Back in Weybridge this week. It's windy and dark but still just warm enough to sit by the River Wey with a pint. Training tonight consisted of battling into a head wind past Walton to Sunbury loch - the Weybridge Silver Sculls course which coincidently is run in a few weeks. A thought about training in less than ideal conditions; while it's sensible to know your limits and avoid getting into difficulties, regattas and especially heads frequently coincide with wind and rain and it's comforting to know that your technique is robust enogh to cope with head winds and chop. Take advice if you lack experience but do venture out when the water isn't mill-pond smooth.
We had the AGM on Monday and it was refreshing to have some competition for a lot of the committee places, and for the captaincy - it's a healthy sign that people with differing ideas and emphasies are prepared to put themselves forward and that the membership is taking enough interest to come along and question the candidates.
Congratulations to all of the new committee members, and to those who were unsuccesful - your time will come!
There are a lot of changes coming through, particularly in the Junior Squad, and I'll cover these in the next few weeks.
For the moment, I'd like to welcome Paul Crumpton who has agreed to be Junior Coordinator, the Junior Committee, consisting of Jane Allen, Robert Dibley and Richard Waite, Stephen Rose and Andy Jones who have agreed to take the roles of treasurer and chairman, respectively. Please give these people your full support; they have a difficult job to do, they are unpaid volunteers and their efforts will ensure that the club succeeds, on and off the water.
I will also welcome the budding coaches who are helping to relieve the pressure on the squads, (self included).
A final note; my thanks to all of the officers and committee members who have served during the last year.
Russell Thornton 16th September 2009.
We had the AGM on Monday and it was refreshing to have some competition for a lot of the committee places, and for the captaincy - it's a healthy sign that people with differing ideas and emphasies are prepared to put themselves forward and that the membership is taking enough interest to come along and question the candidates.
Congratulations to all of the new committee members, and to those who were unsuccesful - your time will come!
There are a lot of changes coming through, particularly in the Junior Squad, and I'll cover these in the next few weeks.
For the moment, I'd like to welcome Paul Crumpton who has agreed to be Junior Coordinator, the Junior Committee, consisting of Jane Allen, Robert Dibley and Richard Waite, Stephen Rose and Andy Jones who have agreed to take the roles of treasurer and chairman, respectively. Please give these people your full support; they have a difficult job to do, they are unpaid volunteers and their efforts will ensure that the club succeeds, on and off the water.
I will also welcome the budding coaches who are helping to relieve the pressure on the squads, (self included).
A final note; my thanks to all of the officers and committee members who have served during the last year.
Russell Thornton 16th September 2009.
This week’s, (fortnight’s?) blog was conceived in Vienna, but is written in the more mundane surroundings of Egham.
Big news is the successful execution of the regatta – nearly everyone got to race, started and finished more or less on time and Gloucester won a few pots. Rumour has it that it even made a profit! Relatively few injuries - a dog attack and a sprained wrist as far as I'm aware. Lots of lessons to be learned to make next year’s event even slicker. A big thank you to all those whose help on the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday contributed to the success – I won’t mention you all by name, but will say that Jonathan Garner worked tirelessly before, during and after the regatta.
A valiant effort was made to capture the Victor Ludorum at Ross regatta over the same weekend, but we were spread too thinly to match Evesham’s dedicated attack, (I think they won it ...).
Having just returned from the FISA World masters at Vienna, I shall apologise to the rest of the club who suffered from a lack of boats last weekend. Fortunately only a problem once every couple of years or so.
Congratulations to Brian Nelson who won gold in an international vet J international four – that’s average age 80+. The rest of us covered every position from 2nd through to 7th. Weather started in the low 30’s, then poured with rain, followed by strong and gusty headwinds, before calming down on the last day. Notable was the effect on times – eights getting close to 3 minutes for the 1,000m Danube course one day and only just scraping below 4 minutes the next.
The junior squad is restarting in earnest this weekend with some new coaches and assistants – please give them all the help you can. Boating times and allocations for all squads remain the same as per the notice on the club house door. These will be revisited by the rowing committee as we approach the winter season.
Finally a reminder of the AGM on Monday – be there and influence how the club runs for the next year.
Russell Thornton 8th september 2009
Big news is the successful execution of the regatta – nearly everyone got to race, started and finished more or less on time and Gloucester won a few pots. Rumour has it that it even made a profit! Relatively few injuries - a dog attack and a sprained wrist as far as I'm aware. Lots of lessons to be learned to make next year’s event even slicker. A big thank you to all those whose help on the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday contributed to the success – I won’t mention you all by name, but will say that Jonathan Garner worked tirelessly before, during and after the regatta.
A valiant effort was made to capture the Victor Ludorum at Ross regatta over the same weekend, but we were spread too thinly to match Evesham’s dedicated attack, (I think they won it ...).
Having just returned from the FISA World masters at Vienna, I shall apologise to the rest of the club who suffered from a lack of boats last weekend. Fortunately only a problem once every couple of years or so.
Congratulations to Brian Nelson who won gold in an international vet J international four – that’s average age 80+. The rest of us covered every position from 2nd through to 7th. Weather started in the low 30’s, then poured with rain, followed by strong and gusty headwinds, before calming down on the last day. Notable was the effect on times – eights getting close to 3 minutes for the 1,000m Danube course one day and only just scraping below 4 minutes the next.
The junior squad is restarting in earnest this weekend with some new coaches and assistants – please give them all the help you can. Boating times and allocations for all squads remain the same as per the notice on the club house door. These will be revisited by the rowing committee as we approach the winter season.
Finally a reminder of the AGM on Monday – be there and influence how the club runs for the next year.
Russell Thornton 8th september 2009