CHAIRMAN’S VIEW

It has been a fantastic few weeks at the Club, with the Head season and our annual fixture against Thames RC all taking place over three consecutive weekends. The atmosphere on the balcony was buzzing for every one of these races and I really enjoyed being part of the LRC crowd cheering on our crews. Many congratulations to our athletes, coaches and Captain for a series of stunning performances and results, including a convincing win in the Boustead Cup as well as finishing 3rd in the HORR and securing the Vernon Trophy.

Last Saturday our sport was in the global spotlight once again with the University Boat Races….and they certainly lived up to their billing! There was great rowing, great steering, commitment and determination, and the Tideway again reminding us all what a difficult and tough stretch of water it can be, and why we love it.

The crews battled so very hard through the second half of each race, and anyone who has ever pulled a blade will have known just what they were going through. It was a superb effort from them all! Good work too from the umpires and great to see ex-Captain Ciaran Hayes looking splendid in his LRC cap as he umpired the men’s Boat Race – just wonderful.

Lastly for this month, a deserved mention for long standing LRC member Sean Collins who this year is serving as the Master of the Company of Watermen and Lightermen. Part of the Lightweight group at LRC in the ‘80s & ‘90s, Sean had an excellent rowing career as a fine sculler, Doggett’s winner and GB international.

A working Waterman, lifelong champion of the Thames and founder/CEO of Uber Boats by Thames Clippers, Sean’s appointment as Master is highly significant and also a personal honour. Few have done more to reconnect Londoners and visitors with the Thames and Sean has overseen Thames Clippers transform from a single boat operation into what is now a high-speed fleet carrying millions of passengers a year. He has been instrumental in making the river an accessible and thriving transport artery once again and the Club sends him our congratulations and best wishes.

Simon Melvin
Chairman, London Rowing Club

BALCONY UPDATE

Phase 1 of the balcony replacement was completed on time and within our budget thanks to the hard work, painstaking measurement and attention to detail of the Construction Sub-Committee. Our builders Builtain were amazed that it all bolted together with no adjustments necessary, a rare occurrence in constructions projects!

The head season saw the balcony used ‘in earnest’ for the first time with large crowds gathering for WEHORR and HORR. As I write, we are set to welcome Chanel and The Boat Race Company for The Boat Race. The balcony has attracted lots of positive comments and expressions of admiration.

This essential project will now enhance members’ enjoyment of the Club and greatly boost our events business, such a vital source of income.

We are currently just under £30,000 short of meeting the costs of phase 1 and looking ahead to phase 2, the canopy over part of the deck. Members have been very generous in responding to the Great London Row and the direct mail appeal, thank you to all those who have donated to date. To those yet to donate, if you can please give whatever you can towards the fund it will be enormously appreciated.

Please send donations to the Club’s bank with reference, ‘Balcony Donation’.

Account name: London Rowing Club Ltd
Sort Code: 60 00 01
Account Number: 00784222

Bill Baker

CAPTAIN’S REPORT

The middle and end of March saw a number of major head races and fixtures. I have covered some but not all of the events the club has taken part in over the last month. It was a busy period around the club with some fantastic results across a number of events. A huge thank you to everyone who has been involved in supporting, running, helping and enabling the club to have a successful head race season. A massive congratulations also to all those crews who competed and to those that won pennants and to the club’s coaching team and supporters for some great achievements over the past month.

Women’s Eights Head of the River Race (14th March)
London entered 5 8+’s for this years edition of the Women’s Head of the River Race with 4 squad 8+s and a Masters Women’s 8+ The club’s 1st 8+ (Téa Singh, Jemima Harbottle, Victoria Lacey, Claudia Turley, Elizabeth Cottrell, Jenny Arthur, Tara Sallaba, Caroline Newbury, Ella Thomson) placed 2nd in the Senior Club category. The Women’s Masters crew had an excellent race, achieving a time that would have seen them gain a number of places.

· 1st 8+ - 16th (2nd Senior Club)

· 2nd 8+ - 25th

· 3rd 8+ - 58th

· 4th 8+ - 102nd

· Mas 8+ - Time only

Fixtures vs Nottingham University (15th March)
A day after Women’s Eights Head of the River the men’s squad 4th, 5th and 6th 8+’s competed against the 2 University of Nottingham crews over two half course pieces. The men’s Squad 8+’s were successful, winning by a good margin over both pieces and gaining some valuable experience and confidence ahead of the Head of the River Race at the end of March.

Boustead and Rayner Cups (22nd March)
Early on Sunday the 22nd March London competed against Thames for the Boustead and Rayner Cups. There were 6 races across the event including Women’s quad, Women’s 2nd and 1st 8+’s and Men’s 3rd, 2nd and 1st 8+’s with the 1st 8+ races determining the winners of the Boustead and Rayner Cups. London won the Boustead cup by a margin of approximately 3 and a half lengths and also won a close 2nd Men’s 8+’s race. Congratulations to both crews on their wins and in-particular to the Men’s 1st 8+ for winning the Boustead Cup.

Head of the River Race (28th March)
This year's HORR (the 100th edition of the event) saw a huge entry from London with 10 boats entered from the Squad and Masters and there were some fantastic results for London. The club’s 1st 8+ (Rory Copus, Sean O’Mahony, Tom Cross, Thibby Verdin-Mulot, Isaac Workman, George Lauchlan, Bed Edmonson, Rui Xu, Edoardo Marshall) took a fantastic 3rd overall, being beaten only by the top Leander and Oxford Brookes crews. The 1st 8+ won the club pennant and Vernon trophy in addition to 3rd overall. Congratulations as well to the Masters D crew (Charlotte Robinson, Alex Fothergill, James Young, Iain Cowell, Adrian Theed, Basil Amin, Jonty Williamson, James Brown, Tom Killick) who won the Masters D pennant.

The club achieved fantastic results across the event with 2 crews in the top 10, 3 in the top 20 and 7 in the top 75. A full list of LRC’s placings can be found below.

· 1st 8+ - 3rd (Winners of Club pennant and Vernon)

· 2nd 8+ - 7th

· 3rd 8+ - 20th

· 4th 8+ - 40th

· 5th 8+ - 42nd

· 6th 8+ - 55th

· 7th 8+ - 75th

· MasC 8+ 153rd (2nd MasC)

· MasB 8+ 179th (4th MasB)

· MasD 8+ 183rd (Winners of the Masters D pennant)

Lottie 8+ boat naming (28th March)
In addition to the HORR the club had a naming ceremony for the Women’s Squad 8+ - the Lottie. It was fantastic to see a number of members celebrate the naming and to be able to hear some excellent speeches and stories from Devin Ward (Vice-Captain) and Lottie Hare.

British Rowing Awards (28th March)
Following the Head of the River Race the club also hosted the British Rowing Awards in which the winning 2025 Thames Cup crew from London won the club crew of the year award. Congratulations to that crew for an excellent season and for winning the club crew of the year award.

Masters Head of the River Race (29th March)
Having achieved some excellent results on Saturday the club returned to the Thames on Sunday 28th March for the Masters Head of the River Race. London boated 9 crews (including 1 composite) across 8+’s and 4x’s. The club achieved two 2nd event placings, a 3rd event placing and the Op A8+ crew ( Tally Gullidge-Jones, Matt Reeder, George Christian, Laurence O’Connor, Rui Xu, David Knight, Henry Galbraith, Callum Fletcher, James King) won their event and the overall headship. A full list of event results can be found below.

· Op MasA 8+ - 1st in event (overall headship)

· W MasC 8+ - 2nd in event

· W MasABC 4x - 2nd in event

· Op MasC 8+ - 3rd in event

· Op MasD 8+ - 5th in event

· Op MasC 4x - 5th in event

· Op MasB 8+ - 6th in event

· Mx MasABCD 4x - 6th in event

· Op MasF 8+ - 7th in event

Well done again to all those who raced in a number of events through March and thank you to everyone who supported those events, the club and our crews. The club has achieved some great successes recently and it would not be possible without a large number of people and the support of our members. Looking ahead the racing season now starts to move towards side by side racing and regattas and I am looking forward to what promises to be an exciting next part of the season for all groups across the club.

Matt Reeder
Captain, London Rowing Club

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

10-12 April: GB Senior and U23 Invitational Trials
12 April: Abingdon Head
18 April: Remenham Club Annual Dinner
21 April: General Meeting of London Rowing Club Ltd. (7:30pm)
25 April: Hammersmith Amateur Regatta
2 May: Chiswick Regatta
2 May: Marlow Spring Regatta
3 May: Wallingford Regatta
7 May: Club Balcony Celebration
9 May: Borne at Chiswick Bridge Regatta
10 May: Nottingham Masters and Club Regatta
16 May: Thames Ditton Regatta
17 May: Poplar Regatta
22-24 May: National Schools Regatta (Dorney)
23 May: Twickenham Regatta
24 May: Twickenham Sprint
30-31 May: Metropolitan Regatta
6 June: Walton and Weybridge Regatta
7 June: Weybridge Ladies Regatta
13 June: Barnes and Mortlake Regatta
13-14 June: Reading Amateur Regatta
13-14 June: British Rowing Masters Championships
19-21 June: Henley Women’s Regatta
20 June: Marlow Regatta (Dorney)
26 June: Henley Royal Regatta Qualifying Races
27 June: Richmond Regatta
27 June: Reading Town Regatta
30 June - 5 July: Henley Royal Regatta
10-12 July: Henley Masters
11-12 July: Kingston Regatta

See more detail for these events, visit our Calendar of Events…

MEN’S MASTERS REPORT

Kingston Head
To prepare for the main events last weekend, a group of Masters Men entered a scratch C8+ at Kingston. Starting at #2 behind The Lea, the crew overtook them within the first five minutes and held the lead for the remainder of the race.

Despite a small detour at Raven's Ait, the crew finished second in their category. Unfortunately, the result could not be officially recorded.

B: Richard Benton, 2: Charlie Pryor, 3: Liam Gorman, 4: Rob Farthing, 5: Charles Pitt Ford, 6: Adrian Turner, 7: Jason Bowyer, S: Matt Poulsom, Coxing: Julie Hogg

The Head of The River Race (Centenary Edition) & Vesta International Masters Head of The River
For the first time in many years for most, and in some cases, the first time full-stop, the Masters Men took to the water for a double-race weekend. I am delighted to report a win for the Masters D8+ at The Head of The River, with great performances from all other crews at both events.

Over the weekend, we boated 40 people (including a Masters F8+ composite crew with Molesey Boat Club), which is no small achievement. Since joining LRC 5 years ago, this is certainly the biggest entry I've seen at a single Heads event for LRC club rowing.

Master B8:
HORR finishing 179th overall
MHORR 6th in category

Masters C8:
HORR 2nd in category by 1s (19:18.9 Gold, 19:19.9 Silver) finishing 153rd overall.
MHORR 3rd in category (19:17.4 Gold, 19:19.6 Silver, 19:20.0 Bronze)

B: Pierre Lhommett, 2: James Brooks, 3: Charles Pitt Ford, 4: Paul Mascaro, 5: James Halsall, 6: Adrian Turner, 7: Jason Bowyer, S: Matt Poulsom, Cox: Henry Dunlop).

Masters D8:

B: Alex Fothergill, 2: James Young, 3: Basil Amin, 4: Adrian Theed, 5: Iain Cowell, 6: Jonty Williamson, 7: Chris Leonard, S: Tom Killick, Cox: Charlotte Robinson).

HORR 1st in category, winning the D8 pennant.

MHORR 5th in category.

Masters F8:

MHORR 7th in category

Masters C4x:

B: Charlie Pryor, 2: Ed Gormley, 3: Thomas Robin, 4: George Caluian.

MHORR 5th in category

We now move into the sprints season, with the first big event being the British Masters in June.

Jason Bowyer

WOMEN’S MASTERS REPORT

The last head race has been completed - Having placed third in our category (W. MasC.8+) at the Vesta Master's Head of the River last year and starting ahead of last year's winners (Worcester RC), the Women’s Masters were looking to take the fight to the water, feeling fit towards the end of the head racing season as well as gaining some "squad speed" through the return of Caroline Newbury and Kirstyn Luton and the expert coxing of Cameron Moffat. However, bumping into an Irish composite crew in the clubhouse prior to boating, it was clear they were a force to be reckoned with!

We started the race solidly, swiftly dispatching Barnes Bridge Ladies and finding both a strong rhythm and fast water as we passed Barnes and Chiswick Eyot. Worcester was entangled in a race with the Irish crew behind us, motivating us to overtake two more crews around Hammersmith and to focus on digging deep in the challenging water after the bridge all the way home. We delivered a spirited battle all the way to the finish line, coming away with second place, with a comfortable margin on third, and a first taste of side by side racing for the summer — an experience summed up well by our cox: “Showed up, Raced HARD, Had Fun”.

Special thanks to Moff for helping us out and coxing us for this race. Head Season is now officially over and we are looking forward to Regatta racing.

Saskia Gill

YOUNG IRREGULARS REPORT

On Sunday, 29th March, the Young Irregulars crew — Camille, Heather, Else and Rachel — raced at the Vets (Masters) Head on the Tideway. After months of consistent training, the crew delivered a strong performance, finishing second in the Women’s A–C Quad Sculls (4x). It was a well-earned result and a great reflection of their hard work.

With the good comes the sad and we are sadly saying goodbye to one of the original Young Irregulars, Minna. The queen of steering is moving to Italy and will be greatly missed. The group hopes this is not a final farewell, and that she will be back rowing with the YIs again in the future.

Eilidh McCormick

GALWAY TOUR

A while ago, Philip Carre (a native of Belfast) suggested that we should go to Ireland for a head race. The Tribesmen Head, Galway, in mid-March jumped out as the best option. Galway is famous for its pubs and live music and near some stunning scenery.

Tribesmen Rowing Club, who organise the event, attracted international crews: two crews came from Prague, Riverside BC brought over two women’s eights from Boston and Annecy represented France. How international our crew was is open to debate as at least half the crew have Irish passports and one even has an Irish accent.

Eddie Markes helped arrange a boat with the Colaiste Igonaidschool rowing club (thankfully known locally as “the Jes”). He was especially happy when we were told that the boat’s name was “The Father Eddie”. Unfortunately, Eddie cracked a rib later and had to withdraw.

Miles Preston agreed to coach us and developed a plan for land and water. Water training was, as was the case for every other tideway crew, not plain sailing. Red flags, absences and injuries meant we only got out a few times as a crew and never as the final lineup. Land training went much more smoothly. Miles’s weekly plan set us up nicely as the hard efforts were built on.

We travelled independently to Galway and met at the Jes boat house on Friday afternoon for a practice outing. This was our first as a whole crew. Tim Hanford stepped into Eddie’s 3 seat. Olivia Fennerty, a pupil at the Jes, agreed to cox us. Olivia was not intimidated by our great age though she was amazed to find out when we had all started rowing. I didn’t tell her my rowing kit was older than her, sometimes there is too much information. We were quickly out of the city, and surrounded by countryside, Olivia pointed out the landmarks including the castle, which is the halfway marker. Occasionally a launch drove past and Olivia warned us about the incoming wash. After a winter on the tideway we didn’t even notice the faint ripples she was worried about. Finally, we reached the point where the river meets Lough Corrib; in the summer crews row out onto it. It must be wonderful with the hills away in the distance. The views were spectacular.

Raceday came, as we went up to the start odd little cheers were coming from crews as they found out the rugby score. Ireland were playing Scotland for the Triple Crown (Scotland were coming second to the delight of almost everyone). After the starter’s go, we hit our rhythm quickly; Olivia’s excellent steering and calls gave us an advantage, and we increased the gap on the crew behind us.

It was our best row, on the calmest water and the sun shone for most of it (which is a blessing in Galway). Our time was 14:01 to complete the 4.2 km, we were over minute faster than the crew directly behind. The winning crew, in our category, was an Irish composite filled with former internationals. They were using Galway as a final tune up before heading to London where they also won their pennant at the Vets’ Head.

Afterwards we met up with partners and family for dinner. Subsequently we headed to a pub for the rugby. It was filled with Irish fans, in the unusual position of cheering on England.

Unfortunately, England came second to France, to the annoyance of almost everyone (except three ecstatic Frenchmen). Then the live music got most of us onto the dance floor, with Mike, our stroke, showing the rhythm you would expect. A few others followed his lead with enthusiasm but less skill.

The crew would like to say a big thank you to the following people: Eddie for organizing the boat, Miles for coaching and planning, Emma Beardmore and Howard MacDonald for coxing the training outings and Clare Lyon-Collins and Hugh Lonsdale for subbing in for the various people. We are looking forward to another trip to Ireland.

Crew:

Bow: Brendan Armstrong

2: Keith Swabey

3: Tim Hanford

4: Philip Carre

5: Martin Quinn

6: Lee Reilly

7: Andrew Boyle

Str: Mike Newsom Davis

Cox: Olivia Finnerty (The Jes RC)

Lee Reilly

NEW MEMBERS

We would like to welcome the following new members to the Club:

Richard Acland
Mateo Navarrete
Becky Tuke

We hope you will enjoy being part of the London Rowing Club community and will help us build an ever happier and more successful club.

We are always pleased to have more members so, if you know of anyone who you think might like to join the Club, please either let us know or encourage them to get in touch with us themselves.

There is information on becoming a member on our website or you can email the Club’s Membership Secretary.

Andrew Boyle
Honorary Secretary, London Rowing Club

OUR NEW BALCONY – A CELEBRATION

On Thursday, 7th May, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm we will hold a drinks party to celebrate the completion of our impressive new balcony.

All members are welcome, those who contributed to the fundraising are especially welcome. Drinks and canapes will be served.

A link to reserve places will be provided in upcoming Weekly Brief messages and on the Club WhatsApp Chat Group.

This celebration is being sponsored by a generous supporter so there will be no charge for the evening.

For those aware that we were planning an Auction Dinner in early May, that is now likely to be held at a later date.

Kathleen Curran

CLUB SUPPER

The next Club Supper will take place on Thursday, 23rd April. All members and their guests are encouraged to attend. The bar will be open from 7pm with dinner served at 8pm. 3 courses £32.

Book now on MCH. Please advise of any dietary restrictions to events@londonrc.org.uk

Annabel Lawrence
Event Manager, London Rowing Club

REPORTING SAFETY INCIDENTS

All members are reminded that if you are involved in or witness a water safety incident, you are required to report it using the following email address – safety@londonrc.org.uk

The Club will file any necessary reports on your behalf with British Rowing and the PLA. Members should not submit reports directly to either body.

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

My thanks to everyone who has contributed to this edition of the London Roar. If you have an idea for an article or would be interested in submitting a piece for inclusion in a future edition, please email me on miles.preston@londonrc.org.uk

Please do not submit an article without first liaising with me.

Miles Preston
Editor of The London Roar