Category Archives: Seniors

Frustration for KCLBC at Allom Cup

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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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Huge success at Cambridge Winter Head

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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 Women take IM3 4+ pennant at Vet Four’s Head

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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]

Fuller’s Head of the River Fours

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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]

Welcome one and all to KCLBC!

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Hello everyone and welcome to KCLBC. If you’ve found the website I hope you will come down to our Fresher BBQ. Come to Waterloo Station between 1.30 and 3pm Wednesday 28th September (not 5th October as some of the fresher bits say!). Meet us under the big clock as the video shows further down. We will meet you there to take you down to the Boat House where there will be a BBQ and cash bar, so make sure you bring cash!!! It’s also important to bring a change of clothes so that you don’t get your favourite bits dirty in the river.

Sign up to our mailing list on the right to get more information by email about the BBQ and events over the next few weeks.

Rowed before? If you’ve got any rowing experience come down to our senior try outs on Sunday 25th September. Again as above meet us under the clock at Waterloo. You can all merge with a pub lunch and a few drinks in the afternoon if you’d like! There is no pressure to perform we just want to get you out on the water to see where you will fit into our squads. Please contact the womens captain amber.smith [at] kcl [dot] ac [dot] uk or the men’s captain sebastienthomas91 [at] gmail [dot] com (Seb Thomas) for more information about the day or use the contact page.

Welcome to the largest, most successful sports team at King’s and I hope you enjoy your time here.

Ed Griffiths
Club Captain 2010-12

KCL rowers looking to Bumps success

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Members of KCL boat club are looking forward to continuing their run of success at the United Hospitals (UH) Bumps, which are raced on 28th & 29th May on the Thames at Kew.

The Bumps, which have been raced since 1953, are traditionally contested between the 5 London medical schools and the Royal Veterinary College. In more recent years however, invitational crews from non-medic colleges also race. There are 8 divisions: men’s and women’s first, second and third eights for current students, and respective alumni crews. King’s, who still race as GKT currently hold the headship (i.e., are winning) in 7 of the 8 categories, and are looking to repeat this success. The men’s squad have held the head of the bumps since 2006, when they ended 8 years of dominance from Imperial Medics. The women’s squad have held the headship for 5 of the last 6 years. KCL alumni, the formidable ‘Juniper’ crew have also dominated their division racing for several years.

The Bumps are not your usual, regatta type race. Rather than crews all starting from the same point and aiming to cross the finish line first, crews are spaced out along the river at equal distances. On the starting horn, the aim is to row off as fast as possible in order to catch up with (and physically bump) the boat in front, without being caught up by the boat behind. Lucky crews will ‘bump up’ early on in the race, sparing themselves the gruelling race to the finish line that awaits if they are neither caught by, nor catch another crew.  Crews who fail to bump early on in the race have to dig deep and fight their way down the rest of the course. For the crews at the head of the race, there is no crew in front to catch, and the only option is the long slog to the finish line without being caught. To add an extra dimension to the racing, the event is staged over 3 separate races in each category, and the only results that count are the results of the final race. In 2010, GKT men’s 1st VIII were bumped by St Georges crew in the second race, and had to fight to win back first place in the final race of the event. This is what it looks like to get that place back:

Bumps racing is unusual in the rowing world, and relatively few places still hold bumps races; the UH bumps are the only ones held on the tidal Thames, and only Oxford, Cambridge, and Eton College have bumps races elsewhere in the UK. Because of the unusual nature of the racing, close finishes and clashes are common, making it one of the most exciting forms of racing to watch. The course used for the UH bumps stretches along the Thames next to Kew Gardens, finishing just before Chiswick Bridge by the University of London Boat House. Any cheers or support from Kew Bridge are welcome!

Are you a rower? Rowed at school or college but gotten out of practice? KCL Boat Club is always on the lookout for fresh talent, and in particular is looking for people to race the Bumps with us. If you’ve rowed in the past but let it drop off, why not join us for a weekends racing in May?

Any rowers who are interested in rowing the Bumps should contact edward [dot] griffiths [at] kcl [dot] ac [dot] uk. More information can be found at www.uhboatclub.co.uk

KCLBC Women success in WeHORR

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KCL Boat Club’s senior women’s first VIII placed 80th out of 315 crews in the 76th annual Women’s Eights Head of the River Race (WeHORR), the largest women’s rowing race in the world. In a race where few London colleges fielded a second crew, KCLBC second VIII put in a solid performance to finish 266th; not a bad achievement considering 6 of the 8 only took up rowing in September.  Both crews combined experienced rowers and novice rowers who have progressed to training and racing with the senior squad.

KCLBC last competed in WeHORR in 2009, when the first VIII finished 176th. Women’s captain and cox Anna Turner said “This is the best WeHORR result KCL have had in over 10 years, and leaves us in a strong position for the summer season. It’s good to see that the hours of training we’ve put in have paid off. Special thanks go to our coach, Rhona MacCullum who has overseen our new training program”.

The WeHORR is the female counterpart of the Men’s Eights Head of the River. The 4 ¼ mile course is the same as for the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, but is rowed in reverse. Rather than crews going head to head, each crew rows down the course at intervals and their times are recorded to give the results. The race is one of the longest ‘head’ style races. Crews get a welcome cheer from supporters on Hammersmith Bridge, just over halfway down the course.

Varsity rivals UCL finished in 59th place, but aside from this the KCL first VIII placed above every other UL college and medical school, with Royal Vets (138th), ICSM (184th), RUMS (195th), St Georges (216th) and LSE (291st) trailing far behind. This leaves KCLBC in a strong position for the upcoming regatta season, and most importantly, the medical school Bumps, raced at the end of May between the 6 United Hospitals colleges.

KCL Wins First Annual Varsity Race VS UCL

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In the first Annual KCL vs UCL Varsity race – KCL stomped to a victory that could only be referred to as “easily.”

The crew of Ed Hull, Ed Griffiths, Max Gerrard, George Halse, Darragh O’Reilly, Seb Thomas, Henry Hoder, Adrian McCague and Anna Turner (cox) lined up against a potentially strong UCL 1st VIII at Putney ready to row the full course down to Chiswick Bridge. However, in a turn of events the UCL coach announced they would only be racing half of the course as they were competing in a race that same weekend.

Each to their own, KCL was there to practice for the Men’s Head of the River Race so that’s exactly what they were going to do. And for the record, most of the crew will be competing in THREE races that very weekend as well.

Conditions were tough and saw waves flooding into the boat on the racing line. King’s opted for the wider course around Fulham to take advantage of the stream and slightly better water. UCL on the other hand took the very inside of the corner (renowned to be ‘dead water’) as opposed to challenging for the racing line allowing King’s to pull ahead by 6 lengths at Hammersmith.

Pacing themselves as it was only coming up to half way, King’s hit a rhythm and stuck to it for the journey to Chiswick. UCL on the other hand knowing they were only racing half way put in a push for their finish closing the gap down to 2 lengths by the end of the island (Chiswick Eyot) before winding down.

King’s raced to the end, proving that this year KCL will be on top form at the Head of River Race in April.

UH Head 2011

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The UH Head in recent years has always been an area of controversy for GKT, with our Championship VIIIs mysteriously finishing minutes slower than the timer on the coxbox. Nevertheless GKT showed up determined to make this year stick.

The women’s Champ VIII finished second to ICSM by a mere 10 seconds over the course between the Pink Lodge just short of Richmond and Chiswick Bridge. Following down some 13 crews behind were the GKT Novice Girls who must have known the Seniors needed avenging. The crew of Amy Fanning (Bow), Sophie Crooks, Zoe Aubugeau-Williams, Yu Jin Lee, Jess Thuringer, Anna McSweeney, Hannah Carr, Claire Knapp (Stroke) and Adrian McCague (Cox, 73Kg of pure encouragement) stormed down the course overtaking 6 crews in its wake finishing 19 seconds ahead of ICSMs novices and winning themselves a nice set of medals.

As previously mentioned the men went out with something to prove, despite a scratch crew, scratch order and a couple of rowers that hadn’t rowed in months (standard GKT Men). Despite getting obstructed and pushed out the racing line by UCL B (whom subsequently received a 10 second penalty, thank you marshals!) the men were pleased with their race. Club Captain Ed Griffiths afterwards stated:

“Let’s be honest, we rowed like s***, but everyone was fully committed for the entire race.”

The crew of Tom Hodkinson (Bow), Tom Webb, Adrian McCague, John Denny, George Halse, Joe Hetherington, Ed Griffiths, Ben Soni (Stroke) and Anna Turner (Cox) finished as overall winners 10 seconds ahead of tied second placers St Georges Hospital and RUMs, which to their credit were looking very tidy on the row up to the start.

A member of ICSM later commented on a photo of the GKT Men’s Champ VIII:

“They must be monsters on the erg to get away with rowing like that.”

It’s good to be GKT.

UH Regatta 2011 & Allom Cup MChamp VIII Final

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The UH Winter Regatta hails a ’3rd time lucky’ moment for the fresh with their standing starts (after the Novice Sprints and Allom Cup). Luck of the draw however – this year the majority of our male fresh are in fact studying ‘Strand’ subjects allowing us to field the Invitational Novice VIII against UCL!

The crew of Alex Drewett (Bow), Sam Rowe, Rory Sherlock, Michael Bradley, Deji Olanilua, Alex Franklin, Jamie Barrell, Simon McTurk (Stroke) and Cox won their straight semi-final against UCL A to go on to defeat UCL B in the final. Great job from them and a good sign of things to come from KCLBCs home grown rowers.

The seniors had a great day as well. Following the disappointment of the Allom Cup where light, extended lunch breaks and perhaps questionable organisation resulted in many finals never having been raced – GKT were ready to show what they could do without the backup of our KCL (read: non GKT) students.

Both the men and women’s GKT (A) Senior IVs won their events easily, with the men’s final being a straight up GKT A vs GKT B and the women’s KCL vs GKT. Well done to Darragh O’Reilly, Ed Griffiths, George Halse, Ben Soni, Kate Horne, Emily Frost and Anna Turner (Cox).

Equally GKT made a clean sweep of the Senior VIIIs as well. Going up against RUMs in the semi-final, GKT Senior Men agreed with RUMs that this would be the decider of the Allom Cup final that was never finished – even though the GKT squad was missing some of its key KCL members. GKT won to go on to the final, marking probably the first time GKT has actually won the Allom Cup.

The final, however, was not so straightforward. A failure with the rudder mechanism meant the boat was locked on to a hard right course pushing the other finalists, ICSM, more and more off their course. Long story short: ICSM failed to challenge for their line allowing GKT their victory. Well done to Ed Griffiths, Ben Soni, George Halse, Darragh O’Reilly, Adrian McCague, Joe Hetherington, Tom Hodkinson, John Denny and Anna Turner (Cox).

The Women’s Senior VIII GKT crew of Kate Horne, Emily Frost, and Anna Turner (Cox) also won making the event a decisive victory for GKT to add to KCLBCs already successful year.

Cambridge Winter Head Tour (Cowboys and Gindians)

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The annual tour to Cambridge was a great success as usual; both on and off the water. After an early start  on Saturday morning the freshers were first to boat, a rigging problem meant that the girls had a slightly tougher time getting down the course, none the less, all crews put in a good display for their first race of the year with the girls finishing 8th and 13th and the boys finishing 9th and 15th.

Also in the first division was the men’s coxed four, the new combination of George Halse, Ed Griffiths, Darragh O’Reilly, Adrian McCague and Anna Turner (cox) put in the performance of the day beating ICSM by 12 seconds to finish 1st in division and fastest four in the event – many congratulations! The Women’s four excelled in their category too, finishing second narrowly missing out to Lady Margaret BC and comfortably ahead of the nearest London rivals St Georges Hospital BC.

Congratulations go to the womens eight of Kate Shaper, Mary Bjorkegren, Katherine Cran, Alice Wordley, Emily Frost, Amber Smith, Katie Thomas, Rosie Fisher and Anna Turner (cox) who finished as the fasted London College and 4th overall in the student category. The men’s eight also rowed well and despite a minor steering issue around Grassy corner still finished 2nd of all the London colleges, behind RUMS – we will remember to fit a bigger rudder next year!

After Saturday’s successes on the water, Sunday was spent sightseeing and of course punting on the Cam. Many thanks to the social secretaries and the fresher captains who’s hard work in organisation made the trip so enjoyable.

Fours Head of the River 2010

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KCLBC Men entered two crews this year into the Fuller’s Head of the River Fours. A considerable amount of late night training due to university commitments made daylight preparation very limited – crucial for success on the Tideway head course where being only a couple of meters either side of the stream can cost seconds, even minutes.

Nevertheless, the crew of Adrian McCague (Bow), George Halse, Edward Griffiths and Max Gerrard (Stroke) raced the IM1.4- category, finishing 18 of 46 in cat and only 1 minute behind the event winners (TSS). The IM2.4+ of Henry Hoder (Bow), Joe Hetherington, Sebastien Thomas, Darragh O’Reilly (Stroke) and Anna Turner (Cox) also performed well finishing 27th of 42 crews in their event, following some late crew changes in the week leading up to the race.

The race also saw the first outing of the club’s new Filippi Coxed Four to be named at the forthcoming alumni and boat naming evening after the UL Allom Cup on Saturday 4th December.

KCLBC takes on the Pairs Head 2010

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This year saw a rare but strong showing for KCLBC with the Pairs Head of the River London (PHoRR). Entering in IM2.2+ Adrian McCague (Bow) and George Halse (Stroke), having missed out on the summer regattas from the previous year took the opportunity to see what they could do with only two weeks post-summer training over the traditionally rough course from Chiswick Bridge to Hammersmith Bridge. Finishing in the top 50% of entries.

Other notable performances from KCLBC members include Ben Soni racing in the IM1.2+ with Thames Tradesmen finishing 7th in their category; Edward Griffiths with Tideway Scullers School racing in the SEN2.2+ finishing 4th in category and a special mention to Juniper member (Angry) George Turner winning the IM1.2X category for University of London BC and finishing 6th overall.

Training for the Men’s squad now turns towards the Four’s Head of the River in a months time with King’s looking to enter two crews.

Racing Success at Marlow

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KCLBC Men entred 8 athletes at Marlow Intl Regatta this year in the form of a Novice and Intermediate 3 Coxed Four.

The Novice Four (Bow: Leon Palmer-Wilson, Tom Gordon, Seb Thomas, Str: Joe McKee, Cox: Anna Turner) were placed into a straight final against tough opposition. Second place at the halfway mark against Liverpool Univ BC they managed to come up on them in the last 500 metres to clutch the winning medal position by 0.3 seconds. Congratulations to the five and good luck next weekend at Richmond where they now have to race in IM3!

The Intermediate Four (Bow: Adrian McCague, George Halse, Tom Hodkinson, Str: Tom Webb, Cox: Becks Palmer) had to come in the top two of their semi-final (notable opposition to include Durham Univ BC and Kingston GS) to qualify for the final. Ahead by as much as 3/4 of a length at the half-way point it was certain qualiication was likely, a push by the Durham crew in the last 100 metres meant qualifying in 2nd place by 0.5 seconds.

Our illustrious club captain (stroking) meanwhile had been struck down by food poisoning thanks to what was likely a tasty Shellfish dinner the night before and with only 50 minutes to recover before the final, a good performance hung in the balance. After setting off well in the final, illnesss showed its face as our previous Durham opposition began to move away after only 250m.

Excellent performances were also put in by KCLBC rowers Edward Griffiths (Next years’ Club Captain) in the Elite Pairs and Intermediate 1 Coxless Fours; and Ryan Chamberlain in the Intermediate 2 Coxed Fours.

And finally, congratulations to Rahma Barclay whom graduated KCLBC and Physiotherapy at Kings in 2007 for winning the Henley Women’s Regatta Senior 8+ category with Vesta RC.

UH Bumps Day 2

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Sunday kicked off with the second of the three men’s bumps races on the Tideway hosted by UHBC.

GKTW2

A rather sobering event led to both GKT2 and Kings boats rowing over and to the suprise of everyone, SGHS1 put in an unstoppable push towards Kew Rail and bumped GKT1. Emotions were running high but careful planning of a comeback race ensued.

GKTW1

Meanwhile in the final of the three races for the women, GKT1, GKT2 AND Kings successfully maintained all three headship categories – a fantastic achievement and now the second year running of the women holding all three titles.

GKT1Stepping up their game in the final race, GKT1 had one chance to get back their rightful spot as head crew of the UH Bumps. Capitalising on their quicker start, oars were geared heavier and a do or die attitude was adopted. It paid off, for the pleasure of all the spectators standing there, GKT1 mowed down Georges just before Kew Road Bridge. Victory never felt so deserved.

GKT1

 

KCLBC would like to thank UHBC for putting on yet another successful bumps and amazing afterparty.

UH Bumps Day 1

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Kicking off with the first women’s race GKT1 established their place by maintaining the headship, rowing over with RUMS1 rowing over behind them. GKT2 also rowed over, chasing down RVC1 they looked within their grasp but couldn’t quite catch them. The women’s Kings boat got off to a flying start bumping RUMS2.

In the men’s first race, GKT1 had a solid row over partly in thanks to Georges I bumping into ICSM1, looks like Sunday is going to be hard! The King’s boat also successfully managed to mirror the girls in bumping RUMS2.

In the women’s second race, headship was still maintained and GKT2 managed to bump RVC1 solidifying their 2nd boat headship.

Overall GKT and Kings have put in a solid start to the racing on this hot weekend, although nothing is set in stone until the 3rd race is complete. Bring on Sunday.