Amsterdam 2012: Over the weekend, the Gentleman’s Squadron headed to Amsterdam to race 8500m in total over four distances (2500km head race, 250m side-by-side, 750m side-by-side and 5000m head race) to prepare for the Head of the River Race (HoRR). All three eights raced well and made the most of their time out of London.
As ICBC gathered early Friday morning, the arrival of the visual spectacle that was the enormous 4x4 ToddMobile [not as cool as the BatMobile], kindly lent by Daddy Todd, led to gasps of shock and awe. The lucky four joining Willy T enjoyed heated seats and a rapid ascent to AmDam, while the rest of the squad piled into the truck and the minibus [who unfortunately ended up stranded in Belgium while a punctured tyre had to be replaced – those flying probably had the best deal]. Everyone assembled and Imperial 1 and 3 managed a quick paddle to allow coxes and crews to get a feel for the Amstel and its big bends before night fell. A free pasta meal at host club, ASR Nereus, followed and the boys headed into AmDam to sample its delights, unfortunately locking Henry Fieldman (who had been at a coxing meeting and thus unable to go into town) out of any available room. Fortunately the Barnes Bridge cox had a spare half a double bed for the stranded boy to sleep in.