After a long break we are slowly getting the blog up and running, and what better place to start than the British Rowing Championships held at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham. All athletes who wish to represent Great Britain at U23 and senior level in the following season are required to race, resulting in a high standard of competition, with club athletes racing against World Champions. This was the squads first test of speed for the 2015-16 season. Due to some illness we had just 3 crews entered:

Senior 2x: Rosie Wilkins and Kirstie Bartlett
U23 2x: Katie Bartlett and Robyn Armstrong
U23 Lwt 2x: Rosie Taylor and Kathryn Aguilar-Agon

The day started with 1900m time trials, with Kirstie and Rosie progressing to the A/B semi finals after placing 11th, Robyn and Katie moving to the C/D semi finals whilst Kat and Rosie moved to the G/H semi final. After some tights racing in the semi finals, the crews progressed to the B, C and G finals respectively. To make for come close racing throughout the regatta, all doubles race based on their speed in the time trials, regardless of sub category. Overall results were Senior 2x 11th (7th in category), U23 2x 15th (4th in category) and U23 Lwt 2x (8th in category). Grace Clough was also racing in NRC colours in a composite 4- with Thames RC and Leander Club and had a successful day at the lake, coming home 3rd in the B final to place her 9th overall.

The end of Brit Champs marks the start of the head season, and from here the High Performance girls will be looking forward to trials on 31st/1st November, whilst the development squad will be racing at BUCS Indoor Erg Champs on the 31st and the Nottingham Autumn Head on the 1st November

Until then it's back in to the singles and hoping the cold weather stays away for as long as possible!

We had a large entry of crews into  HWR this year, many of who were looking to gain experience in their singles, racing in an environment which is more intense than the normal multi-lane racing.

The weekend started off early Friday morning with time trials in almost all events - a testament to the increased popularity and growth of the regatta. All crews made it through the time trials successfully and prepared to compete in the main regatta.

The Senior quad of Anna Thornton, Catherine Lineker, Kyra Edwards and Beth Lloyd racing for the Chairman's Trophy were first to compete, beating Star Club with an Easily verdict. They then went on to beat a UWE/UTRC composite on the Saturday before being beaten by a very strong Molsey/Putney Town/Strathclyde composite in the semi-finals.

We had 2 single scullers racing in the senior singles for the Bernard Churcher Trophy. Laura Champion and Abigail MacCartney both raced well, but were both sadly beaten by Pepper from Star and Arrow in successive rounds. Pepper went on to lose narrowly in the final. Rosie Taylor was racing in the Senior Lightweight singles, an event won by Yasmin last year. Rosie is new to the squad this year and had an excellent row, but was ultimately beaten on Saturday by Lewis from Greenbank Falmouth. For all 3 scullers this has given them a chance to see where they stand individually against the rest of the domestic competition, and will fuel their winter training for next season.

Yasmin made the step up to elite lightweight singles this year, racing in an event which contained athletes who were subsequently named in the GB U23 and senior teams. Despite a solid row, Yasmin was beaten by Humphries of TSS on the Saturday.

There were two senior doubles entered, racing for the Rosie Mayglothling trophy. Vicky Jones and Caitlin had found they were an excellent combination through the season, winning at Nottingham City Regatta and forming well as a double. The other double of Kirstie and Nikki were second at Notts City and hoping the extra few weeks training up to HWR would help them improve on this position. Vicky and Caitlin, despite carrying an injury onboard, raced well to hold TSS level through the enclosures, but the Scullers crew dug deep and unfortunately edged the double to the line.
Nikki and Kirstie had a solid couple of rows on the Saturday, giving them the opportunity to practice their race plan and learn to handle the environment at the start. On Sunday they had a good race against Reading RC, and then faced Glasgow Uni in the final. Times through the regatta had suggested this was going to be a close final. The girls went out hard and got themselves ahead by the barrier, where they held their distance through to the finish, to win by 1 1/2 lengths.

Thanks must go to the organising committee for another well run regatta, and also to the programme designer who found the best crew from last year to put on the front cover!

 

Once again Met Regatta was blessed with sunshine and flat water. We had a large squad of athletes racing. Abbie, Laura, Rosie and Yasmin were all racing in singles, with Kirstie/Nikki and Caitlin/Vicky racing in doubles, and lastly Anna, Catherine, Kyra and Beth racing in a quad. The scullers all raced well within their categories, improving as the day progressed and they got closer to the finals. Winners on the first day were the senior double of Kirstie and Nikki, and the senior quad. Laura wheeler also won in a composite 4-.

Sunday saw an opportunity for Caitlin and Vicky to improve on their performances the day before, which they did, and narrowly missed out on a place in the final of IM2 doubles, a big step up from the novice double they raced as at Notts City. Both Abbie and Laura both continued to improve on the previous days performances in their singles, bridging the gap up to the lead athletes. For consideration for the Commonwealth Regatta team, many athletes were asked to race in Elite and Elite Lightweight Singles. Kirstie and Catherine both raced in the openweight singles, with Yasmin and Rosie racing in the lightweight. Understandably competition was fast, and unfortunately despite some very good racing, none of the girls made it to the final.

Overall it was a very successful weekend, with two wins and everyone stepping on and improving their performances at the higher level of competition. This gives us a good indication of where we are and what we need to work on ahead of Henley Women’s Regatta on 20-22^nd June.

Nottingham City Regatta

O! For a NRCHPS of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of Nottm city
A Hpp for a stage, Thames to Tyne did fall
And NRCHPS to behold the name on the boatman’s victory board.

Can Boyland and Jones ease to victory hold
The vasty fields of Novice scullers?
Within this carbon fibre oar O the very easy heat
That did affright the air at Nottingham

Consideration, like a carrot out of noses and unpaid memberships
And whipped the offending Exeter and Newark out of gold

Turn Boyland a monarch of all novice scullers,
MacCartney and Taylor, that when they row the third intermediates
The air, the water, is still

O noble choppers! That could entertain
With half entries a thorny heat and full forces the full pride of Grand Britannia
And let another half stand rowing by,
All out of work, MacCartney proceeded forward action.

For so work the elite sculling-bees,
Creatures that by a rule in oarsman teach
The act of double sculls of order over watt bike office smelly banter;
They have a match a half past eleven,
Where some, become victors, on home soil
Leading way Maxfield Spencer O to the kilometre
Others, like soldiers, armed in their filippi
Make boot upon the course, Lloyd Lineker
Which pillage they with merry march bring gold home
To the Desmond Atkins of our fearless-leader O to Caversham!
Let us swear,

Our Champion and MacCartney don’ed intermediate two sculls
That those who you call’ed friends, hold hard the breath and bend up every stroke
Whose blood is felt from all of war
Have in these parts from morn till even fought hard, bravo!

Once more unto the lake, dear friends, once more; race again
Or close the final with our Nottingham pride!
In peace there’s nothing so becomes a winner
As modest melt Maxfield claims Intermediate uno singles
Marks and Spencer gracious row truly
Whose limbs were made in England show us here

Even at the turning o’ the tide
All one does is win win win, has rowing on thy mind.
Onwards and forward to journey south, Metropolitan regatta awaits

Translation: 

Catherine and Beth Elite double - GOLD

Kirstie - IM1 1x - GOLD

Caitlin and Vicky - Novice double - GOLD

Caitlin - Novice single - GOLD

Kirstie and Nikki Elite doubles - 2nd

Yasmin - Elite 1x - 2nd

Abi - IM3 1x - 4th 

Vicky Jones - Novice 1x - 4th 

Abi - IM2 1x - 5th

Champs - IM2 1x - 6th

Rosie - IM3 1x - 4th in heat

It feels like we haven't stopped since Brit Champs in October! We have had a race every other week since then, so things have been a little busy.

First off, 2 weeks after the Autumn Head we had the first set of GB trials. This is a gruelling weekend, with a 2k erg on the Saturday, and then if you make the cut-off time, you are entered into a 5km head race on the Sunday. The squad got off to an excellent start, with Catherine and Kirstie both making the time, with Kirstie getting a massive PB and going under 7 minutes for the first time and placing 15th. Laura topped off the heavyweight racing with a PB as well. Nikki raced next in the lightweights, falling just short of her PB but making the cut-off comfortably. Yaz continued with her recent form with a PB and a 4th place finish (2nd U23). Laura Wheeler is still recovering from her back injury, and had a medical exemption from this trial.

Day 2 dawned with an early drive back to Boston. We could not have asked for better water conditions, with almost flat calm conditions. Kirstie raced in the heavyweight division first, having an excellent row to come home in 27th place, in an event won by Jess Leyden, the current junior singles World Champion. Unfortunately Catherine was unable to race due to illness. In the lightweight division, Nikki improved on her ranking from the erg to finish in 7th place, with Yaz claiming 10th position. The winner of the lightweight event, Charlotte Taylor, produced the fastest women's time of the day.

The squad then had a quick transition into crew boats for the Fours Head of the River Race. We were involved in 2 quads, an elite quad of Nikki, Laura, Kirstie and Lindsay raced for time only after having to make more than 50% substitutions from the initial entry. Unfortunately, due to a blade breaking just before Hammersmith Bridge, the crew did not achieve the race they were hoping for, but did benefit from some solid power training, after finishing the race with just 3 rowing (and managing to hold off some crews!) Catherine was joined by Start athletes Sarah Bonar and Kyra Edwards as well as Anna Thornton in an IM1 4x, which had a brilliant race, and rowed home with a comprehensive 12 second victory over their opposition, and placing 5th women's quad overall. This is the second time Catherine has won at the Fours Head, and the 3rd time the squad has won a pennant at this prestigious event.

Having felt like we had only just left Boston, we returned on Saturday 14th December for the second GB assessment. This trial was just the 5km water test, with the inclusion of the squad athletes that raced at the World Championships, resulting in a very high quality field. The U23 athletes were not required to attend this assessment, so Catherine and Nikki were the only 2 athletes to race, and were greeted with a massive headwind for the final 3km of the race. Catherine came 27th in a race won by Fran Houghton, with Nikki improving on her previous result, coming 6th, in a race won by Imogen Walsh, who beat Olympic Champion Kat Copeland. As a result of their performance at trials, Kirstie and Yaz have been invited to a training week in Caversham this week.

The squad now get a small break from racing, and a chance to recharge a little over Christmas, before a busy few months at the start of 2014, with WEHoRR, more trials and maybe a few more races thrown in.

Happy Christmas!