CHAIRMAN’S VIEW

As we reach the end of the summer season, a number of club officers have changed following our AGM and EGM.

Elizabeth Cottrell takes over as Captain from James Sexton Barrow, Mike Shasha takes over from me as Chair of the Membership Sub-Committee and Rui Xu takes over as Safety Officer from Ben Helm. On 28 July at an EGM Mike Baldwin was re-elected as President and Mike Williams, Sophie Hosking, Ben Helm and Richard Philips as Vice Presidents. Thank you to all officers for your time and efforts in contributing to and supporting the Club and thank you to those stepping into new roles.

Post HRR racing continues with entries for Henley Town and Visitors and Peterborough regattas after which the Squad will have some well-deserved downtime until resuming training in late September. The Committee has agreed the purchase of an initial set of telemetry to provide data to our athletes and coaches. This system analyses forces and angles of strokes and is being widely used by top rowing institutions. We see it as a valuable component in maximising performance.

Other groups continue with their rowing in August and September, supported by the coaching team.

Although we usually see some turnaround of members at this time of year, the Club continues to expand its membership. Chris Goodfellow and Jessica Salter are working hard data inputting to our new system MyClubhouse. There will inevitably be a ‘bedding in’ period so please bear with us.

Bill Baker
Chairman, London Rowing Club

CAPTAIN’S REPORT

The weeks following Henley are usually quiet on the Putney embankment – a Pimm’s detox, alongside quiet reflection on the highs and lows of the previous season is the normal order of play. Not this year.

The AGM held on 6th July saw me and our new Chairman, Bill Baker, elected into office. Enormous thanks to the outgoing Chairman, Simon Harris, and Captain, James Sexton-Barrow, for all their good and hard work for the Club. We are sincerely grateful for their service.

The summer swelter attracted many members to the Tideway to make the most of the breeze and to prepare for the summer’s racing. The trailer had barely made its way back from Henley before it was stocked again for the Home International Regatta.

London had a good showing with Louron Pratt, Heather Scott, Calum Jenkins and Ed Davis being selected for England and Harry Smallman and George Cowley representing Wales. Our Assistant Coach, Killian O’Shea from the Emerald Isle, turned a few heads while wearing Team England coaching kit but the stick from his compatriots was worthwhile when the LRC rowers brought home two wins for England. Our Welsh contingent, not to be out done, also brought home two wins for Wales (more on this later).

The following weekend the trailer was loaded again, this time with some precision trailer planning from Chief Coach Stu Heap, allowing us to take boats entered for Young Irregulars, Millennials and Squad members to Henley T&V. With 7 wins in total, 4 of which before 11:00am, it was a job well done. The added silverware to take home and the cheering from the LRC gazebo on the finish line made the day even more fun.

On 4th August we celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Sophie Hosking and Kat Copeland winning Olympic gold in the lightweight double sculls with Paul Reedy as their coach. LRC members and Sophie’s friends and family came together to celebrate the fantastic achievement which continues to inspire rowers of all ages. We will forever celebrate this monumental achievement and are already looking forward to celebrating the next anniversary.

Things don’t seem to be slowing down. August sees the return of Summer Fight Nights. On Thursdays until 1st September we will be compiling mixed 8s for battle paddling on the Tideway – this has become a summer tradition and a great way to shock the system back into racing swiftly, followed by rehydration at the bar.

As Fight Night Champion 2021, I can attest to how great it is to row and socialise with people across the membership. I hope to see lots of faces, new and old, battling it out this year.

Our official start to the Squad season will be on 10th September but to keep their competitive edge, many of the squad rowers have formed teams to participate in a beach volleyball league against our neighbouring rowing clubs. What we lack in talent we make up for with enthusiasm – I am sure we will have learnt how to serve and the rules just in time to get back into a boat.

We wish Harry Smallman, Matthew Reeder and Gregor Maxwell representing LRC at Great Britain Beach Sprint trials in Northampton the best of luck – I am sure the waves of the Tideway have been excellent training and the sand from the beach volleyball courts have acclimatised them well.

I thought it might be helpful to our members to put some faces to the names of the volunteers who will be organising the rowing over the coming year.

Keep banging the drum!

Elizabeth Cottrell
Captain, London Rowing Club

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

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

IRREGULARS' REPORT

The last two Sundays have seen a healthy turnout for the holiday season of 14 and 15 respectively.

Our group regularly entertain (if you call it that) rowers from abroad who are on a temporary visit to London and want to taste the delights and vagaries of the Tideway.

Last Sunday it was the turn of Ian Mathieson, an accomplished Master's rower from Brisbane. Philip Carré put him straight in at stroke and they simulated the Boat Race course in all aspects apart from a little bit of speed and direction of travel! Anybody visiting Brisbane is welcome to contact Ian via me and he will arrange an outing on the Brisbane.

*Ian Mathieson , Keith Swabey, Mike Newsom Davis and Philip Carr*é

We also had the pleasure of welcoming Kerry Ahearn, an overseas member from Oregon, who had not been over for three years. He didn't look a day older and it was a pleasure to see him after so long.

*Our "yearly visitor" member from Oregon at no 3 Kerry Ahearn, our nearly certified bow steerer at no 1 Chris Callaghan, Eddie Markes at 2 and Ben Phillips at stroke.*

A work party was convened on Sunday, 22nd for some varnishing of ladies’ and men's lockers. Great response with approximately fourteen turning up – twelve units were varnished in 45 minutes and the normal outing followed. Great effort and thanks to all - can others match it?? – he asks, hopefully!

*Just some of the press-ganged work party.*

Have great holidays.

Eddie Markes

HOME INTERNATIONAL REGATTA – A TALE OF TWO COUNTRIES

*LRC at the Home International Regatta.*

England – by Louron Pratt

I attended the Home International Trials in a composite 4+ with LRC members Heather Scott, Calum Jenkins, and Ed Davis. We were delighted to win our time trial against strong opposition. This meant that we were selected to race for England as a 4+ two weeks later! We also teamed up with the selected England 2- and England 4- from Thames RC and University of London BC to form an 8+ for the 2,000m race and another combination for the 500m sprint race.

On the day of the regatta, held at Royal Docks in Newham, London, it was tough racing all the way down the course and it was great to battle it out with other strong crews. In the 4+ we managed to gradually pull away each stroke and win by a length. In the 2,000m race in the 8+ we finished 2nd to a strong Welsh crew, managing to cross the line just before a fast Irish 8+. In the final race of the day, the 500m sprint in the 8+, we learned from our mistakes in the previous race and blasted out of the blocks to eventually win by a length.

It was an enjoyable day of four-lane racing and a lovely experience to train and race with new faces from other clubs who we can now call friends. Representing your country by racing and winning two medals at the Home International Regatta is a very fond memory that I will look back on for years to come.

Wales – by Harry Smallman

It is no secret that the Welsh Team is the easiest way into the Home International Regatta. With the smallest population out of all the Home Countries, and a very small rowing scene of which the majority is coastal rowing, Wales historically struggles to attract high performing rowers.

However, every now and then rowers with Welsh heritage living all across the UK come together to form a strong outfit worthy of representing Wales at the HIR.

As proud Welshmen you can imagine our joy when the team was announced and it included myself and LRC’s newest Resis, George Cowley. Adding to the excitement the team also included 3 of this year’s winning Thames Cup crew from Molesey and also a member of the winning Temple Challenge Cup crew from Oxford Brookes University. Things were looking up for Wales!

Both George and I were selected for the coxed four and for our second race I was in the 8+ and George, an experienced sculler, in the sprint 4x (a new 500m race added this year).

However, frustratingly on the day, due to an error in entries by Wales, we were swapped into the coxless 4- and finished 4th behind strong crews from UL, Dublin University and a Scottish composite.

The final 2km race of the day was the men’s 8+. Siting at bow and on the start line, there were a lot of nerves as I looked across at The Ron Needs 2, coxed by Heather next to me. I tried to stay focused and not get too rattled by the LRC guys who I have raced with all year and who sat across from me.

Wales got off to a clean start and took a slight early lead. By the halfway mark we had increased our lead on England to 1 length. As we approached the last few hundred meters of the race, the Welsh fans were roaring and I was loving it. We crossed the line just having broken clear water on England with Ireland close behind in third and Scotland at the back of the pack.

As we landed, we were greeted with chants and cheers and this was a super special moment for me, one I won’t forget for a long time. It was the 2nd time Wales had ever won the men's 8+ at HIR.

George was up next in the 500m quads race and blasted out of the blocks to a final win for Wales, securing HIR medals for all London athletes competing.

At the medal ceremony, after a long day of hearing Jerusalem and seeing the English flag flying, it was time for the Welshmen to blast out My Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau. I like to think I would have made Tom Jones and the rest of Wales proud with my rendition.

It was an honour for me to represent Wales and win the men's 8+ and so a big thanks to Stu Heap, Beci Heap, Killian O’Shea and Elizabeth Cottrell for all their help with coaching, boat loans and trailering for Team Wales. I hope to be back next year to do it all again and lead Wales to the overall HIR win.

*George Cowley, Welsh winner of 4x 500m sprint (2nd right).*

*Harry Smallman, Welsh winner of 8+ 2000m (front, 3rd right).*

SOPHIE HOSKING’S OLYMPIC GOLD 10TH ANNIVERSARY

On 4th August we celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Sophie Hosking and Kat Copeland winning Olympic Gold in the lightweight double sculls at the London 2012 games. LRC members and Sophie’s friends and family came together to celebrate and congratulate Sophie on the fantastic achievement and to reminisce on the lead up to the race and the day itself and to take the opportunity to look back at some iconic moments.

Sophie talked us through the build-up to the race and commentated on the race itself, and whilst I was in awe of the incredible athlete next to me, I did manage to catch of some great advice she was giving through her experience: you need to be the fastest on the day and not before - it doesn’t matter who else knows it, as long as you do. I was not aware that her boat had been deemed to have underperformed at the world cups in the lead up to the Olympics, nor did I know until hearing the television commentators that they all backed the Greeks. What was inspiring to hear was that both Sophie and Kat knew that they had the speed, the strength, the ability to perform when it mattered the most. For Kat, Sophie and their coach Paul Reedy, they knew they wanted to win the Olympics and could win the Olympics even when the world around them didn’t think they would. That confidence and preparedness is something that all our members can take into their own rowing, regardless of the stakes.

Lots of the people in the room were casting their mind back to where they were when Sophie crossed the finish line first at the London 2012 Olympics: some watched on TV, some were in the grandstands at Dorney Lake, some were volunteering as Games Makers but there were others in the room who were there competing themselves at the games and were either celebrating their medals or preparing to vie for some. For Great Britain, Tash Townsend had raced the 8+ with Jessica Eddie, Mel Wilson had raced the quad and Sam Townsend had raced in the men’s double. For New Zealand, Rebecca Scown had won bronze in the women’s pair. Anne Panter and Hannah Macleod were getting ready to win their Bronze medal in Field Hockey for Great Britain.

Being in the presence of such impressive athletes and altogether recognising Sophie’s great achievement was galvanizing and heart-warming and left us all with a tremendous sense of pride. Congratulations Sophie and thank you for continuing to inspire generations of rowers.

Elizabeth Cottrell
Captain, London Rowing Club

HENLEY TOWN AND VETERANS REGATTA

Last Saturday LRC took to the Thames again at Henley for the annual Town & Visitors regattas. A knock-out race event consisting of 800m sprints, Henley T&V is a great opportunity for rowers of all abilities to race on the Henley stretch.

This year, LRC entered a number of crews across our Senior Squad, Millennials and Young Irregulars, entering 21 crews in total!

Over the course of the day (which saw much calmer weather than at HRR) the club came away with some great victories.

Our senior squad 4- crew took the pots for the Town Cup against Nottingham University alumni Castra Boat Club, an opposition crew which consisted of previous Henley Royal Regatta finalists.

Two of our senior women’s 2- raced each other, battling river swimmers and paddle boarders to get to the start line with the Arthur/Cottrell pair claiming victory against Brock/Hitchens.

Our senior men’s 2x (Curtis/Maxwell) also came through to take victory over Upper Thames, and the power couple mixed 2x of Rui Xu and Devin Ward beat both opponents in their race taking the pots.

In the singles, Anna Robotham and Tom Stace from the senior squad and Tom Platts from our Millennials all won their respective races.

LRC was further represented in a composite 4x- of LRC, Thames and TSS who took victory in their race, as well as racing in the Blue Star crew as part of Newcastle University alumni.

LRC Millennial crews and Young Irregulars took to the water in a 4+, single sculls, and 4x, putting up a great fight in their respective races.

It was great to see so many crews across the Club be entered over the day and for so many to come away with a win. Thanks to all who competed and those who came to support!

Rob Porter

COACHING ACROSS THE CLUB

During the squad ‘off season’ in August Killian and I will be taking to the water with some of the other rowing groups across the Club.

Last week I spent an early morning session with the Millennials and a leisurely late morning session with the Irregulars.

Ahead of the Millennials session they were keen to get intel and feedback to help gel their crews together. We worked on timing off the finish of the stroke, as well as some work on hand heights. The improvements were noticeable from the outside as well as within the crew.

Later that same morning I boated with two Irregulars quads and one double. With all three sculling boats we worked on how to increase their effective stroke length at the catch. The idea of reaching the hands wide at the catch like you’re going for a hug seemed to be very effective analogy to make this adjustment.

It has been insightful to coach the wider membership of the club and rewarding to see the improvements and the gratitude of those involved. Killian and I look forward to continuing this involvement across the Club over the next few weeks.

Stuart Heap
Chief Coach, London Rowing Club

SIR DAVID WOOTTON ELECTED MASTER OF THE COMPANY OF WATERMEN AND LIGHTERMEN

We are pleased to announce that one of our members, Alderman Sir David Wootton, has been elected Master of the City guild, the Company of Watermen and Lightermen, for the ensuing year.

David joined the Club in 2008. He rowed at Jesus College, Cambridge, in the early 1970s where he was Captain of Boats. He later became a Trustee of the Steve Fairbairn Memorial Trust, which made a number of important grants to the Club, and in recent years was elected a Steward at Henley.

David has had wide interests over the years in the City of London, and in charitable and community activities. There is a formidable list of these on Wikipedia. He was Lord Mayor of London in 2011-12 and is a past Master of several livery companies. He was introduced to the Club by our former Committee chairman, Chris Sprague, himself a livery company Master at the time.

Company of Watermen and Lightermen
It may be worth providing some briefing on the Company, in particular for younger members.

It dates back to 1555 when the Company of Watermen was founded by statute in the reign of Philip and Mary. It was joined by the Company of Lightermen in1700. Watermen carried passengers, and lightermen goods and cargoes. To this day, it still organises apprenticeships for those seeking a career on the river. It also provides competitors for the annual Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race, a sculling event started as long ago as 1715, which a number of London men have won in recent years (they are listed on a board in the Long Room). Winners receive a red frock uniform and wear a large silver badge on their arm depicting the horse of Hanover and the word ‘Liberty’ in memory of George I.

The Company is based in the City at Watermen’s Hall on St Mary at Hill, a street running off Eastcheap. LRC members who have been past Masters are Chas Newens (2001) and Iain Reid (2018). In addition, our Honorary Member, Bob Prentice, who won the Double Sculls under LRC colours in 1976, was Master in 2013. Several members of the Club are freemen of the Company and will be interested in helping fellow members who may be interested in joining a friendly and historic - and unique - organisation. Women may join too!

NEW MEMBERS

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

Meridy Garnsworthy
Adam Randall

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

MEMORIES LUNCH

It is a sad fact that a number of good friends and esteemed Club members passed away during the time that Covid ruled meaning that we could not get together to mark their passing, and to celebrate their lives and their contributions to the Club.

It is proposed to remedy this, at least in part, by holding a compendium celebration lunch at the Clubhouse on 16th October for contemporaries and family members of the departed. I won’t mention all the names here, but David King, Colin Kester, Paul Littleton and Simon Rippon are among them.

So that we can gauge numbers, please drop a line to me at president@londonrc.org.uk just to indicate your interest, so that we can send you more details in due course. The likely cost will be £20 a head, and partners will be very welcome.

Mike Baldwin
President, London Rowing Club

THE YUKON RIVER QUEST

The Yukon River Quest is a 715km (450 mile) canoe race down the mighty Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson City, northern Canada.

My friend Paddy Mant has entered twice before, once pulling out with hypothermia and completing his second attempt. So, this year he suggested we put together a team of eight comprising LRC members Angus Dodd, Paddy Broughton, Rob Howe and me along with Paddy Mant (formerly CUBC), Angus Woods (Neptune RC) and Rob Bartlett (Leander) plus Kiwi, Mike Heron, a former Wellington rugby player.

Crews are required to be named so Paddy entered us as ‘JR Hartley’s Amazing Aerial Ping Pong Display Team’ for no particular reason: we had to choose something.

On arriving at Whitehorse, the official advice was that only experienced canoeists should enter due to the exceptionally fast flowing river following very high snow levels and consequent melt water. Well, we worked out we had over 200 years of rowing experience between us and Mant had done the race twice before so we reckoned we were ‘experienced’.

The first afternoon we familiarised ourselves with our rented craft, a Clipper version of the eight-man Voyageur. We’d arranged a practice paddle down river to a pick-up point some 3 hours away where a trailer would bring us and the boat back. We thought we’d set off upstream for a spell to get the feel of things, something we quickly realised no local ever attempts as, despite paddling at a rating of 60 we remained stationary. On turning we shot off downstream at 17km an hour, about the speed of an eight at full speed.

On day two we practiced again, this time with full kit, not an insignificant addition of weight as everyone is required to carry survival gear including tents, minus 5 degree sleeping bags and food. On the Yukon if you have to go ashore you’ll almost certainly be in an area with no road access and hundreds of miles from the nearest civilisation. Boats do, however, carry GPS devices so organisers can track your position. So far so good. After our second practice we felt we might be getting the hang of this canoe thing.

Race day arrived. The start, preceded by a short speech by the local mayor, is Le Mans style involving a 400m run, jump in and paddle off. The speed of our 400m run was not critical to our final time as we were aiming for 55 hours. Crews around us looked very professional including ‘Hatchet Lake’, Canadian First Nationers who had come from Saskatchewan vying to win it and local women ‘Styx Together’ who compete every year for cancer research. Everyone was very friendly and we later learned that some were sceptical about the size of our boat relative to the weight of the crew and amount of kit we were loading up. Anyway, off we went cheered on by our support crew Mel and Kate who had hired a camper van and were due to meet us at the Carmack’s camp site 300km down the course.

The river runs fast so we made good progress for the first 3 hours where we entered the 50km long Lake Laberge. This is still water so progress is slow. It’s also prone to storms as we shortly discovered when waves started breaking over our bows. In no time at all we were waist deep in water and the boat then flipped in the wind. This was not in our script! We had a capsize drill including numbering off rowing style to ensure all were accounted for. So, we swam with boat and paddles (vital as one can literally get stuck up s**t’s creek without one) to the edge of the lake which comprised 3 feet of water with a forest growing out of it. We righted the boat, bailed and pumped it out. Dry bags seemed to be a misnomer as most kit was soaked. We lost a few items including a tent, Angus Dodd’s phone and a few thermos flasks but no harm done. We decided to paddle on 7 hours to the next checkpoint where we could dry off in front of a small log fire for a few minutes. After that it was another 15 hours through the night to Carmack’s, the mandatory 7 hour rest point. Darkness doesn’t enter into it. ‘The Land of the Midnight Sun’ doesn’t get dark in the summer, only twilight at about 2.00am. Two brief stops on the way and we at last reached Carmack’s. Mel and Kate had set up tents so we ate and slept.

*About as dark as it gets in summer, 5 foot thick ice in winter.*

Now the next section included ‘Five Fingers Rapids’, which are ‘hairy’ in a normal year but treacherous in 2022 due to the volume of melt water. We took advice! In short, race organisers said don’t go on as you’ll certainly sink in the rapids if you went down on the lake. So, after much debate we reluctantly pulled out of the race. The following day we drove on to Dawson City, a fabulous small settlement (City is misleading, population 1,400) of traditional wood shutter buildings, board walks and dirt roads. We consoled ourselves by visiting the local sights including ‘Diamond Tooth Gertie’s’ dancing and gambling joint, drinking our body weight in beer for three days before returning to Whitehorse for the flight home via Vancouver.

I had thought if I’m doing this thing I may as well raise some money for Pancreatic Cancer UK in memory of my friend James Millar. We achieved £3,600 and thanks go to all who donated including the LRC Sixes and Sevens who contributed in memory of stalwart London Rowing Club man Desmond Hampton.

I had my reservations before this expedition but what a trip! We’re talking of next year already so if any LRC members want to put a crew together let me know as I can offer guidance (now that I’m an experienced canoe racer).

*All accounted for after a bracing dip in the Yukon River.*

Bill Baker
Chairman, London Rowing Club

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