sheffield university rowing club/file/rowing... · sheffield university rowing club ... erg tests...
TRANSCRIPT
SURC Sheffield University Rowing Club
Winter Newsletter 2016
A Message from the President
Following the success of the club‟s 12 days of charity event last year, we
thought we‟d run a similar event this year. Starting on the 2nd December
we aimed to help as many charities as possible, both practically and
financially, in a 12 day period. Our members donated blood, put together
Christmas boxes for the homeless and perhaps most enjoyably, spent an
afternoon digging trenches at Holly Hagg Urban Farm. In addition we
partook in a number of sponsored events with our Novice Men‟s Squad
having their chests waxed in Bar One and some very brave rowers trying
their hand at a 12km fell run. Of course no rowing club charity
fundraiser would be complete without an ergathon and ours was no
exception, with our members all completing at least one thirty minute
slot at one of our two twelve hour rows. All the money raised will be
split between Sheffield Children‟s Hospital and Sheffield University
Rowing Club; with 80% going to the Children‟s Hospital. This charity
means a lot to the club and after visiting in September we saw how
important it is for both the children and their families. The charity‟s
current campaign is called Make it Better, which aims to make the wards
more comfortable and exciting for the children. We have currently
smashed last year‟s total raising over £1000, however should you like to
contribute our fundraising page is still open with a link to our fundraising
video (http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/
showFundraiserPage.action?
userUrl=SURC12daysofChristmas&faId=652227&isTeam=true)
A huge amount of work was put into organising the event by our
volunteering officer Daisy Ash - thank you!
On the first day of Christmas...
James Palmer (President 2015-2016)
With the Winter break approaching, I feel that now is a time for reflection. Personally,
I look back on my first term as President with nothing but fond memories. The hard
work and stress of running a sports club that I was forewarned about has been nothing
but a joyous occasion. This has been the case due to the nature of the people that our
club attracts. This year‟s committee are fantastic, the friendliest of faces; all with a firm
grip on their positions, they make my job very easy! Their commitment and
warm-heartedness is matched by every member of the club. From existing members,
down to the new novices, the atmosphere within the club is energetic, welcoming, and
great fun to be a part of. The disappointment of cancelled races has not deterred our spirits. Members
are training harder than ever, cementing new and old friendships, and are ready for whatever the New
Year may bring. 2016 is to be looked to in anticipation. On the horizon, we are looking forward to
returning to Soustons for our Easter training camp, hosting alumni events and winning both head and
regatta races. We are also looking to purchase a new “top” coxed four, to be shared between the Senior
Squads. Once such a boat is found, we intend to name it after the late founding member, Dr Peter
Cook. I sign off by wishing you all a Merry Christmas, and hope you have as much to be thankful for
at the end of the year as me. I look forward to seeing many of you at our Alumni events in the new
year.
Races
SURC represents at Henley At the end of last year both of our senior squads had shown vast improvement and on the
advice of more experienced rowers we decided to enter 8+‟s into the academic categories at
the internationally acclaimed Henley Regattas. The senior women were first to race at
Henley Women‟s Regatta on 19th June. An intense week of training following the end of
term led to the crew feeling confident. They had a quick paddle in the morning to familiarise
themselves with the course before boating for their qualifying races, a strong row sadly left
them less than 2 seconds outside of qualifying. Nevertheless they came off the water smiling
and most happy that an umpire had complimented their roll up! With even stronger competi-
tion at Henley Royal Regatta, the Senior Men headed down to compete at the qualifying
races on 26th June - a week before the main event. Having had a few weeks to train together
following the end of term, they too looked in great form. However it too was not to be nar-
rowly missing out on qualifying.
This experience has only fuelled
our desire to do better next year
and our senior crews are deter-
mined to qualify this year!
„Rain, rain go away‟ might be the
most apt way to summarize the start
of the race season. Our senior crews
set an impressive precedent at their
first race, Head of the Don, in
October with both our men‟s and
women‟s IM3 8‟s winning their divi-
sions, along with the men‟s nov 4+
and IM3 2-; the Senior Women also
impressively won the pennant for
fastest women‟s crew of the day.
Continuing this success we had a
large number of senior entries for
Dee Autumn Head however this is
when the weather began to cause
havoc with our race season. The ex-
ceptionally high river levels lead to
coxless boats being dropped from the
racing schedule. Nevertheless those
who did compete rowed well and
there were wins for our men‟s IM3
8+ and IM3 4-, as well as our
women‟s IM3 4+. The continuing
rain has caused unsafe river condi-
tions across the country and the 3
races we had planned to attend in No-
vember be called off. Sadly this in-
cluded Lincoln Beginners Head
which meant our novices have yet to
experience racing. Perhaps the big-
gest advantage of the cancelation of
races was the extra training time it
gave us and this was certainly benefi-
cial at BUCS indoors where SURC
members won 3/4 of the categories.
Erg tests probably bring back
dreaded memories for most of our
alumni but our current members put
this aside and many pulled PBs in
their 2 kilometer races. SURC mem-
bers dominated in all the heats and
our entries vastly outnumbered all
the other Yorkshire Universities.
The Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon has come to be
seen as the ultimate test for any rower;
a grueling 50km row from Boston to
Lincoln. However this did not deter 8
of our senior rowers and 2 brave coxes
(plus one crazy single!) who set them-
selves the challenge on 20th Septem-
ber. Both originally entered as IM3
4+s our Senior Men agreed to race
IM1 status to have some competition.
They raced well gaining on the other
crew for the first 20km however the
notoriously weedy course caused the
steering to break and the crew resorted
to pressure steering for the remaining
30km. The women‟s crew also faced
their share of problems with the course
proving a challenge to existing inju-
ries. Despite these problems both
crews posted respectable times with
the IM1 4+ taking 4 hr 40 mins and
the W.IM3 4+ 5 hr 4 mins. The crews
also raised an outstanding £1021.50
for Sheffield Children‟s Hospital.
alumni were also in
attendance and are pictured
left (Charlie Shillito, Gemma
Lawless, Martin Chick and
Andy Edwards). Emma said
it was „the perfect special
touch to our day‟.
Congratulations on a
beautiful wedding Emma and
Dave!
It‟s not every day you get a
request from alumni to borrow
university blades - however
when Emma Spencer emailed
us that‟s exactly what
happened. Having met her now
husband, Dave Goley, at SURC
in 2005 she wanted to surprise
him with a guard of honour as
they left the church on their
wedding day. Other SURC
water and land training. A
tough training plan was put
together by the captains and
of course the novices were
introduced to the infamous
erg-run. Despite the rainy
weather everyone improved
massively, benefiting from
the long stretch of water and
not having to constantly turn
around! We would like to
thank Royal Chester
Rowing Club for making us
feel so welcome.
In September we saw over
100 students trialling for
just 36 spaces as part of our
novice squads. The
competition was tough and
difficult decisions had to be
made by our novice
captains. On 24th October,
just two weeks after being
selected our new novices
experienced their first
training camp on the River
Dee in Chester. The two
day camp consisted of 3
sessions a day with both
Novice Training Camp
A SURC ROW-mance
Overall this term has been a fantastic success and we have many exciting
plans for the New Year:
Races
After the weather caused a disappointing start to our race season, we
look forward to competing in 2016. We will again be returning to com-
pete at both the London Eights Heads and as we look towards the sum-
mer we also hope to bee targeting a number of high profile regattas. See
key dates for a provisional list of the races we will be attending.
Alumni Events
Following the success of our 50th Anniversary dinner last Autumn, we
are hoping to host a similar event in the spring. Further information will
be sent out early in the new year. Additionally there will be a number of
opportunities to row at Damflask. Should the club manage to acquire the
proposed new top 4+, we will also hold an informal naming ceremony to
honor the late Dr. Peter Cook.
SURC relies on donations from alumni and sponsors in order to fund the equipment we need to func-
tion as a competitive club. We are continuously overwhelmed by the generosity and support of our
past members and current member‟s family and friends. We would particularly like to thank the fol-
lowing people for their continued support:
Looking to the Future
Acknowledgements
Mr David Allen
Mr Graham Bishop
Dr William Briggs
Mr Richard Connelly
Mr Christian Crawford
Mr Reginald Ellis
Dr Peter Gardner
Mr Stuart Green
Mr John Hartley
Mr Andrew Hug
Dr Alan James
Mr Brian Perry
Mr Brian Richardson
Mr Roger Smith
Mr Miles Stevenson
Mr Michael Thompson
Mr Ed Wardle-Davies
Mrs Elspeth Wilson
Could you support us?
It is the generosity of our alumni that enables
us to continue to rowing in Sheffield. We
would be most grateful if you would consider
supporting SURC. See the attached cover letter
for more info.
Key Dates
13th Feb — Head of
the Don (Doncaster)
20th Feb — BUCS 4s
& 8s Head (Newcastle)
27th Feb — Runcorn
Head
5th March — WeHorr
12th March — North
of England Head
(Chester)
19th March — HoRR
20th –27th March —
Easter Training Camp
(Soustons)
April TBC—Varsity
May Bank Holiday w/
e — BUCS Regatta
(Holme Pier Point)
Please do come and say hello
and support us, should you
be around.