Category: FCBC Rowing

Fairbairns & Pudding Races 2018

There was a strong Billygoats presence at the Fairbairns this year with a IV joining the traditional President’s VIII, which unusually raced in the Mens Senior Division at 9:30 (presumably as there was no 1st VIII this year). Again ably arranged by Adrian Tollet, the event went like clockwork on race day itself, despite our managing to somewhat disconcert ourselves the day before by questioning at the last minute whether it was necessary or wise to have a practice outing at 7am, and the danger of a lack of breakfast. It was either too late to change the arrangements or our email skills were not up to the task and, hair shirts donned, we set the alarm and tried to limit the alcohol consumption on Thursday night.

Despite our 9.30 race start causing us to rush breakfast (and, even worse, eat less!), the VIII had a good row, going over most of the course at a rating of about 30 (though there seemed to be some question in the minds of the bank party whether this rating was set by 8 or 6!). Perhaps being at least nominally Senior Men fooled us into rowing better. It certainly was the President’s VIII this year as the President once more stamped her authority on it from the cox’s seat, steering an excellent course (with no help needed!), and keeping the rating up and the quality high by calling for length and timing when she could see us flagging. Some may feel that she took it a step too far on the way back when the red mist descended and she called for those 10 stroke bursts at race pace to successfully hold off (honest!) Oriel (the winners) as they were trying to overtake us, especially for the older or more girthsome in the crew, but I wouldn’t dare think that.

We came 53rd out of 62, in a time of 17:33, lagging 3:22 behind the winners, Oriel Oxford. We were 1:04 quicker than last year when the crew lagged the winners by 4:12 so we felt it was a creditable performance. I think we can all agree that this photo demonstrates the professionalism and organisational skills of all concerned (including super-sub Roly Beevor who took it), and the flag looks nice.

President’s VIII : David Birtwhistle (Bow), Paul Wallace (2), Robert Doe (3), John Roberts (4), Nick Francis (5), Tom Watt (6), Neil Gardner (7), Dan George (Stroke), Carole Wright (Cox)

Fitz Fairbairn IV : Adrian Tollett (Bow), Clive Woodman (2), Chris Radford (3), Fabien White (Stroke), Robert Machado (Cox)

Chris Radford writes: The Fairbairn IV met for the first time as a crew at 7am on a very pleasant Friday morning to have a practice outing. We started off feeling our way and the boat was a bit wobbly, but by the time we got to the Long Reach we were rowing comfortably and Robert got us to do some short pieces at race pace on our way back.

For the race, we stepped into the boat at 14:20 and were started by 14:30. We had planned to go off at rating 22, but somehow we seem to get up to 25 and 26 and keep that going for the whole 3400m to the finish at The Plough. Some patches were much better than others but we held it together and maintained a reasonable balance of the boat and were able to send it away consistently. Two (much younger) crews overtook us on the Long Reach. Our average age was around 60, so we were pleased to put in a solid row and end up 43rd out of 55 boats. We all look forward to trying again next year.

On Saturday afternoon we had Pudding Races, once more organised by Robert Doe. Three crews made up of a selection of Billygoats, experienced student men and women, and novice student men and women raced over about 4-500m up and down the Long Reach.

In the Billygoat, the crew ‘Christmas Carole’ consisted of Carole Wright (Cox), Jeff Lyness (Str), Chris Radford (7), ??? (6), Brian Smith (5), Jared (4), Hilary (3), Ritwik (2), Jemima (Bow)

In the Ken Drake, ‘Reindeer Rob’ comprised Rob Machado (Cox), Tom Watt (Str), Tom (7), Matt Bergin (6), Irene (5), Paul Wallace (4), Conor (3), Nikita (2), Cassandra (1)

In the Ray Kelly, ‘Holly Helen’ (or was it Holy Helen) was Helen Holmes (Cox), Dan George (Str), Andre N-B (7), Will Marks (6), David Birtwhistle (5), Miguel (4), Izzy (3), Tim (2), Harriet (1)

Marshalls: Antony Moule, Robert Doe, Emily, Maya, Alan

Thanks very much to Robert for organising, the Marshalls for marshalling and apologies for the lack of surnames for the students.

It was an exciting event. The crews paddled down to the bottom of the Long Reach, doing a few 10s and practice starts on the way, with Christmas Carole the first to arrive and Holly Helen the second. These two crews lined up for the first race. HH went off the start like the proverbial rocket, building a lead of about a length fairly quickly. The 36+ rating (which over-rated CC by at least 3 or 4 pips) was maintained all the way down the course, though certain crew members may have flagged a bit towards the end. Victory gained, HH went off to pant uncontrollably and cox declared that she had remembered a concept called “the stride” from her time at Fitz and wondered whether we had any use for it.

Reindeer Rob having arrived, the next race was lined up between RR and CC. It seemed to take a while to get straight but eventually, off they went, and RRs freshness told as they won, setting up a final with HH. The organisers now demonstrated their ingenuity by setting up a Bronze Medal event between CC and Alan Marron in a single. Having narrowly lost both their races, CC were not about to lose to a single, and nor did they.

There was a bit of a delay before the final, as the umpires let some other crews come down, the rest no doubt approciated by both crews. At the starting gun, the same story was repeated with HH building up about 1 length off their high-rating start but then a new strategy was tried – the stride that cox had remembered.  Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to work that well, and coincided with a big push from RR that enabled them to pull back to about 1/3 length deficit a little after the halfway point. HH 7 man called for an “up 2”, their rate went back into the stratosphere, and HH pulled ahead, and seeing this RR lost heart and dropped back. So Holly Helen won the Puddings, and the moral of the story undoubtedly is “the higher the rating the faster you go”.

Thanks to Emily Lees for the Pudding Races photos.

1970 & 1971 Headship Blades

In May 2018 the Boat Club was notified that a pair of FCBC Headship blades were to be auctioned in Scotland. Both the College and the Billygoats considered the purchase of these but as we already have copies at College we decided not to. Intrigued by the question of how they came to be up for auction I contacted the crew, in particular Charles Lowe, with whom I had been discussing next year’s 50th anniversary of the 1969 Headship. Charles realised that they must belong to Ken Fraser, sadly deceased, and contacted his widow Susie, who later sent a heart-warming email:

Hello Dan, Charles Lowe passed on to me your email about the 1970 and 1971 oars which were auctioned in Scotland in early May. They were, indeed, the oars which belonged to my late husband, Ken Fraser, who was a member of both crews.  We had had them originally but they must eventually been left behind in Ken’s mother’s house, in Carnoustie, Angus, when she died.  Ken had already predeceased her.

After a roundabout series of events, I was able to buy both oars and have them delivered, one to each of my daughters, who are absolutely delighted to have such splendid mementoes of their father. And I am really pleased to see them again, after all this time.  I knew all the members of both crews very well, so they bring back lots of great memories of riverbanks on the Cam – as well as at regattas all over the place. Thank you very much for alerting Charles to the auction.  Without that, the oars would have disappeared forever from our family!

It is wonderful that Susie was able to secure the oars for her daughters, so they can be enjoyed by those who appreciate what they represent, as a memento of their father. She was happy for me to share this story with the Billygoats, some of whom will remember Ken Fraser, and all of whom greatly appreciate the achievements of the Head crews of 1969-71.

Many members of these Head crews will be returning to College for a 50th anniversary celebration at the May Bumps Dinner in June 2019, and of course, other Billygoats are invited to join them.

Dan George

Fitzwilliam College Boat Club and some Bathing Beauties in the Sunday Pictorial 25th March 1956

This may well be the one and only time that Fitzwilliam oarsmen have appeared in a photograph in the national press with some bathing beauties. As our two crews were about to go out for a practice row for the forthcoming London Head of the River Race in 1956 a photographer arrived with three of the finalists of the Butlin Holiday Princess contest and asked if he could take a photograph of these girls and our two crews. The girls did not win but had a week’s holiday in London with all expenses paid. The photograph was duly taken and the full version of it is reproduced here. Unfortunately the reporter assumed that the crews were from London Rowing Club as we were using their boathouse as our base for the few days before the actual race so Fitzwilliam does not appear in the brief report accompanying this photograph. There appear to be 12 oars in the photograph so obviously four oarsmen were either too late to be included or decided they did not wish to be in the photograph.

With the help of many of those on the photograph and those who rowed in these two crews we think that the people on the photograph are as follows from left to right cox Peter Lambert, David Warrington, Mike Hall, John Dyson, John Jenner, Hilda Holt 19 of Manchester, Richard Salmon (hidden behind Hilda), Brian Wicks, Alan Warren, Jean Piggott 17 of Manchester, Tony Page, Ida Gillett 22 of Blackburn, Noel Pilling, David Robinson and John Hankin (?? behind John). The actual photograph printed in the paper excluded Peter Lambert and David Warrington on the left and David Robinson and John Hankin and ?? on the right. Whether the fact that we had this photograph taken with these bathing beauties made any difference to our success or otherwise in the actual race could be debated. The 1st VIII retained its starting position of 64th in Division 3 in a time of 21.34 and the 2nd VIII distinguished themselves by rising 96 places starting at 228 as a new entry and finishing at 132nd in a time of 22.21, both were rowing in clinker boats.

Submitted by I K Drake (1953) and A Warren (1953)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fitzwilliam Women’s Squad Competing in Venice

The women’s squad of rowers of Fitzwilliam College Boat Club were challenged by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice to a race on Venice’s Grand Canal, for the first ever all-women’s competition in the historic galeone boats, as part of their campaign to get a women’s race included in Regatta of the Ancient Italian Maritime Republics during its 64th edition in 2019.

The galeone is a 15-meter long boat, weighing over 750 kg, which is almost eight times as heavy as the shells used for rowing on the Cam. The galeone’s seats are fixed, meaning a very different style of rowing than we’re used to – the benches we sat on had a sort of shiny area on which you could slide back and forth a little, but there was a lot less leg power than we’d usually use!

Our crew was formed of current Fitzwilliam students (Ashton Brown, Jess Halliday, Alisha Levermore, Hazel Walker, Melody Swiers and Emily Lees), alumnae (Helen Fishwick and Andrea Stefkova) and two of the CUWBC team who along with Ashton, were the first to row in the Women’s boat race on the tideway in 2015 (Hannah Evans and Claire Watkins).

We were treated with exceptional hospitality by our hosts from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice – they greeted us on Saturday with local pastries, took us across to their training island and gave us a brief lesson in how to operate the galeone. On Saturday evening the crews went for dinner with the Dean of the university, who was very supportive of their campaign, and even rode in the launch behind the boats during the races!

We raced on Sunday, down a section of the Grand Canal, from near the Rialto Bridge back to the University, with police boats diverting the other river traffic to give us a clear run. Unfortunately, the Fitzwilliam crew lost both of the races, the second one only by a small margin, having learnt a lot about how to improve our technique during the first race. Full credit must go to the Venetian team who were very quick off the start line and rowed strongly and consistently over the course on both occasions.

This was an incredible opportunity for both crews to make history as the first all-women’s crews to row these traditional boats in competition, and we hope it will be a great step in the University’s campaign for the inclusion of women’s boats in the Regatta Storica next year.

We feel very lucky to have been invited back to compete again next September (hopefully in the Regatta Storica) and have been offered an extra day of training to even the playing field! We also plan to invite the Venetian team to try their hand at rowing on the Cam in a return challenge.

The crew would like to extend their thanks to the Billygoats society for their support with this trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May Bumps 2018

Reports on the Bumps from the Captains (and others)

M1

This bumps campaign has been an extremely unfortunate one, blighted with bad luck. We had a solid term with good preparation, consistent ergs and weights and we were filled with hope going into day one. On day one we were off to a flyer, one whistle, two whistles, three whistles, consistent whistles, bow ball past the Homerton cox. They were on the verge of conceding when our rudder cable snapped at the most inopportune moment and we sadly crashed into the bank. This resulted in us being “bumped” despite being about 4 lengths clear of St. Edmunds. This meant that we caught loads of good crews coming up, Trinity Hall, Hughes Hall etc instead of some fairly poor ones coming down and as a result, we were bumped on Thursday and Friday, despite making it past the railway bridge on the Friday. Saturday however was a much more deserved end to an unfortunate week. Despite all of the crews ahead of us bumping out, we put in a strong and cohesive performance to power away from Corpus and row over to put an end to the rot.

Despite Bumps not going to plan, it was an extremely enjoyable term with a great crew. Ross, Emily and Seb will be missed next year but with 6 of the crew returning, we hope for more success during next season!

Other Points:

Louise Brett (W1) was a spare for the CUWBC lightweight boat this year and has since won a gold medal at BUCS in the Championship lightweight pairs and got to the semi-finals of championship lightweight pair at Henley Women’s Regatta. She is now planning on racing at EUSA later this summer (European University Rowing Championships).

Helen Fishwick also qualified to race at Henley Women’s Regatta in a double for Cantabs.

Most of W1 formed a composite with Clare/Peterhouse/Newnham to enter Henley Women’s Regatta and put in a strong performance in their qualifying race, narrowly missing out on the main draw by 5 places. However, they beat numerous Cambridge colleges including Lady Margaret in the process.

Joseph Everest & E.J. McCarthy make up the bow pair of a CUBC Dev Squad Goldie 4+ that is entering the Prince Albert at Henley this year. We have our qualifying race on Friday to see if we make it in! (Sadly, they did not qualify).

Joe Everest

M3

Div 5: The final frontier. These are the voyages of the good-ship M3. It’s 5(ish)-week mission, to explore strange new divisions, seek out boats with never before seen numbers to bump, and boldly go where few our rowers have gone before – positive in bumps.

This year, M3 decided to take the bold steps of both including only people who knew how to row (and, errr… Rob) and actually, definitely, totally achieving 12 outings. These outings did pay dividends – most of the crews in the getting on race scratched after witnessing our incredible speed on the river.

Having dispatched these crews without taking a stroke, the attention turned to bumps. With a crew assembled, featuring such fan favourites as Jon “Do You Even Go Here” Harris and Matthew “Are You Actually Still Here” Bergin amongst a smorgasbord of Fitzwilliam’s oldest and weariest, the bumping began. The dream of blades was immediately, cruelly taken away on the very first day due to a technical row-over caused by the frankly, now expected incompetence of Clare College.

After this unmitigated disaster, the crew went from strength to strength, with many no doubt inspired by the return of Fitzwilliam Sports Personality of the Year 2018 Thomas Franks-Moore on Day 3. Ably guided/tolerated by our wonderful cox, Jess, M3 embarrassed such titans of the river as Tit Hall M4, Queens M5 and Lady Margaret M5 [a boat only a number away from headship.]. This meant that M3 went plus 3, begging the question, “what would have happened if we entered as M4?”

As most of the crew takes their free retirement bus-pass their separate ways, the M3 torch must now pass to a new generation. I only hope that this bumps has inspired future rowers to say no to any sort of self-respect and prestige, and to say yes to proudly being 80th on the charts. Thanks to all who bought into the M3 dream, the many, many subs who bafflingly agreed to row with us in our TWELVE outings, and to everyone else who just put up with our nonsense. Cheers.

Gautam Vanu

W1 2018 May Crew

W1 & W2

The W2 boat didn’t get the result they deserved this term sadly.  Although they got spoons in bumps they have improved massively with a large focus on land training and more weekly outings than ever. The girls ended bumps with really good technique, sadly just a little lack of power due to size compared to the larger crews around them. They also experienced a little trauma being hit when they were stationary by Pembroke on the Friday of Bumps so it was great that they still raced impressively on the Saturday.

W1 had a very successful season, in the first race of the season champs head we beat Downing, Pembroke, Girton and Lady Margret W1 crews. Later in term in X-press head we entered a four using the new four John Eisold, that was named at the May Bumps naming ceremony. The four then won against Pembroke by over a minute. Bumps then sadly didn’t get off to the best start having overlap on the first day but not able to bump before Churchill bumped out in front of us leaving us to fight off Pembroke which sadly we did not succeed in. The rest of bumps was much more positive with a row over then a bump on Peterhouse and then another row over.

The Women then went as a Composite crew with 4 Fitzwilliam Women, one form Clare and Peterhouse and 2 from Newnham College to Henley Women’s Regatta where we rowed really well but sadly we were 13 seconds off qualification though we still beat all the other Cambridge colleges except Jesus.

Alisha Levermore