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.