CHAIRMAN’S VIEW

Well, exciting times as the summer season gets into full swing. LRC had a host of crews in the A finals on both days at The Metropolitan Regatta. Saturday highlights were a win for the composite men’s quad and three women’s fours making the final. The weekend culminated in a fabulous win for LRC in the men’s Open Eights in a time of 5:35. Many congratulations to all our athletes who did the Club proud over the two days.

Historians and statisticians will note that the Club last won Open Men’s Eights at the Met in 1980 when we fielded the national lightweight crew. Older members will see some familiar faces in the photo below.

And 44 years on…

Now the focus is on Henley Women’s, Marlow and HRR. The British Masters Championships is also fast approaching in which we are making a strong bid for the Victor Ludorum. We have a growing Masters squad and a resurgence since pre Covid days. Good luck to everyone in the upcoming competitions.

Racing at high level requires mental preparation as well as physical. Our crews are very grateful for the wonderful support they receive from our members but we must be careful to allow them the time and space to prepare for racing and to decompress, debrief and learn from their results after the event. Bang the Drum but leave them to it!

I enjoy my casual sculling and love to see other LRC crews out on the river. Recently I turned at Barnes and met Devin Xu who suggested a couple of 5 minute pieces. Now, I find it hard to resist a challenge so I accepted. I er, won the silver medal. On relaying this to one of my daughters she said ‘So she left you in the dirt Dad?’ Thanks, there is nothing like a supportive family.

Bill Baker
Chairman, London Rowing Club

NOTICE OF AGM AND ELECTIONS

This year’s AGM of the Club will be held in the Club house, with Zoom access, at 12pm on Sunday, 21st July.

The bar will be open. We hope that many members will attend in person to make this an enjoyable social occasion as the rowing year draws to a close.

An agenda, with Zoom access details, will be circulated in due course.

Andrew Boyle
Honorary Secretary, London Rowing Club

CAPTAIN’S REPORT

The last month has been a whirlwind.

A group of LRC Masters enjoyed the delights of the Venetian Grand Canal at another successful Vogalonga. Led by Andrew Boyle, fed by Miles Preston and watered (prosecco’d) by Akos Forczek, the LRC rowers had a fantastic weekend in Venice, rowing in the sunshine and lapping up all the historic city has to offer - it seems tourists are still welcome if they bring their own water transport.

Meanwhile, back in the UK at Poplar Regatta, the Squad set down some fast times which led to success across the board. LRC won the Women’s Victor Ludorum and 14 of our 18 entries resulted in podium finishes, including a clean sweep in Op 4- Gold event.

We’d hoped the great weather in East London was a taste of things to come for the Squad who went straight onto training camp in Varese, Italy. How wrong we were. Luckily, the performances on camp shone, even if the sun itself was hiding, proving to be a great block of training with the stunning snow capped mountains as the backdrop.

There is no rest for the relentless. The Squad flew home, just about had time to wash their LRC all in ones, while the coaching team and trailer headed straight to Dorney Lake for the Met Regatta. Camp sandwiched between two regattas proved worthwhile as LRC laid down some results for the history books. The Men’s 1st VIII won Championship 8+ for the first time since 1980, all three of our women’s coxless fours made the A Final for the first time, and a composite quad with Lea RC won gold on Saturday. Met is my favourite Regatta at Dorney as there is nothing better than to be greeted by volunteers from your own club at the end of a race to help you off the water. Thank you to Jason Gray, the Met organising committee and all the volunteers for a terrific regatta.

The next regattas come in thick and fast. British Masters looks to be our biggest ever entry on 15-16th June. Henley Women’s Regatta has our strongest club entry to date on 21st-23rd June. The same weekend, the Squad men will be snapping up the last of the prequalification spots for HRR at Marlow Regatta.

Then we have Henley Royal Regatta on 2nd-7th July which will have our largest women’s entry to date. Please look out on LRC social media for clap out and racing times for the week. We also have the good fortune to have the 2004 Thames Cup and Wyfold Cup winning crews at the regatta celebrating their 20th anniversaries. And what better place to celebrate than at Caps and Ties which will be held on Friday 5th July, after the last race in Lion Meadow - all members and their guests are welcome.

Great side by side racing experience and a lot to take away from the 18 hour day. Thank you to the coaches and members who came to support. Notably, Kathleen Curran and Miles and Jane Preston who braved the 4 seasons in one day to cheer on LRC. Up next for the squad is Poplar Regatta and Camp in Varese, Italy.

The Irregulars are easing the Italians into an LRC influx with their annual trip to Venice and the Vogalonga. I look forward to seeing pictures of them taking on the iconic Grand Canal and we wish them safe travels and bocca di lupo!

Bang 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

May has been a glorious month of rowing for the Young Irregulars, making the most of new members joining and taking advantage of the calm and sunny days over the last few weeks.

We welcome Marta to our group and wish her well with her outings with the group.

The group is looking forward to British Masters which sees 11 of our members in boats contributing towards the Victor Ludorum! We wish all crews competing at the regatta the best of luck in all their races.

Finally, the group is looking forward to the summer months as we focus on enjoying the longer days for the next few months with weekday evening outings, and a series of events the group would like to organise and enjoy!

Tom Downes

CLUB SUPPER

The next Club Supper will be taking place on Thursday, 25 July.

All club members are encouraged to attend the supper including Irregulars, Millennials and Squad members. You may also bring a guest.

The bar will be open from 7.00pm for all members attending the supper. Dinner will be served at 8pm, enabling those who wish to row beforehand to do so.

Tickets are £28 per person via My Club House. Please send any dietary requirements to events@londonrc.org.uk

Link to tickets here -

https://members.londonrc.org.uk/Events/Calendar/View?id=107

Heather Scott

NEW MEMBERS

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

Rachel Amos
Nicholas Backhause
Sean Bamman
Marta Federico
Cale Harrison
Alexandra Kett-Baumann
George Lipczynski
Cameron Moffatt
Matthew Rhodes

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 you think might like to join the Club, please either let us know or encourage them to get in touch with us themselves.

Read here for information on becoming a member on our website, or you can email the Club’s Membership Secretary.

Andrew Boyle
Honorary Secretary, London Rowing Club

SIDE BY SIDE AT TWICKENHAM

A few weeks ago it was decided to mount an LRC upriver exploratory expedition with two chief goals. The first was to make contact with one of the lost Remenham Tribes who go by the moniker Twick-en-ham and compete in a test of mettle and will by challenging them to side by side racing in F8+s. The second goal was to experience a strange phenomenon called "flat water", which was rumoured to occur upriver away from civilization where it is held that a session is complete only without water splashing off the riggers and filling the footwells, and to bring tales and studies of its benefits to the Tideway for all to learn from.

Thus, on the evening of the 29th of May, a band of eight of the most refined and gentlemanly members of the Club struck out from the Embankment into the unknown. Charlie "Fogle" Pryor, Eddie "Shackleton" Markes, Andrew "Falcon Scott" Boyle, Mike "Morton Stanley" Thompson, Ronnie "Hillary" Maddox, Miles "Raleigh" Preston, Mike "Drake" Newsom Davis, and Philip "Fiennes" Carré were the bold crew to venture forth.

Photo of the expedition setting off (100% not AI generated we swear).

In need of some local knowledge and a guide, I was recruited as local guide/steersman, and was greeted by the party on the shores of Twickenham RC with a cry of "Dr. Amin, I presume?"

Once introductions were made with the locals, LRC were kindly loaned an eight and blades to race the Twickenham masters F8+. Some doubt was raised as to the legitimacy of the age of a couple of the Twickenham masters as they were still in full possession of all their hair and seemed to have been undertaking some very ungentlemanly behaviour of training, as evidenced by their physiques. However, not wishing to upset our hosts, we offered no complaint and boated for our trial of multiple timed pieces against each other.

As feared, the overdeveloped musculature of the engine room of the TWRC crew gave them an edge off the start. However, it seems brute force cannot overcome experience and skill, as the LRC crew, remaining calm and collected, turned the tables as each piece continued, beginning to row back through the TWRC boat. Unfortunately, the battle for supremacy of the waters had to be cut short with no clear winner as "the bar has just opened chaps" was cried over to us from the TWRC boat.

The LRC contingent was warmly welcomed to Twickenham's Club Night for food and drinks, and had their sartorial elegance commented on and complimented by many of the club members. Plans were discussed to arrange a rematch on the Tideway and potentially to invite others from the Remenham family along too.

This was an all round successful trip, setting the crew up well for the Brit Masters Champs this weekend where they are sure to be the crest of the Tsunami of Blue and White entries expertly organised by James Sexton-Barrow in a bid to win the Victor Ludorum.

Basil Amin

VOGALONGA 2024

Seven members of LRC combined with friends from Bosham, Ichenor, Upton, Stratford, Worcester and Leander to enter four coxed quads in the Vogalonga on Sunday 19th May.

Andrew Boyle and George Kent of Bosham arrived safely with the trailer on the Friday in good time for the excellent kick-off dinner that Miles Preston had arranged at Terrazza dei Nobili on the southern waterfront.

On the Saturday, the crews met in the boatyard at Mestre across the causeway to find that we were a man down due to unfortunate personal circumstances. We hastily re-arranged our crews. Andrew Boyle, Zena Howard, Akos Forczek and Edward Cole coxed by Nigel Press of Leander rowed in the Alan Foster, while Tim Hanford, George Kent and Nick Backhouse of Ichenor with Miles Preston coxing took part with only three rowing in the Iain Laurenson. They rose to the challenge! Stuart Suckling rowed with and coordinated the participation of two crews from Upton-on-Severn, his second club.

The seven kilometre journey from Mestre to the main part of Venice and down the Grand Canal was successfully accomplished, albeit contrary to local regulations, and the boats were left overnight in the piazza in front of the Anglican Chiesa di San Giorgio, which allowed to crews to repair to a nearby bar and seek rehydration before the serious carbo loading of the evening began at another of Miles’ beautifully organised dinners – a long table in a garden of the Locanda Antica Montin.

The Sunday produced perfect conditions. Temperature of 22 degrees, little wind and sun and cloud - far better than some previous years when crews have done the row in blazing sunshine and in much higher temperatures.

Our crews got into position early. Miles showed his experience of the event by setting his three man crew off down the course determined to be in the vanguard of the fleet of two thousand crews. What followed the nine o’clock starting cannon was certainly the longest single piece for any of that crew with close to 90 minutes of solid paddling across the lagoon at a rate around 18. Eventually, after rounding the turn after Burano, a stop was granted by the hard driving cox and the crew took on water and bananas. Ultimately, come the finish of the row, the three manned crew came in well up the list of finishers. The other LRC crew also got round in very good time.

The array of boats on the water was fabulous. Crews from all over Europe participating in rowing shells, dragon boats, local gondolas and sandolos, kayaks, SUPs and many more. It was very impressive to be overtaken by a racing sandolo, its speed evident from its bow wave, with the six man crew using the distinctive forward rowing style.

After a short break, the rowing continued through Murano and to the entrance of the Cannaregio Canal, a scene which later in the day becomes a traffic jam as the boats narrow to single file. From here the crews were lifted by the support of the crowds sitting in cafes along the waterfront, and they continued into the Grand Canal and under the Rialto Bridge towards the finish. It is a quite unique experience to be rowing along an entirely calm Grand Canal (motor launches being banned on this day only) past the magnificent merchants houses and palaces.

Once at the finish there was a brief medal ceremony, which involved having a pack of medals thrown into your boat, and then came the realisation that there was still the seven kilometre row back to Mestre to be done. After around three hours non-stop paddling and with a somewhat sensitive tailbone, this was not welcome news. There was probably a commercial opportunity at this point for the local ragazzi willing to ferry boats back to Mestre!

Once the trailer had been loaded we headed back to Venice for the final social event – a wonderful drinks party in the 15th century home of Nick Blair-Fish, who is Miles’ friend and now firmly a friend of LRC as a result of being such a generous host for several years.

Following the weekend George Kent and Nick Backhouse and Maurice Stanley and Chris Horne of Upton are in the process of joining LRC as OOT members. This raises the prospects of visits to Bosham and to Upton’s new 1,000 meters rowing course, which is under construction. We are looking forward to welcoming them shortly.

Tim Hanford
Veteran of the Vogalonga

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