The clocks have gone back and, surprise, surprise night rowing is in the dark! There are club rules for this - please make sure you know them before going out in the dark - should be a poster up in the club room somewhere.
Last weekend saw the Pairs Head of the River in London. Gloucester managed to enter six crews - three pairs and three doubles. Wycliffe and Pangbourne lent us boats for the race - thanks to Jonny Garrow and Beth Rodford. Conditions were reasonable, but the head wind took its toll among the more (and less) refined boats! For the record entries included IM2 2-, IM2 2x, IM3 2x and WIM2 2x.
This weekend Arran O'Dell, (Junior Squad Performance Coach) held a very useful session at the club during which he demonstrated (with Helen's help) and described the 'perfect stroke' and how to coach it. Much appreciated by those who attended, with a lot of positive feedback.
Ben was performing in Boston at the GB trials and produced an excellent 2K erg - 15th overall, and a fast run on the water - 30th overall. We'll let you know just how succesful he was.
And a small contingent represented the club at Weybridge Silver Sculls - unfortunately the sculls in question did not end up in Gloucester.
Next weekend we're running the Gloucester Long Distance Head - 7 km this year - it grows every year! Race is on Sunday, setting up on Saturday. All club senior members and as many juniors and parent helpers are needed to manage this. Not a big earner yet, but by creating a unique and well run event we hope to attract larger numbers in the future, as more clubs get to hear about it. Please be there and ready to help from 8 am.
Finally, my apologies to Annabelle and Gabriella for cutting their Sunday morning outing short - guess who didn't reset his watch ...
Russell Thornton 26th October 2009
Last weekend saw the Pairs Head of the River in London. Gloucester managed to enter six crews - three pairs and three doubles. Wycliffe and Pangbourne lent us boats for the race - thanks to Jonny Garrow and Beth Rodford. Conditions were reasonable, but the head wind took its toll among the more (and less) refined boats! For the record entries included IM2 2-, IM2 2x, IM3 2x and WIM2 2x.
This weekend Arran O'Dell, (Junior Squad Performance Coach) held a very useful session at the club during which he demonstrated (with Helen's help) and described the 'perfect stroke' and how to coach it. Much appreciated by those who attended, with a lot of positive feedback.
Ben was performing in Boston at the GB trials and produced an excellent 2K erg - 15th overall, and a fast run on the water - 30th overall. We'll let you know just how succesful he was.
And a small contingent represented the club at Weybridge Silver Sculls - unfortunately the sculls in question did not end up in Gloucester.
Next weekend we're running the Gloucester Long Distance Head - 7 km this year - it grows every year! Race is on Sunday, setting up on Saturday. All club senior members and as many juniors and parent helpers are needed to manage this. Not a big earner yet, but by creating a unique and well run event we hope to attract larger numbers in the future, as more clubs get to hear about it. Please be there and ready to help from 8 am.
Finally, my apologies to Annabelle and Gabriella for cutting their Sunday morning outing short - guess who didn't reset his watch ...
Russell Thornton 26th October 2009
The first 'Icicle Head' of the winter was run on Sunday. This was a modest event, run without the juniors who were recovering from Evesham, and timed by the first and last boats. Run over the normal head course in near perfect conditions, the arrangements worked well, and will hopefully be repeatable for longer distances and greater numbers. I'm not sure if the results are posted elsewhere, but I've included them below:
Beth 1x 20.11
Gerry 1x 19.28
Jon & Russell 2- 16.03
Kim 1x 18.52
Martin & Andy 2- 16.17
Rich 1x 15.55
Sam 1x 16.26
Sarah 1x 17.56
Steve 1x 16.5
Tim 1x 16.43
Toby & Dan 2- 16.06
W4+ 18.45
Congratulatiions to Brian Nelson on receiving the award for volunteer of the year:
"At the conference held on 26th September 2009, British Rowing was delighted to announce the Regional Volunteer of the Year Awards in recognition of the outstanding commitment and dedication demonstrated by each individual. Brian Nelson was awarded Volunteer of the Year for the WAGS region.Brian has been a member of Gloucester Rowing Club for over 60 years. He will give up whole days to help out and helps to maintain the clubhouse, doing DIY jobs, organising the servicing of equipment and opening up the boathouse. Brian has been actively involved with Project Oarsome from start to finish and regularly coaches junior club members, mans the safety launch and will cheerfully tow a trailer to a regatta at some unearthly hour if asked to do so. He was also an active umpire within WAGS until recently - he is a great person to have about, cheerful, helpful and supportive – a true all-round volunteer! "
Evesham senior head was cancelled last weekend, but the junior event went ahead and there were a number of wins and new course records set by Gloucester crews. I will add some of the more notable results when I have the information to hand.
Pairs head this Saturday - we have six boats entering from the men's and women's squads. I apologise to the rest of the club for hoovering up all the black doubles - I'll try and make sure they make it back in one piece. We've also had to borrow boats from Weybridge and Pangbourne, and my thanks go to them for helping us out.
Ben is running a boat maintennance course on Sunday - I recommend everyone attends this - either to help or to learn, or both! I believe it starts at 12.30 and runs for an hour and a half. Very much a hands-on session, and should lead to a better appreciation of how to care for our fleet, and to sorting some of the current problems with the boats.
Russell Thornton 14th October 2009
Beth 1x 20.11
Gerry 1x 19.28
Jon & Russell 2- 16.03
Kim 1x 18.52
Martin & Andy 2- 16.17
Rich 1x 15.55
Sam 1x 16.26
Sarah 1x 17.56
Steve 1x 16.5
Tim 1x 16.43
Toby & Dan 2- 16.06
W4+ 18.45
Congratulatiions to Brian Nelson on receiving the award for volunteer of the year:
"At the conference held on 26th September 2009, British Rowing was delighted to announce the Regional Volunteer of the Year Awards in recognition of the outstanding commitment and dedication demonstrated by each individual. Brian Nelson was awarded Volunteer of the Year for the WAGS region.Brian has been a member of Gloucester Rowing Club for over 60 years. He will give up whole days to help out and helps to maintain the clubhouse, doing DIY jobs, organising the servicing of equipment and opening up the boathouse. Brian has been actively involved with Project Oarsome from start to finish and regularly coaches junior club members, mans the safety launch and will cheerfully tow a trailer to a regatta at some unearthly hour if asked to do so. He was also an active umpire within WAGS until recently - he is a great person to have about, cheerful, helpful and supportive – a true all-round volunteer! "
Evesham senior head was cancelled last weekend, but the junior event went ahead and there were a number of wins and new course records set by Gloucester crews. I will add some of the more notable results when I have the information to hand.
Pairs head this Saturday - we have six boats entering from the men's and women's squads. I apologise to the rest of the club for hoovering up all the black doubles - I'll try and make sure they make it back in one piece. We've also had to borrow boats from Weybridge and Pangbourne, and my thanks go to them for helping us out.
Ben is running a boat maintennance course on Sunday - I recommend everyone attends this - either to help or to learn, or both! I believe it starts at 12.30 and runs for an hour and a half. Very much a hands-on session, and should lead to a better appreciation of how to care for our fleet, and to sorting some of the current problems with the boats.
Russell Thornton 14th October 2009
Summer is over and winter upon us. Well not quite yet, but it's getting colder and the canal is less inviting for a quick dip. (Is that possible?)
For those brave or careless enough to risk capsize, a bit of spare kit in a plastic bag is good to carry in the boat with you. We shall also start equipping launches with some motley old garments, (not just those worn by the coaches).
Juniors especially, ensure that you have suitable clothing for the outing - you will not be permitted to boat otherwise. And you still need to carry drinking water.
Gloucester entered the first head of the season at Monmouth. 2,125 metres on a beautiful warm day with near calm conditions and water so low that there were warnings about rocks and weed in the safety briefing. The large blue barrels used to mark the rocks were probably the bigger danger.
Congratulations to Kim, Carolina and Charlie for their novice wins. Also picking up medals were Andy and Martin at IM2 in their pair, and your's truly notching up another exciting Vet E win. It is worth mentioning that Kim was the second fastest women single sculler of the day, and after winning a 10k road race in the morning!
The juniors have been setting their season's baseline with 1 and 2 k ergs. Especially impressive were Dave Pollard's and Ben Marshall's times of 6.48 and 6.51 respectively. Something for the veteran's to aim at. (And perhaps some of the younger seniors ...)
Finally a welcome to Ben Rodford and Larissa Lowe who have agreed to being men's and women's squad Vice Captains. Look after them - it's a difficult job.
Russell Thornton 1st October 2009
For those brave or careless enough to risk capsize, a bit of spare kit in a plastic bag is good to carry in the boat with you. We shall also start equipping launches with some motley old garments, (not just those worn by the coaches).
Juniors especially, ensure that you have suitable clothing for the outing - you will not be permitted to boat otherwise. And you still need to carry drinking water.
Gloucester entered the first head of the season at Monmouth. 2,125 metres on a beautiful warm day with near calm conditions and water so low that there were warnings about rocks and weed in the safety briefing. The large blue barrels used to mark the rocks were probably the bigger danger.
Congratulations to Kim, Carolina and Charlie for their novice wins. Also picking up medals were Andy and Martin at IM2 in their pair, and your's truly notching up another exciting Vet E win. It is worth mentioning that Kim was the second fastest women single sculler of the day, and after winning a 10k road race in the morning!
The juniors have been setting their season's baseline with 1 and 2 k ergs. Especially impressive were Dave Pollard's and Ben Marshall's times of 6.48 and 6.51 respectively. Something for the veteran's to aim at. (And perhaps some of the younger seniors ...)
Finally a welcome to Ben Rodford and Larissa Lowe who have agreed to being men's and women's squad Vice Captains. Look after them - it's a difficult job.
Russell Thornton 1st October 2009