Categories
Oxford Regatta

Summer Regattas

Summer Regattas

While most rowers, after finishing their respective exams, went on their well-deserved long vacations, some Mertonians were still around so the success from Summer Eights carried its momentum forward. Several regattas in relative closeness were entered and some success brought back to Oxford. Kingston Amateur Regatta, Maidenhead Regatta, and Oxford City all saw Merton boats or composites participating this year.

Kingston

A very well-organised regatta, just downstream of Hampton Court Palace drew the attention of a Merton–Oriel–GTC–St Anne’s composite. While not used to the slightly choppier waters after the training calmness on the Isis, our cox assured us the bow wash was a thoroughly well designed and necessary piece of equipment. In our first round we faced Maidstone Invicta. A young crew which, unfortunately so, was hampered by their own steering and equipment. The umpires did not wave the race off, despite Maidstone veering strongly into our station and even crossing it into the navigation lane due to steering problems.

In the final we faced a home crew from Kingston and a further one from Parr’s Priory. Despite having to start on the inner lane with the furthest stagger back, we had a good and strong race. Kingston led the way for the first few hundred meters off the start until we had found into our race rhythm, striding every stroke and eventually moving past them. A very well timed push, as it was to be expected from a crew on their home turf, reeled our lead back in slightly, leaving us to win by 1 ½ lengths to Kingston and 5 lengths to Parr’s Priory. Winning IM3.4+ at Kingston Amateur in glorious summer sunshine.

Maidenhead

Maidenhead
Successful boat and pot

Summer being always the top sculling season (not least for the reason if things go wrong it is a little less unpleasant than at other times of the year) Merton fielded a novice single and a composite novice double with St Anne’s at Maidenhead. While the training had gone reasonably well in the weeks prior, the first start nearly went catastrophically wrong. Despite the start crab, the first round was won against Team Keane by 3 ½ lengths. The final was a bit tricky as it turned out to be Merton vs St Anne’s, or the double for the afternoon. The win went to Merton by 4 lengths.

The afternoon was slightly less successful. Having been given a bye to the semi-finals, we were faced with a strong home crew who not only got off the start considerably better but also steered a very admirable line compared to a near-miss steering crab in the last 50m. A sprint along the enclosures could unfortunately only reduce the loss to the tightest of margins but not prevent it from happening. Maidenhead won the semi-final, though in turn lost against Guildford in the final.

Crews:
1X – Henrik Hannemann
2X – Jinwoo Leem (St Anne’s, S), Henrik Hannemann (B)

Oxford Royal Regatta and Sprint

No summer rowing would be complete without competing on our own home turf at the regatta organised by CORC. Unfortunately, the weather was significantly more of a mixed bag than in previous years. Merton fielded two members: Catilin Armstrong, a recent alumna, rowing a single scull, and Henrik Hannemann rowing in a New–Oriel–Merton–Univ composite four.

Due to demand of entries, only Caitlin secured an entry spot for Saturday, racing in W.IM3.1X unfortunately losing to Cambridge 99 by 4 lengths. It has to be noted though that the ’99 sculler won the event and with all other margins being given as ‘easily’ the first round was the best result against her. On Saturday morning, sculling started the day for Merton. Despite a bye into the second round of W.IM2.1X, a loss by 2 lengths against City of Oxford cut Caitlin’s regatta time once more short.

2016 OCRR
Four college composite 4+ for IM2 Oxford City

The afternoon gave the composite four a chance to show what a week of minimal, but dedicated training could do. Considering one crew member had arrived only on Tuesday morning from overseas and Niamh, our cox, only on Friday from the States, the training was less long-term than what we knew of our opposition. Nonetheless, the first round was won against City of Oxford by 1 ½ lengths. Slightly scrappy, but efficient on the rhythm. Followed by a well-rested Putney Town crew as they did not have a first round to race, we found our rhythm more quickly and crossed the finish line 1 ¼ lengths in front of them. While these races had happened in the warmth of the summer sunshine, the final had the other weather option reserved: torrential rain! Having seen the City of Cambridge crew in their semi-final against Llandaff, we had predicted that due to their height and strength, as well as the start stagger, they would lead us. Exactly this unfolded in the race, but our race plan held and with an earlier stride and having never given away more than half a length, we crossed the finish line with a ¾ length lead.
Officially two crew members were considered ‘novice’ due to lack of points, but a sharply progressing training curve and superb coxing lead to a finish of the summer racing with a win in IM2.4+

Crews:
4+ – Jack Parsons (New, S), John Mittermeier (Oriel, 3), Henrik Hannemann (2), Jan Stöckmann (New, B), Niamh Broderick (Univ, C)
1X – Caitlin Armstrong

Categories
Bumps Oxford

Summer Eights 2016

Successful Summer Eights!

2016_EightsM1Sat

Merton crews have had a highly successful Eights campaign, including blades for the Men’s 1st VIII (the first since 1999)! This follows a year in which the Men’s side of Merton College Boat Club in particular has benefited from excellent coaching under Ian Smith and has been able to build on successes earlier in Michaelmas and then during Torpids. The rowers were ably supported by large crowds, particularly on Saturday, when Warden, Dean, and Chaplain, as well as numerous other fellows, were at the boathouse.

Saturday of Eights Week was rounded off with the annual Eights Dinner, this year featuring a naming ceremony for the latest edition to the Merton fleet. .

W1

The Women’s side of the Boat Club has had another challenging year on the water. W1 started at 5th in Div.2, but were chased by a series of high quality, experienced and much more powerful crews. They were bumped by Trinity, St. Anne’s, and Mansfield on the first three days, though showed considerable composure and determination in the face of difficult odds. On Saturday, the crew were chased hard by a good Catz outfit and unfortunately had to concede spoons. However, as coach Ian Smith said at the dinner, the women have improved rapidly this year and are still high on the river. There is a good group of your members who will be able to compete for another two years and next year will hopefully bring some good new recruits. .

[Bumped by: Trinity, St Anne’s, Mansfield, St Catz]

Overall summary for this years Summer Eights (women’s crew):

W1: -1/-1/-1/-1
Start: 5th Div II
Finish: 9th Div II
W
Cox
Stroke
7
6
5
4
3
2
Bow
1st Eight
Dan Whittle
Caitlin Armstrong
Anna Stepashova
Kailan Sierra-Davison
Rebecca Hardy
Alice Love-Twelves
Verena Schenzinger
Josie Smith
Sinead Duffy

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

M1

With only one change from a crew which was disappointed after Torpids (+1 overall), the M1 made sure to capitalise on its good starting position at 6th in Div.3. The four days proceeded relatively simply, with strong bumps on New II, Christ Church II and Corpus Christi on the first three days of racing. The only notable drama was cox Toby Adkins’s Hollywood-style ‘abandon ship’ during a series of tangles on Thursday. The race was klaxoned, but thankfully Merton had already secured the bump. While M1 had to row slightly more than half the course on Friday when bumping Corpus Christi along Greenbank, they were left chasing a flagging St. Peter’s crew on Saturday, which they closed down on just out of the Gut.

[Bumped: New II, Christ Church II, Corpus Christi, St. Peter’s]

M2
2016_EightsM2Sat

M2 secured Merton’s first blades since 2011 at Torpids and were able to keep most of their crew together for Eights – the notable changes being former M1 stroke Alex Moore joining the crew and cox Henrik Hannemann leaving to row with M1. Despite a late substitution, they continued exactly as they left off, rowing over at the top of Div 5 before bumping St. Hilda’s on Wednesday and St. John’s II on Thursday. Unfortunately, they were denied another shot at blades on Friday, as Green Templeton bumped out in front before Merton could catch them. Nonetheless, M2 made significant inroads into the large gap separating them and the next live crew on the river as they rowed over. Saturday brought a slight change to the crew but they rapidly caught Worcester II, going +3 for Eights.

[Bumped: St. Hilda’s, St. John’s II, Worcester II]

M3

Merton’s M3 has, for the past few years, been the only SCR crew on the river and has fared well. This year, unfortunately, a number of the regulars have been on sabbatical, so M3 became a mixed casual crew. The lack of Olympian tutors was telling and M3 secured Merton’s second set of spoons for the week, being bumped by Balliol III, Jesus IV (the Vikings), St. Anthony’s II and University IV. They provided an excellent sporting light touch to our Eights crews and were gutsy, given that they were surrounded by established all-men’s beer boats. Meanwhile, we await the return of the SCR rowers from publishing books.

[Bumped by: Balliol III, Jesus IV, St Antony’s II, Univ IV]

Overall summary for this years Summer Eights (men’s crews):

M1: +1/+1/+1/+1
Start: 6th Div III
Finish: 2nd Div III
 
M2: row over & +1/+1/row over/+1
Start: 1st Div V
Finish: 11th Div IV
 
M3: -1/-1/-1/-1
Start: 13th Div VI
Finish: 4th Div VII
 
M
Cox
Stroke
7
6
5
4
3
2
Bow
1st Eight
Toby Adkins
Tom Lousada
Sam Picard
Henrik Hannemann
Ben Holden
Jacob White
Jaime Valdemoros
Mantas Abazorios
Edward Thomas
M
Cox
Stroke
7
6
5
4
3
2
Bow
2nd Eight
Tiffany Brydges
Alexander Moore
Lukas Koch/ Ian Dawes
Michael Withers
Stefan Marjanovic
Benedict Halbroth/ Lukas Koch
Ryan Burke
Frederick Crowley
Oliver Pateman
M
Cox
Stroke
7
6
5
4
3
2
Bow
3rd Eight
Tyson Rallens
Tiffany Brydges
Yang Cao (SHG)
Mohamed Dashan
Miklos Hajnal
Phoebe Pexton
Kirsty Mitchell / Robin Auer
Georgina Fooks / Marcello Cattaneo
Josie Western
Categories
Bumps Oxford Social

Eights Dinner 2016

Eights and Alumni Dinner

2016_ChesterWhite

Our annual Eights Dinner was, as ever, a very enjoyable way to round off the week of rowing. On top of the usual drinks reception and dinner, we celebrated the contributions of Old Mertonian Dr Chester White MBE to the Boat Club. Chester came to Merton in 1952 to read Medicine and was a keen rower. His crew mates included Harry (Hugh) Quick, after whom our men’s first shell is named. Chester has since been at Darwin College, Cantab., where he founded and is President of the boat club. Nonetheless, he has been a constant figure in Merton College Boat Club, sitting on the Friends’ Committee for many years and supporting us generously.

Chester was invited to christen the ‘Chester White’ as part of the drinks reception, the second boat in his personal fleet (the other being an eight at Darwin). The boat was purchased at the beginning of Michaelmas Term and can be rowed both as a 4- and as a 4X-. It has given the Club greater flexibility with training and is in excellent condition, after a small renovation and repainting by boatman, Mark Seal.

The dinner was rounded off by speeches from the Warden, Sir Martin Taylor, from Chester, and from the Men’s and Women’s captains, Edward Thomas and Kailan Sierra-Davison. A fantastic time was had by all.

Categories
Committee Oxford

New Committee

Annual General Meeting – Committee Elections

Tuesday evening saw our Annual General Meeting. With a successful year so far behind us, the new committee will have a chance to learn how things work and take over at midnight on Saturday of Eights Week. The Boat Club committee for 2016 – 17 will be:

Secretary – Edward Thomas
Men’s Captain – Tom Lousada
Women’s Captain – Rebecca Hardy
Captain of Coxes – Jaime Valdemoros Gomez
Treasurer – Jacob White
Women’s Vice-Captain – Sinead Duffy
Men’s Vice-Captain – Lukas Koch
Water Safety Advisor – Tyson Rallens

With thanks to the outgoing committee we are welcoming all new committee members and wish them the best of luck with all tasks ahead.

Categories
Bumps Oxford Torpids 2016

Torpids 2016

Torpids race reports

Sixth week brought Torpids and the return of the MCBC results chalkboard to the Lodge. Following a difficult term’s preparation, including several periods without water training, Merton fielded three strong crews. Huge thanks are due, as ever, to our coach Ian Smith for his efforts with all crews, and to those who came down over the course of the regatta to support the rowers.

Men’s 1st Torpid

© B. Beor-Roberts (Masterstroke)
© B. Beor-Roberts (Masterstroke)

Following a very successful Michaelmas and start to Hilary, M1 looked to build on last year’s four bumps and climb higher in Div. II. They started off with a convincing bump on Queen’s, confirming student press circulation that they were a crew to look out for. A thrilling second day’s racing, in which Merton were within a canvas of Brasenose, ended with a last-gasp bump by an excellent Mansfield crew. Pride was restored, however, with an overbump on Brasenose on Friday, the regatta ending with a row-over on Saturday.

Although the crew only went +1 over the week, they demonstrated solid technique and cohesion, and showed that Merton can compete in the top twenty boat clubs on the water. Provided the crew remains intact for Trinity term, they will be looking to work on intensive fitness training and, sitting in Division III, should aim for blades.

Women’s 1st Torpid

© B. Beor-Roberts (Masterstroke)
© B. Beor-Roberts (Masterstroke)

Merton’s women fielded a young crew, half of whom were competing in their first bumps race. That said, the other four members of the crew boast considerable experience, as did their cox, current Secretary and three-time W1 rower, Laura King. The crew were unlucky to be among excellent crews, being bumped on the first two days and again on Saturday. On the Friday, however, they showed composure and good fitness to row over and should go into Trinity looking to develop the younger members of the team. It is definitely work in progress, but next year will surely see a return to success for W1.

 
Men’s 2nd Torpid

Having come second in rowing-on, and boasting a strong crew with ability reaching novices from this year to previous first boat rowers, the crew knew that they had a good chance of blades. Having bumped up into Division V on Wednesday, they proceeded to earn blades in style, achieving their final bump on Saturday just short of the boat house. A fuller account of M2’s regatta is available in this apposite bit of Virgil: ‘Extremos pudeat rediisse‘.

Immense thanks are due to Henrik Hannemann, long-term M1 rower and former Club Treasurer, who coxed, coached and trained an excellent crew.

Overall summary for this years Torpids and crews:

M1: +1/-1/+1/row over
Start: 11th Div II
Finish: 10th Div II
 
M2: +3/+1/+1/+1
Start: 2nd Div VI
Finish: 8th Div V
 
W1: -2/-2/row over/-2
Start: 4th Div III
Finish: 10th Div III
 

 

M
Cox
Stroke
7
6
5
4
3
2
Bow
1st Torpid
Toby Adkins
Tom Lousada
Sam Picard / Henrik Hannemann
Alex Moore
Jaime Valdemoros
Jacob White
Ben Holden
Mantas Abazorios
Edward Thomas
M
Cox
Stroke
7
6
5
4
3
2
Bow
2nd Torpid
Henrik Hannemann
Lukas Koch
Ian Dawes
Michael Withers
Mate Kovacs-Deaks
Benedict Halbroth
Miklos Hajnal
Frederick Crowley
Oliver Pateman
W
Cox
Stroke
7
6
5
4
3
2
Bow
1st Torpid
Laura King / Toby Adkins
Amanda Thomas
Caitlin Armstrong / Phoebe Pexton
Kailan Sierra-Davidson
Rebecca Hardy
Josie Smith
Kirsty Mitchell
Georgina Fooks
Josie Western
Categories
Bumps Oxford

M2 Torpids 2016

Merton 2nd Torpid 2016 – addition to the blades collection!

IMG_0865Only just back from the Christmas vacation, Torpids training started in earnest. With the crews selected, the 2nd Torpid boasted a wide variety of rowing experience from several years to having been roped into rowing merely a couple of months earlier. We had four weeks until we had to prove what we are made of. Despite a moody river, training progressed well on land, in the rowing tank, and on the water whenever the river level allowed us a proper outing.

Rowing On was the first time (and fortunately with hindsight the last time) we had to row over the whole course. With 3 min 7.5 sec the crew posted the second best time after Lady Margaret Hall II. With a solid performance and a clear aim ahead we went into race week, acknowledged as a very good crew, a force to be reckoned with.

On the first day, starting off bungline two, we caught up with Exeter II in the Gut, but also LMH II, who were marginally quicker than us in Rowing On, did not pose a threat at any point in this race. Having bumped to the top of the division, the sandwich race promised to be an exciting one. Before we had even reached Donnington Bridge, Wolfson III had caught up with Mansfield II while St Hilda’s I had already bumped out on St John’s III. The four crews starting in front of us had either bumped or got entangled. The Mansfield cox had not conceded in time which got the crew entangled and due to fantastic reactions from the rowers, hard rudder, and a bit of ‘hope and pray’, we managed to squeeze our eight through the gap and bump Mansfield II by row past.

After the exciting first day, we had to reschedule as we were now rowing in Men’s Division V. While lining up behind and being ready to chase down Wolfson III, yet again we were faced with crews plummeting down and others bumping out. With a clean side-to-side contact, we bumped Pembroke III who had started three places above us at the top of the Gut.

The plan for day three was rather simple: keep doing what we had been doing and bump the next crew in our way. On Thursday this was Worcester II who also had started three bunglines ahead. While St Hilda’s I had closed them down early before the Gut, Wolfson III bumped them at the beginning of Greenbanks which left us with a couple of more strokes until we had bumped them, too.

On Saturday everyone had one word in mind – blades. Having closed down on Wolfson III on all previous days but always having been denied the bump, we hoped to complete our task today. Unfortunately, once more another crew foiled that attempt, but bumping Regent’s Park in sight of the boathouses in the crossing made a glorious conclusion to a successful Torpids campaign.

Within six weeks the oarsmen came together and showed what committed training and a clear aim can mean: return to fixed divisions and gain blades while doing so!

Men’s
Cox
Stroke
7
6
5
4
3
2
Bow
2nd Torpid
Henrik Hannemann
Lukas Koch
Ian Dawes
Michael Withers
Mate Kovacs-Deak
Benedict Halbroth
Miklos Hajnal
Frederick Crowley
Oliver Pateman
 
Coach
Boatman
 
Bumps
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
 
 
Ian Smith
Mark Seal
 
 
Exeter II & Mansfield II
Pembroke III
Worcester II
Regent’s Park
 
 

Photo by F Money

Categories
Torpids 2016

Merton’s Men Primed for Torpids

Merton men primed for Torpids

Michaelmas 2015 was an immensely successful term for the men’s side of the boat club. Our first race, IWL A, went very well indeed, as the eight posted the fastest time of the day. In Autumn Fours, we entered two boats, one of which reached the semi-finals, having beaten Keble C and Somerville, before losing to Wolfson. Nephthys Regatta was even more successful – the eight we entered beat New College and Green Templeton, but lost to Wolfson again in the final. We entered two novice eights at Christ Church Regatta, although one had to race as a ‘friendly’ crew because of the unavailability of some of the rowers. The Novice A boat did not get beyond the first round repechage; and although the ‘friendly’ Novice B crew had the satisfaction of beating an Oriel boat, it was not allowed to advance further in the competition. The term’s racing ended on a high with the development squad eight achieving the third-fastest time of IWL B.

Hilary 2016 got off to a somewhat shaky start due to river closures. However, we have been training on land and on the water when we have been able to do so. The first and second eights for Torpids have now been set and the first boat has already had one race, at IWL C on Sunday 31st January. The result (tenth place) was not what we were hoping for but it did leave us in third place on the leader-board, trailing Wolfson and Keble. (IWL D was cancelled, meaning we ended up third in IWL 2015-6.)

With Torpids just round the corner, Merton’s men have a training day at Dorney tomorrow (Saturday 20th) and look set to build on last year’s four bumps.

Men's Eight at IWL C (credit to Mrs Thomas)
Men’s Eight at IWL C (credit to Mrs Thomas)

Crews:

IWL
Cox
Stroke
7
6
5
4
3
2
Bow
A
Toby Adkins
Alex Moore
Jaime Valdemoros
Tom Lousada
Edward Thomas
Jacob White
Ivo Gruev
Lukas Koch
Mantas Abazorius
IWL
Cox
Stroke
7
6
5
4
3
2
Bow
B
Toby Adkins
Tom Lousada
Sam Picard
Alex Moore
Jaime Valdemoros
Jacob White
Ben Holden
Mantas Abazorios
Edward Thomas
IWL
Cox
Stroke
7
6
5
4
3
2
Bow
C
Toby Adkins
Tom Lousada
Sam Picard
Alex Moore
Jaime Valdemoros
Jacob White
Ben Holden
Mantas Abazorios
Edward Thomas
Categories
Oxford

World record

World record!

During the summer there had been rumours about a world record attempt and from the 1st until the 8th November ten Merton rowers showed what they were made of. After seven days of continuous rowing, Mantas Abazorius, Caitlin Armstrong, Freddie Crowley, Miklos Hajnal, Daniel Kennedy, Laura King, Lukas Koch, Kailan Sierra-Davidson, Edward Thomas, and Jaime Valdemoros are now world record holders. Since a mixed team attempted the record it is listed as male 20-29 heavyweight/open record.

A huge ‘Thank you’ to Lukas and Daniel for being the driving force and organising everything after originally coming up with the idea.

In the aftermath of this record we have also been informed that this the second record held by Merton, the first being rowing the non-tidal Thames (from Lechlade to Teddington) in a coxed four non-stop in 28hrs 55min 15sec. The crew was Angus Whitfield, James Brooks, Richard Crawford, Paul Roberts, and Gabrielle Higgins. We would love to hear more about the first record.

Categories
Head Race Oxford Regatta

Pots & Points – Racing success during the summer

Pots & Points – Racing success during the summer

2015_OCRR_PotsPoints

While most rowers left Oxford over the long vacations, some of us stayed around and did a bit of summer racing. Regular evening training in a composite crew led a Merton-stroked boat to Henley Town & Visitors. While this being an enjoyable three lane race format over the last 800m of the Henley Royal Regatta course, we had to unfortunately concede to a strong crew from Ariol Kensington (Tideway) by a canvas. The third boat in the heat, fielded by Quintin Boat Club (Tideway) did not pose a danger at any point.

 
 
 
 

The final regatta aimed for this summer crew was Oxford Royal Regatta and Sprints. While we managed to win the Men’s Novice Coxed Fours on Saturday, we lost the first round on Sunday against Hertford College Boat Club by a mere 1ft.

2015_OCRR_MensNov4+

Crew list: Henrik Hannemann (Merton, Stroke), Alistair Martin (GTC, 3)/ John Mittermeier (Oriel, 3), Jinwoo Leem (St Anne’s, 2), Christopher Kutarna (St Antony’s, Bow), Anna Kotova (GTC/Oriel, cox)

A further double racing success during the vacation was achieved by Caitlin Armstrong. She gathered two sculling points by beating the large field of W.Nov.1X on Saturday and also progressing to the final of W.IM3.1X on the Sunday. A very strong showing!

A month later the winning streak continued, though this time already as Head Race. Posting a time of 21min 42.4sec over the 4.5km course on the River Ouse she secured her win in the W.IM3.1X category.

2015_OCRR_CaitlinNov1X

Photos: Henrik Hannemann (Trophy), Hilary Wynne (Regatta)

Categories
Bumps Oxford Regatta Social

Final round up of the year

Final round up of the year

Summer Eights finished off the traditional rowing term, we are looking back at a fantastic dinner and great fun on the Isis. Thank you to all those who have supported the Boat Club over the last year. Same as for all previous years, both Eights and Torpids crews can be found in our crew archive. To round off, the reports below are from the outgoing Men’s and Women’s Captains and were originally published in the Postmaster

Overall summary for this years Summer Eights:

M1: RO/-1/RO/+1 [overall level]
Start: 6th Div III
Finish: 6th Div III

M2: -1/-1/-1/RO [overall -3]
Start: 11th Div IV
Finish: 1st Div V

M3: RO/RO/-1/RO [overall -1]
Start: 4th Div VII
Finish: 5th Div VII

W1: -1/-1/-1/-1 [Spoons]
Start: 1st Div II
Finish. 5th Div II

W2:
not fielded, -4 for next year

2015_EightsDinner

Men’s Rowing

Michaelmas began with a strong push to recruit novices, with rowing drinks and taster sessions. Both were a success, and the year began with almost as many novices as senior rowers. At the end of the year, half of each of the men’s first and second boats were made up of students in their first year of training. Our new coach, Ian Smith, came with high recommendations and proved to be an excellent asset. We also retained an impressive roster of oarsmen from the previous year, with 20 senior rowers – including two who trialled with OULRC in Michaelmas. The term mainly consisted of extensive technical outings geared specifically towards racing in Autumn Fours, which was the first chance for us to witness the progress of our returning senior rowers. Our men’s Four beat LMH in the first round of Autumn Fours. Unfortunately they lost in the second round to a strong Balliol crew. The other half were back in a double for more racing, sweeping aside a strong boat from Brasenose to storm into the final by three boat lengths. Sadly, they were defeated in the final by a pair of lightweight blues rowers.
In Hilary, crews were sent to the Isis Winter League D in an Eight and a coxed Four, with the Eight coming 17th of 39 in their class and the Four coming third of four in their class. Torpids brought great results for the men’s first boat. An unsatisfying first day, with a technical row over, was followed by four bumps in the other three days, bringing M1 firmly into Division II. The men’s second boat had less success, dropping from Division V into Division VI.

Trinity left us with just enough numbers for two permanent men’s boats, but sadly two rowers suffered unrelated injuries and couldn’t make the racing. M1 recovered well, bringing up an M2 rower who responded quickly to the challenge. This left M2 training up two fairly inexperienced rowers in the fortnight before Eights racing.
Errors in racing technique surprisingly caused M1 to row over on the first day and be bumped on the second day. The crew battled off a strong Linacre crew on Friday and then bumped Somerville on Saturday past Boat Club Island. The final result was no change in position; the first time Merton’s
M1 has not dropped since 2010. M2 did better than expected given the last-minute changes in crew, managing to avoid spoons. Unfortunately they still dropped from the bottom of Division IV to the top of Division V. Overall, the crews were fairly happy with their training and results this year, with the Men’s first crew moving up four places in Torpids and holding their position in Summer Eights. Our coach Ian Smith has been key to this success.
Ongoing training and recruitment should help us build on the base that has been built in the Boat Club. I look forward to seeing what we can achieve over the coming years.

Jaime Valdemoros Gomez (2013)
Men’s Captain 2014-15

Women’s Rowing

This year’s women’s boat has been made up of a great group of girls and I do not think anyone can deny the sheer amount of hard work, commitment and good humour that has been put in!
We started well in Michaelmas Term with our freshers’ boat successfully winning both their first and second races. Our most enthusiastic freshers then continued into Hilary Term and joined W1 in training for Torpids. Some icy cold stints on the water, as well as gruelling gym and erg sessions, were rewarded with great improvement. We must also thank Ian Smith, our wonderful coach, for his dedication and never ending patience. All of this combined meant that on the day itself we achieved a bump – something we were all very proud of, as for many of us, this was the first time.

Trinity Term provided more time on the water and arguably more enjoyable sessions, given that it was even occasionally sunny. This training led into a great Summer Eights’ Week, when fun was had by all. As I said in my speech at the dinner that finished the week: ‘Yes, we got spoons, but we
got spoons in style!’ I think the girls this year should be very proud of everything they have achieved; the crew was mostly very inexperienced and they performed well under pressure. I expect great things next year when, with more experience, I am sure the boat will go from strength to strength.

Sally Bolton (2013)
Women’s Captain 2014-15