The Boat Club Report 1995-96

This year has surely been one of the Boat Club's most unexpectedly successful years to date. The handful of senior oarsmen and women remaining (after a near exodus from the '95 May VIIIs) may have been criticised for their lack of experience, but this was soon to be overcome with dedication to training and responsiveness to coaching.

As usual however, it was the novices who dominated the Michaelmas Term. Men's novice A, despite immense pressure to match the achievements of last year's A boat, finished the term in style winning the Winter Head, were runners-up in the Clare Sprints and third in the gruelling Fairbairn Races. Men's novice B were undoubtedly the fastest B boat and often mistaken for the A boat, probably because they were indeed speedier than most of the A boats. Men's C were the fastest C boat even with their equipment problems. Ladies' novice A upheld tradition coming fourth in the Fairbairn races and were semi-finalists in the Clare Sprints. Ladies' novice B, saying a fond farewell to Jim the Boat, made history by winning their first ever race in the Clares.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the seniors were rowing in IVs in preparation for the University IVs and the IVs Head of the River on the Tideway. The most notable achievement at these events was that of the Men's 2nd IV, who gave the Christ's (CULRC) IV a serious fright in Uni IVs, and beat the 1st IV by 18 seconds at Tideway - a timely reminder that lack of experience can be overcome by dedication and coaching. The women put together a record three IVs, with the first IV highly placed amongst the college crews at Tideway. The senior Fairbairn Races put Churchill men 9th after only two weeks spent in an VIII, and a 2nd VIII was also spied (singing?) at the event.

The prospect of rowing in conditions not dissimilar to the North Sea seemed to deter all but the hardiest oarsmen and women from rowing in Lents. Nevertheless, a good smattering of the last term's novices continued as seniors, and Churchill put out four men's and two women's crews. Men's 1st celebrated Stefan's return from the CUBC squad by winning the Bedford Head, a mere 10 seconds behind the Lightweight Blues. Their attitude and fitness produced three, well-fought bumps; an aggressive row on the Saturday finished off Jesus in under a minute leaving them 8th, the highest finishing position in the history of the college. Ladies' 1st gave Blondie a run for their money at Bedford, and were highly placed. They continued their climb back up the first division bumping St Catherine's on Ditton corner. Men's 4th qualified easily, and on going up three places earned a permanent place in the fifth division. Men's 2nd were denied a well-deserved bump by a Trinity Hall crash, leaving them in rather close range for two blade-winning crews. Men's 3rd would have done better if they had remained in the boat at the start! Over Easter both the men's 1st and 2nd Lent crews took on the nation at the Head of the River Race on the Tideway. The 1st VIII moved from 158th to 86th, beating amongst others Downing, the Lent Head crew; the 2nd VIII moved up 51 places to 323rd. In the women's event the Ladies' moved up 4 places to 67th , beating most of the college crews.

Our annual 4-day training camp was held in York before the start of the Easter Term. It was not without the traditional trials, tantrums and tribulations, but generally quite fun despite the kit-swapping with the locals, and at least the heating worked this year. Thanks to all those who braved the grim northern climate, not to mention the seat-racing. May term saw the predictable return of all those fair-weather boaties, and some remarkable results. Men's 1st won the Cam Regatta outright, racing the 1300m course at an incredible 37 strokes per minute in every round. The crew, steadily gaining in confidence, won the prestigious Metropolitan Cup in the Docklands leading the field by a length after 30 strokes, and Stefan won the novice sculls Boat Race style beating an OUBC sculler. Perhaps these victories meant the pressure was a little too great in the bumps: the crew rowed over at 7th each day always with the taste of a bump ahead but never any threat from behind. This slight disappointment was easily overcome at Henley Royal Regatta when the crew beat a surprised Imperial College B in the first round of the Temple Challenge Cup.

Ladies' 1st having beaten LMBC lost to the eventual winners in the Cam regatta. Later in term they came 2nd in the Bedford Regatta, and reversed the trend of recent years by bumping LMBC in a gutsy row taking them as far as the railway bridge. Clare were lucky to escape them on the last day with only a canvas to spare. Later at Henley they had yet another unlucky draw and lost to the eventual winners. Men's 2nd, frighteningly highly placed amongst 1st boats in the 2nd division, dropped to the top of the third division this year, where they are better placed to do some damage next year. Ladies' 2nd had a superb row on the Thursday and took out Christ's 2nd by the gunshed, but unfortunately Ladies' 3rd had a brief encounter with the bank in the qualifying races. The most notable achievement amongst the lower boats was the breaststroke-whilst-in-concussion as demonstrated by a Mr Gladstone, although it was rumoured that the crew saved their kit from getting wet by leaving it in the boathouse.

Finally, congratulations are in order to those ambassadors of the college, the University trialists. Helen Maudslay was selected for the '96 Blondie crew. Mark Lantz made spare man for the Lightweights and Stefan Butlin trained for 6 months with the CUBC squad, raced and won in Trial VIIIs, and made 19th man. Helen Rutkowska made the CUWBC development squad and was unlucky not to be the Blondie spare. Our thanks go to Jim and Chris, our loyal and expert boatmen, all our coaches, and to Andrew Tristram and Jack Miller, ever present at the helm. It is always difficult to follow one successful year with another. In order to maintain Churchill's higher profile on the river, the club will need a good influx of novices next year to provide some more home-grown talent for future first boats.