The novice eight, most of whom came to the club through last summer's course, have been steadily progressing under the coaching of Andrew Maunder. Finishing a respectable 297th overall, the guys were seventh in the NovC category and will be pleased to see that only one of our Tideway neighbours, Vesta, were better placed, and only by four seconds.
The annual three way competition between the Hammersmith clubs: Sons, Auriol and Kensington and Furnival has been reinvigorated in recent years. Sons lost to Furnivall by one point in 2013, and there the shield stayed for two years because the fixture was abandoned in 2014 due to bad weather. This year, Sons mobilised every rower to put an extra eight on the water which, as it turned out, proved crucial. We won by a single point over AK who, it has to be said, clocked the fastest times for both the men's and women's eights.
Sons has traditionally been a small club with an 'include all' philosophy. Much of the competitive men's and women's squad crews coming through our annual 'Learn to Row', run by Andrew Maunder.
2012 was an unprecedented year - successes by Team GB in the rowing events, created huge interest from individuals wanting to learn how to row. As a result, Sons ran two courses to meet the demand. 2013 was also feeling the effects of the Olympic legacy, prompting Sons again to run two courses, something we'd never done before.
We were delighted when we were invited to put a squad forward, comprising our 2012 and 2013 learn to row members, to compete in the All-Party Parliamentary Rowing Group (APPRG) boat race. The race has been going for some years, but previously the entry was restricted to a few Putney clubs and some juniors. This year the invitation was extended to all the local clubs to submit crews comprising of development crews inspired by the Olympics.
Sons entry was accepted and our eight was drawn against London Rowing Club. The crew was to comprise of four members from the 2012 Learn to Row course, and four from the 2013 Learn to Row course, with Peter Horton coxing.
However, as with all events, there was added drama: One of the crew from the 2012 course was unable to row, and Ben's partner who was due some weeks after 12th June gave birth several weeks earlier. Luckily we were able to line up subs to fill their seats.
Due to the 2012 and 2013 intakes being in different coaching squads, there were limited opportunities to train together as the racing crew. In the end we managed the Sunday before race day, with a pre-race outing before rowing the boat to the trailer for towing to Vauxhall.
The boat was rigged down a back street, with the crew carrying it under a railway bridge and stopping four lanes of traffic to launch on a commercial slipway alongside MI6. The race course was between Tate Britain and Millbank Tower, a stretch of river none of the crew had rowed on before, which is renowned for being difficult due to commercial traffic.
When it was Sons turn to race, the crew lined up against London Rowing Club. The crew got a very good start despite the taxing conditions and were immediately half a length up, allowing the crew to relax and enjoy the rowing.
They remained calm when they hit rough water passing under Lambeth Bridge, coping well with the conditions, and were eventually able to win the race.
he crew span and landed on the specially constructed pontoon by the House of Lords, where they enjoyed a champagne reception and afternoon tea on the House of Lords terrace - in very wet rowing kit...
After the medal presentations, the Sons' 8+ boated and rowed back to the club, taking advantage of the glorious weather.
This was a phenomenal opportunity for the club, and greatly enjoyed by all who took part. The success and strength of the Learn to Row courses lies with Andrew Maunder, who has been running them for several years.
No one forgets their first win do they? And it's always good to see people progressing from our learn to row course into club racing. A good day for the Sons coxed four at Bourne Regatta 2014. Thanks to Charles for the write up.
I took the Learn to Row course in Summer 2013 and after 10 months of practice was desperate to pull on my brand new all-in-one ‘in anger’.
Our coach, Lju, decided to enter a Novice Four for the Borne Regatta on the 10th May. The crew included Andrew, who took the Learn to Row a few weeks after me and two Davids, both of whom were significantly more experienced, and rowed with sublime finesse (to my eye) but were also Novices, having not yet won a regatta.
Our first outing as a coxed four wasfive days before the race. We’d spent months practising our sculling, but hadn’t done much sweep rowing for ages. Nevertheless, we felt pretty good straight away - although our racing starts were fairly erratic.
On arrival at Mortlake on the morning of the 10th May, we were told our opponents had scratched so we would have a ‘row-over’- a concept with which I was previously unfamiliar. It seemed quite pointless but we ‘raced’ ourselves down the course and progressed to the next round.
Our opponents in the semis would be Kings College School Canterbury. I was delighted; they were mere school boys – how good could they be? And they only looked about twelve! My more experienced team-mates, David and David, looked slightly concerned. Apparently schoolboys trained every day before lessons and were often pretty quick.
This proved to be the case; they were off like a rat up a drainpipe but we kept up and raced neck and neck down Chiswick reach. The umpire kept warning both crews to move back to our stations and Peter, our cox, began crying, ‘They’re cheating!’ When we crossed the line, I didn’t know who’d won but I did see the red flag of the umpire. Kings College had crossed the line half a length ahead but were immediately disqualified for cutting the corner. Without winning a round, we were in the final!
The final would be against Quintin, the local boys, who had destroyed another school crew in their semis and looked pretty good to me. Lju, however, was confident that we could beat them, but we’d have to push hard.
Approximately eight hours after we’d met that morning to practice our starts, our final began. We started well, relaxed into our strokes and by half way, I could see were edging ahead. Their cox called for power strokes but this had little impact, we moved even further ahead. By the time, we crossed the line a length and a quarter ahead and I was nearly passing out.
It was great to be cheered on and congratulated by so many members of Sons, who were there to race and spectate; many of whom had helped on the Learn to Row course and have been so encouraging ever since.
I saw club captain Drago shortly after our final and asked him if he thought we looked good, he looked slightly pained and said, “Well… you won.”
I would strongly recommend the Learn to Row course and if you like it (which you will) would strongly recommend joining this club.
Cox: Peter Horton | Stroke: David Preec | Charles Oulton | Andrew James | B: David Bedford
Coach: Lju Lazarevic
Written by Charles Oulton.
With variously sized athletes and just the one practice, our Vet Eight crew in Mixed C couldn't really expect too much from the VHORR. As it turned out they nearly won the pennant. Solid technique all the way down the boat showed in a well co-ordinated, efficient-looking crew. Many thanks to Lju for chronicling the day and feeding the Google monster.
I'm not entirely sure what prompted me to send an email around suggesting a mixed 8 for vets head, it may have been the lack of a head race in a big boat for the first time since learning to row almost 3 years ago, or the opportunity to race with seasoned rowers with years of experience. Regardless, I was pretty much expecting replies along the lines of "sorry, family commitments that day" or "I think I'll give that one a miss". So you can imagine my surprise when everybody agreed!
Planning for what happened next was looking a bit thin: we had 7 rowers, no cox, and I was fully aware of the fact we may not even have a boat due to rentals (a special mention should be made to Sam and Drago – they raised a tidy sum for the club). Practice outings were looking nigh-on impossible: I also had commitments elsewhere pretty much every weekend for some Bruce and Steve were in a similar predicament given their jet-setting jobs. Thankfully Dave kindly stepped up and coordinated one of the club boats that hadn't been rented out, some blades, and our 8th rower: Brad. Peter kindly offered to cox us, so all that was lacking was our first outing together as a crew.
Several email exchanges later it was clear that the only practice outing we would get would be the morning of HoRR, the day before our race. As we were getting the Julian Tanner ready we regaled in tales of manic, last-minute erg sessions to preserve fitness, (or not!). The more pressing matter in my mind was whether the boat would be big enough for Brad. Luckily it was!
Despite never rowing together, our first ever outing was a delight; as if we'd been rowing together for years. We landed back in the pontoon in high spirits, feeling considerably more hopeful about how the race would turn out, almost optimistic. As is the Son's tradition, we had a celebratory fry-up at the Hammersmith Cafe.
Race day! Given the cancellation of HoRR, there was concern that our race would also be scratched. We were greeted with glorious sunshine and a very flat looking Thames. There was some debate about whether or not there should be a warm-up... In the end we just trundled down to our marshalling position.
Marshalling was a treat – it must have been some of the most civil, friendly fellow competitors to be queuing up with for the start line.
The glorious sunshine that shone all around put aside any anxiety of delays to the race starting. The delays did seem to have some negative effects on some of the other masters’ crews. We did our best to look away… Of course there was always the obligatory crew that was looking a tad lost in the marshalling area prompting some friendly jeering.
Eventually it was our turn as we span and started down the course. Despite some protests at the thought of sitting at rate 30 by the crew (including me!), Bruce fired out a steady rhythm, and we happily tapped away at rate 31 for the entire race. Our solid start enabled us to glide past a crew soon enough. But never it be said you can have a race without drama. One of the earlier boats, on its way back to Putney having finished racing decided that it would hurtle towards us... Some clever steering from Peter prevented a head-on collision. The mass of wash flying towards us from a somewhat annoyed marshal did help to recreate the tideway experience we all know and love/loathe…
Undaunted, we continued on our way, passing another boat. No other incidents made themselves known as we crossed the finishing line, being teased by the prospect of the chance of passing another boat.
Even heading back to the club was treated as a mission, with Peter getting us back at lightning pace. The emotion in the boat running high – and we wanted those results… 5 minutes ago.
We managed to remain patient, and we were rewarded with an impressive finish: 49th out of 210 starters, and 2nd in our category, just 6 seconds off a pennant. Not too shabby for a scratch crew!
Cox: Peter Horton | Stroke: Bruce | Steve | Brad | Dave | Sanne | Karry | Ruth | Bow: Lju
The road to WeHORR 2014 started in September with a few changes in the coaching team. Two of the coaches that helped us win our Novice pots had to take a step back, with Paul being swamped with work and Cat having baby Emma, a future cox! Luckily for us, Allen decided to coach at Sons again, assisted by Jan and Craig.
Soon, we were enduring our erg sessions – I’d call them necessary torture – and the early weekend double water sessions with plenty of layers of clothing that made us look like the female versions of Bibendum. But as they say, you do your winter training to prepare for summer racing
.Early on, the goal for the winter season was set – improve our 2013 result, where the fastest WNOV 8+ had finished 159; and finish in the Top 150. We followed Allen’s training plan, listened to his instructions (yes, with some moaning and complaining involved at times…). Eventually, we started to notice that the boat was moving differently, faster, even and we were getting positive feedback from our coaching team and even from coaches from other clubs.
The crew was selected to race but the whole squad kept training because you never know if someone needs to be replaced, due to injury or lack of performance…
15th March 2014 was our main goal and we were all looking forward to it. The day came and we met in the Boardroom to keep ourselves away from the madness of having 16 visiting crews boating from Sons. The spirits were high and we were all buzzing, looking forward to rowing amongst Olympians. This was an experience of a lifetime: to be able to see rowers like Katherine Grainger or Helen Grover racing past us while we awaited our turn to do the same.
We had our instructions – push bl**dy hard, keep in your bubble and do your own race. We knew the Thames was going to be very busy, with 249 crews marshalling and racing. But our cox Sandra kept us away from trouble while mayhem was going around us. We spotted Allen on his bike and cracked a few jokes at his expense because during the last 2 Head Races (Fours Head and Quintin) he either barely kept up with us or lost us completely. We told him to start cycling 10 minutes ahead of our start to try to keep up…
When our turn to start got closer, we were told to remove any spare kit and get ready to spin and race. Personally, when rowing in a crew, I always need to make sure that the whole boat knows we’re in it together so I ‘pass it round’ from the cox to the bow and that’s what we did. It reassures me and even calms my nerves.
The race was one of our best; we did our own thing, replaying Allen’s words of ‘fire in the belly, ice in the mind’ found our rhythm and kept it for 6.8K, each stroke baking up the previous one. We overtook 2 crews along the way and came even with a 3rd boat by the finish line. We were ecstatic and when the ‘winding down’ call came from Sandra, we there was a mixture of pain, need for oxygen and exhilaration that the Head Season had come to an end. “Bring on summer racing” came through the speakers and, oh boy, are we looking forward to side by side racing!
We finished 98th overall, which, for a boat that includes 2 people that have never done the Championship course, 3 people that only started to row last season, 1 that has 2 seasons of rowing and a couple of more experienced rowers, it’s a fantastic result. I’m definitely looking forward to regatta season with this squad!
We would like to thank our coaches, past and present, our supporters on the bank that cheered us on and helped us along the way and the rest of the squad, who, although there can only be 8 rowers in an 8+, were there with us along the way. It’s a team effort and every one of us matters.
Our crew was: Cox – Sandra; Stroke – Babs; 7 – Jess; 6 – Jen P.; 5 – Colleen; 4 – Daisy; 3 – Jen B.; 2 – Clare; Bow – Susi
P.S – Are you wondering about Allen? Wel… we lost him by Barnes Bridge and he started WAYYYYYY ahead of us. He’s now started his summer training with us to try to keep up…
The first few minutes of the sculler's head can sometimes feel like you're not pushing on enough. It is too easy to blast through Chiswick Bridge only to have your legs scream out in protest, then quit entirely.
My plan was to set off and find a race rhythm, perhaps concentrate on a few technical points, just keep everything under control and relaxed. However, head races are about catching the boat in front and not being caught by anyone. So when I realised the chap behind me was matching my boat speed, all plans for relaxation and control were abandoned. I was going to have to work to keep this guy at a safe distance.
It was around Barnes bridge was when my internal dialogue (read: shouting match) really started. "Maybe you should slow down and not worry about being overtaken". "Nonsense, this is a race, no one is allowed to overtake you". So naturally I tried to go faster and push away from the sculler behind me. That's when the red flags started to appear.
Almost half way into the race and things generally got quite uncomfortable. My heart had been bouncing off the rev limiter for 10 minutes, that all too familiar burn in the legs had found its way into every other muscle in my body. I'm asking for more power, but all I'm getting are apologies. Is this what I signed up for? Well, apparently, yes.
Next land mark is Hammersmith bridge. It's "downhill" from there - I thought before the race. But you have to trust me when I tell you that in fact, along the Fulham reach, the river actually goes uphill quite steeply and time slows down. I was entering what many athletes describe as "a hole". A deep, dark and inhospitable hole. I was trying to make minor adjustments to steering and technique. But my body, now acting autonomously, wasn't responding.
As I passed the black buoy, the final land mark before the finish, the internal dialogue became one single word, repeated over and over with each stroke. "Survive, survive, survive". I'm still not sure if it was meant to be an instruction or a plea. The last few strokes were completed, I passed Putney pier and the world collapsed around me. Marshals are telling you to keep paddling through the bridge, they make it sound so easy. I wasn't sure if I would make it through the bridges, I really had no idea how I was going to make it to the club.
Immediately after the race I was telling anyone who asked that I would never do that again. It took a full day of rest to recover physically and apparently mentally too. I'm already planning on entering again next year.
Finishing second for the club in 180th was Greg, last year's club sculling champion with another strong performance. Just a few seconds behind was Eoin with a massive improvement over his finish postion last year. Well done, but where was Niall? Les also broke into the top 200, securing business class starting position for next year, in Mas E. Our other vets - James, Dave and Stephen all sculled well and improved on their positions from last year. Good going everyone. All we lacked were female athletes this year, but with the women's squad in good shape I'm sure we'll see some in future years.
Oxford City Regatta is the last of the season, and turned out to be a good one. A number of crews were involved in some close racing, and with a little luck our pot haul could have been higher. As it was we didn't do badly with wins for Babs in WIM3 1x, and three for Sam in a complete set of small boat races: single scull, the double with Jose, above, and the pair with Drago. Thanks to Lucy and Babs for their write ups.
Lucy's Race:
On Sunday of Oxford City Regatta I decided to take part in my first ever single Scull race. After 7 years of rowing I have only ever rowed in crew boats. I have raced in all classes but I have never stepped into a single for a race. I knew that training for a scull race would be very different. I had to think alone, act alone and only I was accountable for what happened during my race. Rowing up to the start line was lonely yet relaxed. I tried to think of things that would calm me down and keep me focused and thinking of the finish line and making my coaches proud calmed me down as much as I needed to be whilst I was getting onto the stake boats. I started the race of very slow but my opposition was a little more clued up on things and she was away pretty fast. I knew I had to use the next 400m to catch up of which I did. I managed to keep her stern in my sights the whole distance until the last 100m when she made a push and I just couldn’t keep up. I crossed the line behind her and after a brief discussion with my opposition she congratulated me on my race and I upon reflection was able to be happy with my performance. Racing in a single scull requires a different mindset of which I am yet to acquire. Unlike other athletes at the club who are extremely good at racing alone, I think I shall stick to what I am good at get myself back into big boats next season.
Sons offers affordable rowing to men and women aged from 18 to 80. A volunteer-led club, Sons continues to provide a welcoming and friendly base for novice and experienced rowers to develop in the sport.
The remit of Sons continues to be competitive rowing and this year has been no exception with over 170 individual race entries at 30 events across the head and regatta seasons. This is an increase of over 70% of the average annual entries between 2007 and 2012. Rowing outings logged this season once again passed the 1500 mark (at an average of 3 people per outing) which equates to approximately 86 individual water sessions each week.
Sons continues to be a place where sporting participation is thriving, and where competitiveness is being continually developed.
Squad Rowing and Racing
It was a tale of two squads for the respective men’s and women’s sections of the Club this year, following two very different seasons in 2012. The men were looking to build upon and maintain the success of qualifying two boats in to the Henley Royal Regatta in 2012, whereas the women were looking to build on the core 2012 squad following the back to back migrations and retirements of squad athletes following the success of the 2010 and 2011 squads.
For the men, whilst the ultimate aim of a Henley qualification was just missed, successes can still be drawn from the performance of the squad throughout the season. Two boats were entered for the Head of the River Race (although this was eventually cancelled) and the squad returned to Plovdiv for the 3rd successive year, with resultant performance improvements at both the Metropolitan and Marlow Regattas. The men’s squad had 18 athletes participating throughout the season.
The women’s squad finished 2012 with a small but dedicated squad and have spent the year expanding through new members and integrating the 2012 novices, to the point where they now number 25 members. The success of this process has been noticeable with several women’s boats hitting the water on most weekends throughout the season. Two crews were entered and raced at the Women’s Head of the River and there were several noticeable victories at the summer regattas, with Sons crews picking up double points on two separate occasions and 28 points won in total. The squad has had a very successful “transition” year and will hopefully now build on this strong foundation during the 2013/2014 season.
The men’s squad was coached throughout the year by Drago Zhelev and Sam Haeata, and the Women’s squad by Cat Hart, Paul Hinds, Emily Hillyard and Craig Richardson. Our thanks go to them for their hard work and dedication.
Sons 2013 attendance at Oxford City Regatta was completely different than 2012’om 3 crews racing between both days, we must have more than trebled our number of entries, with the help of some of the men’s squad, who decided to tag along to what is becoming one of my favourite regattas in the UK.
Could this have to do with the fact that I won a pot again at Oxford this year? After racing at Peterborough in a 4- and doing it splendidly, we made the decision with the coaches to split the crew and move to sculling boats. So I spoke with Tony Brown, our club captain, to ask his permission to use his scull, the gorgeous Dumb Muscle, a white and blue Filippi.
I’d decided only to race at Molesey and Oxford City because sculling wasn’t my main priority during the season and I had only intended to do it at Oxford. Decision made, races planned and I went out as much as I could, most times with my crewbies Lucy and Sandra in a double and our coach Cat in a launch. As the days grew longer and lighter (not to say also drier), it was good to take Dumb Muscle out and train for those 2 regattas. In the regattas I didn’t race, I made sure I went along, armed with my camera and my tin of Banana Bread (in the lack of pompons) to support (and feed) my crewbies.
It was fantastic to see another 4 of them win their novice pot, this time at Kingston. At Molesey, I made it to the final, where I had one of the closest races of the day. I dug deep to try to win but it wasn’t enough and I lost. But it kept me motivated for Oxford City, having realised that my physical condition was much better than in 2012.
So, going into Oxford, I knew Saturday was going to be difficult. The draw had a lot of rounds and the distance was longer than Sunday’s. My race against Reading was scratched so next round was City of Cambridge. I reported to sculler’s park and found my opposition – this is one of my favourite aspects about Oxford City, you find your opposition before you boat. Well, it could be a bad thing if your
competition is taller, younger and fitter than you…
We boated, both of us quite quiet on the row up to the start. We saw a couple of starts and then it was our turn. Similar to Molesey, the race was very close and I believe I was ahead at some point but my opposition got away. The result says I lost by a length, I think it was less than that. Main outcome for me was that my lungs only started to hurt afterwards and, unlike last year, I didn’t once think that it was too much for me. It gave me confidence for Sunday’s sprints.
On Sunday, my opposition came to find me about an hour before the start of the race and we arranged to boat 30/35 min before the race time. I got on my boat at the agreed time, closely followed by my opposition from Llandaff. While she was putting her blades in, I took one look up as
I was putting my matching blue football socks on and shouted ‘Llandaff, you have your blades the wrong way round’… She looked at me, looked at the blades and started to laugh because there were 3 of them helping her boat and it took someone else to notice it.
When we passed the finish area, I heard a familiar voice shout ‘Go Babs’ and I knew that my friends Steve and Sarah were there for some local cheering. We were early but as we were both there, we lined up to start, me on the towpath side. We started and I just kept thinking of Cat’s words during the last few outings: ‘keep pushing all the way till the
end of the stroke’. And that’s what I tried to do. Once we started to hear the cheers, I knew that we were very close to the end so I ‘went for it’. It was a very close race, both of us pushing till the last stroke. Verdict says I won by 2 feet and it could have gone either way.
When the result was announced, I was very happy and thought ‘Ok, one down, one to go’, 50/50 chance. I was racing Putney Town. Or.. So I thought! After a couple of inquiries to race control, I was told to boat if I wanted to get my pot. So, I did. It was go be a row over so I was going to enjoy it. I still did it at race pace but very relaxed, keeping my technique and sparing my lungs. I even managed a smile and a wave for the camera!
The other Sons women's crews competed well, with the 4’s winning a round or 2 each, and Lucy and Sandra’s double making it to the final on Sunday. It shows how much Sons’ women’s squad has progressed since I joined nearly 2 years ago.
I couldn’t have won my pot without the help of my coaches, Cat, Paul and Craig, Tony B for lending me his boat, my crewbies for their support and, of course, my family and friends, near and far, who’ve been living my return to rowing almost as intensively as I have been rowing.