CHAIRMAN’S VIEW

After our strong showing in the Women’s Head of the River, congratulations to the men’s crews who finished 6th, 8th, 24th, 51st and 68th in the Head of the River. Prior to last year, two in the top ten was last achieved in 1994 and the results show fantastic strength in depth.

Another indicator to note is the progression over the last four years with LRC 1 finishing 16th, 13th, 7th and 6th. Similar advances have been achieved by LRC 2. Our women’s first boat progressed 25th to 13th over the same period. This shows the dedication of athletes and Stu and his team, so very well done to all.

Someone kindly produced an Excel spreadsheet of Men’sHORR results since the first race in 1926, (won by LRC out of 20 entries). Purple (or should I say dark blue?) patches for our club include 10 wins on the trot from 1926 to 1935, the period 1976 to 1983 where the highest place was the 1978 overall win and the lowest placed 7th. 1994 to 2001 saw the highest finish of 2nd and lowest 7th with the second boat recording a 10th in 1994. Of course, the sport evolves over the years with the centralisation of the national squad and latterly the professional era making high results in recent decades that much more impressive. The last LRC win in 1978 was the national lightweight eight, all of whom were LRC members. Incidentally, that crew did ‘the triple’ that year winning the HORR, the Thames Cup at Henley (beating Leander in the final) and the World Championships in Copenhagen.

We recently held a lunch in the Members Room for those who rowed at the club in the 80s and 90s (and a one or two of similar vintage who joined a few years later). Proceedings began at 10.30 with an outing in a 4- and 4x to Barnes with some competitive paddling on the way back against the tide. Both hulls returned intact despite some close calls with the shingle and we adjourned to the bar and on to lunch. The newly decorated Members Room is looking terrific, and a wonderful venue should anyone need to throw a small party.

We’re aiming for regular 8s and 9s events so please watch for future gatherings announced in TLR and by email. Following in the footsteps of our esteemed 6s and 7s who regularly fund worthy LRC projects, we’re asking 8s and 9s to please contribute to the club by setting up a regular standing order, however large or small. This can be done through My Clubhouse under the reference ‘8s and 9s’ or by emailing me at chairman@londonrc.org.uk

Bank account details are:
London Rowing Club
Sort Code: 60-00-01
Account Number: 00784222

Balcony plans are progressing, and we invited our near neighbours to the club on 1 April to see our plans and hear their views. These were nearly all very positive with some raising the unrelated problem of noise from the gym and surrounds. I regularly say it but a reminder to please keep noise levels low, especially in the early mornings. We must be considerate to our neighbours.

Thank you to the ten people who have volunteered to sit on the new fundraising group with initial focus on the balcony and I look forward to our first meeting.

Happy rowing to all as the days get longer.

Bill Baker
Chairman, London Rowing Club

CAPTAIN’S REPORT

As the clocks sprung forward and March closed off, I have been reflecting on another successful head season for LRC across the club.

Following the success of our women’s squad at WeHoRR, five crews from the men’s squad took to the Championship Course for the final time this year on Saturday, 22nd March for the Head of the River Race. The results were as follows: M1 – 6th, M2 8th, M3 – 24th, M4 – 48th, and M5 – 57th.

These results demonstrate improvements on our rankings from recent years, including 2024, as well as our best overall finish results since 2012 and 2001 and the highest placed LRC Men's B crew since 1983. Huge congratulations to all the athletes who raced on the day. I and the entire club are immensely proud of your accomplishments so far this season. The results at HoRR demonstrate that the hard work is paying off and there is more yet to come as we continue into regatta season.

It was also great to see a large contingent of our non-squad rowers taking to the Championship Course on Sunday, 23rd March for the Vesta International Masters Head. In total, nine crews were entered across a number of events, with members racing from the Masters, Young Irregulars and Irregulars. Notably, MasC8+ placed 7th overall and MasAB 8+ close behind in 10th place. By event, MasC 8+ came second, as did MasD 4x, and W MasC 8+ placed third. Well done to everyone who raced on the day. The results show the strength and a healthy competitive spirit across the non-squad groups.

As has been announced by the race organisers and British Rowing, an incident occurred at Masters Head of the River in which a competitor required medical attention and, despite the best efforts of medical attention, sadly passed away. On behalf of London Rowing Club, I would like to express our condolences to the competitor’s rowing club, family and friends. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

Members may have observed since the start of the season the occasional presence of a small film crew at the Club who have been following the squad and interviewing some of the athletes. This has been for the production of a series showcasing the LRC squad throughout the year as they prepare for and then race at Henley Royal Regatta. This is being undertaken by The Sporty Girls Club and Junior Rowing News (JRN) in partnership with LRC. The first two parts of the production are now live on the LRC instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/londonrowingclub

This weekend I hope to see many members at the Club to watch The Boat Races from the banks or the stand. This year it has been spectacular to have been part of the much coveted fixtures against the Oxford Blue Boat crew and reserve crew as well as the Cambridge Goldie crew and lightweight crew. Saturday, 29th March saw the M1 race the Blue Boat one final time before Boat Race Day and M2 race Isis. M2 won all four pieces against OUBC whilst M1 were neck and neck with the Blue Boat for the first three pieces, giving it their absolute all, but with OUBC winning the last piece by two lengths.

LRC women faced Cambridge lightweight women on Sunday 6th April, with LRC winning both 5 minute pieces. Following this 5 of the women’s squad faced the reserve Oxford crew on Wednesday 9th April with the LRC women’s 4+ winning the race from Boat Race start to the Mile Post by 2 1/4 lengths.

A huge thanks to everyone who has helped with the numerous racing events over March, be it on the day or in the run up to the event. Your time and effort are much appreciated by myself, the Club and race organisers.

Looking ahead as we move through Spring, I am excited to see what is in store for the Club at the first regattas of the season, kicking off with Wallingford Regatta on 4th May and Poplar Regatta on 18th May.

I hope everyone is enjoying training on the water in the warmer weather and I look forward to gearing up as we get closer and closer to HRR!

Bang the Drum!

Rob Porter
Captain, London Rowing Club

MEN’S MASTERs REPORT

Two crews finished in the top 10 overall, with 2 more in the top 50! Our C8 finished 7th, B8 finished 10th, D8 finished 41st, and D4x finished 43rd.

Our crews were:

Men's C8+ (Crew 75 Codename: "The Actress") - Finishing 7th overall

Pictured bow to stroke: Jon Mac, Paul Mascaro, Pierre Lhommet, David Law, James Halsall, Jason Bowyer, James Robinson, Adrian Turner, Henry Dunlop

Our C8+, codenamed "The Actress" (thank you, Henry Dunlop), has been a fairly consistent crew since HMR and, latterly, Remenham Challenge in December '24. Realising the task ahead of us in our category, racing two crews of ex-Olympians and some current squad crews alike, we knew a category win and a top-five placing wasn't going to be easy.

Avoiding the standard tideway head carnage during the paddle up to the start, we managed to fit in a few bursts & extended pieces to open the lungs. Ending on an intimidating "square, feather, square, drop" piece of bladework alongside our main opposition from a few doors down.

As we prepared to spin and start, all the factors were in our favour: decent equipment, a passionate cox, reasonable oarsmen, and unparalleled bladework from the 3 seat. What more could we ask for?!

"London, crew 75, GO!"

Shooting out the blocks, we held the rate high for the first 60 seconds, striding out shortly after. "Race stride, rate 36, 1:26on the split - she's humming!" Henry called. Coming up to Barnes Bridge, all of us wondered if we'd overcooked the start on such a long race. The rate and splits remained the same. It felt good, so we stuck with it!

Heading past the island and up to Hammersmith, we consolidated into the headwind and kept our nerve at rate 35. Knowing Hammersmith onward was the "hard part", and having not raced a full-course piece in a while, we focused on rowing well instead of applying brute force. "Rate 36."

"Really?!"

With Henry now in inspiration mode, he began calling us out seat-by-seat to keep us on it for the remainder of the race. EXACTLY what we needed at this point. We powered on through up to Barn Elms, and with the kitchen sink being the only ammunition remaining, Henry bellowed "FOR THE ACTRESS - GO!". The final push down the line of boats, and across the line.

The final result was 2nd in category behind Crabtree and 7th overall, up 10 places from our previous fastest performance the year before.

Job done. It was a fantastic race.

Men's B8+ (Crew 69 Codename: "Turn & Burn") - Finishing 10th overall

Pictured bow to stroke: Liam Gorman, Michael Cannon, Charlie Twallin, Hugh Falconer, Tom Whateley, Adrian Theed, Tom Stace, Rob Williams, Emma Beardmore

As the pinnacle of the Masters Head season, we would normally have spent weeks preparing for the race, fine-tuning our crew dynamics. However, this year in the Masters B eight, a mix of injury setbacks and patchy availability had us scrambling. With only days to go before the race, we found ourselves searching for a sub—or four—just to get in a single pre-race outing.

In true Masters fashion, our eight lined up for the first time on the paddle up to the start line, with the four-seat nursing an abba-themed hangover. After a last-minute switch to the wild-horse Hudson and a quick pause on the bank to return the almost-stolen C eight’s blades (don’t ask), we pushed off, determined to give a decent account of ourselves, all things considered.

Emma expertly guided us through some warm-up drills while we navigated a maze of eights from all over the country and beyond. To our surprise, despite being a scratch crew, we were rowing well together from the off.

When it came time to turn for the start, we had one goal: to enjoy the race and give it everything we had, or in the two-seat’s case, everything he had left after all that tapping in marshalling. Any thoughts of a lower rating were swiftly abandoned by our stroke pair, who set a powerful rhythm that pushed us to the pier.

Having had the honour of starting as number 69, not one of us expected to finish in the top ten overall, but we did—just thirteen seconds behind the much more prepared Masters C crew. It's a testament to the hard work and spirit of our squad over the past couple of years that we were able to field such a competitive scratch eight.

Men's D8+ (Crew 90 codename: "Baron de Badassiere") - Finishing 41st overall

Pictured bow to stroke: Richard Benton, Evan Grace, Tim Leppard, James Brooks, Charlie Pryor, Colin Christie, Matt Piechowicz, Alex Virgo, Julie Hogg

We had two crews battling it out in front of us and two crews battling it out quite a long way behind us. In the middle, the LRC Masters D crew had a solid and consistent row. Would the pressure and adrenaline that comes from close racing have sharpened us up a bit? Perhaps.

However, we had a good reminder we were in a race at about the halfway point when we got yells and cheering from the bank, complementing Julie’s stroke-by-stroke encouragement. It was the pick-up we needed as we came under Hammersmith Bridge – on the perfect line under where the second lamppost should be – and hit our stride for the haul down the Fulham reach. The crews in the distance didn’t get any bigger and we picked it up nicely for the run down the line of boats.

We had had a grand total of one outing with the full crew before race day and rowing is about small margins: 20 seconds quicker would have seen us finish five places higher. The Masters D campaign for the 2026 Masters Head of the River has already started. Next stop is the British Masters Champs in Nottingham in June.

Onwards!

Jason Bowyer, David Law, Liam Gorman and Charlie Pryor

WOMEN’S MASTERS REPORT

A Strong 3rd Place Finish in the Masters Women C8+ category at the Vesta Masters Head of the River.

The LRC Women’s masters had an impressive showing at this year’s Masters’ Head of the River. It was a competitive field in the Women’s Masters C 8+ category and the team displayed great focus and determination throughout the race, securing an excellent 3rd place in their category. The day couldn't have been any better. With flat, calm water, it provided ideal conditions for racing.

From left to right: Soraya Nidai, Marianna Raffaela, Elizabeth Hichens, Amy Johnson, Molly Green (cox), Ulrike Forster, Angela Hitchens, Elinor George, Caroline Newbury.

We are already looking forward to next year and hoping to get two eights into the mix. We are now heading into Regatta season and looking forward to some local regattas and supporting the British Masters efforts.

Saskia Gill

IRREGULARS REPORT

As previously reported, we have been getting quite serious about our eights training over the past few months.

The big day arrived a couple of weekends ago and, after multiple subs and coxes, we boated with our race crew having only had one outing all together.

Unfortunately, Ed Gormley, our no 7 had to pull out with a leg injury two weeks before but hey presto up popped Bryan Williams who quickly endeared himself to the crew and generously offered to row on bow side. The race was eventful to say the least but our wonderful cox Tally kept her cool and was constantly reassuring us and keeping us on point whilst quite a lot was happening around us. She managed all situations superbly and we came a creditable 5th out of 12 in our group.

We had a lot of fun and thanks to all who subbed, coxed, coached and drove launches.

From now on, we are going to try and get a four out on Sundays, as well as the usual quads, to improve our sweeping skills.

A few of us attended James Sexton-Barrow’s presentation last week to kick off our British Master’s Campaign, which is happening on the 14th/15th June in Nottingham. An excellent evening and we left buzzing with enthusiasm and plans for achieving our aims.

Congratulations to all the London crews which competed over the Head Weekend. So proud!

Eddie Markes

YOUNG IRREGULARS REPORT

March has been a wonderful month for rowing and the Young Irregulars have been relishing it. The warmer weather has led to great attendance during our regular Saturday morning sessions - regularly fielding three quads, spurring each other on as we try not to get sunburnt (yes, I did manage to get a red neck just last week in 15 degree heat... and have worn sunscreen every session since).

The group had two crews racing recently in Masters Head on the 23rd of March, competing against some extremely strong crews in their respective divisions. Our W MasB 4x were able to place 7th, and unfortunately for our Mix MasB 4x the race was abandoned when they reached Harrods wall. Both crews were able to celebrate after with a Sunday roast at one of the many pubs in Putney, which was well deserved.

Pictured above W MasB 4x (left to right): Heather, Camille, Rachel and Liz.

Pictured above Mx MasB 4x (left to right): Elena, Lawrence, Tom and Silvana.

Finally for this month, we had a great turnout at the LRCL AGM with eight of the group (including Kathleen) attending. It's great to see the interest we have as a group in how the Club is performing and to provide challenge/input back to the General Committee. I also believe there may have been some recruitment to sub-committees during the evening, so we can look out for further information on this in the future, but it provides another feedback channel from the groups into the running of the Club.

Tom Downes

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:

Oliver Buxo-Copp
Jack MacDonald
Christina Matteotti

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.

There is information on becoming a member on our website or you can email the Club’s Membership Secretary:

Andrew Boyle
Honorary Secretary, London Rowing Club

VICTOR LUDORUM 2025: THE CAMPAIGN BEGINS!

On Wednesday 2nd April, London Rowing Club’s masters gathered— both in The Long Room and online — to launch our campaign to retain the Victor Ludorum title at this year’s British Rowing Masters Championships. The energy was high, and the ambition even higher.

Former Club Captain James Sexton-Barrow (2021–22) led the evening with an insightful presentation, sharing a breakdown of our performance at the 2024 Championships. With a blend of stats and strategy, James highlighted where we excelled — and where we have room to grow as we look ahead to this year’s Championships in June.

One such opportunity… ‘do more sweeping’. While sculling has traditionally been the preferred discipline for many of our masters, it was inspiring to see several rowers committing to develop their sweep skills in the run-up to the event. Leading by example, Miles Preston generously offered to run a sweep session in the tank at Barn Elms — a brilliant opportunity for anyone wanting to sharpen up their technique and confidence in the boat.

The 2025 Championships take place in Nottingham on the weekend of 14th–15th June, and the campaign to retain the Victor Ludorum has officially begun. This is a true club-wide effort, and every master — sculler or sweeper — has a role to play.

Want to get involved?

Just pop your name down on this Google sheet

Got questions or ideas? Reach out to James at james.sextonbarrow@gmail.com

Let’s show the country why LRC continues to be the dominant force in masters rowing!

BOAT RACE DAY

This year Boat Race Day falls on Sunday, 13th April. The Club will be open for those with pre-purchased tickets from midday. Please note that the entrance for members for this event will be the stairs at the right hand end of the clubhouse only. On arrival there, you will be given a lanyard to gain access.

The Grandstand terrace will be open and you will also have the use of the Members’ Room, Ashton Room and Fairbairn Room. The bar will be accessible for drinks from the Fairbairn Room. The races will be shown on large TV screens in the Ashton Room and Fairbairn Room.

The timetable of the races is as follows;

1:21 pm: 79th Women's Boat Race
1:36 pm: Women's reserve race: Osiris vs Blondie
1:51 pm: Men's reserve race: Isis vs Goldie
2:21 pm: 170th Men's Boat Race
2:45 pm: Women's presentation (Mortlake)
2:55 pm: Men's presentation (Mortlake)

Annabel Lawrence
Events Manager, London Rowing Club

BOAT RACE GYM ACCESS

With the boat race taking place this weekend, the gym will be closed between 12:00 and 16:00 on Sunday 13 April for CUBC to use ahead of the race and for the umpires to debrief after races. It will open as usual around this time.

SIP AND SKETCH

On Thursday, 8th May, Tom Middleton, twice winner of Artist of the Year (wildlife artist category) will be coming to the Club to guide you through a fun session of learning how to sketch. The session will run from 7pm until 9pm.

The cost of the evening will be £35 a head and include a glass of fizz.

The bar will be open for further drinks and you are welcome to bring along snacks to enjoy while you sketch!

All materials are provided and no previous experience is required. Check out Tom’s work at www.tommiddletonart.com

Limited tickets are available on MCH

Annabel Lawrence
Events Manager, 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