After a successful training camp in Brive the squad came home to a cold and windy Nottingham. Determined not to be beaten, we braved the water each day, despite being laughed at by the boatmen for trying to go out when the lake resembled the North Sea (more than it normally does). Secretely I think some of the squad are hoping for some terrible conditions for racing - we will be well practiced!

Laura W and Nikki travelled down to Caversham to race at the senior squad final selection trials. a good performance here against the established squad members would get them one step closer to a seat in a boat for the World Championships. Laura continued her great progress and finished 14th overall, beating many of the development athletes that GB Rowing have supported as having the potential to go on to compete in Rio. With 17 seats available for the World Championships this is a fantastic result, and she is now seat racing for the second World Cup at Dorney Lake. Fingers crossed! Nikki had a tough task ahead with only four athletes being taken from the trial for further selection, and although she had a good final, was not quick enough to beat the top 4 athletes, three of who have raced and medalled for the senior squad consistently in the past 2 years and have recently come back from the first World Cup in Sydney.

Next weekend we have athletes racing for their respective universities at the annual BUCS Regatta, a three day regatta and showcase of university rowing. Ellie and Philly will be racing for Nottingham Trent, Yasmin will be racing for Derby, whilst Pippa, Louise and Caitlin will be racing for Loughborough Uni. Loughborough topped the medal tables last year at BUCS and hope to repeat this achievement this year.

Happy racing everyone!

The eight continued on the road river to the Women’s Eights Head by racing at their home event, the Head of the Trent. The aim was to have a solid race that we could then step up from on the Tideway. After an evening the night before all baking cakes for the club to sell, the crew turned up early for a pre-paddle and then stayed around to support the Nottingham crews racing in the earlier divisions. In the third division, with Rob Lawson coxing, the girls recorded an emphatic win, beating the second placed women’s eight by over 40 seconds, and once again won the Robin Haslam trophy for the fastest women’s crew of the day.

Saturday 9^th March was the big race, where the crew of Katie Bartlett, Ellie Whittle, Lindsay Marshall, Sarah Bonar, Laura Wheeler, Catherine Lineker, Fiona Bassett and Nikki Spencer, coxed by Vicky Atkins and coached by Dez Atkins and Julie Edwards took to the water to race against 320 other women’s eights. Fi, Sarah and Katie are all on the GB Rowing Team Start programme, whilst the others are members of the High Performance Group. Led by the young guns in the stern, backed up by the big guns in the middle and with bow pair ‘keeping the bows out the water’ the crew put together a great race, overtaking the Zurich crew which finished second last year during the first half of the race, and then continuing that momentum over the second half to pull away from chasing Wallingford and setting us up well for the finish. The Tideway was kind and remained flat and calm, allowing for crews to race to their full potential.

The crew came 6^th overall, winning the Provincial Pennant and also breaking the Provincial course record by 15 seconds. This now means that the current squad members hold a course record at the Fours Head, eights Head and Women’s Henley, with Catherine being the proud owner of all three!

Thank you must to Boston Rowing Club for allowing us to use their eight and to Loughborough Students 

Rowing for making that possible. 

Next up – training camp and hopefully some sun!

Louise Hart was joined by WCS athletes Beth Lloyd, Katie Bartlet and Sarah Bonar to race a championship coxless four at the recent BUCS 4s and 8s Head for Loughborough Uni. Despite only being able to have a few sessions together due to uni commitments(?!?) they destroyed the field to win by 15 seconds over Imperial. Loughborough topped the medal table last year at BUCS regatta and this result suggests they will be in strong contention to repeat this for a second year.

Last weekend the NRC girls arrived at the lake to a sea of Cambridge blue. Cambridge were up for the weekend to get some training in alongside another 8+. We had a series of pieces on both days, allowing all crews to learn and develop in a competitive environment. Cambridge are coming into their peak for the boat races in just over 3 weeks time, whilst the Nottingham crew is training for the Women's Eights Head on the 9th March. A lot was learnt over the weekend for all crews and we hope to put this into practice at Trent Head on the 3rd March.

Last weekend Laura, Ellie, Nikki and Louise travelled up to Boston for the second GB assessment and small boats head, both held over 5km. After the first water trial was cancelled due to adverse weather forecast, this was the first opportunity for many to show their water speed. On arrival they were greeted to a lightly frozen river, which was quickly broken up by some launches. A beautiful day emerged, despite the chilly -2 degree temperatures with slight tailwind conditions promised fast times. Laura and Ellie raced first, with Laura coming in a very strong 17th, beating some notable names who raced internationally last season. Ellie was racing in the BUCS small boats head and put in a good performance and gained valuable experience of racing down the trials course.

In the second division Nikki was due to race the GB trial, whilst Louise was vying for a medal in the BUCS competition. Unfortunately both girls were forced to withdraw after catching a sickness bug overnight, causing a lot of frustration for both after a good run up and promising times clocked in the weeks prior to the race.

The group now turn their focus to the Womens' Head of the River Race in London where they aim to improve on their 5th place finish from last year.

In a blink of an eye a twelfth of 2013 seems to have snuck by already. We seem to be stuck in a flood - freeze cycle, resulting in the ergs feeling (mistakenly) more loved than usual, whilst spiders in our boat bay believe we have built them all lovely carbon fibre shelters. The beginning of January was taken up with training camps. On the back of her excellent 3^rd place finish at the ergo test in the first set of GB trials Laura was invited to the sunny climes of Portugal on the GB senior team training camp. The rest of the group stayed in Nottingham and put in some solid (if slightly colder) training in preparation for the 5km ergo test. The training clearly paid off, with almost the entire group claiming hard earned PBs. We were due to race at Boston Head, although this was unfortunately cancelled due to the recent flooding so next up is the second set of trials on the 9^th February, raced in singles over 5km in Boston. We also have athletes racing for their respective universities at the rescheduled BUCS small boats head, held in conjunction with the GB trials. Sights are then set on the Women's Eights Head, where we have successfully won a pennant every year since the club was founded- no pressure then!