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Ho Hum,

Another weekend, another cancelled head and with the weather forecast to be so good to.

I believe the plan for Saturday is to do small boats and a 4 first thing, then for the Veteran Eight goes for an inaugural outing at 10:00. The Novices are meeting up at 9:00 with some ergs before going on the water at 10:00

On Sunday, the Seniors will be training in the Eight.

The next set of 5Km tests will take place on Tuesday, 27th February from 6 pm at the boat house. All the usual excuses to Rich who will regard them sympathetically.

Just a gentle reminder - Land Training in the form of the Tuesday night circuit is in full swing now - starts at 6 p.m. and lasts about an hour. Later in the season we shall follow the circuits with a quick technique outing mixing all ages and abilities.

On Thursday night there is a less structured session of Ergs, starting at 6 p.m. and for those who live not too far from Dursley, there are also circuits at the Leisure Centre starting at 6:30 and which last about an hour on Monday and Thursday night.

Here's the plan for the weekend. Paul Horsfall will be coaching on Sunday from 10:00, so please confirm if you will be able to make this session so that we can sought out boats and crews.

Saturday	07:30-09:45	4-	Aaron Squire Graham Hill Tim Barnet Rich Woods
		4+	Rosie (cox) Chris Richardson Martin Jones Dave Hook Jon Garner
	10:00-12:00	Novices and second outing - to be arranged
Sunday	07:30-09:45	Small boats
		4+	Rosie (cox) Chris Richardson Martin Jones Russell Thornton Jon Garner
	10:00-12:00	All	Coaching session

A meeting of all those wishing to row - novices, veterans and seniors - will be held in the boat club at 7.30 pm on Tuesday, 17th October. The purpose of the meeting will be to get a consensus of what we want to achieve, both individually and as a group over the next year.

Give some thought to what you want from this years training, what goals you have and events you want to compete in. Also think about what commitment you will be able (and prepared) to make to training on/off the water and how you might balance that with other calls on your time (family, work, holidays etc).

As importantly, give some thought to what other contribution you can make to the boat club either in helping to run it or helping out in other ways.

Following on from the Men's Squad meeting, this is the programme of tests to get the winter training under way.

• Tuesday August 29th from 1730 - 2k erg test, 40kg bench pull test.
• Saturday September 2nd from 0730 - short warm up outing then 5k erg test.
• Tuesday September 5th from 1800 - any remaining erg/bench pull tests as required.

Any club member who wishes to compete in men's squad crews in the 2006/7 season will be expected to complete the 3 tests over the above 3 sessions, please let me know if you will have problems doing so.
This year I will not consider erg scores that are achieved outside testing sessions; if people wish to cope with the pressure of rowing at a decent standard then they should be able to perform at set erg tests under the scrutiny of other squad members.
Provisional test programme is as follows;

• late October - 5k
• mid December - 2k
• late January - 5k
• early March - 2k

Further bench pull tests will be fitted in with the erg tests as necessary.
Another important date is Saturday 18th November for the IV's HOR in which I would like to enter a coxed and coxless boat. In addition, some scullers will want to race the autumn sculling heads and I would like the whole squad to compete in at least one local HOR in various crew combinations.
I hope this gives everyone an idea of what to expect over the next few months, if you have any questions please ask,
Rich