Sunday 29 January 2012

The Quintin Head 2012 in Pictures

Men's 1st 8+ in action (Finished 128th in a time of 16 minutes 45 seconds) (Photo by Imperial Photos)





Men's Cox Stephen pre-race
Club and Men's Captains, Sam Sears and Sam Neal pre-race
Women's 1st 8+
Amy Austen, Elisabeth Tvedt, Isabel Bjorge, Abi Durrant, Rachel Esker, Diana Miguel Lava, Elisabeth Stromneses, Jana Frobese and Tessa Polder
Men's and Women's Racing Crews
Our coxe's Stephen and Rachel pre-race
Abi, Isabel, Jana and Elisabeth pre-race






Men's 1st 8+
Hannu Hara, Sam Neal, David Bedord, Richard Swoboda, Stephen Smyth, Sam Sears, Jan Erik Haavik, Ryan Livingstone and Eirik Christiansen

Women's 1st 8+ in action (Finished 136th in a time of 17 mins 33 secs) (Photo by Imperial Photos)

Friday 27 January 2012

Final Prep for Quintin Head

This week Roehampton University Rowing Club has been putting the final touches to it's crews entered into the Quintin Head this weekend (28th Jan), on the Thames between Chiswick Bridge and Hammersmith Bridge. Tuesday's water session saw the Men's 1st Eight introduce a new member, with Ryan Livingstone replacing the position left in the boat by the unfortunate absence of both Henry Foster and Jeppe Fensholt this weekend, and it is fair to say Ryan has fit in very well. Tuesday's session wasn't quite up to the standard of previous weeks as the crew found their feet again after working in fours last Friday, but by the end of the session with some expert input from our coach Franki, the boys were just about back up to speed. Our women's crews got on the water on Tuesday in fours with the focus firmly on BUCS, and had an excellent session. They then turned their attention to the Quintin Head for Friday mornings water session. Luckily, our second coach Paul very kindly allowed us to use 2 eights for Friday's outing so both the men and women got one last workout before the race in their respective eights, which was extremely helpful! Both crews had a great session, and can't wait to get stuck in and race! Check out these artfully taken videos to see our progress....



Wednesday's water session saw the continuity of our January 'Learn to Row' course with 2 people attending this week. Ian and Kathinka again worked on the ergos for the first part of the session, before being thrown in at the deep end (nearly) as Franki and a selection of seniors helped them into a pair on the river bank, with people holding on of course, and taught them the basics of the rowing technique they will use on the water. They seemed to enjoy this greatly, despite thinking they were going to fall in most of the time, and we look forward to possibly integrating them into our Training Eight's from next week.

Kathinka and Ian in their pair
Speaking of our Men's and Women's Training Eight's, we had a disappointing turn-out on Wednesday as illness and a variant of other excuses came to the fore, leaving very few members of these squads available to row. Luckily a few members of our racing crews were doing ergos and weights in the gym, and kindly stepped in to bulk up the crew and allow the people who did turn up to at least have a session mixed together in an eight. Against the odds, this crew worked together really well, and novices and racing crews alike took something positive away from the outing and did well. Same goes for our Men's 2nd Fresher Four, who had a good session on Wednesday afternoon, their coach introducing a few bursts and race pieces into their outing with BUCS in mind. 3 weeks!

Last but not least, congratulations to our two 5-a-side football teams entered into Roehampton University's tournament, who both recorded their first win in the competition at the second time of asking! RURC FC now sit 2nd in the league to boot! Success on all fronts for R.U.R.C this week!

Friday 20 January 2012

Week Beginning 16th Jan 2012

It's been an eventful week for R.U.R.C this week. Everyone is in the swing of things training wise and we have seen good turn-outs at each session this week from our crews. On Tuesday our girls got out in fours for the first time this year in the crews that will probably be racing at BUCS, and seemed to have a good workout. With 4 weeks still to go until the BUCS Head things are looking good from a female point of view! The Men's 1st Eight had another good outing on Tuesday with a lengthy row down past Hammersmith, and are looking good for their first race together at the Quintin Head on the 28th January. On Wednesday our 2nd Mens Four got out on the water early and had a good 2 hour session with our new assistant coach Rachel. Apparently they improved vastly on their outing last week, so again, with 4 weeks to go another crew is looking set to make Roehampton proud at BUCS. Also on Wednesday our Mens and Womens training Eights got out on the water at 3pm with varying degrees of success. It is their second week as crews, and while the men pushed on and improved tenfold, the women retreated a little with a difficult session. Even the best have a bad session sometimes!

All was forgotten by Wednesday evening though with the kick-off of Roehampton University's new 5-a-side tournament, into which we have entered 2 teams, and with our 'squad bonding' nights out. The girls gave the boys great support at the football (both teams lost this week incidentally) and then broke off to the Student Union for food and drink(s) while the boys met up post-football at Pizza Express in Putney for a man-size spread of pizza. After that it was onto the Railway pub for the men where things took a drunken turn for the better/worse, before moving onto Fez nightclub to meet the girls, where a good night was had by all! Next social up is 'Pub-Golf' at the beginning of February.

Our members enjoying the culmination of our 'squad bonding' night out in Fez nightclub, Putney

Wednesday also saw the start of our new 'Learn to Row' course, which saw 5 people come down and try rowing for the first time. We put them through their paces, and talked technique on the ergos this week ahead of putting them on the water next week, probably in a tub to start with, which should be great fun. Although 5 new members is amazing, we were hoping for more, so if you are reading this and want to try rowing, get yourself down next week and give it a go! All the details you need can be found on this website.

This weeks newbies

We rounded off the week with our Friday water session where the men and women swopped boats from Tuesday, the men getting out in fours, and the women getting out in an eight. The Women's 1st Eight are also racing at Quintin Head so this session was really important in blending together as a crew with just one week to go until race day. I'm pleased to say they seemed to do this successfully, and had a good outing. The men also had a good session, with our 1st Fresher Four having a good first (ever) session in a four and tackling it really well. Big things are expected of this crew at BUCS and beyond so it was good to see them make a good start. Our Senior Four also had a good session and are gelling well, again with BUCS in mind. Bring it on!

Friday 13 January 2012

First Week Back, New 'Learn to Row' Course & Squad Bonding Sessions

Roehampton University Rowing Club welcomed back it's members this week after the Christmas and New Year break with a super hard Monday night fitness session to help burn off our Christmas dinners. As hard as it was, it was good to see everyone's faces again after the holidays and it really set a precedent for the hard work ahead this term.

Our rowers have now been put in set crews ahead of the racing season to give us a really good chance of doing well in races this year. We have so much potential in both the mens and women's squads and we really want to convert that into good results this year! Commitment has been brilliantly good this week which is an excellent start. We need to keep it up though if we are going to make an impact at BUCS in February - 5 weeks away!

It has been interesting rowing at our morning sessions this week as it has been really dark when we have started at 6:30. Thanks to our fundraising efforts last term we have bought some new boat lights which have allowed us to row in the dark now, and it has been really good to be able to do longer sessions on the water. Both the mens and women's crews training on Tuesday and Friday mornings have had really good first sessions, especially Friday which was an absolutely beautiful morning to row. The Men's 1st 8+ especially had an excellent first session together. Our Wednesday crews also did well this week, although they had to contend with 'high-tide' which wasn't ideal for the first week back. They coped with it well though, and if they can row in that, they can row in anything! One note to make about Wednesday is that the Women's Training 8+ apparently beat the Men's Training 8+ in terms of distance during their session, come on men! But well done girls!

Learn to Row Course - starting 18th January

R.U.R.C are starting a new Learn to Row course on Wednesday 18th January, open to all Roehmapton University students and staff. The session will run 1:45 till 3pm at our boathouse in Chiswick, next to Barnes Bridge. If you fancy trying something new in 2012 come and down and try us out! For more info see our 'Learn to Row with R.U.R.C page' and check out our 'Training Times and Venues' page for directions to the club. Alternately, contact Sam Neal, Mens Captain, on either neu_noize@hotmail.co.uk or 07595922762.

Squad Bonding Sessions

Now the men and women are seperating off into set squads, we thought it would be a good idea to have squad bonding sessions next week (the 18th) so that everyone can get to know each a bit better. The girls are going to the Student Union for theirs, with the Men going to Pizza Express in Putney, followed by both the girls and the boys meeting up in Fez Nightclub for an early term night out. Pictures to follow!