After freezing conditions prevented February trials from going ahead, the squad turned their focus to training in an 8 in preparation for the Womens' Eights Head of the River Race. This is a 7.5km race on the championship course on the Tideway, from Mortlake to Putney raced on 3rd March. 300 womens crews have entered, with the start order based on previous results. We will be starting as 7th crew, chasing down Mortlake, Anglian and Alpha, who having finished just ahead of us last year should provide some close racing.

In preparation for this race, the girls raced at Trent Head of the River, a 6km downstream race based at NRC. The crew, with Ellie sitting at 2 and Lindsay at 6, had a strong race, winning the Robin Haslam Trophy for fastest womens crew. We successfully reproduced some of the technical changes we have been working on in paddling, and with one more week of training in the eight, are looking to further increase boat speed before we take on the tideway. Bring it on!

The triallists are required to submit a 5k ergo below set cut-off points before being able to compete at the February assessment, so the whole squad got together on the 28th January to complete the 5k. This was quite a big event, with the senior men, intermediate men and the womens' squads also taking the opportunity to test themselves against the machine and each other, and stake a claim in boats for the eights head boats. This provided a great atmosphere, with supporters coming down early and staying after they had completed their tests to cheer each other on.

Everybody in the group had a good result, with Stu, Ed, Rich, Pippa and Nikki all getting PBs, whilst everyone else who tested improved on the times they posted this time last year. Catherine and Lindsay both completed the erg in a solid time, further forging their way back to full recovery after prolonged injury, with it looking positive for the forthcoming head races.

The 5k erg was the biggest test of our winter training, suggesting that as a squad we are stronger and faster than last year. Barr the Head of the River Race, we now move on to summer training, with trials held over 2k next weekend at the Olympic rowing venue in Dorney - doing summer race prep when it's snowing is a strange experience!

Whilst other clubs were abroad in sunny climates for their training camps, Pippa was invited to the under 23 land based training camp in Cardiff, whilst Yasmin and Lindsay both went away for some ‘altitude training’ on the ski slopes.  The rest of the squad stayed in Nottingham for their training camp, making the most of the unseasonably warm weather and home comforts.

The Nottingham camp was a 10 day high volume camp, with a lot of erg training thrown into the mix to prepare us for the forthcoming 5km erg test to be completed before the next water trial. Catherine made a welcome return to the water after a long few months of injury and training on the Wattbike, whilst Louise also returned to full training after a period of illness. Everyone coped well with the increased volume of training, and most managed to battle their way through to the final day of camp – finished off with an 18k erg.

The New Year has started well for the group, and we are now looking ahead to the February water trial, our last chance to impress on the water in the GB open trials. Following that we will switch our singles for an 8 in preparation for the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race in March, where we aim to defend our Senior pennant.

On Sunday 18th, the squad completed some training pieces against Durham University. With super sub Cassie from the womens' squad, and coxed by Ashley Hewitt, the girls swapped their singles for an eight, and after some initial confusion about the lack of two blades, took to the water.

The pieces were quite eventful, as it turns out going three abreast through a sailing race doesn't go down very well, and with all three crews doing their best to turn rowing into a contact sport. Credit to Laura, who whilst maybe not always getting her blade in the water whilst clashing, definitely went for the 'grip harder and keep rowing' attitude. A shortened course kept the sailors happy, and allowed all three boats to get some good racing in, although the Nottingham crew felt slightly ganged up on when the two durham boats squeezed in so we were clashing blades on both sides-at least we will be ready for any clashes on the tideway in March! Some really close racing kept all three boats honest through the pieces, whilst Nottingham were kept happy with a win in all three pieces.

No more events are on the horizon for this year - Happy Christmas and bring on 2012!

Five athletes travelled to Boston to race over 5km on the river Witham against the clock. The December assessment is the first chance that athletes looking to break into the squad are able to guage their speed against current squad members, and impress the squad coaches, so the importance of a good performance was not underestimated. Luckily the heavy winds that were forecast did not materialise, but were replaced with freezing cold conditions and 'wintery showers'.

All athletes were racing as lightweights in the second division, after illness ruled both Laura and Pippa out of the chance to compete at these trials. After a tight finish in the first assessment in October, not only a good finish position but Trenside bragging rights were up for grabs. Ed came out on top, finishing 9th U23, and 25th overall. He was closely followed by Stu just under 3 seconds behind in 27th place and 11th U23, whilst Rich was 12 seconds behind this.

Racing for the lightweight women, in a race won by Sophie Hosking pushing current World U23 Champion and World Best Time holder Kat Copeland in second were Nikki and Yaz. Nikki came 9th overall, and 4th fastest athlete eligible for the World University Games. Yaz continued her good progress within the U23 squad, coming 15th and 5th U23 athlete, putting her firmly in contention for a place in the team in the summer.

The next focus will be February trials held over 2km at the Olympic Rowing Venue of Dorney Lake. Despite the good results, the squad will continue to train hard over the Christmas period in an effort to move up the rankings and secure their place in the GB team for the summer.