2007 Henley winner Will Todd recaps on the men's recent trip to Amsterdam in preparation for this week's HORR.
Hamsterdam 2010: It was with great excitement and youthful exuberance that members of the IC gentlemen's squadron departed Putney for Amsterdam. One member of the men's second crew managed to forget his passport, thus cementing his reputation as an eternal novice for the rest of us. Alas the journey was underway with only a few memorable arguments and funny looks from other fully clothed road users to disrupt a seamless trip to Holland. Mark Mearing-Smith somehow found time for a "tremendous" roadside steak dinner. Long gone are the 6 hour mini bus shifts with no rest stops now this gentleman is around.
We were there to compete at the Heineken Roeivierkamp event hosted generously by Nereus (like a dutch IC but with hotter girls (POD finds this offensive) and uglier chaps (and hard to believe)). This event has been well attended by IC over the years and this year the crews did not want to disappoint. It is run on a speed skating format with crews racing over four different distances with all four times weighted to give a final score. The racing starts with a 2500m head race over half of the long course on the Amstel canal. IC1 did well to finish a strong 7th in the top category in 7.40.6, beating the 2 Tideway Scullers eights racing in their division. IC2 finished 2nd in their category to a quick Proteus crew in 7.42.7.
Then the eagerly awaited 250 sprint took place next with the IC 1st crew hammering out a quick time of 40.9. This was followed up by a disappointing 42.9 from IC2 costing them dear in the overall points table. Both crews were relatively satisfied with the day's rowing and were looking forward to upping their game the following day. A quick tour of the red light district followed by an early night took place leaving two of the younger rowers feeling somewhat confused about what they had seen. Tall Scotsman Jonny Rankin and Coupe 2008 squad member Rory Sullivan were all heart saying "I just feel sorry for the girls, do you think they enjoy what they do?"
The following morning all of the guys were pumped for the second sprint event over 750m. IC1 did well finishing in 2.14.0 over the course and looking impressive beating the crew they raced alongside. IC2 were half a second behind in 2.14.5 also beating the crew they raced alongside.
This only left the 5000m head race piece to compete in. This was an ideal practice run for the main event of the winter for the men's squad, the men's head of the river in two weeks time and it was important to get it right. IC1 struggled with steering the massive tight bend near the start of the course but looked good across the finish line in 16.17.8. The IC 2nd crew struggled with the windy conditions and looked ragged for the last 600m of the race but had given it everything to finish in 16.11.6. This was promising for the crew as they had seen off the two Tideway Scullers crews and scored some bragging rights against the first boat. The result was all the more surprising considering strokeman Iain Palmer was "just totally knackered" and I put in a big first 10 strokes only to blow coming under the bridge at halfway. Perhaps passport losing 3 man Paddy Hudson's intense scrutiny of the scenery along the course along with the occasionally wet end of his blade was the reason for IC 2's speed.
The fun element of the squad (plus Adam Seward for some unknown reason) stayed in town for the sunday night's legendary party. There was a lot of beer thrown, a lot of people told about Rory Sullivan's attendance at the Coupe '08 and most importantly clarification that the Brit '07 is a much bigger deal than the Prince Albert '06, much to German senior international rower and general world celebrity Ole Tietz's general disgust. (UPDATE! Prince Albert Challenge Cup winner '06 Ole Tietz is not disgusted at the notion that the Club events at Henley Royal Regatta are of a higher standard than Student events, merely amused.)
A reported four members of the IC massive improved foreign relations with a suspiciously underage looking Canadian women's crew, whilst others threw beer around whilst representing ICBC with the famous blue t-shirts in tow. Ladies man Big Andy Gordon can be witnessed partying hard on Richard Winchester's facebook photo album from the trip. Believe me it is worth a look. (Oh look, there it is).
Overall a great weekend was had preparing for the men's head and we all learned a lot. Many thanks from all of us to the coxes for getting through a challenging weekend and of course to coaches Stu and Ross without whom the weekend wouldn't have been possible. Now to push forwards for the men's head this weekend.
Will Todd (Henley winner 2007)