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From the Editors... Dear Friends, It is, unfortunately, all too often the case that the subject of ‘rain’ dominates the Hilary Term news, and 2014 has been no exception, as you will see from the picture below. With only two days to spare, and continual red flag conditions since Christmas, OURCS had no option but to cancel all divisions for Torpids. However, in more positive news, the boathouse has now been completely refurbished and an extension built to house the men’s coaching launch. The largest part of this expenditure was borne by the college to mark the 150th anniversary of the formation of the Boat Club, but The Friends have made a substantial contribution too. We have long prided ourselves on ensuring that Teddy Hall has the best equipment on the river: now it has one of the best boathouses as well. A party to celebrate the refurbishment is planned for Trinity Term but the date has yet to be fixed, so watch this space. Floreat Aula! The Editors

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Head of the River 1965: 50 years on

NewsletterHilary Term 2014

150 YEARS

ST

ED

MUND

HALL

BOAT CL

UB

2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the last time Teddy Hall men were Head of the River, which we think is cause for celebration - and a spur to the current men’s first eight to regain the title (currently at 12 in the First Division, two over bumps and a double over bump will see them Head of the River, so we can’t really see that they should

have any difficulties). 1965 was an annus mirabilis for Hall rowing so there will be more to celebrate than simply being Head of the River. Details of the celebration have yet to be worked out but if anyone has any ideas and suggestions, please let us know.

Men’s RowingChrist Church RegattaMichaelmas term ended with the traditional Christ Church Regatta, an event purely for novices across all colleges. Despite limited water time during the term the men progressed easily through their first races, showing the benefit of the significant fitness training they had undertaken. Eventually they were defeated in the third round; however by making the Friday of the competition this represented the best showing by SEHBC men in recent years.

January Training CampThe men kicked off the New Year with a four day training camp. The original plan for this event was to be based in Oxford and to row out of Abingdon Rowing club, but in light of the heavy rain over the holiday period, the river was at record levels and completely un-rowable. In fact the river was so high at Abingdon that it had flooded the entire boating area, with flood water breaching the clubhouse and even the front car park. This necessitated a land based camp, with daily erg and tank sessions; however even this was not entirely without complication as the flooding of Christ Church Meadow cut off the boat house, making it accessible only by wading. Despite these issues, good technical and fitness gains were made by all and the men were eager to get out on the water and put these to use.

Red Flag on the Isis cancels TorpidsAs term started it became apparent that, given the river level and the foreseeable weather forecast, conditions in Oxford would not allow rowing for some time. As such, it seemed sensible to give thought to contingency plans and alternative locations which would permit access to the water. It was decided to relocate to Coate Water Country Park in Swindon, and row out of Swindon Rowing Club. The travel distances involved made weekday rowing impractical, but there was the welcome opportunity to row double outings at weekends which was gratefully exploited given that our closest rivals were struggling to get out on the water at all. As the poor weather continued into February and the river level failed to drop, concern began to mount as to whether or not Torpids would even run. The crews continued training hard on the increasingly slim chance that it would in fact go ahead. Unfortunately just as it was looking like some of the racing might take place, a spell of heavy rain proved to be the final nail in the coffin and OURCs decided they had no option but to cancel the event in full. This was highly frustrating, with our experienced crews and the advantage of actually having been on the water, both M1 and M2 looked set to do very well.

Squad NewsJoe Mackay and Marcus Henglein continue to make good progress with the university lightweights. Joe has been named in the Nephthys reserve boat which will compete in the Head of the River Race on 29 March, whilst Marcus is still in contention for a seat in the main boat to race Cambridge at the Henley Boat Races on 30 March.

We wish both of them the best of luck and look forward to their return.

Graham Baird, Men’s Captain

To geT involved And find ouT more, click on The links below

ChCh boat, left to right: George Carruthers (Cox), Michael Rundle, Konstantin Goncharov, Peter Graham, Matt Greenwood (Novice Captain), Takashi Lawson, Jan Kaniewski, Connor Crickmore, Pavel Luengas Sierra.

Joe Mackay (2 seat) and Marcus Henglein (3 seat) training with OULRC.

Floods at Abingdon Rowing Club

Editors’ ArchiveOn Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 9:55 PM,

Samir Salih <samir.salih@seh.ox.ac.uk> wrote:

Dear SEHBC elite,

I, like you, am proud to row for the Hall. And the Hall has treated me well. But many of you will have noticed the gaping hole in the SEHBC stash collection...... I’m talking about dressing gowns people (or for the Americans ‘bath robes’) So you will understand the relief with which I write this, knowing that steps are now being put into place to fill this void.

I propose we go for quality, turkish cotton navy robes, with a gold embroidered SEHBC crest on the front, and gold embroidered HALL or SEHBC on the back? So if you’re keen just reply ‘yes’ then I’ll send more details soon.

Samir

x

Women’s RowingThe term started off well for the women with the very enjoyable week-long training camp in Sabaudia. We took mostly novices on the training camp and everyone showed huge improvements in both technique and stamina. Our Vice Captain Charlotte Dormon even got to try her hand at sculling, although only managed about three strokes before epically capsizing!

We were extremely lucky to be able to go to Italy for our training camp, as many of the other colleges were stuck indoors having to erg for their training camps due to the extensive flooding in the UK. Unfortunately we didn’t bring the nice weather back with us from Italy and the rain continued all the way into March. The girls showed incredible commitment and determination with training this term and didn’t let the lack of water time slow us down. Steady improvement on the ergs was seen each week, with everyone attaining a PB in their 2k tests, and half of the 1st VIII going under 8 minutes. Alongside the improvement shown by the 1st VIII, we recruited 5 new girls to the 2nd VIII, who have already made excellent progress despite never having been in a boat. At

To geT involved And find ouT more, click on The links below

St Hugh’s ‘Ergstravaganza’: SEHBC women took the top two places, with former Women’s Captain Silke Rieger (centre standing) taking individual 1st place

times training was made even more difficult when flooding eventually cut us off from the boathouse and we had to shift our sessions to the gym at the Norham Gardens Graduate Centre and Pontigny Room in College. Despite this, the girls remained keen and it proved a true test of their commitment. Water time down at Coate Water in Swindon has been absolutely invaluable – special thanks to Jacob Allinson and everyone at the Swindon Rowing Club! With access to this lake, we were able to continue to work on our technique in the boat each weekend and by 7th Week we were readyto take on Torpids. Unfortunately, two days before Torpids we received the sad news that racing would be cancelled. As a replacement, we were invited to join the St Hugh’s “Ergstravaganza” (erg relays) and got the opportunity to show off all the hard work we’d been doing on the ergs this term with some proper Teddy Hall domination.

Charlotte capsizes...

We entered two teams of 3 in the women’s 3 x 250m relay event, “SEHxy and we row it” consisting of myself, former Women’s Captain, Silke Rieger, and one of our top performing freshers, Megan Carter, and “Ready, Teddy, Row” consisting of our Women’s Vice Captain, Charlotte Dormon, another of this year’s promising freshers, Ellie Crossley, and new recruit this term, Victoria Chen. “SEHxy and we row it” ended up taking the top prize to place first overall, with “Ready, Teddy, Row” not far behind. We also entered the 100m sprint knockouts with 3 Teddy Hall women making it to the final. Silke Rieger won the overall fastest 100m sprint for the women. This gave us something extra to celebrate at the Torpids Boat Club Dinner on top of the hard training we’d done this term.

A few of the girls from the 1st VIII from previous years finally got their blazers and had them on show at the dinner. All in all we had a successful term and are now looking forward to the run up to Eights with two strong crews ready for the challenge! Huge thanks must go to our coaches, Harriet Keane, Mariann Novak and Victoria Stulgis, and a special thanks to Richard Fishlock for all his efforts this term in arranging for us to row at Swindon

Gemma Prata, Women’s Captain

Training camp in Sabaudia

1st Eight blazers at Torpids Dinner

Chairman’s ReportWomen’s BlazersI am delighted to report that the Boat Club have finally awarded 1st VIII blazers to our highly successful Women. Better late than never!

All 1st VIII representatives of the Hall are now eligible for the blazers (as sported in the Torpids Dinner picture in the Women’s Rowing report), which are available to order from Walters on Turl Street either in person, by calling 01865 241848 or visiting their website http://www.walters-oxford.co.uk.

It would be wonderful to see as many as possible at the Friends Dinner in October!

CoachingWe have a fantastic new coaching team in place this year, so I hope you will join me in welcoming and thanking Geordie Macleod, Harriet Keane, Victoria Stulgis, Mariann Novak and Ollie Bristowe.

Thank youFinally, as ever I would like to extend our grateful thanks to all the Friends who have supported the Boat Club over the years. As you will have read, our crews have battled hell and high water this term, and still come out on top due to robust planning and excellent training facilities.

Floreat Aula!

Richard Fishlock, Chairman Friends of SEHBC

To geT involved And find ouT more, click on The links below

Contact us Parents Notices

2014 Diary Dates

29 March Head of the River

Tideway, from 2.15pmJoe Mackay races with Nephthys

http://www.horr.co.uk

30 March The Henley Boat Races

Henley-on-Thames, from 1.15pmMarcus Henlein races with OULRCSuzanne Cole races with OUWLRC

http://henleyboatraces.com

6 April The Boat Race

Tideway, from 4pmhttp://theboatrace.org

28-31 May Summer Eights

The Isis, from 12pmhttp://www.ourcs.org.uk

3 October Friends of the Boat Club Annual Dinner

ConstitutionAlthough the Friends were registered as a charity in April 2013, the Charity Commission raised a couple of questions about our constitution. To answer their concerns we have proposed that we change our constitution and, at the time of going to press, are awaiting confirmation that the changes will be acceptable.

As soon as this consent has been

received, we shall set about annulling our present arrangements and adopting a new form of governance. The most significant change will be that the college will no longer have the power to appoint new trustees, but we shall formalise our connection with the college by always appointing the Senior Member of the Boat Club, currently Simon Costa, Senior & Finance Bursar, to the Management Committee.

A formal notice of the proposed

changes and an explanation of them will be circulated once everything is ready.

The Friends of the Boat Club Newsletter Hilary Term 2014 Editor: Rachel Adams Production: Rebecca Ting Contributors: Graham Baird, Richard Fishlock, Darrell Barnes, Gemma Prata, Samir Salih

The Women’s Squad take advantage of the new Concept 2 ergs

Port Meadow, February 2014