We told you winter had finally arrived! This week Roehampton University Rowing Club had to contend not just with the previous weeks ridiculously cold temperatures, but also with snow! Monday night's fitness session fell prey to the weather unfortunately, but thankfully all this weeks water sessions went ahead as planned. Just as well with BUCS now one week away.
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| Women's Senior 4+ rowing under Barnes Bridge in the snow on Friday morning |
Tuesday's water session saw the men's squad getting out in fours and doing some race pace pieces. It wasn't a vintage session by any means, but especially for the 1st Fresher four it gave them a good idea of what is to come on race day. The women's 1st eight had a good session also with March's head races nearly upon them!
Wednesday saw our men's 2nd Fresher four also get out and do some race pace pieces. The feedback at the end of the session was that they found it pretty hard going, but all agreed it was a good learning experience. One session to go for this crew before BUCS! Our training eight turn out was again rather disappointing at this session, with the cold weather seemingly putting a few people off, but luckily we had enough attendees to put together a mixed eight, who had a great session apparently. This bodes well, again with March's head races in mind, having entered two mens eights in races such as Hammersmith Head and Head of the River. The competition is now on for the men in the training eight to win their places in the second boat!
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| The girls at Friday's snowy session! |
The men's senior 4+ put in an extra session on Thursday morning which went extremely well! Bring on the last week of training before race day! Friday's water session, on the other hand, was in danger of being called off due to heavy snowfall on Thursday night, but as you can see from these pictures, it was well worth braving the conditions to get out there and row! What a session! The girls went out in their BUCS fours and had a great session, whilst the men, depleted by a few absentees, got out in our quad - a first experience of sculling for 2 members of the crew, which they really enjoyed. Never have R.U.R.C taken part in a more picturesque outing.
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| Some of the men's squad messing around after Friday's session! |
Another major talking point at the club this week was the arrival of our very first set of oars! Bought with proceeds collected from our ergathon in December (along with a contribution from Sport Roehampton) it is so great to now have our own set. Thanks to everyone who donated. Richard and Men's Captain Sam had a road trip to Marlow in Buckinghamshire on Wednesday morning to pick them up from a snowy William Borlase Grammar School, who kindly sold them to us at a very reasonable price. Members of the club are now committed to painting these oars up in University of Roehampton colours before BUCS on 18th February. Thanks to those who spent an hour on Thursday removing stickers and tape, and massive thanks to Club Captain Sam S, Richard, Amy, Rachel, Ian and Sam N for giving up their Sunday afternoon to sand away Borlase's colours and paint the first undercoat on the oars. See below for how they looked when we picked them up, check back in a week or so to see how they have transformed!
(Football scores - RURC FC won 4-0, Row Your Boat FC lost 10-2. Mixed fortunes this week!)
