Head of the River Race 2012: On a damp and grey St Patrick’s Day, ICBC had five entries starting the annual highlight of the winter season – the Head of the River Race (HoRR). With four crews starting in the top twenty five, expectations were running high at the Imperial boat house. With less than 18 seconds separating the top three IC crews, Imperial showed pure grit and determination to take three top 25 places and two top 15, a feat unequalled by any other club. 

Photo Courtesy of Tom Pearson

Olympic Trials 2012: It was a sensational day at Dorney when IC's Adam Freeman-Pask came off the water as winner of the men’s lightweight single’s final to reveal that he has been working undercover as part of UK Sport’s Fraud Squad. The Windsor-born sculler was key in clamping down on suspected funding misuse by GB lightweight athletes - thought to be spending untold sums of National Lottery and Exchequer money on sugary snacks. Police, who raided a café in Putney on the eve of trials, found over 100 kg of confectionary items destined for GB HQ at Caversham. It was a dramatic climax to the Trojan efforts of Freeman-Pask over the past 9 months. 

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.

WEHoRR 2012: On a windy grey day on Tideway, ICBC’s women’s squadron provided the light to guide the way at the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race (WEHoRR). In spite of a bumpy run up to the race for the two Imperial College/Sport Imperial crews, the girls sparkled on the day with both boats finishing in the top twenty and the first eight taking the senior pennant and third place overall.

Photo Courtesy of Mark Ruscoe