Category: News

Two alumni crews graced the Fairbairn Cup this year, with a third (2010 women) sadly having to pull out at the last minute.

The Presidents VIII, though missing the current President, did boast a past President and a future President. Carole Burton Wright (President 2015-18) coxed, with David Wright (elected President Dec 2024) at stroke. Ian Clarke (President 2021-24) was going to join us to race in the Winter Head on Saturday 7th but that was cancelled due to the weather.

The perennial fear that someone would oversleep our traditional dawn practice outing proved unfounded (as always) and we had a paddle down to the bottom of the river to look at the race finish. We managed to find a decent rhythm, though there was some doubt about whether the race rating should start with a 3 or a 2. In the end we settled for a respectable 28 and got back to the boathouse in good time for some of the crew to rush back to their hotel for a quick breakfast.

Crew – Carole Burton, David Wright, Neil Gardner, Clive Woodman, Tom Watt, Dan George, Andrew Goulden, John Roberts, David Birtwhistle

Suitably refreshed we re-convened ready to slot in at position 255. We were a bit concerned to see an Oxford College crew behind us but luckily they left a large gap and, in the end, did not overtake us until grassy corner. Carole’s shouts of “you’re making them angry because they can’t pass you” drove us on (and hopefully upset them!) and in the end we finished in a creditable 17:42.7, beating 7 crews and a mere 4:07.2 behind the University crew that won it.

This was a G crew and it would have been interesting to race in the Winter Head against opposition of the same age but sadly it was not to be. Thanks to Ian Clarke, Piers Copham and Tom Swallow who were ready to step in for those who could not stay for the Saturday.

The Billygoats AGM and Dinner took place on Saturday 7th and a good time was had by all.

FCBC 1990s & 2020s

The idea of getting a 1990s Billygoats crew out for the Fairbairns arose a few months ago when Pete, Dom, and Rob (and a few other non-rowers from the 1990s) met up in London for a drink.  Eventually, in September this started to become a reality as more 1990s Billygoats were recruited.  Unfortunately, not quite a full boat was recruited, however there was also a 2020s Billygoats crew forming with a similar problem.  So the two merged, and a boat (with a spare) was formed a few weeks before the race.

The evening before, some of us met up for a curry to begin fuelling up for the race.  Rob (our cox) was called into work at the last moment, so would have to drop out.  With lightning reaction speed, Aurora Barrera James (FCBC Captain of Boats) is able to recruit a replacement for Rob.  Our pre-race preparation of a couple of drinks and curry done, we retire for the evening.

The crew meets up on race day for a 7am rig check and pre-race paddle.  Aurora coxes this early morning row, and her excellent cox-seat coaching helped gel the crew into a smooth unit.  The paddle goes well, we end up rowing all the way down to Baitsbite and with the builds and bursts we put in, it’s like we’ve never been away.  After the paddle, many of us head over to Tishka’s café nearby for a welcome breakfast.

Come race time, we are placed towards the end of Division 2.  We boat in Jonathan Price II with race cox Megan Tubb (current FCBC member).  We set off with a strong (if a little rocky) start, and settle into a good pace.  Drama then unfolds at the Gasworks where we catch up with a Crustaceans’ crew (Christ’s alumni).  Oars clashed, words were exchanged (mainly coming from the Crustaceans), and then we followed them slowly just past the Green Dragon bridge where we could cleanly overtake.  The remainder of the row was gutsy, and the finish was welcome!

The result: Officially, due to attempting to overtake before the Green Dragon bridge, we were Disqualified!  The unofficial result was 16:42 (including ‘stoppage’ time), and even less official was our subjective estimate that the stoppage cost us at least 40 seconds.  Ofcourse, the main result is that we enjoyed getting back into a Fitz boat, rowing the old course.  We’ll be back, and next time will make sure there’s a larger gap in front before we set off.

Crew line up:

B: Mark Taylor (1990), 2: Jonathan Kerl (2020), 3: Peter Matthews (1991), 4: Babak Eftekhari (1990), 5: Clark Cossin (2022), 6: Peter Maynes (2011), 7: Dom Adair (1991), Str: Neil McCulloch (1990), Cox: Megan Tubb (sub for Rob Clemmitt (1991)), Spare: Gautham Venu (2014)

Simon Cole (1978) writes:

2024 marked the 15th year in which a Billygoats crew has taken part in the Rhine Marathon with a break only during lockdown. 

The crew was similar in makeup to the previous year with Clive Woodman (1977), Neil Gardner (1977), our master analogist Roly Beevor (1977) (“imagine you are pushing back against a barn door” being the theme for 2024) and Simon Cole. Once again, we were expertly steered and corralled by our very own Billygoat on the Rhine, Wolfgang Wacke.

The conditions for the race could hardly have been better with clear, bright weather, what little wind there was blowing from the optimum quarter and a raging stream. Our boat this year was built more for comfort than for speed, the only slight speed-limiting factor.

We sculled steadily through the race. As always on the Rhine, a particular challenge is maintaining effective technique through the wash created by the commercial traffic on the river and in bouncy conditions our boat Albatros sometimes behaved more like a bucking bronco.

We were pleased with our finishing time of 2h 27m 30s for the 42 kilometre course which placed us 6th out of 8 in our Masters G group, 10^th out of the 21 overseas crews taking part and 120^th out of the total of 164 crews.

We had held our traditional training weekend per year in Cambridge shortly before the race. We were very grateful to Tony Moule for making the Adrian Tollett available to us for the weekend (a touching reminder for those of who had rowed with Adrian in the previous Fairbairns) and to Pok-man Ho for coxing us on a River Cam teeming with other users.”

Neil added:

And of further note, this year’s stern three were the same as sat in the 1980 May’s 1st Boat!

Billy Beef!

If only we had a photo!

1984 & more – Sat 2pm

Over the Reunion weekend of Sept 28/29 2024, an ecletic (electric?) mix of half an eight of 1984, two current/recent students, Sally (1979) and Glen (1962, all the way from Canada!), met at the stunning boathouse. It was the most glorious of Autumn days – the sun shines on the righteous?

The run up to the outing was taken seriously, with John putting in daily sessions on the ergo in his bedroom, Richard completing a punishing series of early morning runs (culminating in the Ealing half marathon the day after our outing), Graeme cycling up the Tourmalet for some high-altitude training, and Martin doubling up on his on-line Pilates. On the day, Carole Burton (1984), cox, briefed the crew and under her watch we gingerly manoeuvred the shell (we loved the sliders out of the rack) onto the water and in the necessary wellies popped her in the water.  Unfortunately, Sally also popped into the water as the Cam was over the bank from recent floods and she forget to seek out the edge in her wellies. Sadly, we don’t have a photo. Graeme ambitiously applied copious tape to his hands, whilst many of us marvelled at the lightness of the blades and the comfort of the handles. 

Under the watchful eye of adopted coach for the day, Ian Clarke (1984), the crew paddled upstream and conducted the first of our two turns. From there, with graduate student Rob stroking, the crew had a glorious row down back past the boathouse supporters, downstream to just short of the Plough. Carole and Ian’s measured and nicely put coaching was marvelous, and there were a few nirvanic pieces where the boat glided along.

On the return, we undertook one piece of ‘work’, but in the main Rob kept us focused on slow and smooth rating under 20, as Sally dried out slowly at Bow.  The river, of course, had been developed since our day, particularly on the Chesterton bank. It seemed more magical than all those years ago.  Glen explained that the secret to his long sporting career has been a daily open water swim in his local lake, so that’s something we need to consider in the run up to our next outing in 2034.

Glen said: I am still exhilarated by this row – 60 years on!! Heavy wooden oars and clinker boats have been replaced by featherweight oars, and boats that even seniors can toss up over their head.  It took a long time to get the rhythm back, but the younger members of the boat were very patient!!   Let’s do it again!  

Str    Rob (current student)

7       Richard Hooke (1984)

6       Kes (just graduated)

5       John Driscoll (1984)

4       Graeme Purdy (1984)

3       Glen Norcliffe (1962)

2       Martin Caldwell (1984)

Bow Sally Howes (1979)

Cox Carole Burton (1984)

The group owe their thanks to all who made this happen. This includes Carole, Dan, Ian, Tony and Melody at the Development Office. 

2004 with a bit of 2014 – Sat 10.30am

On the morning after their reunion dinner on Friday evening the 2004 and 2014 vintages combined for an outing.

Helen writes:

As much as visits to watch bumps are wonderful for feeling back involved in the sport that took up so much of our lives at Fitzwilliam College, there is nothing quite comparable to being back in a boat ourselves; sat on the Cam with the familiar sounds of catches splashing and finishes clunking. The alumni of 2014 and 2004 had a blast coming together for our outing on Saturday morning. We were very fortunate that, for once, the sunshine joined us and aggressive swans did not. A few sat strokes, the calls of a cox who you’d think had only retired yesterday, and the reach to ourselves, gave us the perfect toe dipped back into the sport so dear to all our hearts and so greatly missed. It probably helped our enjoyment levels this outing was also a rare combination of not at 6am, nor in sub-zero temperatures, nor with overdue essays hanging over us. Thank you to all those who made it possible for us.

Cox Eleanor said “I hope we’d have had to pull blades in to avoid crashing rather less frequently if I had only retired yesterday!”

Crew list:

Eleanor Brown 2004

Helen Fishwick 2014

Megan  Brook 2004

Alexandra Karavla-Webster 2004

Fiona Ball 2004

Sam Brown 2004

Maddy Iqbal 2004

Alexandra Lazou 2004

Thomas Franks-Moore 2014

Sam sent this vintage photo of the 2004 women’s novice crew, 5 of whom rowed at the reunion.

The Rhine Marathon is back in the calendar as a Billygoats fixture and 2023 saw a slight change in personnel. Neil Gardner and Clive Woodman were competing for the 12th and 11th times respectively, our President Ian Clarke for the second year and Simon Cole came in for Roly Beevor.

Our programme started with a weekend training session in Cambridge after which our preparations took a more idiosyncratic turn with Ian powering his coastal scull down the River Avon, Simon shoveling several tonnes of topsoil, Neil climbing a Munro and touring the Basque Country and Clive honing his sculling technique riding a motorbike 3,500km through northern India (pictured).

Wolfgang Wacke (surely now a de facto Billygoat) coxed us once again and we all feel profoundly grateful to have an expert at the helm to steer us safely through the Rhine’s commercial shipping.

Conditions were more benign than in 2022. The nature of the course means that crews are almost certain to face headwinds over at least some of the 42kms. 2023 was no exception but the fact that the wind freshened over the day was compensation for a very early wake-up call.

Clive Woodman took the stroke seat and settled us quickly into the now signature Billygoat Rhine Marathon rhythm. We have learned over the years how to negotiate the sometimes spectacular wake created by the Rhine barges – surfing skills would not go amiss – and persevered well through the more challenging parts of the race.

It says something about the scale of the challenge that the crew builds for the finish from 5 kms out. It was a well-judged effort and we all reckoned we had run the tank dry by the finish line.

We were satisfied with our 2h 40.47m time which placed us 82^nd= out of a total field of 161 crews, 5^th out 20 overseas crews and 6^th out of 8 crews in our Masters F age category. We are still two rungs below the oldest age category and are all keen to see the next generation of Billygoats emerge for this unique event. The camaraderie of the competitors and the hospitality of the race organisers, Ruderclub Germania Düsseldorf 1904, make it an unforgettable experience.”