CHAIRMAN’S VIEW
As the days get just a little longer, the level of activity is increasing and it was good to see LRC so well represented at the Quintin Head. Thankfully, the trials and tribulations of Hammersmith Bridge are a distant memory and we are able to navigate upriver without restriction. It makes a big difference. Next up is the Hammersmith Head on Sunday 27th February.
The Annual Dinner will be held at the Clubhouse on Thursday, 24th February. I look forward to catching up with members and guests as we get together for the first time for over 24 months. Over 70 tickets were sold within the first 24 hours and we are expecting a full house. The following week, on Monday, 28th February, we will hold a General Meeting at which Philip Carré, our Treasurer, will present the accounts and talk through the budget and our current financial position. I encourage you to attend if you can, either in person or online. We will welcome your feedback and input. Further details of the meeting are provided below.
Keen-eyed members and those training hard will be aware that a new leg press machine has been installed in the gym. Work will also start shortly to install lockers in the men’s changing room. There will be some disruption and members are asked to bear with us and our contractors, Builtain, during this period.
Simon Harris
Chairman, London Rowing Club
MEETING NOTICE
A General Meeting of London Rowing Club Limited will be held in the Clubhouse and via Zoom at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, 28th February.
At the meeting Philip Carré, the Honorary Treasurer, will give a short presentation about the current financial status of the Club and his outlook for the remainder of this financial year, to 31st July 2022. There will be an opportunity for other members of the management of the Club to report on recent developments on and off the water.
A copy of the accounts for the year ended 31st July 2021 and Zoom access details have been sent to members by email. Please contact Andrew Boyle (secretary@londonrc.org.uk) if you did not receive this email.
There will be no formal business conducted at the meeting and so no resolutions have been circulated. All categories of members are welcome to attend.
Andrew Boyle
LRC, Honorary Secretary
CAPTAIN’S REPORT
Quintin Head traditionally marks the start of the new year’s racing calendar. It’s the first major Tideway Head, all in eights, and the first time we get to test their speed against some of the best club and university crews from up and down the country. So spirits were high amongst the (sizeable) LRC support club who gathered in The White Hart to cheer on our eight crews.
The conditions for this year’s race were certainly challenging, with winds whipping up and creating the ‘classic Tideway race day’ setting. With many less experienced crews struggling to get to the start line in these conditions, many crews who had boated from Putney were delayed getting to the start themselves. The result was much of the top order setting off out of position and being handed time penalties. Unfortunately, both LRC’s Open Champ and Senior crews fell foul of this, received 10” penalties and fell down the order.
It was a tough day’s racing for all our crews (full results below), but I am pleased to note that once the academic clubs are discounted and we consider our position against our club competition, we continue to be positioned amongst the top performing clubs. A special mention goes to our Open Intermediate 2 crew, who finished 2nd, just 1.6” off the win. And our Masters B crew (The Millennials) who finished 3rd, clocking a time very close to the winning Masters crew from Upper Thames, who made it to Thursday of the Thames Cup last year.
Open Champ – 10th (P)
Open Senior – 10th (P)
Open Intermediate 1 – 9th
Open Intermediate 2 – 2nd
Women’s Champ – 9th
Women’s Senior – 8th
Masters B – 3rd
Masters C – 4th
Open Intermediate 2: (bow) Tom Stace, Rob Porter, Luc Gaitskell, Lorenzo Venturini, Josh Giles, Luke Morgan, Aurele Tobelem, (stroke) Amir Ben-Romdhane, (cox) Sophie Isles. Photo credit: Mark Ruscoe
Masters B: (bow) Paul Crewe, Will Randall, James Young, Jeff Tomasi, Basil Amin, James Brookes, Jason Bowyer, (stroke) Michael Cannon, (cox) Abigail Leek. Photo credit: Mark Ruscoe
The senior squad weren’t given much time to rest after Quintin, with attention swiftly turning to the 5k erg test on Wednesday evening. The atmosphere in the gym was fantastic, with the whole squad racing, then staying to cheer on those who came next. Overall, six new personal bests were set, which is really encouraging to see this far out from the Heads. The stars of the show were undoubtably Rui Xu and Josh Brooke-Jones however, both of whom went under the 16-minute marker. Massive well-done boys. If anyone who like to have a go at replicating Rui and Josh’s achievement, 1:35.9 is your target split. Why not give it a go and see how long you can last ;)
With the first race and erg test of 2022 now complete, our senior squad look forward to a very busy period. In February they will be racing Henley 4s & 8s and Hammersmith Heads, as well as a private fixture against the Cambridge University Lightweight Blue Boat for our Men’s 1st VIII. Off the water, February will also bring the 4s Head prize giving ceremony, at which LRC will be picking up the prizes for our clean sweep of all three of the men’s club events. This is conveniently the day before our own annual dinner, where the whole club can celebrate the victories. I look forward to seeing as many of you there, as well as around the club and on the riverbank, cheering on LRC.
Bang the drum,
James Sexton-Barrow
Captain, London Rowing Club
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
12 February: Henley Fours and Eights Head
12 February: Molesey Head Races
24 February: LRC Annual Dinner
27 February: Hammersmith Head
28 February: LRC General Meeting
06 March: Boustead and Rayner Cups
12 March: Women’s Eights’ Head
14 March: Schools’ Head
26 March: Head of the River
27 March: Vesta Veterans Head
03 April: University Boat Races
23 April: Hammersmith Amateur Regatta
30 April: Chiswick Regatta
01 May: Wallingford Regatta
14 May: Putney Town Regatta
All these dates are provisional and subject to postponement or cancellation, depending on Covid 19 regulations.
See more detail for these events, visit our Calendar of Events…
IRREGULARS’ REPORT
First and foremost of course, the last month has been coloured by the sad death of Andrew Keat on the 12th January - our thoughts have been with Caroline and the rest of the Keat family. A lot of our members attended the funeral last Thursday, 3rd February.
In keeping with Andrew’s tremendous sense of fun and bonhomie, the funeral was definitely a celebration of his life - a very happy and fulfilled life was the constant message. We all felt so privileged and glad to have known him and be counted amongst his friends.
I make no apology for attaching the photo above of some of our number enjoying the after celebration of his life in the church hall.
We hope Caroline and any member of his family will feel free to visit us at the club soon. They can be sure that a warm welcome awaits them when they do.
On the rowing front, we welcome four new faces to the Irregulars - Amy Fletcher, Lucy Hargreaves, Joe Bunting and George Dimitropoulos. We hope they will enjoy being part of our happy group. Amy and Lucy have already been roped in to join a mixed eight crew for VHORR being organised by Brendan Armstrong which is very exciting - they need a cox so if anybody can help with this please come forward!!
We also have a men's eight who are entered for the Hammersmith Head and VHORR - training regularly and under the excellent tutelage of Miles Preston, great things are expected!!!
Last Wednesday morning, there was another Club occasion at which Irregulars were primarily present - Christopher Grainger, who retired as the Club’s Assistant Secretary in 2020, was presented with a Club Medal by Vice President, Ben Helm. Many congratulations to Christopher and huge thanks to him for all he has done for the Club over so many years. After the presentation, the Irregulars took to the water, boating two quads and a double.
Eddie Markes
LONDON MEMBERS HONOURED AT 2021 BRITISH ROWING AWARDS
Two LRC members were recognised at the 2021 British Rowing Awards last week.
CD Riches.
The Beryl Crockford award for Outstanding Contributions to Junior Rowing was awarded to CD Riches, Master in charge of Water at Westminster School. CD has been at the forefront of junior rowing for many years and the driving force behind the Schools’ Head for over 30 years, growing the event and using it to raise funds to support junior rowing. CD is a great organiser, coach and motivator, a double Henley winner and a great boat mover competing for LRC.
Robin Williams.
The British Rowing Medal of Honour is British Rowing’s highest award, recognising Outstanding Service to Rowing and was awarded to Robin Williams. An outstanding coach, Robin was also an exceptional athlete, winning World and Henley medals while rowing for LRC where he began his coaching career.
Helen Glover said Robin was instrumental to her and Heather winning Olympic golds in London and Rio “the thing that sets Robin apart is that he cares not just about his athlete, his rower, his boat, his result – he cares about every single athlete and rower in the system…”
The club congratulates CD and Robin on their awards. Well Done!
Former LRC cox Julie Hogg, now at City of Cambridge RC, was awarded the National Rowing Safety Award.
Peter Halford
NEW MEMBERS
We would like to welcome the following new members to the Club:
Monica Anderson
Joshua Butler
James Cox
George Dimitropoulos
Emma Dyke
Amy Fletcher
Akos Forczek
Michael Harrison
Johanna Harvey
Mark Knops
Robert Nearn
Beatrice Richmond
Tom Roberts
Samantha Rule
Theresa Saldern
Nicole Seredenko
Aman Shirgaokar
Melanie Wilson
We hope you will enjoy being part of the London Rowing Club community and will help us build an ever happier and more successful club.
We are always pleased to have more members so, if you know of anyone who think might like to join the Club, please either let us know or encourage them to get in touch with us themselves.
There is information on becoming a member on our website: https://www.londonrc.org.uk/membership-enquiries or you can contact the Club’s Membership Secretary, Jessica Salter, whose email address is membership@londonrc.org.uk
Andrew Boyle
Honorary Secretary, London Rowing Club
CIRCUITS IN THE GYM
LRC circuits takes place on Thursday evenings at 7:30pm in the Coni gym. The sessions are suitable for all members of any fitness range. Circuits typically last 45mins with 30mins of continuous exercise, followed by a shorter glute specific workout. The exercises can be adjusted to suit the individual so any existing injuries or limitations can be worked around. Circuits is a great way to meet members across the club and they are often followed by a drink at the bar.
Run by volunteers, there is a minimum attendance of 4 people required to run the activity so please join the dedicated WhatsApp group for updates and to register weekly attendance.
Elizabeth Cottrell
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
