Late Michaelmas Racing

This Sunday will see Upper Boats and Colts racing at Wallingford Head.  Most Upper Boats will race in both divisions, and crews, as they currently stand, are given below (hopefully the formatting will work).  With the inevitable illnesses and injuries that plague this corner of the year, they may yet change a little.  Colts will race in three J16 8's in the afternoon.  The morning division starts at 1030, and the afternoon at 1330.  Links to the draw and directions are up on the website. 

Next Saturday, 10 pairs from Colts and all those Junior Colts rowing regularly this half will race at Hampton.

 

Div 1		Div 2
Nov 8+		IM3 8+
Strong		Strong
Woodhouse		Woodhouse
Fraser		Cornish
Friend		Vystavel
Aldous		Scott
Geffen		DdM
Clay		Zaboronsky
De Jager		De Jager
Camm		Briant
J18 8+		Nov 4+
Taylor		Friend
Jhaveri		Fraser
Peters		Aldous
Miller		Geffen
Bodenham		Camm
Klebnikov
Felstead		J18 4+
Muir		Stirling
Bruce		Briggs
		Jordan
Elite 4+		Metcalfe
Stirling		Bruce
Briggs
Vystavel		J18 4+
Cornish		Peters
Briant		Klebnikov
		Jhaveri
IM3 4+		Taylor
Scott		Morgan-Witts
Jordan
DdM
Zaboronsky
Morgan-Witts

A full weekend's racing

This Saturday will see a top coxed four from Upper Boats looking to defend our Junior Coxed Fours pennant in the Fours' Head on the Tideway.  They will be boating from St Paul's School.  The race starts at 1130, but they are no. 281 so will probably go past SPS at nearer 1230.

Meanwhile, the rest of Upper Boats, all of Colts, and all those Junior Colts sculling regularly will travel to Pangbourne.  Upper Boats and Colts will mostly race in coxed fours and quads in the morning division which starts at 1030.  Junior Colts will race singles in the morning and then doubles in the afternoon division which starts at 1330, where they will be joined by a few UB scullers.  Given the forecast, wellies (and possibly hip flask) look like the order of the day.  A copy of the draw and directions/ map links are all up on the website.  If you're new to all this and want to know how to spot the Eton boat trailers, we have a white truck and a black LR Discovery which both sport the Eton Vikings' flag.  There is a photo of the latter in an old post from back in January.

Head of the Charles results

Sunday afternoon saw a very pleasing end to this year's trip. The 1st VIII placed 2nd behind Marin Rowing Association, meaning that we have medalled in all five years that the event has been restricted to oarsmen attending High School. The 2nd VIII
moved up a couple of places to 19th, with a racy if slightly scrappy row, more than guaranteeing our second entry next year. This was an auspicious start to the year, with much depth staying back in Eton.

Sunset over Belmont Hill's cathedral of a gym

Relaxed Saturday

End of another good day. Some time at the course this morning followed by an excellent lunch hosted once again for us by the most generous Nuzzo family. All set for tomorrow...

VIII boating at Head of the Charles

All now in Boston safe and well and the sun is shining. Good day's practice on the course today and the boys are being royally entertained by their Belmont Hill hosts. Watching some racing and lunch with supporters tomorrow will provide some relaxation before the race on Sunday.

2nd VIII at Head of the Charles

Off to America

The competitive season for Upper Boats kicks off this weekend with two eights traveling to compete in the Head of the Charles regatta in Boston.  We'll be starting 3rd and 20th and it looks like Abingdon are the only other British school making the trip.  They are sure to be strong competition.  As ever, it is difficult to know the lie of the land at this early stage of the year, and it is much harder to pin down all the variables in one's preparation than it is later in the season.  However, we've had a good run of things down at Masters', and the boys are looking forward to the trip.  As ever, we are enormously grateful to Belmont Hill for offering to host us so generously.  The regatta's own website has a wealth of information and provides an excellent results service when the time comes (www.hocr.org).  I'll look to send updates as and when, with hopefully a few pictures of a sunny and picturesque New England in the Fall...

Summer Holiday News

Over the summer five current Etonians rowed for Great Britain at junior level.

At the Coupe de la Jenunesse James Gardner (JDN) won gold in the eight.  At the Junior World Championships, Alastair Camm (MGHM, PB) coxed the four to a place in the A final.  In the coxless four Will Kenworthy (MGHM, PB) was placed 11^th.  Fred Vystavel (PGW) and Luke Briggs (NJR) both raced in the eight, which won silver.

Ian Lawson coached the quad scull at the Junior Worlds.  After a strong performance in their heat (beating the German crew which won bronze) their semi-final was disappointing.  They won the B final comfortably.

Constantine Louloudis OE (Coll) won gold in the coxless pair at the Under 23 World Championships, setting a new world record for that event.

Meanwhile, back at the de-World Championshipped Lake today there were four eights' worth of Upper Boats training, and three eights' worth of Colts.  A promising start to the new year.  The sun even came out for the UB singles' session...

Henley Saturday

The VIII's Henley campaign came to a close fought end against St Andrew's, USA this morning.  The VIII took an early lead of between half and three quarters of a length, but St Andrew's countered powerfully through the middle of the course, to take the lead before the enclosures.  The final verdict was half a length.  You can find a more effusive account here http://www.standrews-de.org/athletics/Henley/index.aspx

In the other semi-final Radley took a very slight early lead, but were undone by a very impressive Abingdon performance, to the tune of three quarters of a length.  Abingdon beat the long standing course record for the PE by 3 seconds, posting a time of 6.19.  It is hard to see them coming off second best tomorrow, and the calibre of their performance today means that they deserve our support in endeavouring to keep the trophy on home shores.

Elsewhere, Harvard's freshmen succumbed to Cal, and it is hard to see them not dealing with the Dutch tomorrow.  In the battle of Captains of Boats past, Mike Evans with Leander beat Ant Locke with Harvard in the Ladies.  Mike will face the Germans tomorrow and we wish him well.  If you're heading to Ladbrookes put your house (or at least the West wing of it) on Upper Yarra to win the Thames.  Temple or Ladies next year I think Alex...

Some final times for tomorrow:
1140 - Temple (worth watching Cal)

1200 - Ladies

Leisurely lunch (or take a chance on the pair)

1450 - Thames

1510 -  PE

1530 - Grand

Dodge traffic by leaving at 1537

 

 

Henley Friday update

The VIII progressed safely into the semi-finals today against Sophie-Barat Schule of Germany.  The Germans showed considerably more speed than they had done earlier in the week, but The VIII steadily extended their lead down the course to win by one and a quarter lengths.  This was a much more assured performance, with their quickest times to Fawley and over the course thus far, without being hard pressed through the enclosures.

Elsewhere in the event there were some cracking races and some fast times.  St Andrews School, USA had to row through a very fast starting Hampton to win by a canvas, and Radley were pushed hard by Shrewsbury.  Both schools recorded times of 6.23, one second outside the long-standing course record.  Abingdon progressed more comfortably against St. Edwards, again posting quick times.  Whatever the results, there will be three great races in what is proving to be a vintage year in the PE.  The VIII were nip and tuck with St Andrews at Marlow, so we wish them well for what will be a close encounter tomorrow.

The VIII race St Andrews at 1150, Abingdon race Radley at 1600.

OE interest is now confined to the Temple and the Ladies.  Harvard's freshmen in the Temple against Cal at 1010 will have a tough job on their hands.  I hope I'm right in saying Ant Locke and Mike Evans will face each other in the Ladies at 1520 (didn't buy a programme today, sorry).  Alex Henshilwood's gathering of Australians might have their first race on their hands against Molesey in the Thames at 1730, but I wouldn't bet against them...

Friday racing

The VIII race at 1520 tomorrow. Stay around for Radley against Shrewsbury at 1540.

Henley Thursday - 2nd VIII and others

This evening the 2nd VIII faced Imperial College (containing Henry Goodier OE), a selected crew in what is proving to be a very competitive Temple Challenge Cup this year.  If you are in Henley over the next three days, there should be many close races and fast times to come in this event.  Anyway, back to today, it was always going to be a tall order, and Imperial moved steadily out to a lead of around 4 lengths before reducing their rate of striking.  The 2nd VIII rowed well, posting a faster time than yesterday (6.47), and closed to just over a length at the line.  It was a dignified end to what has been an excellent season for these boys.

Elsewhere Harvard (Caspar Jopling and Max Monfared) progressed perhaps less comfortably than they might have liked.  Ben Bathurst went out in the Prince Albert in his Bristol four, Steve Hermes; quad progressed in the Prince of Wales.

Henley Thursday - The VIII

In their race against Canford this morning The VIII moved out to a lead of around two lengths by the Fawley marker.  The times to the Barrier (1.51) and to Fawley (3.10) were an improvement on yesterday's, and compare favourably with the times posted elsewhere in the event.  Canford pushed hard along the Enclosures which meant that The VIII, whilst not needing to push for the line, were not able to relax either.  The margin on the line was half a length.  No doubt the boys will feel there is more to come in the quarter-final tomorrow.

Races tomorrow

Tomorrow in the Princess Elizabeth The VIII will race Canford at 1105, in the Temple the 2nd VIII face Imperial College, London, at 1830.  Steve Hermes rows in his quad in the Prince of Wales at 1010.

Henley Wednesday

In our first race of the day today the 2nd VIII beat the University of Birmingham. In an exciting race they took an early lead of a quarter of a length. Some spirited defence saw them maintain a lead of between a canvas and a quarter of a length until the enclosures where they pulled away to win by two thirds of a length.
The VIII subsequently beat St Georges College comfortably, pulling away to a lead of 2 lengths to take control of the race by Fawley. They steadily reduced their rate to finish three quarters of a length ahead at 31.
Opponents and times for tomorrow to follow.

Henley Wednesday

In the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup (for school 1st VIIIs) The VIII will race against St George's College at 1610.  In the Temple Challenge Cup (for university and college crews) the 2nd VIII will race the University of Birmingham at 1435.

Amongst OEs, watch for Ben Bathurst (Bristol in Prince Albert), Hugh Cooper and Felix Chapman (Bristol, Temple), Charlie Landale (TCD, Temple), Mike Evans (Leander in the Ladies later in the week), Max Monfared and Caspar Jopling (Harvard freshmen in Temple).  There are bound to be others (Henry Goodier for IC?) I have missed, but those are the ones I have seen at regattas or in Henley.

Henley

As you may have noticed, the second half of term has been a little hectic, and the dear old blog has been a little neglected.  However, a combination of the end of term drawing near and Henley, has caused the phoenix to rise from the flames.  Qualifiers first, then another post for Wednesday's races.  In the qualifying races the 2nd VIII were again the only school crew to qualify for the Thames Challenge Cup (for universities and colleges).  Colts A posted a respectable time in attempting to qualify for the same event.  In a huge field trying to qualify for the Fawley Challenge Cup (junior quad sculls) members of the 3rd VIII and Colts B performed very well, to finish around the top third of all qualifiers, taking some notable scalps along the way, but only 8 crews from 61 were due to qualify.

Start of the summer half

Apologies for a period of radio silence; the late Easter has meant an even more hectic start to the summer half than usual.

Not many of my thoughts on Wallingford can be posted on a public forum.  The ever ambitious programme of racing and heads being kept firmly in the sand despite a consistent weather forecast and a settled weather system bringing stiff North Easterly winds (a crosswind at the Lake) meant that the afternoon could only really have one outcome.  Conditions weren't dangerous (straight headwinds and tailwinds make conditions dangerous because you get waves on the Lake), it's just that no-one could get any races started (or be bold enough to send away crews which couldn't attach).

However, Upper Boats came out of the day pretty well, with The VIII beating all school opposition (including Radley who must be one of our main rivals this year) and half the 2nd VIII got to win in a coxed four, beating a late Maidstone entry with some international pedigree.  Those lower down the club weren't lucky enough to be able to get so much from the day.

This weekend saw us hosting the annual 'BASHER' races at the Lake, whilst four members of The VIII were away racing for GB in Munich.  There was plenty of exciting racing (all completed ahead of time) and there were many good results for the club.  Junior Colts have clearly been making up good ground, and they won an all J15A race against Hampton, Abingdon and Westminster.  The 3rd VIII which has come into being this half has a bit of pedigree, and they put in two pleasing multi-lane races, winning both.  The 2nd VIII saw off rivals Abingdon to be the fastest crew of the day.

All in all, the club is in good shape with three weeks to run until National Schools'.  Fingers crossed for a smooth run in.

Wallingford Regatta

The regatta season opens this Sunday with Wallingford regatta raced at Dorney Lake.  There is a link to the draw from the website.

The VIII will be racing in Intermediate 1 eights in the morning, and in the same category in coxed and coxless fours in the afternoon.  The 2nd VIII will race in a J18 coxed four in the morning, and then in J18B eights in the afternoon.  The top half of the 3rd VIII will race in a Junior quad in the morning.  Colts A and B will both race in J16 eights in the morning and Novice eights in the afternoon.  Junior Colts A and B will race in J15A and J15B eights respectively, both in the afternoon.

If you would like to come and support there will be an Eton marquee at the 1750m mark, and we have some car passes to distribute; please encourage your son to collect one for you.  Otherwise, there is a charge for parking on the day.

Here's hoping for some successful opening multilane races!

Portugal photos

The slideshow on the right now contains pictures from this year's camp in Portugal.  The album should grow as the week goes on.

Safely on ferry to Portugal

Easter assessment

After four days in Nottingham, Will Kenworthy, Luke Briggs and James Gardner have invites to race for GB at Munich. Alastair Camm is again one of the two top coxes with things too close to call at this stage, Rufus Stirling just missed out.

End of Half thoughts

So, finally the end of an extra long Lent half came around. The final Saturday saw plenty of good news, not least an excellent win for Oxford with Constantine Louloudis (KS '10) in the six seat. For boys currently in the club there were four wins at Kingston for some slightly mixed crews; Upper Boats won J18 eights and fours and IM3 fours, and a largely Colts B crew won Novice eights. It was a good way to round things off as thoughts now turn to Portugal. The trailer starts rolling South next Sunday.
Good luck to the seven boys who travel to Easter assessment this week.

Kingston entries explained

The table below explains entries for Kingston.  We've mixed things up a bit for this last event of the half.  The published draw has The VIII in the afternoon in IM2, but they actually in the morning in IM1.  Colts C will race in a four in the afternoon, not an eight.  If you are coming to support the Albany pub is a good place to watch from (right near Kingston Grammar School boathouse and start).  Please don't park in Aragon Avenue as it would be embarrassing if local residents complained to our hosts, KGS.  Thank you.  Directions on website as ever.

 

Division 1 1100
Category	Bow no	Eton crew	Notes
IM1 8+	112? but going off about 15th	The VIII (ish)	Listed in pm as IM 2
IM3 8+	24	2nd/3rd VIII
J15 8+	54	Junior Colts (E)	Matched VIII
J15 8+	59	Junior Colts (E)	Matched VIII
Jun 4+	81	2nd VIII (ish)	B block
Division 2 1400
Jun 8+	262	VIII/2nd VIII	B block
J16 8+	269	Colts A
Nov 8+	281	Colts B	Colts B
IM3 4+	315	VIII/2nd VIII	C block
Nov 4+	320ish	Colts C	Replaces 288

Spring has sprung

The Olympic facility is looking rather fine at the moment. Shame the Olympics aren't in April...

Schools' Head - Stop Press

Some good news from last Thursday.  The process of checking the results has given the 2nd VIII a greater margin of victory by 2 seconds.  This means that we have retained a share of the Thames Team Trophy (awarded for the fastest three aggregate times by any school).  We have now held this trophy for five consecutive years.

Schools' Head musings

So, thoughts on Schools' Head now the dust has settled. Obviously The VIII were disappointed, not least because this was a race which they felt they could have won. Congratulations to Abingdon on a well executed race and a strong result. The 2nd VIII were delighted to come out the right side of their tussle. One thought to bear in mind- in 2009 we scraped home in this event by 5 secs and there was an awkward hour or so when we thought we got it wrong. The NSR and Henley margins were 17secs. Much can change and this is not, traditionally, a favourite event.
At Colts level we always knew Hampton were sitting on a strong year group so no surprise there. Both our A and B crews should be in the frame for medals come the summer.
For Junior Colts it is still very early days (they will double the amount of sweep rowing they have done between now and the end of camp) and a gap of 50 secs on the lead horse at the moment is about par.
So, all in all, not a vintage day for the club, but by no means a bad day. A number of crews shaping up in medal positions, and plenty of incentive going forwards into our (always very productive) training camps.

Tideway at its most benign

View of Imperial BC for those coming for first time on Thurs

Schools' Head build up

The VIII and 2nd VIII have now decamped to our hosts on the Tideway, Imperial College.  Training on Friday afternoon coincided with Oxford's Blue Boat outing and the boys were excited to see a certain C Louloudis (ex KS) at stroke for the day.  On the water, conditions were pretty favourable until around Chiswick Eyot, where the usual Tideway swell could be found; all good experience as both crews put in some half course pieces. 

Hopefully all crews will return refreshed and recovered after Short Leave.  The draw, along with where to watch from and how to get there can all now be found on the website.

If I get a moment when we are down again on Tuesday then I will put up a few photos for those that haven't been before.

Burway Head

This Saturday sees most of the club racing at Burway Head.  The 2nd VIII will fly the flag for Upper Boats, as The VIII have a fixture with Molesey.  Good challenges should come from Shiplake, London RC and Thames RC.  There will also be a quad from Upper Boats, three Colts eights, and three Junior Colts eights.  Upper Boats and Colts will race morning (1200) and afternoon (1430), with Junior Colts just racing in the afternoon. 

The draw, directions and parking information can all be found on the website.  As this is our first time there, it is on the front page rather than the directions page.

GB selection news

Congratulations to the seven boys who have been invited to Easter assessment for the GB junior team.  After strong showings in their pairs at Boston, Will Kenworthy, James Gardner, Fred Vystavel, Chris Snowden, Rufus Stirling and Luke Briggs have earned themselves four days in exotic Nottingham.  Alastair Camm will be looking to keep the new coxes on the block in their place.

Trying times

Long Leave saw two sets of GB trials.  A typcally grey and cold weekend in Boston (Lincs) played host to the GB junior pairs trials yesterday and today.  Results for our boys were very encouraging, with three pairs in the top eight (Will Kenworthy and Chris Snowden were 5th, James Gardner and Fred Vystavel 7th, and Luke Briggs and Rufus Stirling 8th),  Charlie Cornish and Andy Barakat were a bit further back in 32nd.  Abingdon and Hampton also showed well, with two pairs each in the top four.

However, with three athletes in action a week earlier at the U23 trials on Dorney Lake, the signs are that the squad is in good health.  At those same trials Constantine Louloudis OE just missed out on the A final in the trials for the GB senior team.  Coming seventh overall with a partner who doesn't make the ergo cut-off time will no doubt have caused a few selection headaches...

Peterborough Cancelled

Stop press - Peterborough Head of the Nene has just been cancelled, so no racing for Upper Boats or Colts tomorrow.

Hampton still seems to be on.

A guide to racing categories

 

Hopefully the formatting on this will work.  This is taken from the 'Rowing Guide' page on the website and explains how British Rowing racing categories work:

 

Eton Year group	ECBC Group	Racing categories	Explanation
F	F	No external races	F race individually in singles and in house groups in quads
E	Junior Colts	J15A, J15B, J15 2nd	A and B denote a class of event - so small schools will race their A crews in a B event.  2nd crews must be a school's B crew or below
D	Colts	J16A, J16B Novice, Intermediate 3	See above for A and B crews.  Novice is for crews (of schools, clubs or colleges) who have no regatta wins.  Intermediate 3 is the next group up and will often involve club, college and lesser university crews, along with school 2nd/ 3rd VIIIs or Colts VIIIs
B,C	Upper Boats	J18, J18B, 2nd/3rd VII Intermediate 3,2,1 Senior, Elite	See above for A and B crews.  There are also specific categories for 2nd and 3rd VIIIs at National Schools and some other regattas.  See above for IM3.  IM2 is a good club/ college standard, often entered by 1st VIIIs early in the season, or good 2nd VIIIs.  IM1 is a high club/ college/ 1st VIII standard (Henley hopefuls).  The 1st VIII would only enter Senior or Elite when it was looking to be stretched by very strong crews.

Racing this weekend

This Saturday will see the club racing in two different venues, with some stern tests for newly selected crews.  Links to draws and directions are all available on the website, as is a glossary of some rowing terms.

Upper Boats and Colts head to the Nene in Peterborough.  Almost all boys will race in Division 3, which goes off at 1430.  The VIII will race in IM1 (Intermediate 1) and go off head after winning the event last year, the 2nd VIII race in IM2 and there are Colts A, B and C crews in the J16 category.  We have chosen not to use boys from Colts to make up a 3rd VIII on this occasion, so five boys from the 3rd VIII group will race in a coxed four in the 1200 division.  There is no crew in IM3, despite what is listed in the draw.

Junior Colts will race at Hampton, in three VIIIs.  An A crew will race in the J15A category, and two matched crews will race in the J15B category.  These are all in the second division at this event, which starts at 1400. 

Eton Invitational Head

Results from the invitational head race held at the lake on Saturday can now be seen on the website.  There was a great turn out, with seven other schools competing.  As ever, at this early stage of the half, there was plenty of racing in mixed VIIIs, but there were a number of encouraging results, and it was especially pleasing to see that our J15's clearly have some promise; some would have been rowing sweep for only the fourth time on Saturday. 

At the Upper Boats end of things it is a tough week coming up, and seletion is intensifying too, with a pairs matrix today and some important testing to come in the near future as we start to settle into crews.

The first big test for many will come on the weekend of the 5/6th February, when Upper Boats and Colts travel to Peterborough, and Junior Colts race at Hampton. 

New Boat Club vehicle

Through the generosity of the Eton Vikings' Fund we have now taken delivery of a smart second hand Discovery 3. This should hopefully mean an end to boys pushing trailers and minibuses out of muddy fields and will mean that we don't have to hog the school minibus fleet quite so much.  With towing vehicles and trailers now all at the boathouse it should make our operation a good deal more efficient too.  With the arrival of a new Hudson eight, coxless four and pair, there has been plenty for the boys to get excited about at the start of the half.