...you wait 5 months and two come along at once! Firstly a summary since January:

January: The squad raced in singles at Boston Head, with triallists racing in elite over the full 5km course in preparation for trials in early February, whilst the others raced in IM2 and IM3 over the shorter 3km course. Everyone performed well, with the squad coming away with an elite win (Nikki), IM2 win (Laura C) and an IM3 win (Abby). We also jumped in the eight for the first time this season, racing an established Cambridge squad over rate capped pieces. This was a good starting point for us, getting used to the difference in style and technique between the squad. We then had a 5km erg to complete – always a highlight for January. Again, everyone performed well, with all squad members getting a PB. This means each member of the squad has a 2k and 5k PB this year.

February: February was a quite month for us. Trials was cancelled early due to adverse weather warnings which allowed the squad to focus on the eight for Women’s Head of the River Race. We had a variety of illness and injury, along with other logistical problems which meant that the build up to Trent Head and Eights Head were not ideal.

March: March started with an excellent win at Trent Head, giving us a platform to build on leading up to the Eights’ Head a fortnight later. The event was well attended and organised, allowing us to see where we ranked amongst other more established crews. This was our only run out at full speed for an extended distance, and gave us a good idea of how the crew reacted in a race situation. After a pre-paddle on the Tideway to get used to the bouncy water, the Eight of Anna Thornton, Katie Bartlett, Kyra Edwards, Kirstie Maxfield, Laura Champion, Catherine Lineker, Nikki Spencer, Sarah Bonar and coxed by Hannah York set off up to the start with high hopes of a fast race. The crew had a good tussle with Exeter University who went on to win the IM2 pennant. The girls had a good race, but couldn’t quite find the speed they had in training in the choppier conditions, and finished 16th winning the provincial pennant. The top 6 places were dominated by overseas and Olympic composites, with the headship going to the squad composite.

April: At the beginning of April we went hunting for some sunshine on training camp in Aiguebelette. The lake and surroundings were absolutely beautiful, with mirror flat water most of the time. We spent 10 days getting faster on the water and slower up the stairs as we got more tired, and coming back to a windy Holme Pierrepont has been a bit of a shock! Yasmin, Laura W and Nikki then headed to trials, where the forecast for strong winds meant racing was condensed into one day. Nikki came 12th in senior lwt, Yaz came 8th U23 lwt and Laura W came 13th. 

May: The students in the group raced at BUCS, the largest rowing event in Europe, racing previous Olympians and athletes at the top of their game. Everyone raced well, with Kirstie winning silver in intermediate singles. 

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!

After closely monitoring the river conditions for the week leading up to the Autumn Head, and listening to the high winds on Saturday night, more than a few people were concerned the race wasn't going to go ahead. Luckily Sunday dawned brighter and calmer than forecast, and despite it taking approximately 2 years to get up to the pipe, the Autumn Head went off as planned, and on time!

The squad were racing in their singles in the first division, resulting in a starting order where we chased each other down the course. Despite some pre-race reconnaissance of the course, the wind and stream seemed to have other ideas, with some of us taking some creative racing lines. With two weeks left to go before trials, this race came at the end of a tough training block, and provided the perfect practice for the 5km water trial.

The squad came away with 2 wins, Yaz won Senior singles, and Laura won IM2 singles with Kirstie coming second in the same category. Nikki came second in Elite singles, behind Junior World Champion Jess Leyden from Hollingworth lake, followed by Start athlete Katie Bartlett, then Catherine in 4th and Lindsay in 5th. Abby came 3rd and Caitlin 5th in IM3 singles. Whilst the rest of the group enjoyed a nice cup of tea and some cake, Laura headed back out onto the water after a late call up into an IM2 quad which came second in their category over the shorter course in division 2. The girls then tried their hand at start marshalling, which is more difficult than it looks when you can't see half the crews and/or their race numbers, but I think everyone managed to get off in the right order!

Congratulations to anyone that managed to make it up to the start line - it's great to see so many people sculling up to race, and thanks to everyone that helped make the day go so smoothly, from the race organisers, marshals and safety team, to everyone that made cakes and manned the food stall.

A very overdue blog post - it's been a busy week!

The 19th and 20th October saw the British Championships being brought to the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham. This is the first time that the event has been held at this time of year, in the format that was trialled at the Diamond Jubilee in 2012; with doubles and fours racing on the Saturday, and quads and eights racing on the Sunday. Heavyweights, lightweights, U23 and U19 all raced together, with medals awarded to the top 3, and pennants to the winners of the sub categories. All athletes wishing to represent GB in the summer were required to race at least one day, whilst anyone on funding had to race both days, ensuring that racing was of a very high standard at the top end. Each day starts with time trials to allocate which semi-final you were to race, with the top 12 going to the A/B semis, 13-24 to the C/D semis and so on. This format means that you are guaranteed close racing whatever your standard, as you are divided into groups of similar speeds. It also means that you are guaranteed 3 races, and come away with a final ranking, whether that be 1st or 31st.

The squad had 2 doubles entered on the Saturday, with Yaz and Nikki racing as a lightweight double, and Kirstie and Laura C racing in the heavyweight double. The time trial is raced over 1900m, and knowing this could decide how your day is going to pan out, with the threat of missing a higher semi final by a small margin hanging over you, it definitely wakes you up! After a tense wait, the light double were to race in the C/D semi, whilst the heavy double were in the G/H semis. In the C/D semi the light double had a close fight with two U23 bronze medallists, who just pipped them to the line, but ensured a close race for the C final. The heavy double had an excellent semi-final where the top 3 boats almost crossed the line together, and they ensured their place in the G final, where in a strengthening cross head they rowed a hard race and left everything out on the water. In the C final, the light double couldn't match the strength of the heavyweights in their final off the start, but slowly clawed their way back through the field, pushing past the Leander C boat and the U23 lightweights, and finished second - giving a finishing position of 14th, in an event won by VML and Fran Houghton, and 4th lightweight boat overall.

On day 2 the heavy quad of Cathers, with Start athletes Katie, Sarah and Beth, came out to play, whilst Nikki joined fellow lightweights from MAA and Putney Town RC in a composite quad. Both boats made it through to the A final, and were drawn in adjacent lanes. The favourites from Tees lead from start to finish, whilst Wallingford pushed out into second, leaving the Nottingham and Mortlake quads to fight for third. Through every timing marker the quads were level, with both crews being able to hear and respond to the other boats calls. At 250m to go the composite had their noses in front, but in a final move to the line, the Nottingham quad managed to push through and take a hard earned bronze medal.

                                                          Photo by Naomi Baker Sports Photography

Overall the weekend was a great success, it is a well organised event with close racing. The only thing missing were a few more spectators! There has been a lot of debate about the format of this event as a 'true National Championships', with nrod.wordpress.com summing up opinions well if you are interested.

The squad have a busy few weeks up to Christmas, racing on the 3rd November at the Small Boats Head, followed by GB trials a fortnight later, then 4s head 2 weeks after that, and then trials again 2 weeks after that.

A little snapshot of some of things the squad got up to last season. Worth watching!

If viewing on a mobile you might need to go to the video via youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pOhORVZY6s&feature=youtu.be