dulbc news november2012

DULBC News, Volume 2 Issue 1, October 2011

1 DULBC News 2011 ©

Welcome to a new season at Dublin University Ladies Boat Club!

This issue will give you an insight into the successes of DULBC in the

2011/2012, and welcomes you to what promises to be another successful

year for the club. Inside are a calendar of important events, including the

2013 DULBC gathering, accounts of last years events, details on the new

blazers and much more! We hope you enjoy reading it and as ever we would

love to include your news and views in future editions so please do get in

contact at [email protected]

DULBC - Intermediate and Novice 8+

National Champions 2012

DULBC finished the 2011-2012 season on

a high by winning two National Champi-

onships at the Irish Rowing Champion-

ships in July. The Intermediate and Novice

eights each claimed first position in their

respective categories. Friday, day one of

the long weekend of racing saw the Inter-

mediate eight take to the water. The

same crew that had a good win at Cork

Regatta in June but had not spent much

time together on the water since. They

kept the bucket-rigged boat that was set

up for the Senior eight and with a few

spins together in the weeks running up

the race, felt confident they were up for

the challenge. A six boat strong field lined

up and we were off. Our crew didn’t get

off to the best of starts and by the 1000m

mark were lying in second place, a length

down to UCD. In what was the most excit-

ing race of the day and arguably the

whole weekend, we made a massive push

to get our bows back in touch. Cox Naomi

O’Sullivan kept her cool as the infamous

NRC commentator let the crowd know

that Trinity were charging for the line. We

soon realised we were gaining on the UCD

crew beside us but there was nothing be-

tween us as two beeps followed in quick

succession and we were left to wait for


the photo finish result. No-

body knew who won but a

shout from the bank sug-

gested it was Trinity’s victory

and the whole boat erupted

before the official result was

announced. The winning mar-

gin was just 0.2 seconds.

Heart-stopping excitement for

both sets of supporters on the

bank. The Intermediate eight

trophy returned to DULBC af-

ter just 2 years since the win

in 2010 and previous to that in 2007.

Intermediate eight crew: Cox Naomi

O’Sullivan, Stk Ruth Morris, 7 Claire

Cooney, 6 Keira Buttanshaw, 5 Suzanne

Daniels, 4 Sinead Dolan, 3 Alice Norwood,

2 Rebecca Dowling, Bow Hazel O’Neill.

Earlier on Friday morning the Novice four

were disappointed with their second

place finish in the final after comprehen-

sively winning their heat on the back of a

very good season in that category. How-

ever, they managed to lift their spirits by

Sunday afternoon when the crossed the

finish line first in the final of the Novice

eight. In a somewhat less nerve-wrecking

race for the supporters, our girls rowed

through the Queens crew at the halfway

mark and into the lead where they remained until

the finish. This is just the second time that the club

has won the women’s Novice eight, the first came

fifteen years ago in 1997. This year’s achievement

was particularly impressive given that cox and four

rowers were first year novices, completely new to

the sport last September and National Champions

by the end the summer.

Novice eight crew: Cox Grace Gannon, Stk Hazel

O’Neill, 7 Sinead Greenan, 6 Alice Norwood, 5 Ni-

cola Davis, 4 Lucy O’Donoghue, 3 Deirbhle Tuite, 2

Amy Nash, Bow Heather Crowley

Unfortunately the Senior eight

did not have the same joy on

the water. The Queens/

Skibbereen composite claimed

the spoils leaving UCD and Trin-

ity to fight for second place. Our

girls finished third in the end,

disappointed with the final re-

sult but knowing they had given

it their all. Sunday also saw

Sinead Dolan compete in the

Intermediate single scull where

she finished in third place. It was

a sad end for the departing seniors Caitlin, Sarah

and Naomi but with promising athletes coming up

the ranks there's still plenty of talent in the club to

look forward to this year. A huge thank you has to

go out to our four dedicated coaches Andrew,

Franky, Connla and Phil who all contributed hugely

to these Championship wins. Overall it was a very

successful season for DULBC, reclaiming the Novice

Colours trophy as well as taking several wins at do-

mestic and University regattas across all levels of

competition. Congratulations to all involved and

best of luck to Hazel this year as she will no doubt

lead the club to great success again.

Rebecca Dowling

Winners of the Novice 8+ with their coaches Connla Edwards (left)

and Phil Keane (right)

The Intermediate 8+ photo finish—

0.2 seconds!

DULBC News 2011 © 3

Captains Welcome

Hazel O’Neill

I would like to welcome you all to this season’s first newsletter. It has been quite a while since our last up-date but with our club going from strength to strength over the past few months it is with great pleasure that I can introduce myself as captain for the 2012-2013 season. My name is Hazel O’Neill, I am a 3rd year medi-cal student and I began my rowing career 2 years ago with DULBC- safe to say I have never looked back!

When I look at the club- our successes, the great club at-mosphere, the effort of the coaches and the generosity of those who support us; I realise how lucky we are. Rowing is a sport where determination and hard work go hand in hand- what I have seen from DULBC is that fun, team-work and cooperation are what make the members want to be part of a club. From learning to row in my first year to winning championships in my second; I have borne witness to the full spectrum of DULBC- the tireless effort of the coaches to teach the complete novice to be-come a rower, the hard work of the athletes in order to achieve their goals but also the values, standards and loyalty of the members to cre-ating what is a very special club- one that is gearing up to what should be a very interesting season!

With the kind donation of a set of ergometers last season the club has been able to move forward in train-ing allowing greater numbers to train at one time and more often. This, our newly purchased 8+ last June for inter/novice racing along with a number of other donations are investments that have put us in the right direction to succeed in the coming years and we are truly grate-ful for this support.

The past few months and weeks have been exciting ones as far as racing is concerned with crews competing at University Champs, National Champs, Colours, Women’s Henley, London Metropolitan Regatta and the Grand League Regattas to name a few. Along with international representa-tion we also had an incredible haul of pennants from the head season along with several regatta medals, trophies and of course our National Championship wins in the intermedi-ate and novice 8 categories- an un-forgettable achievement for the first

time in 15 years and something I was very lucky to be a part of. This suc-

cess has created a great atmosphere and a renewal of our determination to succeed both as individuals and as

a club.

The senior/ inter squad arrived back with great enthusiasm following last season’s success and have ap-proached the autumn/winter training with definite determination for suc-cess this season. To add to this we have been joined by a number of rowers with previous experience from the USA, the UK and of course from Islandbridge who have joined the ranks and are really adding to the squad. With our first race win of the year in the Dublin Sculling Ladder

junior category by new mem-ber Sally O’Brien safe to say these girls are assets to the club! The squad has already moved training out to Bless-ington to get in some more mileage and plenty of hard work at the weekends as we gear up to our first race of

the year with Neptune Head. Mean-while the 2nd year novice group have found their niche in islandbridge and their training is well underway in the

smaller boats as they look forward to challenging some wins in the novice category this year.

This year we signed up over 160 first year novice rowers- an unbelievable number which was no doubt helped by the fantastic coverage of women’s rowing during the last Olympics. Many of these girls have really em-braced the training in boats at the weekend and the fitness sessions during the week with the guidance of the coaches and the help of a num-ber of experienced members. This year we are hosting an intervarsity novice sprints regatta in Islandbridge in December-something our enthusi-astic newcomers can look forward to as their focus for training over the coming weeks. As a new event we look forward to it in the lead up to Christmas which should give the Uni-versity Clubs an opportunity to be-come acquainted and get an idea of what racing is about at an early stage.

Hazel navigating her way through the new

ergometers purchased thanks to a very

kind donation!

At the National Championships 2012 Ha-

zel stroked the Novice 8+ to victory, hav-

ing won the Inter 8+ two days previous!


Meet the 2012-2013 Coaching panel

DULBC are extremely fortunate to have four coaches on board again this year. The coaches are

instrumental is helping all of the club members to achieve the high standards they set for themselves and

we are very grateful for all the hard work they put in on a voluntary basis.

Phil Keane

IARU Level 2 Coaching Certificate

Rowed & coached at Neptune RC

Meet the coach - Doireann Ni

Lochlainn

We would like to welcome the newest

member of our coaching panel, Dorieann

Ni Lochalin. Doireann rowed for DULBC

from 2004-2007. She was Captain of the

club for the ’06/’07 season when she won

the Intermediate 8+ at the National

Championships.

No year would be complete without maintaining our links with our alumni and following last year’s suc-cessful alumni dinner in the boat-house we are pleased to announce that we will be building on it this year. In keeping with “The Gathering Ireland 2013” campaign we are or-ganising our very own DULBC Gath-ering for all past and current mem-bers. This will take place over a weekend in March and will certainly give all alumni a reminder of their time in DULBC, a chance to catch up with old crew mates and an oppor-tunity to find out about how we are

getting on now. See the advertise-ment on this newsletter for more info- this promises to be a brilliant weekend of reunions and something we are really looking forward to.

As we settle down to a Winter of training and look forward to the rac-ing season I am excited to lead the club into what promises to be a very interesting year for all involved. I hope to leave my mark on DULBC on what seems like such a short year. With vice captain Sinead Rodger along with an enthusiastic commit-tee working with me we certainly intend to make it one to remember!

For updates on the club have a look at our recently launched website www.dulbc.iewhere you can keep in touch, read the latest news of what the girls in pink and black have been doing and see photos of old and new faces alike in the gallery. I wish our members, alumni, supporters and friends the very best for the season and look forward to the coming months.

Here’s to a great year!

http://www.dulbc.ie/


Neptune Head Pennant winners: Senior 8+ Senior 4+ Inter 1x (Sinead Dolan) Novice 8+ Novice 4+

Muckross Head Senior 8+: 2nd Inter 8+: Pennant Winners Novice 1x: Rebecca Dowling –2nd Novice 4+: 2nd Senior 4+: Time only

St. Michael’s Head Senior 8+: 1st, 4th, 5th

Inter 1x: Pennant Winner—Sinead Dolan

Novice 4X+: 1st, 2nd

Novice 8+; 10th, 11th, 12th

Novice 1x: Hazel O’Neill—3rd

Lagan Head Senior 8+: Pennant Winners

Novice 8+: 3rd

Novice 4+: Pennant Winners, 3rd

Colours Races v

UCD

Corcoran Cup (Senior) LOST by 1 length

Sally Moorehead Trophy (Novice) WON by 1 1/2 lenghts

Dublin Head Inter 8+: Pennant Winners

Novice 8+: 2nd, 6th

Trinity Regatta Senior 1x: 2nd

Inter 4+: 1st, 2nd, 2nd round

Inter 1x: 1st, 2nd

Novice 8+: 1st round

Novice 4+: 1st, 1st round

University Champi-

onships

Senior 8+: 2nd

Senior 2x: University Champions, 3rd

Senior 1x: 2nd

Inter 8+: University Champions

Inter 2x: 2nd, 3rd, 5th

Novice 8+: University Champions

Novice 8+ (freshers race): 2nd

Novice 4+: 4th

Novice 2x: 2nd, 3rd,

Novice 1x: 2nd, 3rd, 5th

Skibereen Regatta U23 8+: 2nd

Senior 2-: 4th

Inter 4+: 3rd, 4th

Novice 8+: 1st, 5th

Novice 4+: 1st, 7th, 10th

Neptune Regatta Novice 8+: 1st

Novice 1x: 2nd

Henley Women’s Re-

gatta

Senior 8+: Round 1 BEAT Green Templeton, Round 2 LOST to

UCD

Cork Regatta U23 8+: 1st

Novice 8+: 1st

Novice 4+: 1st, 7th

Irish National Cham-

pionships

Senior 8+: 3rd

Inter 8+: WINNERS

Inter 1x: 3rd

Novice 8+: WINNERS

Novice 4+: 2nd, 4th in heat

Results from 2011-2012


Winter Training camps Senior Training Camp Suzanne Daniels

This year got off to a flying start, with a training camp

abroad in what we like to boast as ‘Sunny Spain’. While

all the locals were still fashioning their winter coats,

fourteen ladies were roaming around Banyoles in T-

shirts and lycra, a great change from the arctic condi-

tions of Blessington.

With the return of Rachel Nazarin, we hired two boats -

a 4+ and an 8. Training was tough but enjoyable, enjoy-

able because of the amaz-

ing view we had to take in

while rowing on a perfectly

flat calm lake. We had one

session in the morning and

a session in the afternoon

with questionable ‘lunch’ in

between, which usually

contained some sort of

mystery meat and lentils.

To be honest I don’t think

many of us enjoyed the local cuisine. In between ses-

sions we did the usual shower, nap and eat or shower,

nap, eat and study combination, for the unfortunates

who had essays to write :( .

Receiving the Olympic note was by far one of the high-

lights of the camp. We arrived down to training in the

morning to find a lovely note from the French double,

Cedric Berrest and Julien Bahain, who are going to the

2012 London Olympics. We had been watching their

‘technique’ during the week and the excitement that

they wanted to meet us all gave us something to talk

about... Of course there were suspicions to foul play

from most of us. We all thought it was a cunning joke

played by Rachel, Susannah and Andrew, therefore giv-

ing us all a bit of a shock when Cedric and Julien arrived

into the bar later that day!!!

We covered 200km in 5 days, rowing the extra 2km as a

round up to our impressive distance. Legs were tired

and weak, arms were aching, but we were all happy to

have been involved in such a suc-

cessful camp! We really did im-

prove our technique and stamina

throughout the week and the

camp created chances for im-

provements and progression as a

team. I think a training camp

abroad was a really good idea this

year, and hopefully it will be fol-

lowed up with more to come.

We ended the camp with a night in

Barcelona, where we had a lovely meal but unfortu-

nately there was no energy to go out and we spent an

entertaining night in our hostel instead.

All in all, from my point of view the camp was brilliant.

We arrived home tired and with aching muscles know-

ing we had all pushed another limit and improved in

our technique as a club.

Novice training camp

Nicola Davis

After weeks of circuits and hard win-

ter training in Islandbridge, the nov-

ice crew journeyed to the great un-

knowns of Lake Blessington for the

novice winter training camp. The

January weather brought us out in

multiple layers of unconventional

rowing kit – riding jackets, ski gloves

and bobble hats, ready to take on

the great outdoors. We hit the water

in an 8+ and a training quad at the

crack of dawn, ready to learn and up

skill. Battling with howling winds and

raging waves we came out on top,

and learned the beauty of tapping

and how to row all 8. A trip to the

Jacuzzi got us all back on our feet in

the evenings, before a team meeting

with Olympic motivational videos, all

before we headed

back to our houses for

communal dinner fea-

turing a Mexican

night and some seri-

ous pasta seshes. It

was tough, but we all

made it out of Bless-

ington alive with our

first real taste of row-

ing life. Major bond-

ing was had between

midmorning naps and intense carb-

loading, and massive improvements

were made to everyone’s rowing

technique. In the words of Mike

Spracklen “the body will adapt”.


Meet the 2012-2013 Committee

Captain

Hazel O’Neill 3rd year Medicine.

Joined DULBC in 2010.

National Championships

with DULBC: Novice 8+ 2012, Intermediate 8+ 2012

Vice-Captain

Sinead Rodger 4th year Music Education.

Started rowing in Com-mercial RC 2006

Joined DULBC 2009

National Championships with DULBC: Intermediate 8+ 2010

Treasurer

Sinead Dolan

2nd year MSSIS

Started rowing in Commer-

cail RC 2006

Joined DULBC 2010


with DULBC: Intermediate 8+ 2012

Secretary

Ruth Morris

2nd year MSSIS

Started rowing in

Commercial RC 2006

Joined DULBC 2011


with DULBC: Intermediate 8+ 2012

Social Secretary

Suzanne Daniels

4th year Occupational

Therapy

Joined DULBC 2009

National Championships with DULBC: Intermediate 8+ 2012

Social Secretary

Grace Gannon

3rd year Irish and Film

Studies

Joined DULBC 2011

National Championships with DULBC: Novice 8+ 2012

Fundraising Officer

Heather Crowley

3rd year Engineering

Joined DULBC 2010


with DULBC: Novice 8+ 2012

Fundraising Officer

Gill Crowe

3rd year Medicine

Joined DULBC 2010

http://www.dulbc.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/suzannedaniels.jpg


Novice Co-

ordinator

Lucy O’Donoghue

2nd year Human Health and

Disease

Joined DULBC 2011

National Championships with DULBC: Novice 8+ 2012

PR Officer

Zahra Legris

2nd year Medicine

Started rowing in 2008

at school in Lady Elea-

nor Holles School,

Middlesex

Joined DULBC 2011

Alumni Officer

Susannah Cass

3rd year PhD Botany

Started rowing in Cam-

bridge, Magdalene

College in 2006

Joined DULBC 2009

National Champion-

ships with DULBC: Intermediate 8+ 2010

Alumni Officer

Rebecca Dowling

5th year Dental Science.

Joined DULBC 2008

Captain DULBC 2011-12


with DUBLC: Intermediate

8+ 2012

General Member

Claire Cooney

2nd year BESS

Started rowing in Commer-

cial RC in 2008

Joined DULBC 2010


with DULBC: Intermediate

8+ 2012


Sat-urday the 28th of January saw the DULBC heading to Limerick for the annual St Michael’s Head. This was not only marked the start of the sea-son, but for the DULBC novices- my-self included- also marked the first test of what all the gruelling weight-circuits and 6AM training sessions had been for.

In a move we are fast learning is a common occurrence for rowers, the novices were told meet at a blister-ingly early 5:20 am on Nassau street to board a bus to take us down to the Head. Despite the early start, spirits were high and nerves seemed to have abated by the time our bus arrived and we set off for our very first race. Luckily, most of us man-aged to nap on the two and a half hour bus journey, due in no small part to the soothing tones of Elton John’s Greatest Hits- played on re-peat on the insistence of our bus

driver. “Tiny Dancer” was the unoffi-cial theme song of the day.

We had been told that St Michael’s Head takes place in what is, by in large, a field, and it was surprising to see the huge amounts of Boat Clubs and people involved in the event. We arrived at the slip just past 8 am, and already a huge amount of trailers were being unloaded and boats rigged. The seniors were already at the trailer-looking intimidatingly pro-fessional in perfectly matching gear- and it was nice to see our beloved boat the Michael Johnson- M.J.- and get to work rigging him up, albeit under the judgemental eye of the UCD boat club who just happened to park their trailer directly opposite ours.

The race itself was by far the most enjoyable aspect of the day. Despite preparing myself for an absolute gru-elling 15 minute run down the course, once our crew was in the boat and making our way toward the starting line it was remarkably easy to settle in. If it wasn’t for the dis-

tinct (and nauseating) country smells it would almost have been possible to imagine ourselves back at Island-bridge. The race was over in what seemed like a matter of seconds, un-fortunately not due to the incredible speeds we were going at but because the whole thing was actually really fun! (Who would’ve thought??) The novices were to race twice more that day, with some variation in the crews. Speaking as someone who is usually unbearably nervous when put under pressure, the whole day was really enjoyable and it left all of us with a definite sense of achievement.

St. Michael’s head is a great way for

novices to enter the sport of rowing,

without the nerves and pressure that

can come with a two-lane race with a

direct opponent. The day allowed us

to not only showcase how much

we’ve learnt in the brief time we’ve

been rowing, but also to prove to

ourselves that we are capable of

keeping our heads under pressure

and enjoying a competition.

The Corcoran Cup—The first time

experience Suzanne Daniels

As an intermediate rower this was my first race for colours, as I didn’t race colours as a novice. Colours, for us, marks the beginning of the regatta season, and when all the training starts to come together.

Last February I won my seat race into the senior colours crew slot-ting into the 4 seat. I knew that all the girls in the boat with me had trained very hard over the previ-ous months and we all sought the same goal – to win the Corcoran cup.

Training got tougher, the hours were longer but the gains in our fit-ness, technique and spirit grew with

every session on land and on the water. All training was done together been the 9 of us and our coaches so we spent many hours together but we enjoyed (most of) the hard work.

Of course sadly we didn’t win on the day, with the flow against us but I have to say it was one of the best races of my life. It all seems like a blur now and I wonder how we ever crossed the finish line but we did it in style, with many remarks on the day that we rowed better. Unfortunately one crew has to lose on the day, but we put all we had into that race. The power and emotion was evident from the words Attention, GO.

We definitely are coming back fighting this year as a squad to hopefully be holding the Corcoran cup once again!

The Colours Races

St. Michael’s HOR

Rebecca Sanfey

Naomi O’Sullivan (cox), Ruth Morris

(stk), Caitlin Condon, Rebecca Deasy,

Susannah Cass, Suzanne Daniels, Keira

Buttanshaw, Sinead Rodger, Rebecca

Dowling (bow)


The Sally Moorehead Trophy Rebecca Sanfey The annual colours races took place on Monday, the 19th of April, with the Sally Moorhead novice women’s race starting off the four events of the day. Disappoint-ingly, it was to be the only win for Trinity but proved to be one of the most exciting races of the day. Both crews took it in turns to hold the lead, before Trinity managed a huge push under the James Joyce bridge, to which UCD had no response.

The hours of work that went into training for the Novice Women’s race were something of a brutal awak-ening for me, never having partaken in a sport where getting up at 5:30am for training is the norm (my na-ivety is making me cringe as I write this) or where your coaches voice is so drilled into your mind that you can’t say “hands, body, slide” in anything other than an Aus-tralian accent. After the selection of the crew- Amy Nash (Str.), Nicola Davies (7), Tara Hamilton (6), Re-becca Sanfey (5), Lucy O'Donoghue (4), Deirbhile Tuite (3), Cathy Prendergast (2), Rachel Botha (Bow) and

Grace Gannon (Cox)- the work intensified and it seemed that suddenly the race we had always been working towards was getting very, very close. For the most part, I have to say I enjoyed the large amount of circuits, wa-ter-work and cross-training that became part of my life in the weeks drawing up the race. There was never any question but that every girl in that boat wanted to be there, and desperately wanted to win that race.

Despite the overwhelming build-up, the race it-self is somewhat of a blur. I vaguely remember our cox’s initial shout of “DRAWWWWW” and that nerve-wracking noise that all rowing races start with- water moving and riggers grinding and coxes screaming- but the bulk of the race seems to have lasted only a few seconds. One of the crew remarked afterwards that there was never any feeling in the boat that we would

actually lose the race, and despite UCD taking the lead for the majority it, the final push after the James Joyce bridge was where we marked our-selves out as the crew that wanted it

more.

The elation that followed crossing the line first is some-

thing that I will remember for a long time, especially

since despite UCD staging an early take-over of the

buses that followed the race, the few Trinity supporters

who had made it onto them were incredibly vocal about

their support.

Tips for Novices!

A very warm welcome to all our new novices! Hopefully you've all enjoyed your DULBC experiences so far! It was great seeing you guys at the novice night out and the massacre, hopefully you're all looking forward to the Boat Ball. You all seem to be improving well in training so keep up the good work. Blessington training camp will take place in the new year and huge improvements are made so hopefully you can all make it.... plus you can have pasta parties EVERY NIGHT (woo)!! As you can see it's starting to get pretty cold out there so start stocking up on the thermals ladies! Lots of thin lay-ers seems to work the best. Hopefully you're all getting to grips with the rowing language too; touch it, back it, stroke side, bow side, if not don't panic it will become second nature soon enough! Keep working hard and you will be rewarded. Remember if you have any problems/queries you can talk to the captain, Hazel, or Lucy, your novice co-ordinator.

Lucy O’Donoghue, Novice Co-ordinator


Key Words:

The boats are steered by the

coxswain. Cox's use a rudder to

steer the boat, which they control

using cables that are connected

to it. To help keep the boat on

course, all boats

have a small fin

in the stern.

Each rower sits

on a seat that

rolls on wheels

along the slide.

Feet are tied into

shoes which are

bolted onto foot-

plates in the

boat. Each oar is held in place by

riggers, which extend from the

saxboard. The rigger holds the

gate in which the oar sits.

Bow Side - the right side of the

boat - when sitting in the cox's

seat, looking forward. Oars for

this side of the boat often have a

green marking.

Stroke Side - the left side of the

boat - when sitting in the cox's

seat, looking forward. Oars for

this side of the boat often have a

red marking.

Stern - the back end of the boat,

where the cox usually sits; also

the end of the boat with the

rudder and/or fin.

Bow - the front end of the shell,

covered by a bowball.

Bowball - small rubber ball that

covers the end of the bow;

intended to prevent/reduce

damage upon collision.

Fin - the fin under the stern of the

boat which helps to keep the boat

on course.

Rudder - a small, movable part,

usually metal, that sits under the

stern of the boat; allows the cox-swain

to steer the boat.

Saxboard - this is the top side of

the boat - the edges onto which

the riggers are bolted.

Gate - the small plastic part at the

end of the rigger that opens at the

top. The rower opens the gate,

places the oar into it, then shuts

the top metal bar, screwing it

tightly shut. The gate holds the

oar in place during the rowing

stroke.

Rigger - The metal support

attached to the saxboard that

holds the gate.

Slide - the tracks underneath

each seat which the wheels of the

seat slide on.

Cox Box - a device used by the

cox, consisting of a microphone

and speakers, that amplifies the

cox's voice throughout the boat.

Blade - another name for the oar,

particularly the paddle end know

as the spoon.

Square blades - keeping the

blade perpendicular to the water

on the recovery.

Feathered blades - keeping the

blade parallel to the water on the

recovery.

The recovery - the part of the

rowing stroke when the oar is out

of the water.

Crab - an unfortunate incident

when the blade gets caught in the

water and the handle of the oar

hits the rower. It is caused by the

blade not entering into the water

fully square, when pressure is

applied to the blade it will just go

deeper and deeper in the water.


Coxes calls

Full Crew, Rowing from backstops, Are you

Ready, Go! - This is a classic command, the cox

specifies who the command is to, what they are to

do, gives them time to prepare and when the cox

can tell the crew is ready they say Go.

Easy There - stop rowing, while maintaining the

arms away position and leaving the blade feathered

above the water, letting the boat glide over the

water.

Drop - after telling the crew to easy there the cox

will give the command to drop, the crew can then

drop their blades on the water, this is a bit like the

"at ease" command in the army.

Hold it up - put the blades into the water at an

angle, causing the boat to decelerate quickly.

Firm/Full Pressure - pull on the oar with 100% of

your power.

Three Quarter Pressure - rowing with 75% of your

power.

Half/Medium Pressure - rowing with 50% of your

power.

Light Pressure - stop rowing with pressure and just

lightly pull the blades through the water.

Back it down - push the oar backwards through the

water to move the boat toward the stern -

predominantly used to turn the boat around (back it

down on one side).

When I tell people I cox, the first response is usually “Oh

so you’re the little person who shouts”, and this is en-

tirely true! However coxing is so much more than shout-

ing. Your role is to steer the best line,

keep the crew in time, act as a second

coach in the boat, motivate your crew

when things are getting tough and make

tactical decisions during a race. It’s easy

to think when you are starting out that

coxing isn’t that important, surely if all

eight crew members are pushing as hard

as they can, there’s nothing else that can

make the boat go faster? A good cox can

unite a crew and get that extra two per-

cent out of them that makes the differ-

ence between first and second place.

I started coxing in January and, while during the coldest

part of the year sitting in the bow of a four getting

splashed isn’t the most pleasant way to start your morn-

ings, I was hooked immediately. My first race was Lagan

Head in Belfast which was a challenge due to the num-

ber of bridges I had to steer through! As the year went

on and the weather got warmer I got to race along the

Liffey in Dublin Head, to win the Novice 4+ at Trinity Re-

gatta, and to cox at both University and National Cham-

pionships. Not to mention travelling to London and

racing along the Olympic course at Lake Dorney! The

differences between long winding head races and

straight lane regattas mean that coxing is never monoto-

nous. While head races are a challenge due to the im-

portance of steering the best line, regattas

are very exciting as you get to play your

crew off other crews to get them to row

the best they can.

The best advice I can give to novice cox-

swains is to ask as many questions as pos-

sible. Ask the coaches to explain why they

are doing a particular exercise and what it

will achieve, ask the crew after an outing

what calls they liked and which ones did-

n’t work and ask other coxes what calls

they find work well. It is incredibly over-

whelming to begin with, as you’re trying to coach some-

thing that chances are you’ve never done before. It

seems like there is a whole new language to learn, but

before long it does fall into place. Just remember if

you’re ever cold, wet and miserable after a long training

session, the feeling of crossing that line in first place

makes every minute worthwhile. But buy good water-

proofs...

The Coxing Experience by Niamh Williams


The Alumni Dinner

Rebecca Dowling

We were delighted to welcome current and past club members to the boat-

house last March for our annual Alumni Dinner. The event was held on the

evening of Dublin Head, giving alumni the opportunity to watch the Interme-

diate and Novice eights race

along the Liffey before joining us

for an evening of entertainment.

The Long Room was cleared out,

tables set and the walls decorated with our most recent winnings pen-

nants from the head season. The evening began with welcome drinks

in the bar followed by a club photo on the steps of the boathouse. We

were joined by current and past coaches, past President Jane Williams

as well as many other recent alumni and current squad members. The

three-course meal provided by Knight’s Catering was enjoyed by all.

Toasts were made to celebrate recent wins and a special presentation of a new club blazer was made to head coach

Andrew Coleman for his dedication to the club over the past 5 years. The night continued into town where we were

joined by the first year novices in D2 nightclub. We would like to thank everyone who attended and hope they en-

joyed their night reminiscing with old friends. A special thanks also goes to Neptune Rowing Club for kindly lending

us the dining chairs for the day. They all made it back in one piece, though one or two went for a quick dip while

crossing the river in the launch the next day!

We intend to plan a similar event for 2013, with the hope that more advance notice of the date should enable more

people to attend. A provisional date of March 30th has been set so please keep this date free in your diary and look

out for your e-mail invitation before Christmas.

The University Championships 2012, hosted by UCC in the national row-

ing centre in Inniscara, Cork were among the most suc-cessful in the history of DULBC. Not only did the club come away with the prestigious Bank Of Ireland Women's Cup for some of our biggest wins against other universities (Novice and Inter 8s) but also took the Overall University trophy with DUBC. Numerous small boats took to the water also, with wins for the senior

pair and some sterling performances in doubles and sin-gles.

Sunday featured an equally successful day with crews taking to the water once more to com-pete in Skibbereen Regatta. Invaluable racing experience, and wins in the Nov-ice 8+ and Novice 4+ concluded the week-end nicely.

With our rather inti-mate sleeping ar-rangements in Lee Valley, and a very well established pink and black base camp in the rowing centre, the weekend was a fantastic opportunity for the entire club to get to know each

other, as well as to race together, and most importantly, win copious amounts of pots!

University Championships

Gill Crowe

DULBC & DUBC—Overall University

Champions 2012!


London Metropolitan Regatta

Heather Crowley

At the beginning of June DULBC travelled to the UK to take part in the London Metropolitan Regatta. The re-gatta takes place at the Eton College rowing centre, Dor-ney Lake, which was the site of the rowing and kayak events for London 2012. It was incredible to see the preparations for the Olympic rowing taking place around us- crossing under the bridge to the start line we were reminded that the best row-ers in the world would be do-ing the same in less than two months time!

The regatta itself pro-vided invaluable racing ex-perience, with some crews racing up to eight times over the two days. This was par-ticularly beneficial to the Nov-ice crews who were racing at a higher standard and against

tougher competition that would have been possible at home. There was impressive racing from our more ex-perienced members too,

with the Inter1 8+ crew coming third on Satur-day.

Once again this year we owe a huge thank you to Elaine and Tom Coleman for pro-viding food, accommodation, and croquet in the garden!

And, as always, thank you to Andrew and the coaches for organising the trip down to the last detail.

From racing, to sipping Pimms, to piling twenty Nov-ices into Phil’s rented KUGA, the trip was definitely one of the highlights of the year. We all came home inspired and excited, determined to train harder than ever in the run up to National Championships!

Susannah Cass and Rebecca

Deasy—Inter 2x Winners of the Intermediate 8+

The Novice 8+ storming to victory at the University

Championships

Sarah Dolan and Ruth Morris claiming the Senior 2x title

Rebecca Dowling (Captain)

collecting the coveted Bank

of Ireland trophy

Winners of the Novice 4+ at

Skibbereen Regatta


DULBC hit Henley 2012

Ruth Morris

Each June, the picturesque town of Henley holds host to

one of the most prestigious rowing events of the year -

Henley Women’s Regatta. This well distinguished re-

gatta attracts crews from both sides of the Atlantic and

this year was no exception, as the Regatta was celebrat-

ing its 25th anniversary.

This year DULBC sent a

senior 8 to compete in

‘The G P Jeffries Cup’,

which had over 14

crews entered. Michele

Grenier - an Erasmus

student who rowed

with DULBC for the year

- represented her own

college Holy Cross in

the Senior 8 category.

Crews such as Harvard,

Bucknell University,

Vesta (winners of Lon-

don Met) and of course

UCD were a few of the crews entered in the senior divi-

sion.

As the days before the regatta drew closer the extreme

weather conditions worsened, and the regatta was in

fear of being cancelled. Luckily, regatta organisers were

determined for this not to happen and only some races

were rescheduled over the 3 day weekend. Strong winds

and stream resulted in no course records however this

did not have any effect on the atmosphere let alone on

the quality of the races at the regatta.

DULBC’s Henley debut was against Green Templeton in

the first round. The crew from bow to stern of Sinead

Dolan, Sinead Rodger, Caitlin Condon, Rebecca Deasy,

Keira Buttanshaw, Susannah Cass, Claire Cooney, Ruth

Morris and cox Naomi O’Sullivan stormed through the

first round into the quarter finals to face their rivals

UCD. The crews had already met each other twice dur-

ing the year and DULBC were determined to be victori-

ous on this occasion.

A strong start from UCD

on the island side of the

course left DULBC a

length down coming out

of the enclosure. How-

ever, DULBC gained mo-

mentum and charged

through UCD at Barn Bar

extending the lead to

half a length with only

500m to go. Unfortu-

nately, severe gusts got

the better of DULBC to

lose to UCD by a length

in one of the tightest and most exciting races of the day.

UCD went on to lose in the final against Newcastle Uni-

versity. DULBC were extremely proud of the senior 8s

performances at Henley and are looking forward to

what is in store for the club next year. Lastly, the crew

thoroughly enjoyed everything that Henley had to offer

– great racing, big bands and last but not least a glass of

Pimms!

The Social side of Rowing

Just a taste of what has already happened and what is to come in the life of

a rower out of Lycra

Novice Mixer The first big one was our ‘Novice Mixer’ night. This was so very funny

to watch and a big step in getting the new novices from both clubs to

mix and create friendships - well have friendships forced upon them in

the form of cable tying two people together. The night was a big suc-

cess and only a little bit of awkwardness was had, with girls badly

needing the toilet by the time they were freed to get into D2 nightclub.

As you can see from the pictures the novices really got into it and a

great night was had by everyone that came.

So far this year we have had a few entertaining and successful nights out organised by DULBC.


Massacre No need for an introduction to this event…

Fancy dress was essential and everyone ad-hered this to very strictly! The DULBC girls themed up and went with a Harry Potter theme. We had our very own Harry right down to Winky the house elf. We got loads of support from the other boat clubs on the river and it turned out to be a great night, merry and messy. As ever this is one of DULBC’s biggest fundraising events and we

are very grateful of all the support we received!

The Boat Ball The Boat Ball was held in The Burlington Hotel on

upper Lesson Street on Saturday the 17 of November.

This event is run jointly with DUBC with a wine

reception, delicious three course meal, a

performance from the Trinitones and bar and DJ ‘til

late. More on this in the next issue!

We look forward to seeing you

all at our various events

throughout the year.


Stay up to date with the latest News and Results

DULBC are delighted to announce the launch of our new website— www.dulbc.ie, and we

would like to thank Seth Smith for developing the website. We will be able to keep you up to date on up-

coming events and race results. You can also follow us on our other forms of social media:


DULBC Alumni Gathering

30th

& 31st

March 2013

Saturday 30th:

Dublin Head of the River

Anna Liffey Dinner

Sunday 31st:

Boat Naming Ceremony

Alumni & Exhibition Races

For more details visit:

www.thegatheringireland.com/DULBC1976


Dates for your diary 2012-2013

December 8th 2012 Novice Sprints, Islanbridge

December 10th 2012 Christmas Commons, TCD

Janauary 2013 Winter Training Camps, TBC

February 2nd 2013 St. Michael’s HOR, O’Brien’s Bridge

February 16th 2013 Lagan HOR, Belfast

March 3rd 2013 Erne HOR, Enniskillen

March 30th 2013 Dublin HOR, River Liffey

March 30th-31st 2013 DULBC Gathering, Dublin

April 6th 2013 Neptune Regatta, Islandbridge

April 13th 2013 University Championships,

Inniscarra, Cork

April 20th 2013 Trinity Regatta, Islandbridge

May 25th 2013 Dublin Metropolitan Regatta,

Blessington

June 15th 2013 Athlone Regatta, Coosan point

June 29th 2013 Cork Regatta, Inniscarra

July 18th 2013 National Championships, Inniscara

Contact details

Postal address: DULBC, c/o DUCAC, Sports Centre, Trinity College, Dublin 2.

Boathouse: Trinity Boathouse, War Memorial Park, Islandbridge, Dublin 8.

Captain Hazel O’Neill [email protected]

Head Coach Andrew Coleman [email protected]

Alumni Officers Susannah Cass [email protected]

Rebecca Dowling [email protected]

Newsletter [email protected]

Blazers [email protected]

Website www.dulbc.ie

Twitter TrinityLadiesRowing (@DULBC1976)

Blog http://dulbc.blogspot.com

Facebook www.facebook.com/DULBC

dulbc news november2012

Documents

dulbc news

dulbc intermediate

successes of dulbc

ucd crew

dulbc after

years events

place finish

queens crew