Pair’s Head of the River 2009: The once believed permanent scowl of ICBC’s Adam Seward was momentarily wiped when news broke that he had steered the fastest ICBC boat of the day. The crew of Simon Steele and Adam Seward finished 9th overall and second in category in a time of 12:25. The Pair’s Head of the River is a 4 kilometre race downstream from Chiswick to Hammersmith Bridge on the ebb tide and 6 IC boats made the top 50 out of 372 entrants.  

As reliable as the tide coming in is the deep furrow in the brow of Adam Seward, clinging to a childhood trauma that not even protein shakes can ameliorate. However at 01:00 BST on Saturday October 17th at the conclusion of the Annual Fresher’s Toga Party a slightly intoxicated Seward tumbled upstairs to the boathouse flat to check his Pair’s Head results on the internet; the fastest IC boat of the day! Fellow flatmate and strokeman in the double was Simon Steele who was hastily awoken; the youngster approaching cardiac arrest at the sudden confrontation with man and toga. It eventually sunk in that it was Seward, and even more spine-chilling; he was actually smiling. It may be too optimistic at this point to assume that there were feelings associated with this smile but it is a huge leap forward for the third year Mechanical Engineering student. As news spread ex-flatmate Danny Bellion was inconsolable: “I just don’t know what to believe in anymore”.

Trapmore described the boat as his “superdouble” the following morning; Simon and Garfunkel were 4 seconds ahead of the next fastest IC crew and were only 8 seconds from a win in the IM2.2x category. Also in this category was last minute crew of Danny Bellion and Will Todd who finished 25 seconds behind the Steele/Seward 2x despite Todd proudly sporting his Tower lycra. Bellion was chuffed with the crew selection: "Rowing with the winner of elite pairs last year was a dream come true. I don't know what else there is to achieve now in rowing." It later transpired that Will Todd has also won Henley, a fact that he likes to keep quiet.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (Alex Gillies/Jamie Kirkwood) competed in the IM1.2x event finishing 20th overall and 13th in category. There were three entries in the IM3.2x event: Henry Goodier/Leo Carrington, Richard Winchester/Andy Gordon & John Dick/Ben Anstiss. Goodier and Carrington came second in category (12:29, 17th overall); a mere one second from first place. Richard and Judy were also impressive coming fourth in category (12:51, 46th overall) while Bert & Ernie came 23rd in category and 146th overall with a finishing time of 13:32. This was the same finishing time as the IC women’s elite doubles entry of Erica Thompson and Rachael Davies who came 6th in category and 147th overall. To avoid confusion on the day two calls were pre-selected and repeated during racing: “YOU CAN DO IT JOHN!” “YOU CAN DO IT BEN!” “YOU CAN DO IT JOHN!” “YOU CAN DO IT BEN!” Speaking terms have been reinstated.

Most of the women’s crews were entered in the elite doubles category with many racing under the new Sport Imperial club name for non-students: Zoë Lee/Tina Manker, Erica Thompson/Rachael Davies & Ro Smith/Chloe Symmonds. The Lee/Manker 2x came an impressive 3rd in category just 6 seconds from a win and 80th overall (13:07). They were aided no doubt by the fact that both were wearing POD’s lycra. The same lycras collected bronze at National Champs earlier in the summer in the absence of their owner (…sigh). Chloe Symmonds was called into action to race a few hours before boating as original stroke girl Charlotte Moultrie (Chazz) was ruled out due to a back injury. As Symmonds is a student registered to race for Imperial College (not Sport Imperial), the crew had to race for time only. They finished 8th in category, 233rd overall. Kat Holloway and Helen Austin (Mortlake) competed in the W.SEN.2- and finished 2nd in category in 14:02, just 2 seconds from a win. IC’s Ellie Dorman was also racing in the elite women’s pairs event with Gorton-Phillips (Clyde ARC) and they too finished second in category.

ICBC’s international lightweight heroes Adam Freeman-Pask and Ole Tietz raced in the elite men’s pair’s and managed third place in category, 28th overall (12:37). The four second gap from the winning Tideway Scullers crew (12:33) can possibly be attributed to an interesting line taken around St.Paul’s Bend. It may also have been a revolt against having to lower themselves by racing in a Janousek as the Stampfli had been assigned to two of the boysiders. After the race Pasky and the Braun considered plans for later: Pasky: "Gee, Braun, what do you want to do tonight?" The Braun: "The same thing we do every night, Pasky—try to take over the world!" The club’s Annual Fresher’s Toga party was scheduled that night at the boat house where there would no doubt be potential for entertainment. Braun: “Pasky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?” Pasky: “I think so, Braun, but maybe one Fresher each is enough.” [Journalism reaches new lows: POD apologises for the above but she has been ill for the last week and is running out of ways to amuse herself. Narf].


As for the Toga Party since the police were not called and nobody died POD considers it a huge success. Thanks to all who organised and helped out on the night and especially to those who helped clean the next day. The next big event is the Club Annual Dinner, a much posher affair, at the Imperial Student Union Queen’s Tower Room in South Kensington on Saturday November 14th (19:00-23:00 plus after party). Tickets are £30 for students and £50 for alumni. Contact us now to secure your place. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=184451940539&index=1

Christina Duffy

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