KCLBC got the regatta season off to a flying start last weekend with 3 wins at Borne at Chiswick regatta, in Men’s IM3 Coxed Fours, Men’s Novice Coxed Fours and Women’s IM3 Invitational Coxed Fours.
Men's Novice Coxed IV
Held on our ‘home turf’ between ULBC and MAABC, these wins show the results of some intense training from both squads, and set crews up nicely for next weekends BUCS regatta in Nottingham – Good Luck to all competing there!
KCLBC had a frustrating days racing at the 2011 Allom Cup, making four finals but failing to win any medals after a controversial disqualification for the Men’s Senior VI against UCL.
The Men’s Senior VIII went out in the semi-finals to the eventual winners UCL, losing the Allom Cup, which has been held by KCL for all but 2 of the preceding 13 years. Half of the VIII then raced in the Men’s Senior IV, against half of the UCL VIII who had just beaten them. Determined not to let get UCL get away without a fight, King’s had a strong start, and were ahead of UCL for most of the race and across the finish line. However, a disputed clash of blades led to disqualification. The Men’s Intermediate VIII got to their final, where they were beaten by ICSM.
The Senior Women’s crews reached both their finals, with the Senior Women’s VIII going out to ICSM and the IV being beaten by RUMS. The Intermediate crews reached both their semis, with the VIII and the IV being beaten by Bart’s and ICSM respectively.
Fresh from racing the UH Novice Sprints the previous weekend, the Novice squad were keen to prove themselves. However, after several crew changes and last minute scratchings, the Men’s Novice VIII lost to Royal Holloway in their semi-final, and the two women’s crews were beaten by RVC and RUMS.
Following the unusual regatta training in the depths of winter, both squads are now looking to the head season. More urgently, there is the Boat Club Christmas Dinner – one of the year’s highlights – to look forward to, not to mention the annual Christmas Pudding Races!
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KCLBC enjoyed their most successful visit to the Cambridge Winter Head in years, winning in the Men’s and Women’s Senior IVs, the Women’s Novice IV and the Women’s Senior VIII. The weekend also saw the fresher squads gain their first racing experience, holding their own against other London Colleges.
Arriving at Stourbridge Common while it was still dark, following the usual race against time to rig the boats, the Women’s Novice IV were first down the course. Spurred on by support at the rail bridge, some remarkable overtaking was seen from crews, including the Men’s Novice VIII overtaking Girton College BC which was caught on video. In all, KCLBC raced 12 boats over the course of the day, not to mention a welcome return from the alumni crew, Juniper BC, clad in their finest racing attire, who put in a respectable effort to finish 4th in the Senior Men’s Invitational VIIIs.
KCLBC provided an overwhelming presence at the prize-giving ceremony, even remembering to clap for a winning ICSM crew. Following the presentation of engraved hip-flasks to the winning crews, there was also the announcement of the five fastest crews of the day overall (weighted according the event), in which the Men’s Senior IV came third overall, taking a cash prize.
After a hard days racing, the squad was in a celebratory mood. The squad was joined by Juniper BC for the traditional curry and social, providing a chance for the squad to bond and the fresher group to integrate with the senior squad, with the theme of ‘St Ginians’, which saw many school girls outfits (a disturbing number from the Men’s squad). Sunday saw punting on the Cam, before heading back to London.
The weekends results stand the squad in good stead for the Head season, and our placing against other London colleges puts us in a good position for upcoming intercollegiate racing at the Allom Cup.
KCLBC senior women convincingly won the IM3 coxed IVs at the Veteran Four’s Head of the River on Sunday in their first race of the season. The crew of Kate Horne, Amy Fanning, Emily Frost, Tom Webb Jnr (cox) and a helping hand from coach Rhona MacCallum (who bravely took on the notoriously long course twice in 2 days) beat 10 other crews to the top spot, winning their category by over 50 seconds.
Over the 4¼ mile Championship course from Mortlake to Putney the crew pushed past their competitors despite the strong headwind and choppy water to finish in a time of 23:45.01. A welcome cheer came from supporters on Hammersmith Bridge just over half way through the race to spur the crew on for the final leg.
Kate Horne, rowing in her 4th four’s head for KCLBC, said:
“This was the best four’s head I have raced in so far.”
The women’s squad now looks ahead to racing in Cambridge, and London college events later this term, with the success bringing great promise for racing in WeHORR in March 2012.
[Emily Frost, Secretary]
The Senior Mens IM2 4+ (Fielder/Halse/O’Reilly/Hetherington – cox Thompson) raced the first of the autumn/winter competitions, the FOURS HEAD over the 4.5mile Mortlake to Putney Championship course yesterday.
Unfortunately, prior to the race while marshalling, their boat picked up a tree branch which became wedged between their fin and rudder. This only became noticeable as they approached the start, by stroke Tom Fielder as the branch showed during the stroke during the build under the bridge for the first time.
It was only at Hammersmith that the branch became disentagled – from there unimpeded they completed the course as planned. Up to then they had suffered being caught by crews that would not have caught them, had they not been stuck at rate 31 which they struggled to maintain.
They ended up 49th from 65 crews in their IM2 4+ section, 1min 55sec behind winners Imperial College, who were only 1 second slower than UL winners of the IM1 4+.
Still, onward and upward! Plenty of opportunities to show our real speed at Cambridge in 2 weeks and the Allom Cup in 4 weeks.
[Richard Ayling, Men's Coach]
The day of the fresher barbecue rolled around, and, for once, the weather was on our side. Over 170 potential rowers gathered at Waterloo Station for their first visit to the boathouse, and their first introduction to the wonderful world of rowing.
Once the multiple trainloads of freshers had arrived, the carefully organised chaos could begin – each fresher was issued with their very first KCLBC branded item of clothing, and then divided into crews for their very first outing. With the help of all the seniors, we managed to get everyone who wanted to row out onto the water – a brilliant achievement!
Up in the boathouse, the burgers and sausages being dished out were going down a treat, and the glorious weather meant that the balcony could be put to full use – creating lots of sunburn.
The socialising that began during the day then continued well into the evening with a trip to Walkabout for everyone, where some people got to know each other rather too well…
All in all, it would seem the barbecue was a huge success (no boats were sat on, so it’s definitely an improvement from last year) and once again, King’s appear to have the best freshers on the river.
[Sophie Crooks, Fresher Captain]