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The Billygoats Society like to support athlete development such as coaching and training camps as well as equipment. Here are some photos from the recent pre-Lent Training Camp, including some group squat jumps. It was a big success, with everyone having lots of fun. Hopefully, it will stand the FCBC crews in good stead for the term ahead.

May Bumps

M1 went up 1, bumping Hughes Hall , remaining in the 1st division. M2 had a bad time, going down 4 in the Men’s 3rd division, while M3 did well, going up 3 having started as head of the men’s 5th division.

W1 were flat, bumping Magdelene on the first day but being caught by an oar winning Homerton on the last day. W2 went up 1, bumping LMBC3.

The Billygoats Osier Holt party could not have been more different from last year’s wet occasion, with the sun beating down and free water distributed to keep everyone hydrated.

The May Bumps supper was an excellent occasion, despite some shortage of wine.

Our President David Wright announced the John Adams Prizes.

The John Adams Fund was established in 2012 to recognise John Adams’ fifty years of service to the Billygoats Society and Fitzwilliam College rowing and supports both Bursaries to cover costs of rowing related activities for Fitzwilliam students and also one or more John Adams Prizes may be awarded annually to student members of the College who have done most to promote the wellbeing and success of the Boat Club.

The Billygoats are pleased to award John Adam’s prizes of £110 each, following some superb nominations we have four winners this year.

Firstly Pok-Man Ho has been at the club for the past 5 years, and is now finishing his PHD. Predominantly he’s a cox, but he’s rowed when needed, currently rowing in M2 and the M1 cox, he’s coxed every boat this term, he’s subbed in W1, W2, M1 as a rower when needed. Indeed one Saturday, he coxed M1, then coxed W1 & then rowed in M2 over a 6 hour period. A stalwart and doer and we hope too he will be around in the autumn to assist with coaching the novices. 

Next Erin Price has been an amazing member of the club, her commitment to keeping W2 outings going even when numbers were scarce is a testament to her personal resilience and leadership skills. She has also often been moved between crews and has reacted to it positively and continued to give her all regardless.

And Oliver Fitzgerald has done an excellent job captaining the men’s side on his own, and has remained positive, resourceful, and resilient throughout this year. It has been a tough year for both sides in terms of numbers, bumps results and getting full crews out, however Oli has made sure both M1 and M2 are as competitive as possible, going beyond to enter a successful 4+ into Poplar Regatta in May, and planning to enter a 4+ into Henley Qualifiers.

And last but not least, Aurora Barrera James stepped up to the role of Captain of Boats at the last minute and has really made sure everything ran as smoothly as possible in the Boat Club. It has been a difficult year with coaching arrangements but she has done everything in her power to make sure that we got the coaching we needed and was instrumental in arranging the training camps amongst many other things. She never stepped back and has continued to give us all the support we could wish for.

The Henley Picnic was another triumph for Carole.

Thanks to Tony Moule, David Wright and Richard Hooke for the photos.

Thanks to all who helped with the events, especially Carole Burton Wright who has established the Billygoats Henley Picnic as an essential part of anyone’s HRR week.

Training Camp

As well as boat and equipment purchases the Billygoats Society also supports coaching and training camps and it has become a tradition to have an Easter Training camp. This year it was at Norwich rowing Club. Here is a report from Boat Club secretary Megan Tubb.

The Norwich training camp had 29 members of the club attending, meaning we were able to get up to three VIII+ boats out on one of the days. With hundreds of hours of training logged in the club over the Easter holidays, everyone came along prepared and determined to give their all. The brilliant stretch of river gave everyone the chance to progress their rowing and coxing, providing an enjoyable weekend for everyone there. Despite the tiredness by the end, everyone came away smiling.

Across the camp, we were able to get many different crews out, in both VIII+s and smaller boats too, giving everyone the opportunity to row with crews they haven’t before, which was a wonderful chance for everyone to learn from each other. Throughout the camp we had some very technical outings, a key focus being working on good connection with the water followed by a powerful leg drive. Backing down the boat before taking a stroke has become a new favourite drill of ours. We also put this into practice in some more intense pieces, with a particularly exciting session on day 2 where we sent out 3 mixed 8+’s to have a side-by-side battle paddle! We also had lots of opportunity to trial crews going into the term, so we are ready to jump straight back into our training on the Cam.

On the women’s side, we were down a couple of rowers due to the University Development Squad, but with 11 rowers over the 3 days we were able to consistently send out a women’s VIII+, as well as sending out some women’s IVs. With thanks to the training camp, we are looking to have 2 very strong women’s crews this term. On the men’s side we were also able to consistently send out a men’s VIII+. As well as this, two of the men’s side rowers got the chance to practice in their singles in preparation for the Small Boats Regatta. Particularly on the men’s side, the camp was a brilliant opportunity to trial different VIII+’s in preparation for the term ahead.

With thanks to this camp, we are looking to have extremely promising Bumps campaigns this term on both sides of the club. Most importantly, the camp has given us the time to continue to build on the team spirit at FCBC. We had incredible help from our coaches Tony and Andrew, and we would like to extend a massive thank you to Billygoats Nick Francis and Robert Doe for all their helpful feedback and support across the camp. The camp has been an incredibly valuable experience for all our rowers and coxes, and we look forward to keeping up the hard work and training during Easter Term. Everyone at FCBC would like to say a massive thank you to the Billygoats for making this camp possible, we could not be more grateful your continuous support.

John Adams Fund supports Fitz women in the development squad

The John Adams Fund was established in 2012 in honour of John Adams, who, in his incredible 50 years as Secretary of the Society, made it what it is today. Among other things, the fund supports university rowers and triallists and this year we were able to support three Fitz women – Amelie Teferle, Katarina Finney and Vaila Smith – who were selected to participate in the CUBC Women’s Development Squad. After a two week training camp in Ely an 8+ and spare pair were selected and the 8+ competed in the BUCS regatta in early May. The development 8+ (with Vaila and Katerina at 7 and 6) won the D final.

Amelie said: Thanks for your support to help me do dev squad it was much appreciated. I learned to foot steer, row in a pair and got to go to BUCS.

It’s great that we had 3 women in the 10-strong development squad and we wish all three the best of luck in trials next year.

Thanks to Amelie for the photos.