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Committee Oxford Social Training

Men’s Report 2019

Annual report 2018-19 – Men’s squad

The rowing year began for the men’s side with the senior squad training towards the Fairbairn Cup on the river Cam and the novices training towards Christ Church Regatta. Our Fairbairn crew would finish in a respectable 14th place and the first novice crew was unlucky to be knocked out in the thirdround. The success of the novice programme under the leadership of Ty Rallens (Kellogg, 2012) was evident from the fact that by the middle of Michaelmas a handful of novices were regularly joining senior squad outings, and two would join the First Torpid in Hilary term.

In Hilary term, the men’s squad ran a system of matched eights, with the rowers in competition for the first and second eights training together and entering all three Isis Winter Leagues. Strong results from both crews were early evidence that this would be a successful year. Despite the disappointment of qualifying only two men’s crews for Torpids, the bumps campaign would turn out to be an unprecedented success, with both crews bumping every day to win blades. This is the first time in MCBC history that the First and Second Torpids have won blades in the same year, leaving the First Torpid on bungline six in Division 2 and the Second Torpid on bungline two in Division 5.

At the end of Hilary term, the first boat entered the Head of the River Race for the second year running, this time placing 114th in a time of 19 minutes and 40 seconds. Notably Merton was the fastest of 24 Oxbridge college crews racing that day, besting Trinity, Balliol and Brasenose as well as a host of Cambridge first division crews.

Over the Easter vac, we returned to the Amstel for our second annual training camp. Generous support from College and from our host club Willem III made for an extremely productive week’s training and set up our Trinity term well.

For only the second time in the last 20 years, Merton fielded four men’s crews in Summer Eights, a real achievement that highlights the depth of the club. Overall results were mixed during Eights Week. The Second Eight fell two places, having lost two of their most experienced rowers from Torpids to academic commitments, but put on a sterling performance on Saturday to close on Wolfson II before a klaxon cut the race short.

The First Eight had a disappointing Wednesday of racing, narrowly missing out on catching Mansfield after tactical errors, a crab in the Gut and a klaxon which stopped the division when Mansfield was a mere canvas away. The crew showed real discipline by regrouping to come back and bump Mansfield with composure on Thursday, and caught Worcester in a mere 21 strokes on Friday. The First Eight rounded off the week with a bump on Hertford in the Gut to finish up three places and leave the crew within sight of the first division.

Since the end of Summer Eights the first boat has continued training hard and will attempt to qualify for the Temple Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta on 28 June.

Written by Dylan Gutt (2017)
Men’s Rowing Captain 2018-19

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Committee Oxford Social Training

Women’s Report 2019

Annual report 2018-19 – Women’s squad

It has been yet another great year for women’s rowing at Merton. Even before the start of the year we came across the excellent opportunity to be sponsored by Swift Racing. We had the pleasure of rowing in one of its Elite shells for the duration of the year, which undoubtedly contributed significantly to the success of the women this year.

While our returning rowers trained in their superb shell at Godstow, the freshly recruited novices were learning all about rowing through our extremely successful novice programme. At Christ Church Regatta, the women’s novice first boat finished fourth overall, marking three consecutive years of Merton women finishing in the top four. The keenest
of the novices joined a few of the seniors to compete in Fairbairn Regatta in Cambridge at the end of term, which proved a valuable experience for the whole crew.

In Hilary, W1 put up great performances in the Isis Winter Leagues, catching the eye of many on the river. W2 persevered through some cancelled outings and saw great improvements throughout term. After being tied with St Benet’s for the last qualifying spot in Torpids, and because
of poor availability for the races, W2 formed an unofficial composite crew with St Benet’s competing as the first-ever St Benet’s Women’s First Torpid. ‘Benerton’ ended their Torpids campaign winning footship spoons, but having had great fun racing together. W1 had a hopeful start to the campaign with a bump on the first day, but a series of unfortunate races left them on -5 at the end of the week.

During the Easter vacation the squad returned to Amsterdam after last year’s training camp’s success. Training three times a day for a week, it was a great way to build up momentum for the start of term and the Eights campaign, and the squad developed together very rapidly.

W1 came back even more fierce and competitive than before. Training at Godstow five times a week, it was clear they were getting ready for a successful Summer Eights. On the Isis, W2 was also training enthusiastically despite sometimes struggling to fill all the seats. In a testament to the depth
of Merton women’s rowing, 15 Merton students and alumni rowed with W2 throughout Eights Week. The crew finished the week on -3, after a klaxon on the first day as they were a few strokes away from a bump put an end to what could perhaps have been a very different campaign.

However, the dedication of W1 really did pay off with the historic results they obtained. After six years of not bumping once, W1 went on to bump a record-setting five times over the course of the week, winning blades for the first time since 1999 for a Merton women’s first boat. It was the best way possible to end a fantastic season of women’s rowing at Merton.

Thanks must be given to the incredibly hard-working MCBC committee, as well as our coaches Ian Smith, Stan Billington and Daniel Sadler. I am very excited to see what the future holds for Merton women, and I wish Sanne Van Den Berg (2018) the very best for her captaincy.

Written by Matilde Soares da Silva (2017)
Women’s Rowing Captain 2018-19

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Committee Oxford Social Training

Women’s Report 2018

Annual report 2017-18 – Women’s squad

The strength of the Merton women’s squad continues to grow year on year. Michaelmas saw a lucky windfall of keen novice rowers who have proved very enthusiastic members of the boat club. Through their hard work, and the support of senior rowers and our coach, who committed themselves to running a demanding novice training programme, the women’s novice boat finished fourth in Christchurch Regatta, continuing a solid run after last year’s victory. With this behind them, it looked to be an exciting year for women’s rowing, with the development squad making progress on the water at Godstow. At the end of the term, four of the dev squad made the trip to Cambridge to compete in the Fairbairn Cup, a long 3.4km race down the Cam.

It was testament to the commitment of the squad and the invaluable help of committee members that we were able to make it through a tough Hilary term, during which bad weather and illness cancelled weeks’ worth of outings. Come Torpids, however, W1 and W2 were looking impressive, putting in some very decent performances during that term’s Isis Winter League races. Indeed, so much so, that the local rumour mills put W1 on ‘blades watch’ for Torpids. Sadly, it was not to be, as bitter cold, wind and snow cancelled racing on the second and third days of racing, leaving the crew heartily disappointed. An unfortunate race left W2 with one bump on the first day, but W1 were at least proud to come away with bumps on Queen’s and Wadham II.

On such a trajectory, it was fantastic to be able to keep up the momentum among the squad on the first training camp that Merton has seen in a number of years. Travelling to Amsterdam, eight rowers and a cox were worked hard with three outings a day for five days on the gorgeous Amstel river. Such an opportunity to row together, with fresh coaching in a new environment, meant the crew developed well together ahead of the Eights campaign.

Trinity rowing saw W1 return to Godstow and, alongside the gleaming new launch, dedicate themselves to five outings a week. Another run of illness saw the crew cycle through rowers at an alarming rate, finally finding a crew the weekend before Summer Eights began. The infamous four-year spoons streak loomed large over the crew, but they were quietly confident having made great improvements in technique all term. Impressive commitment from all ensured that W1 did indeed break with tradition, finishing the week on -3 (rather than -4) thanks to a lucky escape from St Anthony’s on the second day, as they took a course into the bank in the Gut. If that wasn’t enough cause for celebration, W2 put in an even stronger show. Having struggled to put together a crew for outings all term, they rowed remarkably well to bump Green Templeton III, Somerville III and Pembroke IV.

It has been a pleasure to see Merton women’s rowing continue to progress and we look forward to another exciting season next year. Thanks should definitely go to the whole MCBC committee for their work and especially to our coach, Ian Smith. Matilde Soares da Silva (2017) has proven an exceptionally committed member of the squad and as the incoming captain I’m sure she’ll do great things for the women’s side.

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Committee Oxford

New committee 2017 – 18

Annual General Meeting – Committee Elections

On Wednesday, 3rd May, we held our AGM and we are looking forward to build on the strengths of the past year and the exciting projects to come (boathouse, erg room, to name a few). Traditionally the new committee will have a few weeks to work alongside the current one before taking over at midnight on Saturday of Eights Week.

Merton College Boat Club will be lead for the 2017 – 18 season by:

Secretary – Charlotte Oakes
Men’s Captain – Samuel Picard
Women’s Captain – Paris Jaggers
Captain of Coxes – Katie Davies
Treasurer – Jacob White
Women’s Vice-Captain – Venla Karppinen
Men’s Vice-Captain – Thomas Murphy
Water Safety Advisor – Lukas Koch
PR & Alumni Officer – Tyson Rallens
Men’s Social Secretary – Paul de Jong
Women’s Social Secretary – Julia Zlotkowska

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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.

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Committee Oxford

Annual General Meeting & Elections

New committee – old and new faces

Yesterday our Annual General Meeting took place. Starting with the outgoing committee giving account of the past year we can look back on hard training on the Isis, at Godstow, and good performance from our novice crews both in Christ Church Regatta and in Nephthys Regatta. Furthermore a lot of work behind the scenes streamlining committee work and solving a lot of admin issues which had built up over the years will see MCBC in good shape for the future. Despite all the flooding and rains we retained a committed squad throughout Hilary Term which formed most of our Summer Eights crew after Torpids had been called off due to safety concerns.

A further obvious feature of the AGM was the election of a new committee. As it is tradition, the new committee will take over on midnight of Saturday of Summer Eights. For the following year MCBC will be lead by:

Sondre Lunde (Secretary)
Jaime Valdemoros Gomez (Men’s Captain)
Sally Bolton (Women’s Captain)
Tiffany Brydges (Captain of Coxes)
Henrik Hannemann (Treasurer)
Daniel Kennedy (Men’s Vice-Captain)
Laura King (Women’s Vice-Captain
Caitlin Armstrong (Water Safety Advisor)
Brendan Kjellberg-Motton (Social Secretary)

We would like to thank the outgoing committee for all their hard work and dedication despite the frustrating weather conditions! Also best of luck to all the new committee members.