This year on the men’s side of Merton College Boat Club has certainly been one to remember, filled with tough competition, tough conditions, and great commitment from the entire squad. My vice-captains, Denys Bystrov (2022) and Victor Chu (2022), and I are immensely proud of the squad’s development and achievements.
Michaelmas term started strongly, with a successful drive for recruitment of new members. Unfortunately, the weather conditions were quick to put a spanner in the works and red flags (no-rowing) on both the Isis and at Godstow meant focus quickly shifted to the erg room. With a great training programme organised by our Novice Captains, Daniel Smith (2022) and Josi Jebens (2022), and the great number of social events organised by or social secretaries, Louis Macro (2022) and Imogen Walsh (2020) our numbers kept strong and the novices certainly had an active first term.
Meanwhile, the seniors were hard at work, training and progressing under our new head coach for the year, Jess Foster. The strength and potential of the crew was quick to see, posting the third fastest time in IWL A and entering the fastest 4+ in IWL B towards the end of the term.
A wet winter meant we returned in Hilary Term to a flooded Isis and Godstow stretch. Water training was hard to come by, with the first opportunity to get some water time actually coming in the form of Quintin Head. Despite no consistent water-time since October 2023, the boat felt good in the warm-up and it was great to be back out on the water. However, the optimism was short-lived as the rudder of the boat snapped off 500m into the 4.4km race. A stop-and-start tactic had to be adopted. Like redirecting a missile, the crew would have to row in a straight line until a bend in the river, upon which they would have to spin almost statically. Despite this, the crew were not overtaken on the course itself and were not even the slowest Oxford college crew on the day. The crew showed great character and determination to finish and put their all into the race, and the potential going into Torpids was clear to see.
Nevertheless, weather conditions would once again come to haunt the club, with Torpids 2024 being cancelled. But, we would not let this stop the club from putting their hard work to a good cause, completing a 24-hour ergathon sponsoring Homelessness Oxfordshire, rowing over 600,000m and raising over £2,000. A great achievement by the club and a great way to end Hilary term.
Before attention turned to Summer VIIIs, The Men’s side took part in the Head of the River Race. The crew on the day punched in a great time of 19:22.7 and came 17th of 41 crews within the Medium Academic Category, making it the fastest time of any Merton Crew to race at the Head of the River Race.
And then, Summer VIIIS training began. Crews were set, and with the more forgiving weather conditions the squad churned out the water outings like there was no tomorrow. With two weeks to go until VIIIs, we sent a crew to Bedford Regatta. While disappointing to only make it to the semi-finals of our category, the squad was determined to build upon the result going into bumps, and that certainly happened. Our M1 crew went +3 over the four days of VIIIs, narrowly missing out on an over-bump on Jesus College to propel the crew into Division 1, but in a great position to push for the top division next year. Our M2 crew also did incredibly well, going +2 and putting next year’s M2 at the top of division 5 and in a prime position to bump up into division 4 and enter the set divisions (not requiring rowing-on to qualify). All in all, a splendid campaign to wrap up the year.
Denys, Victor and I end our tenure as captains incredibly proud of what the squad has accomplished and are honoured to have led the men’s side this year. In the face of an exceptionally tough year, the squad really pulled together and showed off the very best that MCBC has to offer. We would like to thank everyone who made this year possible and supported the squads’ efforts. It is with great pleasure that I hand over to Josh Maisuria-Hull (2023) as Captain for next year and I look forward to him taking the squad to even greater heights.
Chris Houseley (2022)
Men’s Captain 2023-2024