Sunday 20th May — British Rowing Masters Championships, Nottingham

The busy weekend continues with a large entry from the club at the British Rowing Masters Championships. We have entries in Masters A (Mark Chatwin), Masters C (Ken Almand and Richard Ratcliffe) and Masters G (Tom Bishop) single sculls, a Quintin/AK composite in Masters C quadruple sculls, a Quintin/AK/Bewl Bridge composite in Masters B eights, and full Quintin crews in Masters E and G coxless fours and Masters D, E and F eights.

The full draw is available at http://www.masterschamps.org/files/masterschamps2012-draw.pdf.

Saturday 19th May — Twickenham Regatta

The club has a substantial entry at Twickenham Regatta this weekend. Kerrigan Abbot, Richard Miller and Nick Moore are all entered in men's novice single sculls, Rob Williams and Sam Broadhurst are both entered in men's IM3 single sculls and join together in IM3 double sculls. Sean Pitt and Tom Barnwell are in novice double sculls, while Anne Wilkinson and Nanyamka Brown are in WIM3 double sculls and Tamsyn Wedlake-James is in WIM3 single sculls. Good luck one and all!

Details at http://www.twickenham-regatta.org/.

Saturday 5th May — Chiswick Amateur Regatta

There were lots of close races at Chiswick Regatta on Saturday, including some of those involving our young scullers. After his novice win at Borne Regatta last week, Sam Broadhurst stepped up to IM3 status and had a creditable first performance at that level, losing his heat by just ¾ length to Anderson of Poplar, Blackwall and District RC. Anderson was eventually runner-up in this event and also won J18 single sculls, so well done, Sam, and better luck next time! In novice sculls we had three entries. Unfortunately Andrew Scriven had to scratch, but Nick Moore put in a gutsy performance, losing to Benfell of Vesta by just three feet at the second time of asking, the first race resulting in a dead heat.

But star of the event was our own Rob Williams, who was also involved in a dead heat in his first round race against Mcloughlin of Emanuel School, whom Rob went on to beat by 1½ lengths on the re-row. Rob then won his two next heats against Lowenhoff of Twickenham and Wachholz of Tyrian by a comfortable four lengths before beating Freeland of Emanuel School by three lengths in the final. Well done, Rob!

Unfortunately, our women scullers did not fare so well this week, finding the IM3 competition tougher than they did last week in novices. Both doubles went out in their first round heats, but the experience has given them something to work on through the summer.

Congratulations to Simon Murby in his first year as regatta secretary. Everything went off very smoothly, despite the cold, damp weather.

Full results may be found via the regatta's results page .

Saturday 28th April — Borne @ Chiswick Bridge Regatta

The club's racing season got off to a good start this weekend, with wins in all events entered. Andrew Scriven, Nick Moore, Richard Miller, Rob Williams and Sam Broadhurst were all competing in Men's Novice Sculls, where Sam proved to be the winner when he rowed over in the final after winning his way through three heats. Our women (Nanyamka Brown, Anne Wilkinson, Hayley Short and Tamsyn Wedlake-James) similarly rowed over in the final of Women's Novice Quad Sculls after beating Putney High School in their heat. Maybe the foul weather (wind and rain) deterred their opposition from turning out for the finals. To complete the clean sweep, Richard Ratcliffe won Men's Masters C Sculls and we should also mention Sarah Blakeburn's victory for the University of Westminster in Women's IM3 Sculls. All that sculling at Aiguebelette clearly paid off.

The Potwinners' Chart starts here.

We are awaiting the official results from the regatta.

Photographs of the regatta are available at ../photogallery/2012_04_28/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 24th to Friday 30th March — QBC Training Camp, Aiguebelette, France

Just after the Tideway Head, the club's keen young 'uns and not-so-young 'uns decamped to Aiguebelette for what proved to be a week of sunshine, sport and other activities (not all beginning with "s") in the French mountains. Everyone enjoyed it so much that it has taken until late April for the requested report to arrive on your editor's metaphorical doormat — but here it is, courtesy of Sam Broadhurst's pen:

"It is the day after training camp, we are all bright eyed and passing rigger jiggers around so we can re-rig the boats. I am walking around and looking busy, when as I pass I hear out of the corner of my ear in a jokey tone : “so then, who’s going to write up about training camp?” Now, I don’t know if it was because I was the first person to be seen or whether it was a genuine interest that I should be the one, but, even though I tried to keep my head down and out of trouble I was assigned the task.

The first day we arrived in France the hard work began of unloading the bags, trying to be continental by maybe taking off a jumper – although bugger it, there’s no time for messing around, we’ve got some lunch to eat. After the first meal in Les Lodges du Lac we had time for a quick shower and although we were all going to drive down together to rig the boats, the others were too busy trying to work out how to spell Lodges so they could get the password for the Wi-Fi access that Andrew and I were forgotten about.

The first day out on the lake, and I’m speaking for myself here, but it was so calm and the water so perfectly flat that I actually felt less confident for a good 20 strokes or so, until I realised how much easier one can ‘pass the salt’ on such calm water. After our first outing on the lake and after showing up the French national squad doing their assessments, we had a quick ‘tea break’ and it was back on the water for another paddle before we headed back for some lunch. After lunch we had the fun and games of going to pick up some bikes from the bike rental store and this was a perfect time for Sarah Blakeburn to show off some of her French skills whilst the rest of us just pointed at our tyres and said in a very British way: “flat”.

For those of you who haven’t been, Les Lodges du Lac is picturesque; little cabins in a shady woodland around a crystal blue pool. After lunch we were instructed by Merv to get some ‘shut eye’ otherwise we would crash and burn, but it’s alright, this year we were allowed to drink alcohol so we had that to look forward to in the evenings.

So, who was the first to fall in I hear you thinking. Well it was a big Scot named Craig, he was clearly just a bit too hot and thought, right, time to cool off. After that it was Nick Moore, who was clearly just showing off and wanted to take his top off. Mark Chatwin and Alex Page both tried and failed to tip me in whilst I was standing in my boat, bit unfortunate really because that would have been pretty funny to watch.

During the week it was clear that everyone really progressed in the sculling boats and everyone really went at it with passion. On the second to last day we did 2x 1500m time trials, which were videoed and that was really helpful and also good fun to see the ‘human centipede’ snaking it’s way down the course (the girls’ quad – consisting of: Nanyamka Brown, Hayley Short, Anne Wilkinson and Tamsyn Wedlake-James). On the last day we held a mini regatta and the conditions weren’t the nicest, the usual cross breeze that we had every morning session had changed its course and was now blowing on to the course. Oh well, nothing to do, we had to race and it was a good experience. Tom Bishop the ex-Olympian beat Sam Broadhurst in the final which was exciting to watch.

I guess the only other thing to say is that before the end of 2012 Mervyn Lee will be showcasing his cross dressing skills again in front of a much bigger audience."

Lots more photos on Facebook.

Photographs of the camp are available at ../photogallery/2012_03_24/pic_01.html.
 

Thursday 7th June — QBC Golf Society

Simon Murby is planning another golfing extravaganza. After last year's fledgling inaugural meeting, the 2012 QBC GS day is set for Thursday 7th June. The venue is Richmond Golf Club, www.therichmondgolfclub.com.

The format will be :

• Coffee and bacon roll on arrival at the club
• Teeing off between 08.30 and 09.00
• 3/4 ball Stableford with full handicap allowance
• 18 holes of Golf followed by a 2 course Carvery lunch and prize giving
• Cost per person : £65 to Simon on the day

There will be prizes for best individual and best team as well as for nearest-the-pin and longest drive.

As the name would suggest this is essentially a day for members of QBC, but is also open to a select number of guests who are regular golfers; e.g. spouses, close business colleagues and friends. All handicaps, particularly those of guests, are of course to be taken on trust, but the handicap committee's decision (i.e. David and Simon) will be absolutely final! Please let Simon know if you would like to extend invites to any guests - he will then include them in the mailing group and we can hopefully accommodate them on the day, numbers permitting.

If you are interested please email Simon at golf@quintinboatclub.org, including your proposed handicap (maximum 28). Nearer the time we will also need to know if anybody has any special dietary requirements.

Sunday 18th March — Vesta Veterans' Head of the River

We have come to expect a certain amout of success from our veteran section, but we should not take it for granted; a lot of hard work goes into the organisationn and training of the various squads. That said, it was good to see a brace of pennants being taken at the weekend. Ken Almand stroked the Auriol Kensington/Quintin/Putney Town composite to take the Masters B pennant, ably assisted by Richard Ratcliffe and Mark Chatwin (the captain performing his second full track in as many days). The crew, starting at No. 16, overtook six crews and finished fifth overall in a time of 19 min. 2.84 sec. Meanwhile, Meaney's Marauders, starting at No. 113, were awaiting their turn in the marshalling area below Chiswick Bridge, along with the "Bar Flies" at No. 124. When their time came the Marauders put their Amsterdam experience to good effect and plundered their third Masters E 8+ pennant of the season, in a time of 19 min. 35.29 sec, 13 seconds ahead of nearest rivals Walton, again overtaking a fistful of crews, including the Kingston and Tideway Scullers "D" eights, to finish 16th overall. The Bar Flies, who had done their best, but unsuccessfully, to hold off Walton, finished 146th in a time of 22 min. 2.27 sec, while the Quintin/Occoquan composite Masters "G" crew finished 89th in a time of 20 min. 52.27 sec.

The results, with quick hyperlinks to Quintin crews, are available at
../horr/2012_vets_results.html

The pennant winning personnel - Masters "B" crew: Mark Chatwin, Richard Ratcliffe, Ken Almand - Masters "E" crew: Huw Jones, Roger hine, Geoff Peel, Steve Aquilina, Phil Hayman, Pete Meaney, Fred Jefferies, Richard Lonergan, Kevin McEvoy.

This event closes our pennant winners chart for the 2011-12 winter season with veteran sculler Tom Bishop leading from the outset but caught by Ken Almand on the last day, both topping the chart on six wins.

Saturday 17th March — The Head of the River Race

The club had one crew entered for the Head of the River Race this year. Their start position was 172 and they finished 279th in a time of 20min. 28.42 sec.

The crew contained only two of the "old guard", but was otherwise made up of our "learn-to-rowers", who have in fact been learning to scull this winter, and this was only their fourth outing in the eight together. It was Andrew's first ever race and a first Head of the River for Rob, and so it is hoped that, as well as being an enjoyable experience for the first timers, it will also encourage the squad to commit more to rowing and training not only to achieve a better result in the Head next year but to take forward this commitment into the summer regattas.

The crew: Sam Broadhurst (bow), Nick Moore, Andrew Scriven, Ewen Mcleaod, Richard Miller, Craig Russell, Rob Williams, Mark Chatwin (stroke), Catt McLeod (cox).

Full results, with quick hyperlinks to the Quintin entry, may be found at
../horr/2012_results.html.

Photographs of the race are available at ../photogallery/2012_03_17/pic_01.html.
 

Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th March — Heineken Roeivierkamp, Amsterdam

Meaney's Marauders went further afield this weekend and explored the lower reaches of the Amstel River in Amsterdam, Netherlands, taking part in a two-day event organised by Nereus Rowing Club and sponsored by Heineken. The event consists of a 2500m and a 250m time trial on the Saturday, followed by 750m and 5000m on the Sunday (although veterans are excused the 750m). Each time is reduced to a 250m split time and the results of the races added together to give an overall score. Quintin competed in the Masters E category, our main opposition being Cambridge BC from Boston, Massachusetts. Also competing from GB were Barnes Bridge Ladies in women's Masters C 8+ and Imperial College in men's division 1 and division 2.

The Saturday started cloudy with a little drizzle descending as Barnes Bridge took on the might oF Willem III (the Dutch equivalent of Leander) in their division's 2500 race. However, by the time Quintin came to race at 1:00pm the skies had cleared and there was only a head breeze to contend with on certain reaches of the bendy course. The crew set off with great determination at 37-36 and were soon overhauling one of the slower Masters F crews, unfortunately having to take the outside of the bend to get past. Their time for the 2500m — 7 min 57.8 sec. with Cambridge BC just 0.7 sec. faster. Then, when all the men's masters had completed their 2500m, came the 250m. This is raced two-abreast from a flying start, finishing at the Nereus boathouse. However, as there was an odd number in the Masters E division and Quintin were first on, they raced alone, clocking 43.4 sec to Cambridge's 44.1 and putting us in pole position for the 5000m on Sunday with a 12.6 sec. advantage. Things were looking good!

Sunday was a glorious spring day, enough to bring those Amsterdam tulips into full bloom. Whether it was over-confidence or too much beer on Saturday afternoon and evening we shall never know, but sadly for us Cambridge pulled the cat out of the bag on Sunday clocking 17:14.0 on the 5k to our 17:28.7, giving them victory by just 0.105 points. We'll have 'em next time! Full results at http://h4k.nereus.nl/results/ (look for division 023 - HVE8+).

Photographs from the trip may be found at ../photogallery/2012_03_10/pic_01.html.

This is a great event. Watching 250m sprint races avery 25-30 seconds (complete with crabs and other mishaps) is a great spectator sport, especially with a friendly Amsterdam pub just a few yards behind you. Quintin must send a larger contingent next year.

Sunday 4th March — Hammersmith Head

After much deliberation and debate (and a very pleasant trip to Amsterdam by your correspondent – see above) the results of the Hammersmith Head can now be revealed for those of you who have not explored the interior of the Auriol Kensington website to follow the developments. We are happy to be able to say that both Quintin entries scored successes, the Masters B composite with AKRC finishing 28th in a time of 11 minutes 56.9 sec and thus clinching the Masters B/C handicap pennant, while Meaney's Marauders, after an initial shock when the provisional results were published, were finally awarded the Masters E pennant, finishing 47th in a time of 12 min. 22.5 sec. Full results at http://www.akrowing.com/downloads/Results_HH2012_Final.pdf.

Quintin personnel— Masters B 8+: Richard Ratcliffe, Mark Chatwin, Ken Almand. Masters E 8+: Huw Jones, Roger Hine, Geoff Peel, Steve Aquilina, Phil Hayman, Peter Meaney, Fred Jefferies, Richard Lonergan, Kevin McEvoy.

Saturday 11th February — Molesey Veteran Head

The "Barflies" kicked off their 2012 season with a stiff paddle over the Molesey Reach, finishing 20th overall in a field of 43 eights, fours and quads. Their category (E – 55-59 average age) was won by a speedy Walton crew, who finished second overall, but even they were outshone by an untouchable Crabtree "C" eight (43-49 average age), over ¾ minute clear. Our crew had the consolation of finishing ahead of, among others, the "D" crew of our old rivals Kingston RC.

Full results may be found at
http://www.moleseyregatta.co.uk/MAR/MVH%20results%202012.pdf.

Friday 3rd February — Annual Dinner

The annual dinner was held once again this year at the Royal Automobile Club in London. After a fine meal of woodland mushroom soup, then rump of lamb followed by lemon tart, coffee and petit fours, Duncan Hughes recounted a no doubt apochryphal tale before introducing the guest speaker, Toby Hessian (former lightweight international and brother to erstwhile Quintin member Rupert). Toby gave a splendid account of the two races which won him and his crew-mates the Ladies' Plate at Henley in 1989, when their Nottingham CRA eight were called upon to beat Harvard University not once but twice. Toby's recipe for success sounded very similar to that offered by Steve Trapmore at our 2008 dinner, only he employed two-minute intervals rather than 500m signals as his markers. In essence, his advice was "Row hard for two minutes, row even harder for the next two minutes and then row harder still for the final two minutes". It certainly worked for Toby. Your correspondent was there at eight o'clock on that glorious summer's evening back in 1989 when 10,000 people stayed on after the Henley prizegiving to watch the race of the regatta. Incidentally, the losing Harvard crew had put out our own crew (including your correspondent in his last Henley row) in the very first round.

Saturday 28th January — The Quintin Head

The first major event on the Tideway of the New Year, namely the Quintin Head, got the year off to a cracking start with a record 151 entries. Just as last year, the weather was dry but cold, and the river conditions were relatively calm on a low ebbing tide, with just a bit of a head wind to contend with around Chiswick Eyot. The marshals did a grand job of getting the 142 crews that took to the water into position, and the race was able to start only a few minutes late, with the first crew crossing the start line at 9:38 am.

Imperial College were the overall winners, with a margin of 1.3 seconds over Tideway Scullers School, finishing in 12 min. 38.2 sec. IC also took the IM1 pennant, leaving the Senior pennant to TSS as a consolation prize, a fraction of a second ahead of rivals University of London. The UL third eight won the IM2 pennant in ninth position and, although Bedford Modern School (IM1) were the fastest school crew, in eighth place, Hampton School (12th) took the J18 pennant. The University of Bristol added the IM2 pennant to their extensive collection of Quintin Head pennants, having won at least one every year since 2006. Westminster School won J16s. Lincoln College, the only entry from the Oxford colleges, won the novice pennant, finishing 49th overall. Right behind them in 50th, St. Paul's School won J15. The Masters C category was won by a Quintin / Auriol Kensington composite, finishing 15th overall, and a full Quintin crew won Masters E in 39th position. Crabtree (26th) were the faster of only two Masters D crews, so no pennant was awarded.

In the women's events, one of Vesta's Senior eights was the fastest, finishing 41st in 14 min. 4.3 sec. and earning themselves both the Senior and the "fastest women" pennants. Imperial College / Sport Imperial won WIM1 in 55th place, with University of London (69th – WIM3 winners) ahead of City of Oxford (75th – WIM2 winners). University College London won Women's Novices and Godolphin & Latymer School won WJ15.

Quintin's own men's development VIII were disappointed to be behind their elders, finishing 62nd, but have plenty of scope for improvement in the coming weeks.

Full reaults on the Quintin Head Results Page.

Wednesday 4 January — A Happy New Year

Here's wishing a Happy New Year to all our readers, with the added bonus of a few reminders of up-coming events.

January 28th brings the ninth Quintin Head. This race was instigated by the the then club captain, Richard White, in 2001 and, after an intermittent start, has been run every year since 2006. During this time the number of entries has grown from 24 in 2001 to over 140 in 2011 and has attracted some of the best crews in the country. Without closure of the river, the cap of 110 crews required by the Port of London Authority meant that last year more than 30 crews were disappointed not to have their entries accepted. The race committee has decided that this year the river will be closed and so the number of racing crews will not have to be so severely limited. Another change this year is that the course has been extended by approximately 600 metres and will finish at Harrod's Depository rather than Hammersmith Bridge, with the usual start at the University Stone just below Chiswick Bridge.

Attention all competitors!. Get your entries in now and make the New Year start with the biggest Quintin Head ever. Details at http://quintinboatclub.org/quintinhead/.

Attention all club members! Your help is needed to make sure this is the best Quintin Head yet. Contact Jane Adams to find out what you can do to help.

Paul Gunn is organising another Quiz Night extravaganza - all club members and friends welcome. It will take place in the clubroom on Thursday 9th February, starting at 8:00 pm. Put this date in your diary now, and while you're at it, don't forget the Annual Dinner on Friday, 3rd February at the usual venue of the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall. Duncan Hughes would be grateful for any raffle prizes you can donate.

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