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.
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| 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!
