Gent May Regatta 2009: Scores were settled for IC’s elite women’s eight (W8+) in an electric atmosphere on Sunday as IC performed the race of the regatta in Belgium taking gold ahead of international crews. The event is run as two separate one-day regattas over a 2000m course. The W8+ had already clenched silver the previous day. The women’s quad (W4x) dominated every heat to take gold in their elite final on Saturday and third on Sunday, while the pair (W2-) of Ellie Dorman and Erica Thompson finished third overall.
The prestigious ICBC man of the week award went to women’s coach Brian “Nerves of” Steele who had to solely accompany the 15-strong squad on the five-hour drive from Putney to Gent and back again. He was slowly grinded down to silence and uncontrolled shaking having to endure hours of Dancing Queen repeats and Celine Dion playlists. There was little sleep for crews who left London at 5:30 pm on Friday evening and arrived at midnight Belgium time. The squad was booked in to stay at a local primary boarding school in Gent and were all sharing a single dormitory room. Steele was banished to the boy’s room and was paranoid of the female presence giving warning shouts of his whereabouts at every move. Steele proved the hero of the weekend displaying incredible McGuiver skillz such as smelling the petrol pumps in France to see if they were diesel and using a boat tie and duct tape to secure the feet of seat 2 in the empacher 8+. His driving was also impeccable with amazing boat trailer reversing awareness which came into play after driving down a dead-end trying to escape a petrol station. Mini-bus backseater Louise Hart was less confident and very concerned about the boats hitting the minibus when turning; “STOP! THE BOW BALL! THE BOW BALL! WATCH THE BOW BALL - BRIAN STOP!” Brian continued to reverse.
It was 6 am starts for the crews with the first heats of the day starting at 7 am. IC’s Stef Menashe fell ill the previous week and had to pull out with coaches agreeing on Friday that: “she sounds like crap”. German lightweight Franca Tasch was drafted in as a late substitution for Menashe and two doubles competed (IC1: Christina Matteotti/Clarice Chung and IC2: Franca Tasch/Alice Smitheman). IC2 finished 3rd in their heat in 8:33.64 while IC1 finished just behind in the same heat in 8:34.98. The calibre of racing at Gent was exhibited on the start line when the crews were announced: “Lane one: Imperial College London. Lane two: Belgium National Team…” IC1 were left standing after a bad start that pulled the boat round to stroke-side but the crew regained good ground and clawed back into the pack. Unfortunately neither IC 2x made the final. The two doubles were combined as a quad entry but again missed out on a final place. The four were exhausted after tough heats in both events and found themselves finished for the day and it wasn’t even 9am. Racing didn’t last much longer on Sunday for the four with a double of Christina Matteotti and Clarice Chung showing great improvement on the previous day’s race as well as the quad entry (Christina Mattoetti/Clarice Chung/Franca Tasch/Alice Smitheman), but neither proceeded to finals.
The first win of the day went to the women’s quad of Rachael Davies/Nicky Smith/Erica Thompson/Ro Smith who easily won their heat and was the fastest qualifier into the final (7:18.66). The quad went on to win gold in the final in a time of 7:15.66, over 6 seconds ahead of Gentse RS (Belgium) in second and were presented with their medals in a ceremony after the race. There was little time to rest for the squad, most of who were doubling up in events throughout the day. The women’s 8+ (Ellie Dorman/Rachael Davies/Nicky Smith/Erica Thompson/Selina Graham/Chloe Symmonds/Louise Hart/Ro Smith) came second in their heat in a time of 7:08.08 behind Upper Thames RC which was the third fastest qualifying time. Imperial claimed silver in the final: second only to Wallingford RC who finished in 7:09.77 with Upper Thames settling for bronze. The crew was presented with medals, flowers and a noose for reasons vaguely explained in a history leaflet handed to crews.
There was further misfortune for the W4- (Louise Hart/Christina Duffy/Selina Graham/Chloe Symmonds) who had been struggling in their combination since training camp. They finished last in their heat and did not qualify for the final causing much frustration between crew members. Before it could come to blows coach Steele delivered an inspirational crew bollocking and ordered the 4- to be bow-rigged with a seat change of Duffy at stroke, Graham at 3, Symmonds at 2 and Hart at bow. Duffy had stroked a Henley crew the previous year and was newly informed of her apparent “sledgehammer approach to stroking” which might be suitable for the crew. The boat was re-rigged and when racing was over for the day and dinner was eaten the crew went out for a practice paddle. Whether it was the seat changes or the spaghetti bellies something felt better and finally the boat started moving. “It’s like a new boat!” Steele called from his bike on the bank. The crew went as far as to even communicate at one point: a major breakthrough for the boat. Hart at bow proved pivotal in making calls and despite crossing every lane down a straight course, everyone was satisfied with the switch. The crew was scheduled to race the following day but as per usual when Officer Duffy is involved, things went awry.
The W4- heat starting time was 20 minutes after the W8+ starting time and it was intended to race the 8+, jump out and into the mini-bus and drive up the course to the start where the 4- would be waiting having been rowed up by other IC squad members. The 8+ (Cox: Connie Pidoux/Ellie Dorman/Ro Smith/Nicky Smith/Erica Thompson/Selina Graham/Christina Duffy/Louise Hart/Rachael Davies) took control of the opening heat and Connie called a reduction in rate to finish in second and qualify for the final, without exhausting those having to race afterwards. Hart, Graham and Duffy dashed from the boat into the revving mini-bus with coach Steele at the wheel. The bus blasted up the course to the start line where the three jumped out. But there was no sign of the 4-. Coach Steele completed a 180° turn and took off back down the road to find the boat. Unfortunately Belgian police were having none of it and after being chased by a raving officer banging on the bus windows Steele was forced to pull over. After patiently enduring the Belgian waffle he was ordered to turn due to one-way traffic around the lake. Meanwhile the three headless chickens were at the start without a boat had to sprint along the towpath from the start line to the 1000 metre mark where the boat had been waiting after a confusion of where to meet. The crew got into their boat and took off like a bag of spanners towards the start, but were too late. Just fifty metres from the startline the W4- heat passed them by. Disappointment was consoled by the thought of an impending elite W8+’s final and the crew composed themselves with a solid row back.
With qualifying times posted for the W8+ final IC were well under the radar finishing 5/7th fastest qualifier due to their conserving of energy tactics. A master race plan was devised by cox Connie Pidoux and Coach Steele: a plan which cannot be revealed for obvious legal reasons. Pidoux’s presence was immense in the boat and after a solid start the IC crew held level with all crews until the 250m mark. With the first push IC starting eeking ahead and began to pull away from the pack. Other crews attempted pushes to regain dominance but IC were unstoppable with Pidoux at the helm; “They are doing their pushes and we are still going faster.” Coach Steele was following on a bicycle and reports to being “unable to stop smiling” as other coaches had to watch their crews slip back down the pack and swallow their pre-race chat about the potential outcome of the race. With 200 metres to go Pidoux was on the bow ball of fastest (7:04.11) heat qualifiers Comb Belfast/Tethys/Wallingford and with 100 metres to go there was clear water. IC took gold in a blistering 6:58.62, with composite Comb Belfast/Tethys/Wallingford in second (7:04.34) and Wallingford RC (who had beaten IC to gold the previous day) came third in 7:07.61.
There was no time to spare and four crew members (Rachael Davies/Nicky Smith/Ellie Dorman/Erica Thompson) had to rush off and prepare for another final in the W4x while the others collected the cup and medals. Despite being the fastest qualifier the W4x were disappointed with a third place finish after a long day of racing. Erica Thompson and Ellie Dorman had raced in two heats and three finals, so were understandably exhausted by the end of the day.
It was 6 am starts for the crews with the first heats of the day starting at 7 am. IC’s Stef Menashe fell ill the previous week and had to pull out with coaches agreeing on Friday that: “she sounds like crap”. German lightweight Franca Tasch was drafted in as a late substitution for Menashe and two doubles competed (IC1: Christina Matteotti/Clarice Chung and IC2: Franca Tasch/Alice Smitheman). IC2 finished 3rd in their heat in 8:33.64 while IC1 finished just behind in the same heat in 8:34.98. The calibre of racing at Gent was exhibited on the start line when the crews were announced: “Lane one: Imperial College London. Lane two: Belgium National Team…” IC1 were left standing after a bad start that pulled the boat round to stroke-side but the crew regained good ground and clawed back into the pack. Unfortunately neither IC 2x made the final. The two doubles were combined as a quad entry but again missed out on a final place. The four were exhausted after tough heats in both events and found themselves finished for the day and it wasn’t even 9am. Racing didn’t last much longer on Sunday for the four with a double of Christina Matteotti and Clarice Chung showing great improvement on the previous day’s race as well as the quad entry (Christina Mattoetti/Clarice Chung/Franca Tasch/Alice Smitheman), but neither proceeded to finals.
The first win of the day went to the women’s quad of Rachael Davies/Nicky Smith/Erica Thompson/Ro Smith who easily won their heat and was the fastest qualifier into the final (7:18.66). The quad went on to win gold in the final in a time of 7:15.66, over 6 seconds ahead of Gentse RS (Belgium) in second and were presented with their medals in a ceremony after the race. There was little time to rest for the squad, most of who were doubling up in events throughout the day. The women’s 8+ (Ellie Dorman/Rachael Davies/Nicky Smith/Erica Thompson/Selina Graham/Chloe Symmonds/Louise Hart/Ro Smith) came second in their heat in a time of 7:08.08 behind Upper Thames RC which was the third fastest qualifying time. Imperial claimed silver in the final: second only to Wallingford RC who finished in 7:09.77 with Upper Thames settling for bronze. The crew was presented with medals, flowers and a noose for reasons vaguely explained in a history leaflet handed to crews.
There was further misfortune for the W4- (Louise Hart/Christina Duffy/Selina Graham/Chloe Symmonds) who had been struggling in their combination since training camp. They finished last in their heat and did not qualify for the final causing much frustration between crew members. Before it could come to blows coach Steele delivered an inspirational crew bollocking and ordered the 4- to be bow-rigged with a seat change of Duffy at stroke, Graham at 3, Symmonds at 2 and Hart at bow. Duffy had stroked a Henley crew the previous year and was newly informed of her apparent “sledgehammer approach to stroking” which might be suitable for the crew. The boat was re-rigged and when racing was over for the day and dinner was eaten the crew went out for a practice paddle. Whether it was the seat changes or the spaghetti bellies something felt better and finally the boat started moving. “It’s like a new boat!” Steele called from his bike on the bank. The crew went as far as to even communicate at one point: a major breakthrough for the boat. Hart at bow proved pivotal in making calls and despite crossing every lane down a straight course, everyone was satisfied with the switch. The crew was scheduled to race the following day but as per usual when Officer Duffy is involved, things went awry.
The W4- heat starting time was 20 minutes after the W8+ starting time and it was intended to race the 8+, jump out and into the mini-bus and drive up the course to the start where the 4- would be waiting having been rowed up by other IC squad members. The 8+ (Cox: Connie Pidoux/Ellie Dorman/Ro Smith/Nicky Smith/Erica Thompson/Selina Graham/Christina Duffy/Louise Hart/Rachael Davies) took control of the opening heat and Connie called a reduction in rate to finish in second and qualify for the final, without exhausting those having to race afterwards. Hart, Graham and Duffy dashed from the boat into the revving mini-bus with coach Steele at the wheel. The bus blasted up the course to the start line where the three jumped out. But there was no sign of the 4-. Coach Steele completed a 180° turn and took off back down the road to find the boat. Unfortunately Belgian police were having none of it and after being chased by a raving officer banging on the bus windows Steele was forced to pull over. After patiently enduring the Belgian waffle he was ordered to turn due to one-way traffic around the lake. Meanwhile the three headless chickens were at the start without a boat had to sprint along the towpath from the start line to the 1000 metre mark where the boat had been waiting after a confusion of where to meet. The crew got into their boat and took off like a bag of spanners towards the start, but were too late. Just fifty metres from the startline the W4- heat passed them by. Disappointment was consoled by the thought of an impending elite W8+’s final and the crew composed themselves with a solid row back.
With qualifying times posted for the W8+ final IC were well under the radar finishing 5/7th fastest qualifier due to their conserving of energy tactics. A master race plan was devised by cox Connie Pidoux and Coach Steele: a plan which cannot be revealed for obvious legal reasons. Pidoux’s presence was immense in the boat and after a solid start the IC crew held level with all crews until the 250m mark. With the first push IC starting eeking ahead and began to pull away from the pack. Other crews attempted pushes to regain dominance but IC were unstoppable with Pidoux at the helm; “They are doing their pushes and we are still going faster.” Coach Steele was following on a bicycle and reports to being “unable to stop smiling” as other coaches had to watch their crews slip back down the pack and swallow their pre-race chat about the potential outcome of the race. With 200 metres to go Pidoux was on the bow ball of fastest (7:04.11) heat qualifiers Comb Belfast/Tethys/Wallingford and with 100 metres to go there was clear water. IC took gold in a blistering 6:58.62, with composite Comb Belfast/Tethys/Wallingford in second (7:04.34) and Wallingford RC (who had beaten IC to gold the previous day) came third in 7:07.61.
There was no time to spare and four crew members (Rachael Davies/Nicky Smith/Ellie Dorman/Erica Thompson) had to rush off and prepare for another final in the W4x while the others collected the cup and medals. Despite being the fastest qualifier the W4x were disappointed with a third place finish after a long day of racing. Erica Thompson and Ellie Dorman had raced in two heats and three finals, so were understandably exhausted by the end of the day.
Also waving the Imperial flag was Edmund Bradbury who was competing in the JM18 1x event and finished an impressive 8th/61 in a tough field in 8:00.99 behind winner Fed. Française des sociétés d'Aviron (FRA). There were merely hundreds of a second between 8th, 7th, 6th and 5th placings putting Bradbury at the upper tier of single scullers in this category.
IC Legend Bill Mason and his “Project-Quad-Do-Good” Westminster 4x were also in Belgium having shared the boat trailer with IC. The super-4x (often spotted in the weights room at ICBC) dominated the MSB final finishing 14 seconds ahead (6:35.38) of second placed Windsor Boy’s School. They faced tougher competition in the MSA 4x event less than an hour later and came 4th in 6:34.47 behind French club Argenteuil COM (6:24.96).
Boats were de-rigged and loaded and without delay it was straight back to London with all windows widely open. This was a very successful weekend for the women’s squad collecting 22 medals and a cup over two days with just 15 athletes against elite international competition. Go IC!
Christina Duffy