CHAIRMAN’S VIEW

As I write our squads are preparing to race at the Metropolitan Regatta we also have a large LRC contingent in Venice enjoying the build up to the Vogalonga; you will find reports on each below. The busy weekend highlights the best in our sport and our Club. Organised by LRC, the Met is one of the largest domestic events and has gone from strength to strength in recent years. With the number of LRC caps, ties and blazers on display at the Met and other regattas it is gratifying to see the extent to which LRC members are committed to our sport at all levels. As we chase success and enjoy out time on the water, we should remind ourselves of those who give up their time to make the events of all sizes happen safely and efficiently.

Over the next few weeks your committee we will be making preparations for the Annual General Meeting to be held at the Clubhouse and online on Wednesday 6th July, a few days after Henley Royal Regatta. Please mark the date in your diary and attend in person if you can. A number of committee positions are coming up for re-election and we will give a brief presentation on the activities of the past year and a view to the future. There will be time for an open discussion and your thoughts and feedback will be welcome.

This is the last edition of the London Roar before Henley Women’s Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta. The Club will be well represented at both and I look forward to meeting with as many members as possible and giving voice to “The London Roar” as our crews race along the course.

Simon Harris
Chairman, London Rowing Club

CAPTAIN’S REPORT

There is no mistaking it, regatta season is most certainly underway. The big news stories of the month come from last weekend’s Metropolitan Regatta (more on that later) but aside from that it’s been brilliant to see our masters and recreational members getting into the competitive summer racing spirit at the local Tideway regattas also.

In early May, LRC’s Rui Xu continued his fine form in the single. After placing 5th at the Scullers Head and 2nd in the Wingfield Sculls earlier this season, Rui last month competed at the Canadian small boat trials, a key part of the selection process for the Canadian National Team. Rui made the A final of the open men’s 1x category, finishing 6th overall. Rui’s performance throughout this season has been simply breath-taking, and to have him wearing the blue and white at the top end of national team trials makes the whole club incredibly proud. Well done Rui.

*LRC sculler Rui Xu, competing at Canadian small boat trials.*

Whilst the nation celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee last weekend, our senior squad were over at Eton Dorney for their first major test of the regatta season. LRC’s “home” regatta, The Metropolitan Regatta, took place on the weekend of 4th and 5th June and we were very well represented with 28 crews competing across the weekend, and a total of 5 wins, 4 of which came on the first day of the regatta. My pick of these was the Women’s Club 4-, who after finishing 5th in the time trial and making the A final (one of only 2 club crews to do so), went on to beat crews from Tideway Scullers and Oxford University to claim their prize. This fantastic win firmly establishes our women as one of the domestic favourites going into Henley Women’s Regatta in just a couple of weeks. After making the final in 2021, they will be looking to go one better this year.

LRC results at Metropolitan Regatta Saturday

Men’s Club 8+ (A): 4th, B final
Men’s Club 8+ (B): 1st, E final
Men’s Club 8+ (C): 5th, H final & Masters winners
Women’s Club 8+: 2nd, C final
Men’s Club 4+ (A): 3rd, B final & Club winners
Men’s Club 4+ (B): 8th, D final
Women’s Club 4+: 7th, C final
Men’s Club 4- (A): 8th, C final
Men’s Club 4- (B): 7th, C final
Women’s Club 4-: 6th, A final & Club winners
Men’s Championship 4x: 3rd, A final
Women’s Championship 4x: 7th, C final
Women’s Lightweight 2-: 5th, A final & Lightweight winners
Women’s Championship 2x: 4th, C final
Men’s Championship 1x (Benton): 3rd, F final
Women’s Championship 1x (Barnhill): 4th, D final
Women’s lightweight 1x (Ward): 8th, C final

*Winners of the Men’s Club.4+ event (left to right): Johnny Davidson, Zac Baxter, Heather Scott (cox), Calum Young, James Harrison.*

*Winners of the Women’s Club.4- event (left to right): Grace Bake, Claudia Turley, Lizzie Cottrell, Angela Hitchens.*

On to the Sunday of the Met, where our Men’s Championship 4x took an emphatic win. In the time trial they finished over 10 seconds ahead of the nearest challenger and followed that up by winning the A final with clear water over the field. Well done indeed boys.

The highest drama of the day (and perhaps the whole regatta) came from our Men’s Club 4+ however. A brilliant time trial put them into the A final alongside embankment rivals Thames, Vesta and Imperial, as well as other top university programmes seeking to win the Prince Albert Challenge Cup come Henley Royal Regatta. A conservative start saw the LRC crew reach the 500m mark in 7th position and clear water behind the leaders. Their pace matched the field through the middle kilometre meaning as they entered the final 500m LRC still sat in 7th position. At that point, cox Rosie Margolis gave the call and stroke man Ed Davis put the rate through the roof. An almighty effort from the crew saw them steamroll though the middle of the pack and overtake 3 crews with just meters to go. The crew finished as the 2nd fastest overall club crew, which sets them up as one of the crews to watch in this year’s Britannia Challenge Cup at Henley Royal.

Metropolitan Regatta Sunday

Women’s Club 8+ (A): 1st, B final
Women’s Club 8+ (B): 6th, C final
Men’s Club 8+ (A): 3rd, B final
Men’s Club 8+ (B): 7th, C final
Women’s Club 4+: 2nd, C final
Men’s Club 4+ (A): 4th, A final
Men’s Club 4+ (B): 4th, C final
Men’s Club 4- (A): 8th, A final
Men’s Club 4- (B): 1st, C final
Women’s Championship 4x: 8th, B final
Men’s Championship 4x: 1st, A final, winners

*Winner of the Men’s Championship.4x event (left to right): Gregor Maxwell, Shane Willis, Rui Xu, Matthew Curtis.*

Even with so much activity, there is yet more to come. At the time or writing our Irregulars are over in Italy, taking part in the Vogalonga in Venice. I very much look forward to finding out how it went when they return later this week.

Then looking ahead to next month, LRC has two crews competing at the British Masters Championships in Nottingham on the 11th. The weekend after will see both Marlow Regatta and Henley Women’s Regatta take place followed immediately by the Henley Royal Regatta qualifiers the next weekend.

I hope to see as many of you as possible cheering our crews on over the coming weeks.

Bang the drum,

James Sexton-Barrow
Captain, London Rowing Club

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

See more detail for these events, visit our Calendar of Events…

NEW MEMBERS

We would like to welcome the following new members to the Club:

Ed Aitken
Fred Gill
Victoria Gordon-Brown
Graeme Level
Jay Milne
Inmark Sareen
Shane Willis

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

TO REMEMBER…… SAVE THE DATE

The period of lockdown is, thankfully, becoming a fading memory, but one of the sad consequences of that period was that we could not get together to celebrate the memory of a number of friends, fellow members, who passed away in those many months.

To make up for this, at least in part, we are organising a buffet lunch at the Club on Sunday, 16th October to share some of the memories we all have of such notables as Simon Rippon, Paul Littleton, Dave King, Colin Kester and others.

It is hoped that some of the families, who were not able to hold their planned wakes at the time, will be able to join us.

For the time being, please save the date – more information will be coming closer to the time.

Mike Baldwin
President, London Rowing Club

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Miles,

This June I have decided to do something a bit out of the ordinary to raise funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK. Last year my good friend James Millar succumbed to this disease at the age of 57 after a short period of illness. It is a particularly insidious, stealthy form of cancer as it is virtually symptomless until it shows itself at an advanced stage.

So, the Yukon River Quest is a 444-mile canoe race from Whitehorse to Dawson City, northern Canada. Our eight-man team aims to complete the course in circa 65 hours consisting of a 30-hour first session, 10-hour camp and 25-hour second stage to the finish. We are mostly ageing rowers (including LRC members Angus Dodd, Paddy Broughton and Rob Howe) so to us we shall be pointing in the wrong direction (i.e. forward) with no sliding seats but hey, how hard can it be..…?

A few more details here if you are interested: https://www.yukonriverquest.com/

If you feel able to donate any sum at all I will be enormously grateful. Just Giving page below. Thank you so much.

https://www.justgiving.com/team/JRHartleysAmazingAerialPingPongDisplayTeam

Best regards

Bill Baker
Chairman Membership Sub-Committee, LRC

VIVAT VOGALONGA

After two years of having to cancel our trips to Venice, we were back there with a vengeance for this year’s Vogalonga last Sunday, 5th June.

*The medals this year were rather smart.*

This time, for the first time I believe, we fielded four coxed quads travelling out from LRC and, in addition, Jeremy Hudson organised a coxed four boating from the Venetian rowing club, Querini, and Mike Baldwin took his seven man crew and boat, having first rowed down the Brenta Canal.

As usual, we had dinners on the Friday and Saturday evenings. We had a record turnout of 31 for dinner at Terrazza dei Nobile on Friday and 30 for dinner at Antica Locanda Montin on Saturday. Both restaurants served us excellent meals.

*Dinner for thirty at Antica Locanda Montin on Saturday evening.*

The row - it is not a competitive race - went off well despite last minute changes of regulations about where crews could launch their boats and their routes back to their launching points after they had completed their thirty kilometre row. The row starts at 9am every Whit Sunday (Covid years excepted) with the firing of a cannon in St.Mark’s Square (very Italian!) and can take anything from about two and a half hours up to seven hours to complete - depending on how mixed up with other boats one finds oneself and whether one chooses to stop for a two hour picnic on the way round or only the odd minute or two to have a drink of water.

If you haven’t seen photographs of this event, just look up Vogalonga photos on the internet. Up to 2,000 boats gathering in the basin in front of St. Mark’s Square, awaiting the starting cannon, are quite a sight.

In the evening, forty-seven of us had a most enjoyable drinks party at Ca Malcanton, the splendid fifteenth century house at Santa Croce owned by Nick Blair-Fish. Nick has very kindly let us hold this party there three times now. Huge thanks are due to him.

*The row is over, the boats are back on the trailer and everyone can now get ready to go to the drinks party at Ca Malcanton.*

I hope everyone who came on the trip enjoyed themselves as much as I did. Thank you to everyone who came for your enthusiasm and support.

Particular thanks also go to Lucy Hargreaves and Stewart Harries who drove the boats to Venice and Andrew Boyle and Mark Ringrose who did the return leg. Without them, the trip would not have happened.

Miles Preston
LRC, Vogalonga trip organiser

HADAWAY HARRY 14TH AND 15TH JUNE

Next Tuesday and Wednesday will see the return of Hadaway Harry to LRC. If you haven’t already bought tickets for one of the three performances, do so now. This is a play that no rowing enthusiast should miss.

You might also like to read about Hadaway Harry’s previous visit to LRC.

https://heartheboatsing.com/2017/02/20/hadaway-harry-the-knot-retied/

All the information can be found on the links below:

Direct link to the event: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/VonFox/e-dxaeeq
General tour dates: https://www.hadawayharry.co.uk/tour-dates

Alternatively, here's a QR code directed to the event page:

Don’t miss this.

Kate MacDonald
LRC, Business Development 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 using the following email address – 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