CHAIRMAN’S VIEW
At the December meeting your Committee approved a new governance structure for the Club. The two key principles are the formation of six sub-committees reporting to a working committee on which each member will be elected into a specific role. Our aim is to spread the workload of running the Club, to ensure that the Club works to the benefit of all members and to deliver energetic and robust governance of London Rowing Club.
Some proposed changes to the Club rules to consolidate the new format will be circulated to members in good time ahead of a General Meeting planned for the end of April. Members will have the opportunity to vote for individuals for the key posts for the 2020/21 season at the Annual General Meeting to be held in July.
The sub-committees are as follows:
Membership
Finance and Administration
Rowing
Property
House and Events
Strategic Planning
We are now in the process of forming these sub-committees. If you feel able to contribute to one or more of them, or want to learn more about the plans, please contact a Committee member.
Simon Harris
Chairman, London Rowing Club
QUINTIN HEAD
On Saturday, the 25th of January I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to race in the famous LRC blue and white once again. The event was the usually unassuming Quintin Head but for me this event was a perfect microcosm of how far the Club has come in the last three years.
London boated no fewer than seven crews, including a full club Women’s Eight.
As Masters B, our crew were lucky enough to start relatively high up in the field of 250 as crew number 80. Focusing entirely on my own race, I did not expect to experience the booming shouts of support from the LRC crews still marshalling as we were manoeuvring onto the start. Similarly, just as we were running on the last of the fumes in the tank a minute or so from the finish, the yells of encouragement from the squad crews, already making their way back to the clubhouse, gave us a much needed boost to finish the race with a strong surge and ensuring we finished with an overlap on the crew ahead of us.
To me, this perfectly encapsulated the new, and extremely healthy, culture now exuding from the LRC clubhouse and changing rooms; one united London Rowing Club, supporting one another and working together to help each other achieve our goals.
Masters B: James Young (1), Matt Piechowicz (2), Richard Gilfillan (3), Mark Lucani (4), Charlie Dunlop-Cunnington (5), Stuart Heap (6), Basil Amin (7), Fiennes Davey (8), Brendan Armstrong (cox).
Masters C: James Brown (1), Stuart Forbes (2), Stewart Harries (3), Shaun Martin (4), Alex Fothergill (5), Jonty Williamson (6), James Lindsay-Fynn (7), JP van Tiel (8), Lesley Vowles (cox).
Masters C: Bob Silver (1), Evan Grace (2), Tim Leppard (3), Colin Christie (4), Mark Boyd (5), James Brooks (6), Will Randall (7), Matt Kennedy (8), Meghann Jackson (cox).
Women’s Eight: Harriet Lowe (1), Laura Haden-Smith (2), Jennifer Arthur (3), Megan Cliff (4), Lizzie Cottrell (5), Emily Walters (6), Maxi Scibor-Rylska (7), Claudia Turley (8), Ann-Kathrin Knacke (cox).
Squad A: Nathan O’Reilly (1), Gregor Maxwell (2), Lou Pratt (3), Matt Cummings (4), Nick Pritchard (5), Harry Smallman (6), Rob Williams (7), Tom Sidorowicz (8), Fiona Cooke (cox).
Squad B: Eoghan Beamish (1), Sam Burdett (2), Chris Goodfellow (3), Jack Hoare (4), Dennis Gibson (5), Riccardo Bouehi (6), Sam Russell (7), Hugo Storey (8), Heather Scott (cox).
Squad C: Maciej Tyrlik (1), Henry Pye (2), Will Shrieve (3), Christian Green (4), Jed Campbell-Williams (5), Jeffrey Tomasi (6), Stuart Horn (7), Alan Hunton (8), Abigail Leek (cox).
Very much an added bonus was the fact that we managed to pick up two pennants - Masters C and Masters B - collectively due to make a strong showing at the Quintin Head prize-giving.
The drum banged loudly on the 25th of January 2020.
Mark Lucani
Photo credits: Gabriel Brown and Mark Ruscoe
STOP PRESS: Nathan O’Reilly takes bronze at 2020 World Indoor Rowing Championships, Paris.
Our very own Nathan O’Reilly won a bronze medal on Saturday 08 February in the Masters 30-39 Men’s Lightweight division in a time of 06:28.8, a little under 2 seconds behind the German winner, Sebastian Kleinsorgen at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in Paris. Many many congratulations Nathan from everyone at London Rowing Club.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
15 February: Henley Fours and Eights Head
15 February: Molesey Head Races
16 February: Hammersmith Head
04 March: Irregulars’ Dinner (provisional)
07 March: Women’s Eights Head (14.30)
14 March: Kingston Head
15 March: Lightweights Boat Race
18 March: Schools’ Head (12.30)
21 March: Head of the River (14.45)
22 March: Vesta Veterans Head (15.00)
29 March: University Boat Races (Women’s 15.44, Men’s 16.44)
01 April: Irregulars’ Dinner (provisional)
18/19 April: Great London Row
29 April: LRC General Meeting (provisional)
03 May: Wallingford Regatta (Dorney)
06 May: Irregulars’ Dinner (provisional)
30/31 May: Metropolitan Regatta (Dorney)
31 May: Vogalonga (Venice)
See more detail for these events, visit our Calendar of Events…
‘MEMBERSHIP’ OPEN MEETING
James Brooks and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the thirty-eight members who ventured forth at the somewhat unsociable time of 8.30pm on a cold February night to attend the Membership open meeting we held in the Long Room last Thursday.
After a brief introduction, I handed over to James who gave an excellent presentation about the statistics relating to the Club’s membership, illustrated with some excellent slides that he had prepared for the occasion. His presentation was followed by a lively, very well humoured and interesting discussion in which most people present took the opportunity to canvas their thoughts about ways in which the Club can be improved and be made more relevant and user friendly for our members.
This was a really enjoyable way for everyone to communicate our thoughts and feelings about the Club. The Membership Sub-Committee, which is on the brink of coming into operation, will be bearing in mind the ideas and issues canvassed. Quite a lot of discussion focussed on the culture and spirit of the Club. It also became very clear that the Club Room, which is currently being made ready for use by members, needs to be up and running without delay. The range of topics was wide and varied.
This page from James’s presentation headed ‘Topic List for Discussion’ indicates the subject matter of our discussion.
We hope to have more evenings like this over the coming months. As and when we do, we would encourage as many members as possible to attend and participate. I believe last Thursday’s event was a success – the fact that so many people stayed on afterwards to have a drink and a bite to eat together was, I hope, indicative of an enjoyable, interesting and worth-while evening.
Miles Preston
Membership Sub-Committee
GYM AND MEN’S CHANGING ROOM UPDATE
Our new gym is being very well used and if you are not yet taking advantage of it, please do!
Additional equipment - a second tranche of equipment has been installed including plyo boxes for jumping on and off, more mats, some very heavy dumbbells, dipping belts, smaller weight plates and a plate rack. A vertical dumbbell rack and dumbbells at the lighter end will be arriving shortly. All the equipment has been selected carefully by the club’s strength and conditioning and coaching experts to meet our training needs.
Mirrors - special gym mirrors are being installed at the back of the large gym and behind the racks in the weights gym and should look very fine indeed.
Bikes – we shall shortly be trialling a Concept 2 bike as a possible replacement for the watt bikes.
Lockers and mechanical ventilation in the men’s changing room - the gym redevelopment sub-committee has spent a lot of time planning the lockers to make the best use of the space available for them. There will be 80 lockers, compared to 60 in the old changing room, and a mix of normal height lockers and bike helmet and bag lockers. An update will be made when we have a confirmed date for installation. The sub-committee has also identified an appropriate mechanical ventilation system for the changing room to cope with the steam and condensation in the colder weather and is discussing installation currently.
Snagging - there are inevitably a number of snagging issues and bits and pieces to sort out which the sub-committee is aware of and working through.
Peter Halford
Photos from last Sunday morning - the gym is getting more and more popular.
LRC ANNUAL DINNER
This year’s Annual Dinner took place on Friday, the 31st January. Our President, Mike Baldwin, once again hosted the evening in the Long Room but this year it had a noticeably new feel to it.
As the President rightly pointed out, our guest speaker was very much a departure from the form of years gone by and the room certainly had a far more youthful tone, some might even say boisterous - although that may have had something to do with the Vesta RC Captain.
Our incredible guest speaker on the night was Patricia Walsh, a Paralympic athlete who represented the USA in Rio and is a Tokyo hopeful. She is also part of the extended LRC family - training in the new LRC gym with James Meade, our own S&C coach. Patricia had us all hanging on her every word with her inspirational story and almost unbelievable achievements. What struck me the most was her humility combined with her drive to set the benchmark as high as possible and to encourage others to achieve more than they ever thought possible.
For those who haven’t already got a copy of her book, ‘Blind Ambition’, I recommend that you get one now
Also present as a guest of the President was Gledisa Musollari, Club Captain of Imperial College BC, who graciously accepted an LRC medal as a token of our thanks to Imperial College for letting us use their gym while our new gym was under construction.
Left to right: Ben Helm, Ashleigh Helm, Mark Lucani,Geldisa Musollari, Michael Baldwin, Patricia Walsh, Michael Williams, Harry Bond, Meghann Jackson, Andrew Curry (out of shot).
As we have come to expect, the food was fantastic and accompanied by delightful LRC wines. Tommy and the team ensured that the evening went off like a well-oiled machine.
At the end of her speech Patricia proposed the health of the Club emphasising in doing so that the Club is in robust form!
Mark Lucani
IRREGULARS’ REPORT
Numbers boating on Sundays continue at a very healthy level, averaging in the mid-twenties. This is a great effort considering the very changeable weather conditions.
The eights’ season is upon us and we are looking forward to competing at the Hammersmith Head on the 16th February and the VHORR on the 22nd March. Bearing in mind that we do not do a huge amount of sweep rowing, it is really gratifying to see such a good number keen to participate. Training outings take place every Sunday at the earlier time of 09:30, with our regular cox, Ollie Moore (son of Dugald), taking charge. Having consistency in this position together with Ollie’s confidence and desire to improve the boat has made a big difference. Miles Preston has been instrumental in instilling a regular land training regime amongst the oarsmen.
In the middle of January, we carried out a review of our hulls with a view to renewing tired working parts. We are very grateful to Rob Dauncey and Steve Salter for all their help and advice. They are currently getting some spare parts together to replace those that are worn. During this review, it was decided that one of our hulls, the Bunji Langton, is in need of an overhaul and it has now been sent away for this purpose.
It is perhaps a good time to mention our annual visit to Venice. It is now looking likely that four LRC crews (three organised by Miles Preston and a fourth by Jeremy Hudson) will be taking part in the Vogalonga which, this year, will be rowed on the 31st May. A meeting of those taking part in this year’s event was held in the Members Room last Sunday. In the same vein, British Rowing Tourers have announced that their annual tour will be on the Thames from Marlow to the Tideway. We have taken part in these tours in previous years and always found them to be great fun and well organised. They will also be having a dinner at Leander Club on Saturday 07th March where more details of the tour will be given - anyone interested in taking part is invited to attend the dinner - contact the writer should you wish to find out more!
Eddie Markes
MESSAGE FROM THE GENERAL MANAGER
Those of you who have been in the Clubhouse in the last few days will have seen the progress being made to get the Club Room (which had to serve as our land training area while the gym was being re-built) back in use as a place for members to relax and enjoy each other’s company. To create a welcoming and comfortable place to spend time, we still need some sofas and comfortable armchairs. If anyone has any furniture which they are willing to donate and which they think might be suitable, please will you contact me on shane.dorsett@londonrc.org.uk
Secondly, although an increasing number of people are holding events at the Club, we still have capacity for more. If you are thinking of having a landmark party or considering organising a corporate day out or team building day, do think of using our facilities. We will be happy to talk to you about your plans and see if we can work out how you can have a really successful event. Please get in touch with events@londonrc.org.uk
Finally, with the new gym becoming ever more popular, our great balcony overlooking the Thames and the friendliest barman you’ll ever meet, if you haven’t been down to the Club for a while, you really should do so now. More than that, if you know of anyone who you think might like to become a member of the Club – they no longer have to be rowers to enjoy our facilities – do encourage them to come along with you and see if they would like to become a member. Our membership is at its highest for some years but we are keen to increase it further. Anyone interested in becoming a member should contact our Membership Secretary, Jessica Salter, on membership@londonrc.org.uk
Shane Dorsett
LRC General Manager
REPORTING SAFETY INCIDENTS
All members are reminded that if you are involved in or witness a water safety incident, you are required to report it on safety@londonrc.org.uk
The Club will file any necessary reports on your behalf with British Rowing and the PLA. Members should not submit reports directly to either body.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
My thanks to everyone who has contributed to this edition of the London Roar. If you have an idea for an article or would be interested in submitting a piece for inclusion in a future edition, please email me on miles.preston@londonrc.org.uk
Please do not submit an article without first liaising with me.
Miles Preston
Editor of The London Roar
