2+ FUN, BROOKES’S HRR WIN, CLUBS PREPARE FOR NEW SEASON August 14 2014

There were three in the bed, and the little one said, “Let’s go and make a video!”

Great Britain’s coxed pair of Scott Durant, Alan Sinclair and cox Henry Fieldman have produced a very funny account of a “typical day in training” that has been doing the rounds on Twitter this week but deserves a wider audience.

We *think* the screaming hoards are girls eager to see their heroes, rather than children seeking overdue maintenance payments. Not completely clear in the video, though.

The coxed pair has gained a sort of cult status in the 22 years since it was dropped from the Olympic programme and the British boys are one of 12 entrants in the event  at the World Championships in Amsterdam at the end of the month. 

Chief among the 12 are the Kiwi Pair, Bond and Murray, who have finally confirmed their plans to double up in the coxed and coxless boats, putting their 18-event unbeaten streak on the line by adding an extra challenge.

If all goes to plan, the New Zealanders will race on Sunday, Thursday and Saturday in the coxless pair and on Monday and Friday with Caleb Shepherd in the coxed boat.

 

Brookes’s Henley win from the cox’s seat

Cox Rory Copus is already famous in rowing YouTube circles for his videos with coxbox soundtracks. His montage from Abingdon School's Henley 2009 quarter-final win over Belmont Hill has earned over 35,000 views and a legion of schoolboy admirers. Here's the sequel, recording a historic occasion.

No British crew had won Henley's Temple Challenge Cup for university eights since 2006. It was Oxford Brookes back then and they did it again this year, beating Brown University's freshmen by clear water. This video features Rory's trademark eff-and-blind somewhere around Remenham. It's worth watching right to the end too.

“Ten months, every erg, every session, together …”

 

Brits grab medals at Junior Worlds

Great Britain won silver medals in the men’s four and quad, plus bronze in the women’s quad in rough conditions in Hamburg to finish sixth on the medal table at the World Junior Championships.

Hosts Germany topped the table with seven gold medals – including a resounding 21-second win for single sculler Tim Ole Naske - and a feature on the World Rowing website gave a small insight into their methods, including more time together as a squad and a focus on the club system. School terms and Henley Regatta make that more difficult for the Brits.

Chris Lawrie and Anna Thornton are both now in Nanjing, China, as GB’s only rowing representatives at the Youth Olympic Games.

A week earlier, Great Britain finished second overall in the Coupe de la Jeunesse, a second-tier European team event.

 

Scots rock, again!

A week after their table-topping performance at the Home International Regatta, Scotland were top nation at the Commonweath Regatta, on home water at Strathclyde Park.

In a format that included races over 1500 and 500m, plus lots of doubling up, the Scots won nine gold medals, four silvers and two bronzes. Angus Groom (of Glasgow via Leander) was the most successful athlete with four golds - in open and sprint singles and in the open and sprint doubles with Lewis McCue of Robert Gordon University.

England were hot on Scotland's heels with 15 medals of their own, but only five of them gold. Meanwhile Wales were happy with their haul of 10 medals as it was more than three-times their pre-event target. The Welsh also won the exhibition mixed-eights race to finish the event.

 

Rowing war hero remembered

As part of the events to mark the outbreak of the First World War this week double Olympic champion Steve Williams, presented a programme on BBC Radio 5 Live remembering Fredrick Septimus Kelly, a rower and sculler who won eight Henley medals and an Olympic gold in 1908.

The result is what the blog Hear the Boat Sing calls "an atmospheric and moving insight into a very complex personality". It’s available on iPlayer until Sunday.

 

Moon row

A quick update on the Kariba Moon Row, which featured in the last edition of The Rowlup: The 12-strong team managed to navigate their three boats 250km across Lake Kariba in Zambia in a non-stop overnight trip. Next up is a further 250km through the Lower Zambezi game reserve.

Looks like Alex really did need more calluses!

 

Get set for next season

The 2013/14 season isn’t over yet but already clubs are putting plans in place for 2014/15. Highest-profile movers so far are London RC who, after three years without a Henley Royal win, have appointed Olympian Pete Hardcastle as their fourth successive Australian head coach. Hardcastle has been at Emanuel School for the last four years and his full-time base in the UK appealed to the club after Nick Lloyd returned home after his first year at the helm.

Further along the embankment, Vesta RC have named Tideway veteran Rusty Williams as their director of rowing, leading a volunteer coaching team of 13. It is not immediately clear whether Zac, Rusty’s Alsatian, will join his master downriver or continue to coach regular outings with the University of London. (There’s more about both of them in this UL video).

We asked clubs to get in touch with arrangements, open days and details of recruitment drives for the new season. Here are a few. If you want to publicise what your club is doing, leave a comment at the bottom or get in touch on Twitter.

 

Abingdon RC

 

Auriol Kensington RC

 

Barnes Bridge Ladies RC

 

Cambridge University Lightweights RC 

 

London RC 

 

Molesey BC

 

Newcastle University BC

 

Parrs Priory RC 

 

Quintin BC

 

Vesta RC

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