Torpids 2009

Men's First VIII

Wednesday: The men's 1st VIII began Torpids in 11th in division 2, with University well out of place after their crash last year in 10th, a strong Wolfson crew in 9th, and Keble in 12th. Hopes of a bump were not high going into the race, with the plan being to row over ahead of Keble, and hope that Wolfson and Univ would bump down some weaker opposition for us to take on later in the week. The crew had benefitted greatly from a tough weekend's training under Russell and the guest-coaching Henry Braun at Dorney, but were nonetheless a little less than what they might have been as a result of two weeks' red flag. We were also missing our original seven-man, and one of our strongest men, James, whose wrist injury sustained early in the term proved to be considerably more serious than first thought.

The race began well, with a decent start by the Merton VIII allowing us to draw perhaps a quarter-length further from Keble over the first ten strokes. However, the settled rhythm of the tall Keble crew was a little faster, and they gradually drew closer to us over the 500 metres or so to the bridge. One push by the Merton crew checked the Keble advance, but a second failed as we faltered on hitting the rough water, and we conceded just a few strokes beyond the bridge. However, we settled well and a good row down the green bank and past the boathouses kept us very well clear of the sandwich boat, Pembroke II, and allowed us to gain a little on Lincoln, the nearest crew ahead after Univ and Wolfson both bumped out. It was a disappointing day, but we knew we had been bumped by a quicker crew, and looked forward to better fortunes later in the week.

Thursday: The situation going into Thursday's race was more positive. Keble, of course, were immediately ahead, but beyond them were Lincoln, who we suspected were weak, and the sandwich boat behind us was St. Hugh's, a crew we had beaten in a practice piece at Dorney only the weekend before. Moving swiftly towards us, though, was St. Peter's, a polished and powerful unit this year. We knew we had to keep some distance between ourselves and them.

Unsurprisingly, St. Hugh's put in an aggressive start. Their best hope was to jump us, and they knew it. After about 200m, the gap was down to about half a length, and the pressure from behind had helped us close to a length off Keble. At this point the Merton crew began to respond, stopping the St. Hugh's advance and beginning to move away. For the briefest of moments the race was going well: the best efforts of St. Hugh's had been seen off, and on the bank Piers was about to whistle our progress on the boats ahead. At least, that was how things seemed from the stroke seat. In the bows, though, there was justified concern. Our cox had attempted too tight a line, and suddenly stroke-side blades struck the bank and the boat was stopped. All we could do was yell at St. Hugh's to hold it hard before bodily injury was added to our hurt pride. Of course, we conceded, and although we raced the rest of the course any chance of a bump was gone. Our three new men had seen the toughest side of bumps racing in only their second race, and we would race the next day in division three.

Friday: Not only had we been undeservedly bumped, but we now had to face the crew we had been most determined to avoid: St. Peter's, who went on to finish the week up five places and clutching blades. We were going off the top bungline, though, so planned an aggressive race. We went in with every intention of giving St. Peter's the toughest race we possibly could. If we could hold them off, we would have a shot at St. Hugh's and Lincoln to regain our place in division two.

Despite a strong performance, it didn't happen, and we were caught just as we emerged from the gut. The bump was bad for our rowing and for our line, but we pulled ourselves together to row out the course. Like Wednesday, this had been a bump as acceptable as any can be; the chasing crew were simply quicker, and there was nothing available ahead.

Saturday: Three places down in three days, though, remained galling. We still believed we were a better crew than the results suggested, and believed too that there were weaker boats ahead, if only we could get the chance to put them under pressure. On Saturday, from bungline 2 of division 3, the chasing crew was Pembroke II, and the opposition in front, St. Hugh's. We had a point to prove to the latter.

The action did not start until the race reached the boathouse island. Merton had a reasonable gut, and an underwhelming green bank, and began to cross around a length behind St. Hugh's and a similar margin ahead of Pembroke. At this point, though, the chasing crew put in a strong push to eat well into that lead. Along the island, Pembroke continued to close. However, as they came to within a mere foot or two of our stern, Merton took it up for home, and with a calm, powerful wind, pulled away again to finish the race safely. Pembroke had been held off, but sadly St. Hugh's had fought well, and we got no closer than three-quarters of a length.

The overall result, then, was down three. It had been a tough week, bringing no satisfactory reward for a term's hard work, often in poor conditions. (Particularly memorable were the early morning in persistent heavy snow, and the seemingly endless slog of steady-state on a day so windy we could only use half the Godstow stretch for fear of swamping.) We learned great respect for the other crews in the top three men's divisions; college rowing at a decent level is highly competitive, and takes real commitment. As always, Torpids showed the newer members of the club what Oxford rowing is all about, so despite our poor fortune we look forward to the men's head, to City Bumps, and to our summer training. The great event, Eights, remains an exciting prospect. (PB)

Isis Winter League B (03/12/08)

Dev Squad/Summer VIIIs Crew

Following their success in Christchurch Regatta, the novice A boat bravely challenged the summer VIIIs 1st boat to a time-trial face-off in Isis Winter League B in 8th week. This kicked the dev squad into gear and gave them a reason to do some outings in the latter half of the term. On the day, the warm up didn’t go well and, having watched the novices row past in the earlier division, nerves were on edge. The race, however, went well. Winding it up from the start under Donnington Bridge, we took the rate up towards 34/35 and kept it above 33 for the rest of the course. Tactical pushes were called throughout the race – primarily going into and coming out of the gut. After taking it slightly easier up the green bank, we pulled out all the stops to ensure that we passed the boathouses at full pressure and speed and looking good. This tactic seemed to work and prevented the boat from feeling heavy or the timing being lost. Only towards the end, when our legs began to tire but we tried to keep the rate and pressure high did we come out of sync and the rowing became scrappy. However, the results showed the effort that we had put into the race, with us recording the third quickest time (4.44), behind only Magdalen 1st VIII (who rowed twice) and beating many of the boats ahead of us in both Torpids and Eights. The novices were suitably dispatched and a good night of banter at Mermaids drinks was in store. (AC)

Christ Church Regatta 2008

MA

Wednesday: After a fine term's training, hardened by their first racing experience, gained in Nephthys Regatta a few days earlier, the men (and cox) of MA entered the regatta with confidence - this despite being drawn in the first round against Christ Church MA: the hosts, and a significantly bigger crew. Merton were to race on the city side, with the course a mere 500m from outside the ChCh boathouse to the cox's stone.
As they were in the middle of the stream, Merton were given a quarter-length stagger on the start. For the first ten strokes, perhaps, their rivals had the edge, pulling the stagger back by a seat or two. But when Merton got into their rowing, superior technique, togetherness and spirit told. They drew out over the second and third quarters of the race to a comfortable length's lead, for a victory in impressive style.

Thursday: Thursday's racing made for an altogether more dramatic story. MA had an equally difficult draw, against the A boat from Balliol, the current holders of the Eights headship, who again were by some distance the heavier crew. With the course extended to start at Longbridges, Merton were again drawn on the city side. This time the rowing was not so polished, but by the time the race reached the halfway point Merton held a substantial lead, around a length and a half. While perhaps a little concerned by the technical flaws, those of us watching from the bank did not realise how worried we should have been. As the finish line rapidly approached, Merton were heading for a violent collision with a stationary St. John's crew.
St. John's were right on the finish line, but were in the transit lane; the Merton crew ploughed on, however, and in the very act of victory, hit the John's boat with enough force to smash 2's rigger and break off a good foot's length from the bow of Douglas Galbraith, which was left dangling. With the boat steadily sinking, MA limped back to the nearest raft - bringing the whole crew, if not the boat, safely home.
The race, the crash, and the rescue made for an exciting half-hour. Naturally, though, the regatta organisers were keen for us to explain just how we came to hit a stationary crew, who were clear of the racing line. It did not take long to become clear that, despite windy, difficult conditions, we had no satisfactory account, and would be disqualified.

Friday: If Thursday had not already been emotional enough, another twist was still to come. Late on Thursday evening, after correspondance with John, the Balliol captain decided to concede the race, which they had been awarded after the disqualification - we had won by some distance, and had gained no advantage by our faulty line. The thanks of the whole club, and particularly the crew of MA, go to the Balliol captain and his crew for this act of sportsmanship.
Perhaps lacking a little focus, the Merton boys lost their third-round race, by two lengths, to St. Peter's MA, who would go on to win the regatta. St. Peter's were clearly a fine crew, and it was a great disappointment that we weren't able to give them what could have been their toughest race - the feet of the Merton stroke slipped from his shoes as the race began, understandably hampering the performance of the eight as a whole.

MA
c: Sam Hannaford; s-b: Kyle Martin, Mike Eager, Dan Awrey, Alistair Hodgson, Richard Millar, Alex Linsley, Tom Gillam, Jorg Koerner.
Coaches: Josh Monahan and Patrick Butlin.

(Race report by PB. Apologies for the style, I've been reading Dreams from my Father, and sense I may be channeling Barack.)

MB

Wednesday: Having just seen MA romp to victory against Christchurch A, spirits were high in the MB boat lining up on the start line opposite LMH A. Showing their true technical ability, and a fair amount of Merton pride, they cantered home to win by two lengths against a considerably heavier LMH crew. This was no mean feat for what was a very small crew but their speed was testament to their well-tuned technique.

Friday: After Wednesday’s triumph, there was a level of expectation going into the next round against a big Lincoln B crew. Over the extended Longbridges distance, Lincoln’s strength showed off the start leaving us a lot of work to do. MB tightened up a little and, with a bit of tiredness still in the legs from Friday, they couldn't close them down. Despite pulling back a little in the closing stages, Lincoln B were too strong on the day and MB's technical precision from the first race couldn't quite be reproduced.

Congratulations to the crew for their commitment and passion through training and racing. Oh, and for not crashing a boat ...

MB
c. Esther Drabkin-Reiter; s-b: Lee Collins, Mark Jaffre, Tom Davies, Michael Quirke, David Phillips, Rob Day, Sandeep Sengupta, Alec Maynard.
Coach: James McMillan


Cambridge Winter Head 2008

Merton sent two scratch men's crews, each featuring a mix of novice and experienced rowers, to Cambridge for the Winter Head. We were fortunate to be hosted by the Boat Club at Peterhouse, our sister college, who were kind enough to lend us the use of their VIII and blades. We had an enjoyable days' racing, with largely smooth rowing, bearing in mind the composition of the crews.

Crews: c: Lamorna Newcombe; s-b: James McMillan, Greg Betts, Adam Caines, Martin Michalski, Albert Sampson, Mike Eager, Dan Awrey, Patrick Butlin;
c: Osman Khalid; s-b: Timo Idema, Patrick Butlin, Kyle Martin, Greg Betts, James McMillan, Jorg Koerner, Peter Chater-Lea, Josh Monahan.

Summer Eights 2008




EVESHAM 4th May

Merton W1 entered another scratch four into this and did well to win their first round against the home club crew. We unfortunately lost to the eventual winners (Ross RC) in the semi-finals. But not a bad performance for Merton women's first regatta since 2004!!

CITY OF OXFORD BUMPS 26th April

Merton W1 entered into this on Saturday 26th April. After withdrawing from the first race due to technical problems, we rowed over in div 2 and then bumped the Oxford Academicals in div 3 and Hertford in div 4. All in all a good effort!

Merton Gannets also entered, and were hosted by MCBC in our boathouse. They rowed over in div 1, got bumped in div 2, 3 and 4, despite rowing well.

Thank-you to all those who helped us out by polling and umpiring!

ABINGDON HEAD 20th April

Merton put on a good show at this head race, with the men racing in an eight and the women in a four. Both obtain respectable times, doing well in comparison to other crews.

Merton Women were also spotted by this writer of the Abingdon blog (http://www.abingdonblog.co.uk):

''The race is over a 2KM course starting near Culham. When they go past the Abingdon Rowing Club - shown here - competitors are on the finishing straight.



It looked hard going.''

HEAD OF THE RIVER 15th of March

http://www.horr.co.uk/Results.htm

WOMEN'S HEAD OF THE RIVER 1st March

Torpids W1 performed well at WHORR, particularly as there were two subs in the boat, Sarah Wilson and Myriam Burr. They completed the course in 23 mins 47 secs, beatin Hertford and only 7 secs slower than Teddy Hall.


W1 at Barnes Bridge (taken by Jet Photographic) http://www.jetphotographic.com/showphoto.php?id=159362
















TORPIDS 2008: