th in 22 min. 37.33 sec, and, last but not least, our women’s IM3 coxed four of Nicola Brooks, Tegan Gowlland, Stine Keys and Sarah Emma Blakeburn, coxed by Orla Kilmartin. Unfortunately the girls suffered an equipment failure and were unable to complete the race.

The full results may be obtained at http://www.vetfourshead.com/

Photographs of the head are available at ../photogallery/2010_11_13/pic_01.html.
 

Monday 8 November — Roger Greenfield

We have been greatly saddened to learn of the death on 4th October of Roger Greenfield, aged 63, who was suffering from motor neurone disease. Roger was an active member of the club in the 1970s, and was part of the successful 1976 squad which reached the quarter-finals of the Thames Cup at Henley and went on to win a silver medal in Lightweight Eights at the National Championships that year. Roger will be remembered by all his contemporaries at the club. He appears in our Photo Gallery at 1970s–11, 1970s–13, 1970s–14, 1970s–16 and 1970s–20.

Saturday 6 November — Henley Sculls Head

The club had seven scullers racing at Henley on Saturday, and came away with two pennants. Ken Almand won Masters C sculling in divison 3 and was 5th in division in a time of 12 min. 31 sec. Ken also competed in the IM3 category in Division 2 and finished 13th in division in a time of 12 min.41 sec. Deborah Mallinson won Women's Masters B in Division 2 and was placed 43rd in division in a time of 13 min. 39 sec. She also competed in Women's Senior in division 3 and was placed 29th overall in a time of 13 min. 30 sec. Dov Ohrenstein also sculled in both these divisions, finishing 16th in Division 2 (12 min. 52 sec. - Masters B) and 14th in Division 3 (13 min. 3 sec. - IM2).

Our other division 2 scullers were Peter Meaney (Masters D) – 28th in 13 min. 14 sec. and Tom Bishop (Masters F) – 39th in 13 min. 27 sec. Tom came second in category once again to Sean Morris of Wallingford. In Division 3 we had Richard Ratcliffe (Masters C) – 24th in 13 min. 24 sec. and Dick Findlay (Masters G) – 57th in 14 min. 27 sec.

Full results may be found in this Excel spreadsheet.

Tom and Deborah are now tied on three each in the 2010–11 Pennant winners chart.

Sunday 31 October — Upper Thames Fours and Small Boats Head

Two of our men’s crews got a taste of rowing at Henley on Sunday, in the Upper Thames Fours and Small Boats Head. The course is approximately two miles, rowed against the stream. In division 1, our Senior coxless four finished 14th in a time of 10 min. 23.05 sec. (fourth in their category) and a coxed four with Tom Barnwell stroking finished 45th in 11 min. 14.99 sec. (6th in IM3).The club also had an IM2 coxed four in division 2. They completed the course in 11. min 25.65 sec. finishing in 50th position.

Full results at http://www.mikrotime.com/rowing/row2010/utrc10.pdf

Saturday 30 October — Marlow Long Distance Sculls

The club had only two competitors in the Marlow LDS this year. Tom Bishop (Masters E) came 50th overall in the main 14:00 division in a time of 21 min. 23.3 sec. and Dick Findlay came 74th overall in a time of 22 min. 23.3 sec, and was second to Sean Morris of Wallingford RC in the Masters G/H category.

Full results at http://www.marlowrowingclub.org.uk/images/stories/longdistancesculls/2010_Marlow_Sculls_Results_final.pdf

Sunday 24 October — MySportsPlanner

All active club members will be interested to know that we now have a new, online method for arranging our crews, training sessions and so forth. Most of you will have been contacted already and received your logins and passwords. If not, and you would like to be included, contact coach@quintinboatclub.org or captain@quintinboatclub.org.

The website is at http://www.mysportsplanner.com/ and there are links to it from our home page and from the Rowing Links page.

Saturday 23 October — Weybridge Silver Sculls

The club's results for the Weybridge Silver Sculls are as follows: Richard Ratcliffe finished 119th overall (3rd in Mas.C 1x) in a time of 15:51, Dov Ohrenstein was 98th (9th in IM2 1x) in 15:37, Ken Almand was 96th (8th in IM2 1x) in 15:36, Peter Meaney was 138th (6th in Mas.D 1x) in 16:06, Tom Bishop was 127th (2nd in Mas. E 1x) in 15:55 and 90th (winner of Mas. F 1x) in 15:31, Dick Findlay was 213th (winner of Mas.G 1x) in 16:59 and Henry and Tom Spence were 35th (6th in IM3 2x) in 14:44. Deborah Mallinson scratched and Frank Webb retired.

Full results at http://www.weybridgerowing.org.uk/ss10results.htm

Saturday 16 October — The Pairs Head

A somewhat mixed day for the club in the Pairs Head. First the captain and partner failed to take to the water and then Toby Lonergan had to pull out through injury. The head wind after Barnes Bridge also proved a bit of a challenge to our remaining crews. Peter Meaney sat in for Toby and Peter and Richard were the fastest double from the club, and finished 92nd overall in a time of 14 min. 33.48 sec. Next fastest were Nick Ryan and Deborah Mallinson, winning the Mixed Masters B + C category in a time of 14 min. 48.94 sec. (142nd overall and with an adjusted time of 14 min. 25.94 sec, more than 15 seconds ahead of their closest rivals). The Spence brothers (IM3) finished 249th in 15 min 22.03 sec, and last but not least, Dick Findlay and Frank Webb finished 288th in 15 min 32.64 sec. But for the fact that they were a late entry and raced for time only, this would have won them the Masters G+H+I category as they were over a minute faster than anyone else in that division, even before the handicaps were applied.

The full results may be found at http://www.pairshead.co.uk/

Photographs of the head are available at ../photogallery/2010_10_16/pic_01.html.
 

Sunday 3 October — Rund um Wannsee, Berlin

What is becoming the club's annual pilgrimage to Berlin took place over the weekend, culminating in participation in the "Rund um Wannsee" 15,000 metre race. This year we sent a strong masters eight which someone had thoughtfully named "Quintin Super Vets" on the entry form. The team set off from Heathrow airport at the crack of dawn on Friday 1st October, and were already on the water at the Ruderklub am Wannsee at 11 am, ready for a gentle familiarisation paddle round the 15 km course.

As the crew set off on the first 2k across the lake it soon became apparent that conditions in this part of the race were not going to be easy. There was quite a popple on the surface and a considerable amount of broadside swell that made it difficult to keep on your toes. However, once the headland of the island that forms the boundary of this course had been reached, conditions moderated to a "choppy Tideway" level and the crew felt more at home. It still seemed a long way to the halfway mark at the Glienicker Brücke. This is famous as the "spy bridge", which carries the road from Berlin to Potsdam and formed the border between the American sector of West Berlin and East Germany in the days before reunification. This is where the spy-swaps used to take place during the Cold War. Coincidentally it exactly marks the 7.5 km distance from the start, so the crew was expecting a metaphorical downhill run in from here. But the crew unfortunately overshot the ‘canal turn’ and headed off in the direction of central Berlin, only realising their mistake when an express train thundered over a bridge as the crew passed under. This deviation added an extra 5k to the trip, which at least showed that distance would not be a problem in the race.

Friday night saw the crew, weary from their exertions, take a brief tour of central Berlin, covering the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate and the Konzerthaus on the Gendarmenmarkt before retiring from the cold night air to the warmth of a local hostelry.

Saturday‘s outing was a more modest affair, concentrating on the last 4-5 km of the course, followed by an excellent lunch at the Ruderklub am Wannsee, then off to Berlin for another culture tour.

The day of the race dawned bright and clear, and after an early breakfast the crew took to the water at 8:15 in preparation for the massed start at 9:00. Everyone agreed that this was one of the highlights of the race, with 43 crews lining up across the lake awaiting the starting cannon. Then it was a mad dash to try to be the first crew round the headland and into the narrower channels. At about 6k there is a real Grand Prix-style chicane, where all hell broke loose, with blades overlapping and worse. Quintin came off best from their clashes, unnerving the opposition so much that two of them clattered into one of the large navigation buoys shortly afterwards. Then it was the Glienicker Brücke and a strong head wind and a long battle to get past the Berliner Ruderclub‘s J16s before returning to the relative calm of the two small lakes that lead to the finish line. Quintin crossed the finishing line in 55 minutes and 8 seconds (a club record) and were the twelfth fastest crew, finishing in 8th place after the handicap was applied. Unfortunately we missed out on the masters D-H pennant by a slender two seconds, but all agreed it was the best row we could have done. The crew: John Ferrario (bow), Roger Hine, Willy Almand, Richard Lonergan, Geoff Peel, Ken Almand, Fred Jefferies, Peter Meaney(stroke), Kevin McEvoy (cox).

Our thanks go to our hosts at the Berliner Ruderclub and the Ruderklub am Wannsee, and in particular to Götz, Hermann and Andreas from the Berliner club for all their help and to the steward at the Wannsee club for providing us with such excellant meals.

Full results are available at http://www.berliner-ruder-club.de/obj/ruw/2010-ErgebnisRuW.pdf, and Geoff Peel has also summarised them in a compact Excel spreadsheet.

Photographs of the trip are available at ../photogallery/2010_10_03/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 2 October — Wallingford Long Distance Sculls

Tom Bishop was our sole representative at Wallingford LDS this year, but he wore the club’s colours proudly by winning both the Masters ‘E’ and Masters ‘F’ pennants for single sculls, and so continuing our winning start to the winter heads season following on from the Boston Marathon. His times were 20 minutes 1.02 seconds and 21 minutes 4.05 seconds for the 6000 metre course. Full results at http://www.wallingford-sculls.rowing.org.uk/sculls-results/results2010.html.

Sunday 26 September — Scratch Eights and AGM

The Club's Closing Eights event was rather quiet again this year, but Duncan managed to select two crews from the diehards who insisted on taking part. The course was, as usual, from the (now only notional0 petrol pumps to the club flagpole, and Surrey went on to win comfortably after taking an early lead. Congratulations to the winners.

With the racing out of the way, the Annual General Meeting of the club was held in the clubroom at 12:00 noon. The following officials were elected:

• Captain: Mark Chatwin
• Vice-captain: Graham Lloyd
• Treasurer: Bill Burbage
• Secretary: Malcolm Cook
• Other committee members: Roger Hine, Duncan Hughes, Dave King, Ewen McLeod, Sean Pitt

The AGM voted in favour of the outgoing committee's proposals for subscriptions and rack fees.  For the year starting 1 September 2010 the subscription is therefore £365 for those who pay before 1 November and the rack fee for private sculling boats is £160.

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.

Sunday 19 September — Boston Marathon

Results in from this 31 mile rowing marathon: our fastest sculler was Deborah Mallinson, who completed the course in 4 hours 9 minutes 11 seconds and won the Women's Senior single sculls pennant. Nick Ryan won Masters D single sculls in 4 hours 19 minutes 8 seconds, and Dov Ohrenstein was not far behind in 4 hours 21 minutes 21 seconds. The fastest time of the day was by a Walton RC Senior quad in 3 hours 19 minutes 4 seconds.

Full results at http://www.bostonrowingmarathon.org.uk/Marathon%20Docs/marathonresults2010.html.

Saturday 18 September — Racing Members Kick Off

ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS INTERESTED IN RACING IN THE COMING SEASON! There will be a kick-off training session supervised by our head coach at 7:30am on Saturday 18th September. The water session will be followed by a meeting in the clubroom to discuss plans for the year ahead.

Saturday 4 September — FISA World Masters Regatta, St. Catherines, Canada

Geoff Peel was our only representative at this year's FISA World Masters Regatta, in St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada over the first weekend in September. Geoff came a creditable second in category E men’s single sculls. Geoff was the only European in his heat, the rest of the field consisting of three Americans, two Canadians and a Brazilian.

Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 August — Stourport Regattas

You can read the full, all-revealing reports from our two cub reporters, namely the hotel correspondent and the campsite correspondent by following the links. Also, take a look at the changes in the potwinners' chart, and click on the photo to the right for regatta pictures, including some moody black and white ones…

…and there’s more — watch the videos.

Below is a summary of our six wins:

Saturday

• Women's Novice VIII beat Curlew (disqualified)
  • Orla Kilmartin (bow), Mandy Simpson, Fiona Stevens, Nicola Brooks, Tegan Gowlland, Helen Chandler, Stine Keyes, Sarah Blakeburn (stroke), Adam Beake (cox)

Sunday

• Novice Double Sculls beat Warwick and then QBC ‘A’ (Adam Beake and James Reed)
  • Alex Page, Paul Woodman
• Intermediate 2 Coxed IV beat Warwick
  • Alex Hambrook (bow), James Reed, Ed Sanders, Tom Collins (stroke), Jane Adams (cox)
• Intermediate 2 VIII beat Bridgnorth
  • Mark Chatwin (bow), Joe Wood, Max Wall, Alex Page, Ewen McLeod, Sean Pitt, Mash Chudasama, Ken Almand (stroke), Catt Campbell (cox)
• Senior Coxless Four beat Bridgnorth
  • Ewen McLeod (bow, steers), Alex Page, Mark Chatwin, Ken Almand (stroke)
• Senior Coxed Four beat Two Lions/Birmingham University
  • Ewen McLeod (bow), Alex Hambrook, Mark Chatwin, Ken Almand (stroke), Catt Campbell (cox)

Photographs of the regatta are available at ../photogallery/2010_08_15/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 7 August — Maidenhead Regatta

The club had its largest entry so far this season at Maidenhead Regatta on Saturday, and managed to match this with its largest number of winning competitors. Although through sheer weight of numbers the home club won the victor ludorum, Quintin came away with a cash prize of £250 as the most successful visiting club. The winning streak kicked off in the morning with veterans John Ferrario, Roger Hine, Fred Jefferies and Richard Lonergan switching from their winning coxless formation at Henley Vets to a coxed four (Belinda Davies coxing), meeting Marlow RC in a straight final of Masters D 4+ and beating them comfortably by one length.

Next on for Quintin were the recent winners of novice fours at Staines, now racing in Intermediate 3 coxed fours against Oxford Academicals. In a closely-fought contest our crew were rowed through in the last few strokes after leading all the way and lost by the cruellist of margins – one foot. The crew were Harry Molozian, James Reed, Ed Sanders, Tom Collins, with Jane Adams coxing.

Ewen McLeod and Alex Page found themselves racing above their status again this week, as had happened in the four at Molesey a fortnight ago. Their first round opponents in Senior coxless pairs were again from Thames Tradesmen's RC, but a different pair than at Molesey. After a neck-and-neck race our boys just clinched victory by a canvas and then went on to beat Clares Court by a length in the final.

The veterans then returned to the water, this time racing against youngsters in the Intermediate 2 coxed fours – in fact the same crew which had beaten our boys in the Intermediate 3 event. Determined to avenge the earlier defeat, the masters rapidly established clear water, which they held to the finish.

Ewen and Alex were then back on duty in the last race of the day, the final of Intermediate 3 eights, teaming up with the IM3 four, novice Joe Wood and Alex Hambrook to take on and demolish Parr's Priory by a clear two lengths. Well done boys!. The crew: Alex Hambrook (bow), James Reed, Harry Molozian, Joe Wood, Ed Sanders, Tom Collins, Ewen McLeod, Alex Page (stroke), Adam Beake (cox).

Interspersed with all these races our novice squad was gaining more racing experience. We fielded two men's fours (one a composite with the University of Westminster), and a women's four, but unfortunately they all went out in their first round heats. So "bad luck" to Jason, Gavin, Mash and Sean in the QBC crew (Jane coxing), to Max, George (UWBC), Craig and Tom in the QBC/University of Westminster four (Adam coxing), and to Tegan, Helen, Stine and Nicola in the women's four (Belinda coxing).

Finally, a mention for Graham Lloyd who opened his regatta season with a tough race against Hopkins of Eton Excelsior in Masters F single sculls. Sculling on the Berkshire station, Graham reckoned he would need a good length and a half’s lead approaching the enclosures if he was to win. Everything went according to plan until the ‘gas’ ran out and Graham ‘blew’ in spectacular fashion. Nevertheless, a good day was had by all. Take a look at the changes in the potwinners' chart. There are quite a few new entries and John, Fred and Richard are pulling ahead at the top.

Full results at http://www.maidenheadrc.org.uk/images/stories/regatta/2010/results.pdf

Photographs from the regatta are available at ../photogallery/2010_08_07/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 24 July — Staines Amateur Regatta

The men's novice squad opened their account by winning Novice Fours at Staines Regatta on Saturday. They had three races over the 500m course, beating first Putney Town by 2 lengths, then Staines by 1¼ lengths in the semi-final and they then beat Evesham by 3½ lengths in the final. Well done, boys (and not forgetting Jane coxing)! Crew: Harry Molozian (bow), James Reed, Ed Sanders, Tom Collins (stroke), Jane Adams(cox). Take a look at the expanding potwinners' chart

Photographs of the regatta are available at ../photogallery/2010_08_07/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 17 July — Molesey Amateur Regatta

It was quite an eventful day for Quintin Boat Club at Molesey Regatta on Saturday, including a number of ‘firsts’. The senior squad four, entering IM1 coxless fours, was forced to step up to Senior status and add a cox. Miguel was due to replace an injured Mark, but was in turn replaced by John Ferrario, fresh from his Henley Vets win, but they drew a strong Molesey Boat Club four and, after a hard fought race, including a battle with some dull-witted Canada geese, went down to Molesey by a close ¾ length. Crew: Catt Campbell (cox), John Ferrario (bow), Alex Page, Ewen Mcleod, Kenny Almand (stroke). A first race for Ewen McLeod and Alex Page in Intermediate 2 coxless pairs also resulted in a creditable performance. They beat Thames Tradesmen's by two lengths in the semi-final, only to be beaten by Molesey (again) through a disqualification in the final when they had already taken a ¾ length lead. Another first was a combination of James Reed and Adam Beake of Mortlake Anglian in Open Novice Double Sculls. James had only completed a few hours of sculling before this, his first race. In the semi-final, the composite double beat Kingston quite easily, Kingston steering into the bank when James and Adam were already several lengths in the lead. They were outclassed, however, in the final, where they met a well-practised Thames double. Last, but not least, the women's learn-to-row squad took on the might of Cambridge University Women's Boat Club ‘A’ crew in women's novice eights. This was again a first race for our beginners and, although they lost by three lengths to a well-drilled crew, they performed very creditably for a group who had not stepped into a racing boat until three months ago. Now they can't wait for their next race!

Photographs from the regatta are available at ../photogallery/2010_07_17/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 10 July — Kingston Amateur Regatta

The men's novices managed to avoid victory again at the weekend, this time at Kingston Regatta. They drew Kingston Grammar School in a semi-final heat and in the closing stages and as they were challenging strongly, that old crustacean re-emerged. Recovering quickly from the shipwreck, our boys then closed Kingston down again along the enclosures, only to lose by 2/3 of a length. You are not alone boys. At Henley Veterans your correspondent watched a strong Durham ARC ‘E’ eight (the crew we just beat in ‘E’ eights at Nottingham four weeks ago) throw away a length’s lead in the final of ‘E’ eights with a monumental crab at Remenham Farm to lose to Wallingford RC.

Full results at http://www.kingstonregatta.co.uk/draw.htm

Friday 9 and Saturday 10 July — Henley Veteran Regatta

Last weekend saw the last Henley Veteran Regatta in its current guise – next year it will be called Henley Masters Regatta. To celebrate the end of an era, Quintin entered and competed in six events – and won five of them! Deborah Mallinson won women’s single sculls in both ‘A’ and ‘B’ categories, Tom Bishop won men's ‘F’ sculls and Meaney's Marauders came away with two out of three wins in their events, winning ‘D’ coxless fours and ‘E’ coxed fours, but losing in the final of ‘D’ eights.

This was the great disappointment, as we wanted to avenge last year's defeat by Crabtree. The semi-final was against Runcorn, whom we had beaten with a slightly different line-up at tne National Masters Championship four weeks previously. Just as at Nottingham, this was another close race, but our crew always had the measure of Runcorn and crossed the line 2/3 of a length in front, in a time of 3 minutes 14 seconds. This time remained the fastest time of the day until the final of A/B eights, when it was beaten by just one second. The ‘D’ eights final was a different matter, when, rowing into the blustery head wind that persisted for most of the regatta, a superb Crabtree eight (Cambridge Blues and ex-internationals) showed us a "clean pairs of heels " and won by a comfortable 3 lengths, in the slightly slower time of 3 minutes 16 seconds. Our crew: John Ferrario (bow), Nick Ryan, Charles Harrison, Jonathan Ferris, Richard Ratcliffe, Richard Lonergan, Fred Jefferies, Peter Meaney (stroke), Helena Smalman-Smith (cox).

But the rest is all success! Deborah won all her races by comfortable margins, sculling her way to victory through two heats and a final in each case to take the women's ‘A’ and ‘B’ singles prizes. In her first ‘A’ race she beat Staite of Evesham easily (time 4 minutes 32 seconds), then she beat Crozier of Worcester by 3 lengths (4:13) and in the final, Benson-Skailes of Lea RC by 3½ lengths (4:35). In the ‘B’ event she beat Mcintosh of Tideway Scullers' School by 5 lengths (4:29), then Hutchins of Dart-Totnes easily (no time taken) and finally Kallal of Furnivall by 3 lengths (4:36).

Tom Bishop had a similar path to his final in the men's ‘F’ sculls, first beating Tubbs of Dart-Totnes by 3 lengths (4:25), then Whiting of Melbourne University, Australia by 2½ lengths (4:17). In the final he met the German Rehberg from RSV Meppen. After a closely fought contest he beat his great rival by 3 lengths in a time of 4:13, levelling the scores from their meetings at 2-2.

The ‘E’ coxed four of Charles Harrison (bow), Jonathan Ferris, Geoff Peel, Peter Meaney (stroke) and Helena Smalman-Smith (cox) beat a strong Australian crew, Toowong RC, by ½ length (3:41) in the first round on Friday, then beat a composite Durham ARC/Blue Star crew by ¾ length (3:46) in the semi-final and Upper Thames RC by 1¼ lengths (3:45) in the final on Saturday.

The ‘D’ coxless four of John Ferrario (bow, steers), Roger Hine, Fred Jefferies and Richard Lonergan (stroke) beat Reading RC by ¾ length (3:32) in the first round on Friday, then Walton RC by ¾ length (3:34) in the semi-final on Saturday (despite hitting the booms with 400m to go and easing down at the finish), and then beat Walbrook RC by one length in the final (3:31). It did not pass our attention that both the losing finalists in these fours events had been winners in the same categories at National Masters, so perhaps Quintin can claim a right to these two crowns.

Full results at http://www.henleyveteranregatta.org.uk/results/2010/HVR RESULTS 11 07 10.pdf.

Photographs from the regatta are available at ../photogallery/2010_07_10/pic_01.html.
 

Wednesday 30 June to Sunday 4 July — Henley Royal Regatta

With 59 entries in the Wyfold Cup this year, our four were not asked to qualify and went straight into the first round, where they met one of the selected crews, Commercial Rowing Club from Ireland. The Quintin crew raced well but were out-classed by the Irish and in the end went down by two lengths. In the Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup, Mark Chatwin and Kenny Almand drew the Japanese national lightweight pair, Takahashi and Nagasaki of Mitsubishi Boat Club. Considering their late decision to row a pair at Henley, Mark and Kenny were satisfied they did their best, but went down by 3¾ lengths. Deborah Mallinson became the first woman sculler to represent Quintin in the regatta proper, but had an equally difficult task against M.K. Wilson, a GB triallist. Full details of the Quintin races may be found in the Henley Records, and all results from the regatta may be found at http://hrr.co.uk/results/.

Some photographs from the regatta are available at ../photogallery/2010_06_30/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 26 June — Richmond Regatta

The men's novice eight was racing once again at the weekend, this time at Richmond Regatta. Unfortunately they came up against tough opposition in a powerful Kingston crew and were beaten quite convincingly. Kingston went on to beat Putney Town by an even greater distance in the final. Still, it was a glorious summer's day and a good time was had by all.

Some photographs from the regatta are available at ../photogallery/2010_06_26/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 June — Marlow Regatta (Dorney Lake)

Some encouraging news from Marlow (Dorney Lake actually) — the club entered an Intermediate 1 coxless four on Saturday and, improving with every race, they qualified for the final and finished second overall out of 25 entries. The improvement was plain in that they came third to Radley College in the first heat, second to Radley in the semi-final and beat Radley into third place in the final. Our crew were Ewen McLeod (bow), Alex Page, Mark Chatwin, Kenny Almand (stroke). The four also raced on Sunday and Mark and Kenny raced in Elite coxless pairs on Sunday, when the course was 1000 metres.

Race 17A IM1 4- Heat 3 10:28

Posn.	Lane	Crew - Club/Org	500M	1000M	1500M	2000M	Result
1.	3	199 - Radley Coll	1:33.94	1:40.36	1:44.04	1:41.21	6:39.55
2.	1	208 - Gloucester RC	1:36.85	1:40.30	1:43.78	1:40.87	6:41.81
3.	6	215 - Quintin BC	1:35.54	1:42.70	1:43.44	1:40.47	6:42.15
4.	5	214 - Bristol City RC	1:35.05	1:40.22	1:45.05	1:44.57	6:44.89
5.	4	198 - Thames RC	1:36.12	1:43.76	1:46.09	1:44.40	6:50.37
6.	7	192 - Don/Dos	1:39.39	1:46.30	1:50.29	1:47.89	7:03.87

Race 58A IM1 4- Semi-final 1 14:20

Posn.	Lane	Crew - Club/Org	500M	1000M	1500M	2000M	Result
1.	4	199 - Radley Coll	1:34.03	1:39.76	1:39.97	1:42.70	6:36.46
2.	6	215 - Quintin BC	1:35.83	1:41.69	1:41.32	1:39.49	6:38.32
3.	3	220 - Imperial Coll	1:36.07	1:40.44	1:41.02	1:41.24	6:38.77
4.	2	197 - Putney Town	1:37.13	1:41.70	1:40.53	1:40.77	6:40.12
5.	1	200 - Ardingly	1:38.61	1:43.09	1:43.65	1:43.84	6:49.19
6.	5	196 - Elizabethan BC	1:36.60	1:45.60	1:47.21	1:46.27	6:55.68

Race 87A IM1 4- Final 16:53

Posn.	Lane	Crew - Club/Org	500M	1000M	1500M	2000M	Result
1.	4	213 - Bristol City RC	1:32.82	1:39.96	1:39.59	1:36.09	6:28.46
2.	5	215 - Quintin BC	1:34.11	1:40.30	1:39.53	1:39.59	6:33.53
3.	3	199 - Radley Coll	1:31.82	1:39.81	1:40.40	1:41.87	6:33.90
4.	1	220 - Imperial Coll	1:33.06	1:39.04	1:40.59	1:43.12	6:35.81
5.	6	219 - Henley RC	1:34.92	1:40.85	1:40.49	1:43.65	6:39.92
6.	2	208 - Gloucester RC	1:35.15	1:42.04	1:39.61	1:43.50	6:40.30

Sunday’s results

Race 19A IM1 4- Final 12:13

Posn.	Lane	Crew - Club/Org	500M	1000M	Result
1	4	395 - Tees RC	1:30.88	1:35.92	3:06.80
2	3	398 - Tideway Scullers	1:32.28	1:36.78	3:09.06
3	5	396 - Quintin BC	1:31.90	1:39.92	3:11.83

Race 7A Elite 2- Semi-final 2 14:03

Posn.	Lane	Crew - Club/Org	500M	1000M	Result
1	2	495 - Hansa Hamburg RG -GER	1:37.07	1:45.39	3:22.46
2	4	491 - Quintin BC	1:41.57	1:48.69	3:30.26
3	5	489 - Oratory Cardinals	1:45.05	1:46.94	3:31.99
4	3	490 - Blue Coat BC	1:44.43	1:47.92	3:32.35

Race 20A Elite 2- Final 15:15

Posn.	Lane	Crew - Club/Org	500M	1000M	Result
1	3	496 - ZOC/ZNU	1:36.26	1:34.74	3:11.01
2	4	495 - Hansa Hamburg RG -GER	1:35.42	1:36.43	3:11.85
3	5	493 - Tigre BC -Arg-	1:39.09	1:38.15	3:17.24
4	1	494 - ZSM/ZCD	1:38.59	1:39.34	3:17.92
5	2	491 - Quintin BC	1:44.38	1:47.64	3:32.02
6	6	489 - Oratory Cardinals	1:45.54	1:50.10	3:35.64

Full details of the regatta and results may be found at http://www.themarlowregatta.com/.

Friday 18, Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 June — Henley Women's Regatta

Deborah made it through to the semi-final of Elite Lightweight Single Sculls at Henley Women's Regatta on Saturday and Sunday, where she lost to the losing finalist, Copeland of ULBC, by 1½ lengths. Copeland had a very close race in the final, losing by only ½ length, so well done Deborah! Deborah had a row over for her first race on Saturday and then proceeded on Sunday to beat McKeever of UTS Rowing Club, Sydney, Australia by 2½ lengths before meeting the UL sculler in the semi-final. Full results of the event may be found at
http://www.hwr.org.uk/admin/users_race_day.asp?currentEvent=12&eventName=Elite%20Lightweight%201x%20The%20Godfrey%20Rowsports%20Trophy (Handy little url!).

Sunday 13 June — National Masters Regatta (Nottingham)

Many were predicting foul conditions, the norm for the Nottingham course, but when Meaney's Marauders arrived at Holme Pierrepont on Sunday morning, the sun was shining and there was but a gentle cross-head wind blowing from the south. Richard Ratcliffe had, perhaps wisely, decided that a 10 o'clock race in ‘C’ sculls required too early a departure from London, and so first from the club to race was Jonathan Ferris in ‘E’ sculls at 11:34. Jonathan came third in his heat to qualify for the final. He was somewhat left behind the field in the final but, with some encouragement from the grandstand, rallied to overtake one sculler and finish in fifth place.

Race:  247			ME1x H1		1000m
Posn,	Lane			500m	FINISH
1	3	NOR	Norwich RC (Brown)	01:58.2	04:08.1
2	2	UTC	Upper Thames (Wright)	02:00.2	04:15.2
3	1	QBC	Quintin BC (Ferris)	02:00.3	04:18.6
4	6	ABN	Abingdon RC (Marriott)	-	04:21.3
5	4	RUN(A)	Runcorn RC (Keating) A	02:08.2	04:38.0

Race:  317			ME1x FINAL		1000m
Posn.	Lane			500m	FINISH
1	2	DAT	Dart Totnes (Atkinson)	01:56.8	03:57.6
2	4	RUN(B)	Runcorn RC (Perrin) B	02:00.7	03:58.6
3	6	DUR	Durham ARC (Tyler)	01:58.5	04:00.9
4	3	NOR	Norwich RC (Brown)	01:57.4	04:04.5
5	1	QBC	Quintin BC (Ferris)	02:04.2	04:07.3
6	5	UTC	Upper Thames (Wright)	02:00.5	04:14.0

Next to race was the ‘E’ eight at 13:14. With a field of six crews this was a straight final, and Quintin had drawn lane 4. By this time the wind had freshened a little, favouring the more sheltered lower-numbered lanes. Going off the stakeboat at 47, Quintin were soon in the lead, with Bewdley and Star Club in lanes 5 and 6 rapidly dropping to a length behind. Meanwhile, the real competiton was in lanes 1, 2 and 3 with Durham ARC, Nottingham RC and Belfast RC. At 500 metres Quintin had half a length over Durham, but Durham challenged strongly at 700 and Quintin went over the line just 0.66 seconds ahead to take the gold medals. Crew: John Ferrario (bow), Dick Findlay, Charles Harrison, Roger Hine, Geoff Peel, Richard Lonergan, Fred Jefferies, Peter Meaney (stroke), Helena Smalman-Smith (cox).

Race:  272			ME8 FINAL		1000m
Posn.	Lane			500m	FINISH
1	4	QBC	Quintin BC	01:38.5	03:19.7
2	1	DUR	Durham ARC	01:39.8	03:20.4
3	2	NRC	Nottingham RC	01:43.2	03:30.9
4	3	ZBF	Belfast BC	01:44.6	03:32.1
5	5	BEW	Bewdley RC	01:47.5	03:41.6
6	6	STA	Star Club	01:48.7	03:41.7

The next Quintin crew to race was the ‘E’ coxless four at !5:02. This was also a final as Quintin had drawn a bye in a field of seven crews, including Crabtree, Avon County, Jock Wishart's Molesey/Kingston/Walbrook composite and Walton RC. For an essentially scratch crew, Quintin got off to a cracking start and passed the 500 metre mark just a fraction behind the leaders, Avon County, but then the lack of practice began to tell and Crabtree began to assert themselves. On the last stroke of the race the Wishart composite just got its bow ball in front to beat Quintin into fourth place by next to nothing, with Crabtree taking the gold medals. How annoying!. Quintin crew: Geoff Peel (bow, steers), Roger Hine, Nick Ryan, Dick Findlay (stroke).

Race:  299			ME4- FINAL		1000m
Posn.	Lane			500m	FINISH
1	4	CRB	Crabtree BC	01:46.4	03:33.6
2	2	AVN	Avon County RC	01:45.3	03:34.4
3	3	MBC	Molesey/Kingston Comp	01:48.3	03:38.5
4	6	QBC	Quintin BC	01:46.0	03:38.7
5	1	NRC	Nottingham RC	01:50.9	03:48.5
6	5	WLT	Walton RC	01:54.2	03:50.9

The squad then had to wait until 18:34 for the final of ‘D’ eights, during which time the weather turned for the worse, and, although the wind died down, the torrential rain was enough to dampen anyone's spirits and more besides. However all the winter training was not in vain and, with considerable rainwater on board, the Quintin crew came home to claim another impressive win with a more comfortable race than in the ‘E’ eights. Crew: John Ferrario (bow), Nick Ryan, Charles Harrison, Larry Tysome, Richard Ratcliffe, Richard Lonergan, Fred Jefferies, Peter Meaney (stroke), Helena Smalman-Smith (cox).

Race:  352			MD8 FINAL		1000m
Posn.	Lane			500m	FINISH
1	2	QBC	Quintin BC	01:33.6	03:12.1
2	3	RUN	Runcorn RC	01:36.3	03:14.7
3	4	NRC	Nottingham RC	01:38.9	03:22.0
4	1	XPR	X-Press BC	01:40.2	03:27.5
5	6	MAV(B)	Maidstone Inv (Butler) B	01:43.3	03:34.4
6	5	MAV(A)	MaidstoneInv Hodgkinsn A	01:45.5	03:37.9

Full details of all the race results may be found at http://www.masterschamps.org/files/masterschamps2010-provisional-results.pdf.

Saturday 12 June — Barnes & Mortlake Regatta

The Novice men's eight went out in search of victory again on Saturday, this time at Barnes and Mortlake Regatta, on our home reach. They drew Cygnet RC in the first round and lost by the narrowest of margins (three feet) after a very spirited row. The photograph of the start may raise a few eyebrows. Hard luck, boys! Crew: Jason Liong (bow), James Reed, Max Wall, Gavin Rankin, Ed Sanders, Joe Wood, Mash Chudasama, Sean Pitt (stroke), Catt Campbell (cox).

Photographs of the race are available at ../photogallery/2010_06_12/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 June — Metropolitan Regatta (Dorney Lake)

Saturday

Great conditions at Dorney on Saturday were not entirely matched by the club's preformance. The best result was a second place for Deborah Mallinson in Women's Senior Single sculls, just two seconds off the winning time. Deborah clearly had a very strong third 500m, closing a deficit of over three seconds at the 500m mark to just ¾ of a second at 1500, but then Marshall of Nottingham just squeezed away.

		500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
1	Nottingham RC (L Marshall)	1:55.90	4:00.83	6:11.05	8:23.04
2	Quintin BC (D Mallinson)	1:59.19	4:03.85	6:11.82	8:25.09
3	Molesey BC (F Temple)	2:01.18	4:10.10	6:20.19	8:32.25
4	Commercial RC, Ireland (R Quinn)	2:02.55	4:12.60	6:23.39	8:43.45
5	Llandaff RC (K Evans)	2:00.73	4:10.62	6:26.65	8:51.62
6	Clyde ARC (M Mackie)	2:03.21	4:13.47	6:28.98	8:56.38
7	Wallingford RC (E Booker)		4:18.87	6:37.15	9:01.60

Dov Ohrenstein came third in his heat of Intermediate 2 Single Sculls:

		500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
1	Tideway Scullers' School (T Bond)	2:02.52	3:56.78	5:59.63	8:04.13
2	Bath University BC (W Stride)	2:02.05	3:55.91	5:59.34	8:09.73
3	Quintin BC (D Ohrenstein)	2:03.27	4:02.77	6:16.00	8:22.40
4	Putney Town RC (D Emery)	2:02.91	4:02.49	6:11.78	8:25.06
5	Edinburgh University BC (A Crowe)	Scratched

The Intermediate 1 coxless four of Ewen, Alex, Mark and Kenny finished fourth in their heat.

		500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
1	Molesey BC	1:41.01	3:26.23	5:14.46	6:59.78
2	Tees RC	1:42.31	3:28.59	5:16.79	7:00.30
3	Royal Chester RC	1:40.71	3:26.77	5:16.32	7:04.07
4	Quintin BC	1:43.06	3:30.64	5:19.73	7:05.48
5	Thames RC	1:44.29	3:32.73	5:23.88	7:10.33
6	London RC (B)	1:46.30	3:38.17	5:30.56	7:21.93

Sunday

On Sunday Deborah was racing in Women's Elite Lightweight Single Sculls. She won her first heat but came fourth in her semi-final, just failing to qualify for the final:

Heat

		500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
1	Quintin BC (D Mallinson)	1:57.16	3:59.65	6:05.15	8:10.32
2	University of London BC (O Hayes)	2:00.34	4:01.82	6:06.27	8:12.75
3	Wallingford RC (C Greves)	1:56.91	4:02.28	6:08.04	8:14.09
4	Commercial RC, Ireland (R Quinn)	1:59.37	4:05.53	6:09.20	8:14.42
5	Reading University BC (N Bartlett)	Scratched
6	University of London BC (K Copeland)	Scratched

Semi-final

		500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
1	Mortlake Anglian & Alpha BC (A Townsend)	1:56.16	4:03.35	5:56.88	7:56.14
2	Reading University BC (C Burgess)	1:55.54	3:56.25	5:58.42	7:58.43
3	Upper Thames RC (A van Deventer)	1:54.40	3:54.82	5:57.15	8:00.79
4	Quintin BC (D Mallinson)	1:54.97	3:55.58	5:59.40	8:03.61
5	Wallingford RC (C Greves)	1:57.49	3:56.50	6:05.88	8:09.70
6	Nottingham RC (N Spencer)	1:59.13	4:00.78	6:09.55	8:10.22

Sunday's Intermediate 1 coxed four of Ewen, Alex, Miguel, Dov and Catt came fourth in their semi-final (after qualifying for the final Catabrigian scratched, so no result is shown for them):

		500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
1	University of Limerick, Ireland (A)	1:34.21	3:12.75	4:53.23	6:33.58
2	1st and 3rd Trinity BC	1:36.88	3:15.60	4:55.67	6:35.73
3	Cantabrigian RC	Scratched
4	Quintin BC	1:38.44	3:20.80	5:04.86	6:48.25
5	Star Club	1:39.03	3:24.19	5:12.61	6:59.28
6	Staines BC	1:40.90	3:27.04	5:15.84	7:02.62
7	Edinburgh University BC	Scratched

Mark and Kenny in the Senior coxless pair raced in a straight final and were second:

		500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
1	Deeside Scullers	1:40.09	3:23.54	5:08.83	6:56.46
2	Quintin BC	1:42.60	3:29.03	5:18.18	7:07.06
3	Aberdeen Univ/Robert Gordon	1:47.57	3:38.71	5:31.05	7:22.87
4	Tideway Scullers' School
5	Reading RC
6	London RC

Full details of all the results may be found at http://www.metregatta.org/.

Saturday 5 June — Learn to Row Scratch Races

The Spring Learn to Row course reached its climactic conclusion on Saturday when, in gloriously calm and sunny weather a small competition took place in eight-oared boats. Supplemented by some of the men's novice squad, four boats took to the water in a knockout competition, racing two-abreast over the usual 1000 metres, finishing at the clubhouse, giving us two heats and a final. As might be expected, the races were full of drama, the second heat in particular being won by a crew with only seven people rowing and a post-crab oar trailing ominously alongside the boat. Undaunted, this crew went on to clinch victory in the final. Congratulations to the winning crew of Julie, Alessia, Tegan, Jessica, Ed, Marcin, Mash, Sean and Belinda. Congratulations also to James and Stine, who were each presented with a copy of Sir Steve Redgrave's autobiography for being the most improved man and woman on the course. Well done to everybody for a very enthusiastic and enjoyable end to the course.

Thanks to Marcin for providing the photographs. These may be found at ../photogallery/2010_06_05/pic_01.html.

Sunday 30 May — Vogalonga Procession, Venice

It was that time of the year again, and some of our intrepid veterans headed off to Venice to take part in the Vogalonga marathon row around the Venetian Islands. The route starts from St Mark’s Basin. After going round St. Helen Island, it skirts the Island of Vignole, Sant'Erasmo and San Francesco del Deserto. Burano is reached halfway through the route; then, passing the Islands of Mazzorbo, Madonna del Monte and San Giacomo in Paludo, the line of boats enters Murano and crosses its Grand Canal. After reaching Venice, the boats go through the Cannaregio Canal, reach the Grand Canal and, finally, they pass the finish line located at the Punta della Dogana, opposite St. Mark’s Square.

This year’s team manager was once again Dave King, who assembled an eight-man crew of himself at bow, with Duncan Hughes, Dave Nichol, Roy Macavoy, Adrian Ballardie, Simon Wood, Andrew Bramah, and Aubrey Capel at stroke. As is the custom, the coxswain's seat was filled by somebody with local knowledge, in this case a Venetian schoolboy named Gregorio. Dave King takes up the story:

"We came in 15th in a time of 2 hours 5 min for the 32K - which was our fastest time to date. The engine room of the crew (Andrew, Roy and I, plus wives) arrived in Venice in style on the Thursday and had a very civilised evening. The baser elements (Duncan, Aubrey, Dave, Simon) arrived on Friday and proceeded to have an all afternoon training session in a bar, after which Dave demonstrated his involuntary Moon Walk technique before being put to bed at the Hostel. Adrian arrived for the dessert course at dinnertime. This left us all a bit shabby for Saturday’s practice outing, which fortunately got delayed until the afternoon as our 12 year old cox was at school. Saturday night saw us enjoying Querini BC’s hospitality at their buffet party on the pontoon overlooking the lagoon. It was so romantic that Adrian got a proposition he had to think hard about refusing from the President’s wife – until he realised he had been set up! Sunday morning saw an early rise to be in position for the 9am start gun in front of St Mark’s Square with 2000 other crews. We had a flying start and with some excellent steering from our cox, Gregorio, were soon up with the leading pack by the time we got to the 16K mark at Burano. On the long stretch to Murano we passed another couple of crews, and then another two quads when Gregorio cut the corner into the Grand Canal. Finally we passed a flagging quad just before the Rialto bridge to storm over the line 15th and collect our medals. Lunch was taken standing up to relieve some very sore pressure points in the nether regions before catching the water taxi back to the airport and a few zzzz’s on the plane home."

Photographs of the trip are available at ../photogallery/2010_05_30/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 29 May — Twickenham Regatta

Mixed success at Twickenham. The novice eight decided to let Parr's Priory win their heat after the latter kindly gave them a four length start by catching a boat stopping crab soon after the start. Quintin then returned the favour and Parr's Priory went on to win by 4 lengths. Jonathan Ferris never really made up the handicap at the start of E/F sculls and went down by 3 lengths. However, Deborah chalked up the first win of the season with a four length win over Holloway of Sporting Imperial in the WIM1 sculls. Full results may be found at http://www.twickenham-regatta.org/results2010.pdf.

Friday 14 May — May Alexandra Ford

Announcement: To Dave and Pippa Ford, a daughter, May Alexandra, born at West Middlesex Hospital on Friday 14th May, weighing in at 8lb 7oz and probably leaning towards bowside (so I am told).

Friday 7 and Saturday 8 May — Dad Vail Regatta (USA)

Martin Carr has been busy on the other side of the "pond", not only umpiring, sorry, refereeing at a US regatta, but also sending us this detailed report:

“This was my second US Regatta as a licensed Referee and in the US, they don’t come bigger than Dad Vail. 497 entries came to Philadelphia on Friday 7th and Saturday the 8th May from across the USA and Canada to compete in the largest collegiate regatta in the US. The regatta was formed in 1939 and is rowed on the Schuylkill River (pronounced "skookil"), upstream of BoatHouse Row (comprising 10 clubs including Vesper and Penn AC) annually in mid May. A 2000m course, six lanes, but with the added spice of a bend through a bridge 500 metres after the start.

After a two hour commute (so that will be a local regatta then!) on Thursday evening, it was a 5.45 a.m. start Friday for the officials’ briefing as racing on the first day started at 7 a.m. and went on continuously until 5.30 p.m. with the day full of heats and repecharges for the Varsity events. Very much as with Henley, the first day separated the wheat from the chaff and on the Saturday, again racing started bright and early (albeit on a less lengthy programme), with plenty of tight racing in both semi-finals and finals. Both days found me in a Ref’s launch in the morning and in the finish tower in the afternoon. Finals were delayed on the Saturday afternoon due to a gusting wind but when racing finally recommenced, there were the usual questions over fairness of the lanes, with a number of wins for crews in the more sheltered Lane 6.

In the Men’s events Varsity 8s winners were Brock University from St Catherines, Canada and in Varsity 4s Grand Valley from Michigan were victorious. Women’s victors were Cal Sacramento from California in Varsity 8s and Western Ontario in Varsity 4s. What struck at the end of racing was the phenomenal depth of quality in US collegiate racing, bearing in mind that the heavy guns (Brown, Princeton, Harvard, Cornell, Columbia etc) were not present.

So as usual, when you see US crews in the Henley draw, chances are they’re going to be quick!”

Saturday 8 May — Borne @ Chiswick Bridge Regatta

For the second weekend in a row, the men's novices were out there flying the club colours and hunting the pewterware. This time they chalked up their first race victory by beating Putney Town in the semi-final of novice VIIIs by ¾ length – this despite a crab count of at least seven! The boys are improving with every race and they competed in the final without any major shipwrecks, going down by a similar margin to a neat Medway Towns crew in a well-fought race. Better luck next time!

Photographs of the regatta are available at ../photogallery/2010_05_08/pic_01.html.
 

Sunday 2 May — Wallingford Regatta (at Dorney Lake)

In contrast to Saturday's benign weather at Chiswick Regatta, conditions at Dorney on the Sunday were pretty awful and some of the finals had to be cancelled due to the late running of the programme. Deborah Mallinson was the sole Quintin representative to brave the elements, coming third to a Polish international and a British U23 in women's elite sculls.

Pos	Lane	Crew	500m	1000m	1500m	Time
1	1	Killorglin - M Dukarska (634)	02:00.67	04:07.77	06:15.69	08:21.15
2	6	Thames - F Jus-burke (639)	02:02.95	04:10.33	06:18.43	08:24.78
3	2	Quintin - D Mallinson (635)	02:04.77	04:14.49	06:24.14	08:33.28
4	7	Upper Thames - A Van Deventer (640)	02:04.29	04:15.37	06:26.71	08:40.21
5	3	Sport Imperial - R Davies (636)	02:08.38	04:20.69	06:31.98	08:41.04
	4	Upper Thames - L Gooderham (637)SCRATCHED
	5	Mortlake, Anglian & Alpha - F Sanjana (638)SCRATCHED

Deborah did not fare so well in the women''s IM1, having drawn one of the worst lanes in the strong cross-wind.

Pos	Lane	Crew	500m	1000m	1500m	Time
1	3	Killorglin - M Dukarska (643)	01:58.72	04:03.90	06:12.01	08:14.56
2	1	Mortlake, Anglian & Alpha - A Propsting (641)	02:00.07	04:07.02	06:17.04	08:23.01
3	2	Thames - S Theodorou (642)	02:03.68	04:11.06	06:20.31	08:27.42
4	7	Quintin - D Mallinson (647)	02:04.10	04:14.71	06:26.63	08:33.26
5	6	Mortlake, Anglian & Alpha - R Drayson (646)	02:15.20	04:40.57	06:57.38	09:14.09
	4	Mortlake, Anglian & Alpha - M Paxton (644)SCRATCHED
	5	Upper Thames - L Gooderham (645)SCRATCHED

 

Saturday 1 May — Chiswick Amateur Regatta

Saturday saw our local regatta and the start of the club's racing season with entries in Men's Novice VIIIs and Men's Intermediate 1 Coxless Fours. The Novice VIII drew the American School in London in their first heat and were slightly overwhelmed by the occasion of their first race in open competition (first 3 came off his seat and then 4 caught a crab). However, everyone enjoyed the day and put it down to experience. The coxless four were equally unfortunate in that their only opposition scratched, leaving the event null and void. The regatta committee would like to thank all the officials and club members who helped the regatta to run smoothly and finish exactly on time. Results of the finals and details of all the heats may be found at ../chiswick/2010/results.html

Photographs of the regatta are available at ../photogallery/2010_05_01/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 April Learn to Row Course gets going

The Spring Learn to Row course got off to a great start on Saturday, with the same kind of weather as on the "taster" day. As on the taster day, sessions were organised for the rowing tank, the gymnasium and, of course, the boats and we saw two women's and one men's eights take to the water. Sunday proved a little less clement with rain showers and not so much sunshine, but it is believed a good time was had by all and we look forward to seeing our participants' rowing skills improve over the coming weeks. Lots of help still required from members to support the coaches.

Sunday 18 April at 11:00am — Club Sculling Championship

On Saturday Mark was threatening to withdraw from this fine competition, but we knew he wouldn’t give up the chance of reclaiming the club crown if he could help it. Sunday dawned much as Saturday, giving ideal conditions for those who sometimes find the going a bit rough on the Tideway. Josh insisted that what Mark and Kenny needed as a "loosener" was an early morning outing together in the pair. We are not sure who was pulling whom round in the pair, but Mark had charge of the rudder and certainly established his sculling superiority over Kenny in the race, beating him into second place by 20 seconds. Having been deprived of the champion’s crown, Kenny had to be satisfied with the Veteran C pennant. Deborah was sculling as an honorary Veteran D-F (we are not sure whom that arrangement was supposed to flatter) and managed to hold off Geoff Potts, one of her clutch of coaches, by just one second. Apparently Deborah was a little disappointed that Geoff didn’t help her more with the steering, as he started immediately in front of her. Miguel should have been separating them, but along with Leif and Ewen he had fallen foul of the Icelandic volcanic ash and was stranded in the Emerald Isle. Ewen would have missed the race anyway but was stuck in Turkey; Leif didn’t say where he was emailing his apology from. There was a battle in the middle order from "Meaney’s Vets", with Nick Ryan, Richard Lonergan, Jonathan Ferris and John Ferrario starting in sequence. Nick was the winner, finishing third overall and John finished four seconds ahead of Richard, but Richard was able to claim the Veteran D to F prize. Jonathan had the misfortune to hit a buoy despite Richard’s (rather late) warning to him, and that seemed to knock him off his stride. Geoff Potts turned the tables on last year’s results by beating Tom Bishop, and Dick Findlay took the Veteran G/H pennant as expected, but the real surprise occurred when the sealed handicap was opened and Mike Kidd was declared the winner by 31 seconds. Mike was the first to admit that he had just returned from a lazy holiday in Devon and that his boat had not taken to the water for some months previously. Was this a secret ploy to secure a good handicap?

Full results at ../sculling/sculling10_results.html.

Photographs of the race and presentaation of the prizes are available at ../photogallery/2010_04_18/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 17 April — Learn to Row Taster Day

Spring finally arrived in trumps with a gloriously sunny day and not a puff of wind for the first Learn to Row "taster" day of 2010. With around two dozen attendees to look after, the coaches and helpers were kept very busy from 11 a.m. till half past three. A good time was had by all, with sessions in the gym, at the rowing tank and on the river giving everybody an opportunity to taste the various aspects of rowing as a sporting activity. The organisers would like to thank all the participants for their enthusiasm and all the coaches and helpers for their hard work. We are now looking forward to the course proper, which starts on Saturday 24th April.

Sunday 28 March at 11:00am — Vesta Veterans' Head

The club had three crews entered for the Veterans' Head and also an interest in an Occoquan, USA/Tideway Scullers/Kingston/Quintin composite veteran G crew (the interest being Dick Findlay at stroke and Catt Campbell in the cox's seat). The course this year was from Hammersmith to Chiswick on an incoming tide. The top Quintin Crew (veteran D) started at No. 70, and, improving on last year's tenth position, finished third overall in a time of 13 minutes 35.91 seconds. This is a great result. The only disappointment was that they still didn't win the Veteran D pennant, which was retained by Crabtree, just 5½ seconds faster. The crew: John Ferrario (bow), Nick Ryan, Charles Harrison, Richard Lonergan, Geoff Peel, Jonathan Ferris, Fred Jefferies, Peter Meaney (stroke), Belinda Davies (cox). The "Bar Flies" (also Veteran D) started at No. 75, but rather as expected, finished in the lower orders at 166th in a time of 16 minutes 9.70 seconds. The crew: Dave King (bow), Malcolm Cook, Dave Nicol, Martin Carr, Andrew Bramah, Roy Macavoy, Mike Harris, Aubrey Capel (stroke), Jon Townsend (cox). The "Vice-presidents" (Veteran E) starting at No. 126 were not far behind, finishing 173rd in 16 minutes 26.15 seconds. The crew: Hugh Davy (bow), Steve "What Crab?" Grosvenor , Anthony Doran, Paul Gunn, Mike Kidd, Tony Zucker, Charlie Shelton (stroke), John "Sandy" Saunders (cox). The composite crew finished 16th overall in a time of 14 minutes 5.04 seconds, beating their nearest rivals in the category by more than twenty seconds and taking the Veteran G/H pennant. Full finishing order at ../horr/2010_vets_results.html

Photographs of the race are available at ../photogallery/2010_03_28/pic_01.html.
 

Now watch the videos - first the third-placed crew.

And now for that "Chariots of Fire" moment click here.

...or you can visit the Quintin Video Channel to see all our videos (when they have been added).

Saturday 27 March at 1:15pm — The Head of the River Race

The club's first eight finished 143rd in a time of 19 minutes 0.56 seconds. Full results here.

Photographs of the race are available at ../photogallery/2010_03_27/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 20 March at 11:00am — Kingston Head

Three of our members were part of a composite Quintin/Tideway Scullers/Kingston RC Veteran F eight competing in the Kingston Head. Stroked by Dick Findlay, coxed by Catt Campbell and with Roger Hine at 2, the scratch crew finished 54th overall in a time of 17 minutes 10.03 seconds to take the Veteran F pennant, 36 seconds ahead of their closest rivals, Walbrook RC.

Full results at http://www.kingstonrc.co.uk/images/stories/Events/KHORR2010/ KHORR_2010_Results.pdf.

Sunday 14 March at 3:15pm — Hammersmith Head

With temperatures higher than in recent weeks and the odd spot of sunshine breaking through the clouds, there was a touch of spring in the air for the Hammersmith Head. The river was full with a high tide however, and to remind us it was still only mid-March a cross-tail wind off the start made for choppy conditions and a head wind round about the bandstand. The club had two eights entered: the Veteran D eight going off at No. 82, racing for the C/D handicap pennant, and the Veteran E crew at No. 84, racing for the E/F handicap pennant. The ‘D’ crew had just two other crews in their category - Thames (Vet C) starting at No.80 and Putney Town (Vet D) starting just in front at No. 81. The race plan to win the pennant was simple - overtake them both! Richard Lonergan, freshly re-instated in the stroke seat after a winter's rest, took the crew off at 37, settling to a lively 34, and Putney Town were history before the brewery had been cleared. The crew then settled down to haul in Thames, gaining the overlap down Chiswick Eyot and finishing two to three lengths clear, also dismissing one of the tail-end novice crews at the same time. Their overall time was 11 minutes 34 seconds, placing them 19th overall, and 30 seconds ahead of Thames. The crew: John Ferrario (bow), Roger Hine, Charles Harrison, Larry Tysome, Geoff Peel, Jonathan Ferris, Fred Jefferies, Richard Lonergan (stroke), Helena Smalman-Smith (cox).

Meanwhile, the ‘E’ crew were equally intent on beating Putney Town, starting right in front of their Veteran Es, and also had the added challenge of Tideway Scullers starting just ahead. Unfortunately it was Tideway Scullers who won the Veteran E/F pennant, in a time of 12 minutes 20 seconds, but our crew came 84th overall in a time of 13 minutes 58 seconds, a full minute and a half quicker than Putney Town. The crew: Hugh Davy (bow), Geoff Garbow, Steve Grosvenor, Jorg Modersohn, Anthony Doran, Jim Moyes, Mike Kidd, Charlie Shelton (stroke), Paul Tremeer (cox).

Full results at hammersmithheadresults2010.pdf.

Photographs of the race are available at ../photogallery/2010_03_14/pic_01.html.
 

Thursday 4 March — News from across the pond

We recently received an update from Martin Carr on his activities in the U.S.A. Martin and Trish were married on Friday 13th November 2009 at New York City Hall in, to quote Martin, "a brief ceremony in front of a bored city official that lasted about 5 minutes. On the Saturday we had a blessing from a local Anglican priest in front of about 50 guests. Post Christmas we honeymooned on Cape Cod."

Martin goes on, "So I'm pretty busy on the rowing front. Trish and I coach at a small local college (Sarah Lawrence College) which is leading me into to the murky world of coaching. Prior to the winter shutdown we coach on Glen Island Sound, the same water inhabited by New York Athletic Club, where I did have a ‘lively exchange of differences’ with a certain Jamie Koven!

We also have been rowing at a small rowing club based in Harlem (which is very much a bastion of white faces) and we row as the name implies on the Harlem. Key there is that you really do need to get on the water early as plenty of gin palaces use it as a cut through between the East and Hudson Rivers.

Feels odd not to have been on the water since early November but I'm currently erging regularly (5 to 6 times a week!!, following the Concept 2 UK program) at the superbly equipped college gym. Again it's odd that the season here starts at the end of March and that it's straight into the regattas.

I've been in touch with USRA and am currently studying to be a US Referee. Its a tough set of rules mainly because most of the rules are identical, its remembering the differences that are tough! Even not having passed the Ref's exam, I've already been invited to officiate at NE Junior Championships in Massachussets in May!"

Saturday 20 February at 2:00pm — Molesey Veteran Head

Despite yellow boards, the Molesey Veteran Head went ahead this Saturday and so some very fast times were expected and achieved. We had two eights entered; the "racing" vets in the veteran D category going off at number 9, and the VPs in the Veteran F category going off at number 18. The Veteran D crew took their category pennant convincingly, by 13 seconds, in 8 minutes 41.94 seconds. They finished second overall, only 3.7 seconds behind the winning Tyrian Veteran B crew and 2.7 seconds ahead of arch-rivals Crabtree. The Quintin crew was: Nick Ryan (bow), Larry Tysome, John Ferrario, Jonathan Ferris, Geoff Peel, Kenny Almand, Fred Jefferies, Peter Meaney (stroke), Helena Smalman-Smith (cox). The "Vice-Presidents'" crew (Veteran F) faired not quite so well, finishing 30th in 10 minutes 14.50 seconds, but on handicap were fifth in their category (Veteran F/G). The crew was Hugh Davy (bow), Steve Grosvenor, Paul Gunn, Jorg Modersohn, Francis Brown, Charlie Shelton, Mike Kidd, Jim Moyes (stroke), Paul Tremeer (cox).

Full results at http://www.moleseyregatta.co.uk/MAR/MVH results 2010.pdf.

Photographs of the race are available at ../photogallery/2010_02_20/pic_01.html.
 

Thursday 11 February — Quiz Night

Paul Gunn arranged another of his excellent quiz nights for Thursday, 11th February, and proceedings got underway promptly at 8:30 p.m. The theme for the evening was "2009", which for many of us was obviously in the dim and distant past. There was some debate as to whether you get wetter walking or running in the rain, and a certain amount of apathy surrounded the question of who won "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of The Ballroom", but the eventual winners were one of the W4 Harriers' teams. The Harriers combined their evening with their annual club awards. Many thanks to them for providing the entertainment and the food during the quiz interval.

Friday 5 February — The Annual Dinner

Once again a good time was had by all at the Royal Automobile Club for the Quintin Annual Dinner. Our principal guest was Sir George Cox, President of the Leander Club and a former member of QBC. After a hilarious introduction by Duncan (It's-amazing-what-you-find-when-you-Google) Hughes, Sir George gave a very entertaining speech himself. Leif Jacobsen managed to avoid the ordeal this year. It was good to see some of our newest members in attendance, as well as the likes of Ron Needs and Brian Shaw joining our "golden oldies". The food was up to the usual high standard: terrine of chicken and wild mushrooms, then roast rump of lamb, followed by profiteroles (as usual) and coffee. For our further entertainment, Duncan compiled a Quintin Quiz, with questions on the recent and not-so-recent history of the club, and additional questions on that well-known private fixture between a couple of ancient universities. Most of the answers were to be found on this website, but the webmaster's recollection was not too great on the night. Better luck with next Thursday's quiz! Mike Kidd won Heads-or-tails and treated his crew mates and others present to a post-outing drink in the clubroom the next day.

Saturday 30 January — Quintin Head

The organisers of the event and, most likely, all the competitors, spectators, photographers, race officials and volunteers, were very grateful to the gods for once again arranging excellent weather for this the seventh Quintin Head. The skies were blue and there was little wind, and there was a full turnout of 99 crews to race (116 entries having been received). The only adverse condition apart from the low temperature was the large amount of landwater flowing downstream, but the incoming tide overcame this in plenty of time for the race. It did suggest, though, that the upstream course record of 10 minutes 53 seconds, set by Quintin Boat Club in 2006, was fairly safe; this in spite of the presence of two finely matched crews from the Cambridge University Boat Race squad.

As expected, Cambridge came away with the major honours, and, as tradition would seem to have it, it was their second-to-start crew that proved the faster, albeit by a small margin. The Oxford/Cambridge alumni club, 1829, also proved they still have what it takes by finishing just 10.6 seconds behind the winners. Their third place was followed by the University of Bristol (IM2 winners) in fourth with Latymer Upper School fifth. Latymer's fastest IM1 time did not, however, win them the pennant as a late substitution of Bob Thatcher at stroke, changing their status from J18, meant they were rowing for time only. Nephthys, the Oxford University lightweights, finished seventh to take the IM3 pennant, and St Paul's School at ninth won the J18 category. The IM1 pennant was won by Vesta Rowing Club, finishing just behind St. Paul's in tenth place. The University of Bristol won their second pennant of the day with their Novice men's crew in 30th place and St George's College, finishing 32nd, won the J15 prize.

Photographs of the pennant winners are available at ../photogallery/2010_01_30/pennant_01.html.

There were eight men's veteran entries, spread across five categories, but only Veteran D warranted a pennant, with three entries. This was won convincingly by Quintin Boat Club (hooray!), who beat all the other veteran crews to finish 18th overall. This crew set off with such determination that they almost overtook their opponents from Tideway Scullers before the start line (timing officials at the start could not work out why and nearly had a tricky situation separating their recorded start times). The Quintin vets were pleased with their result, but disappointed not to beat the first eight, who finished six seconds ahead of them in 16th place.

Photographs of the QBC crews are available at ../photogallery/2010_01_30/quintin_01.html.

The fastest women's crew, from Vesta, had stepped up a category from WIM2 to WIM1 as a result of a late substitution and so they had to be content with winning only one pennant for their position of 44th overall. The WIM1 pennant was taken by Mortlake Anglian & Alpha, 49th overall, only a fifth of a second behind their own men's IM3 crew. They were followed at fiftieth by Putney Town who took the WIM3 pennant. Vesta, the most successful club on the day, gained their third pennant with their WIM2 crew in 55th place. Barnes Bridge Ladies won the women's novices category in 79th position, and, last but not least, Kingston Grammar School won WJ15.

It was good to see crews taking part from clubs further afield such as Worcester and of course the University of Bristol, who have been sending a strong team each year since 2006 (and collecting a good few pennants). It was also encouraging to see some of the Oxford colleges venturing away from the Isis and the organisers hope that the popularity of this event will continue in subsequent years.

Full results are at ../quintinhead/2010/results.html.

See also a report on the British Rowing website.