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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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 4^th 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.

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 4^th 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]

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]

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]

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

The committee were elected as follows:

The 2011/12 year also sees GKT take on the rotating captaincy of United Hospitals Boat Club. This responsibility, which sees three captains elected to oversee the organisation of racing between the UH colleges, rotates between the 6 constituent bodies of United Hospitals Boat Club. The following were elected to the position of UH Captain:

• Anna Turner
• Emily Frost
• Joe Hetherington

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 1^st 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 last competed in WeHORR in 2009, when the first VIII finished 176^th. 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 59^th place, but aside from this the KCL first VIII placed above every other UL college and medical school, with Royal Vets (138th), ICSM (184^th), RUMS (195^th), St Georges (216^th) and LSE (291^st) 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.

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.