Forty-eight hours after becoming a Henley 2010 winner in the Visitor's Challenge Cup, POD catches up with ICBC's latest wonder boy Jamie Kirkwood. It's quiz night at the Duke's Head and in honour of the win the quiz team is named "Kirkwood Smashed It In The Face!" As the ICBC troops fire-up the brain cells POD joins Kirkwood in the corner. They are joined by Kat Holloway and Lenny Kennedy.

KIRKWOOD: “Scared by Kat Holloway. (Kat gives Jamie the eye.) In your dreams Kat. Ah I feel great!"

POD: "How was Sunday's final?"

KIRKWOOD: “It was a superly hard race. Five strokes in and Jono caught a crab, which caused me to crab. That’s Jono ‘Douchebag’ Clegg by the way. It was a right boat-stopper.” When Clegg was asked by POD to share any insights on the IC strokeman, Clegg replied: “He’s recently turned gay. (Probably due to the time spent with Leander.)” POD informed the two-man that this was not recent news. Clegg: “True. But he is starting to accept it.” According to his crewmates Kirkwood blew after 500 metres. By the time they reached Stewards his face was “not a pretty sight.”

POD: “What did you do when you crossed the line, knowing you had won Henley?”

KIRKWOOD: “I put one finger in the air like this (puts finger in the air), because I was number one. Then I caught another crab and my blade came flying back and hit me in the chest knocking me backwards. It was a special moment. There was tension on the landing stage as both crews were coming in to land at Leander. We were absolutely destroyed from racing... but the heavyweights didn't look as ruined as we did and were probably having some regrets."

POD: "Had you raced them before?"

KIRKWOOD: "Yeah we raced them at Marlow and beat them by seven seconds. It was the same crew but a different line-up. They really thought they were going to beat us this time."

POD: "Your crew gave over four stone a man to the heavyweight Leander crew. What did you weigh in at before the race?"

HOLLOWAY: "We all weighed in the same! Me, Lenny and Jamie were 11 stone 8 pounds each!"

KENNEDY: "It was great!"

POD: "Are you guys still here..? Obviously I'm pretty inspirational, but who else at ICBC inspired you to perform so well under pressure?”

KIRKWOOD: “Ole Tietz is my inspiration. He’s amazing. And Will Todd inspired me to win. I’ve had a great year at ICBC but I can’t wait to leave for Leander... (POD’s jaw hits the floor). I’M JOKING! You have to pay to live there. Although the waitresses kept us going. No really they did. It was like ‘OH YEAH' when we saw their faces.” (Kirkwood proceeds to exhibit photos of the "fit" (and not in a cardiovascular way) Leander waitresses on his phone).

KIRKWOOD: “Oh we had a pretty heavy night in the strip club. Kat was on a pole.”

HOLLOWAY: "WHAT!?"

POD: “What was she wearing?” Chazz Moultrie joins the conversation.

KIRKWOOD: “Not much... Chazz was also on the pole… actually Will Fletcher had previously mentioned that he hoped he could meet her on a night out."

MOULTRIE: "WHAT!?" (Get in Chazz! Unfortunately she was not on a pole but in Scotland)

KIRKWOOD: "Will also went swimming with Mahe Drysdale. Drysdale got out of the river and went straight into the bar where he was politely told that he was 'a bit of a minger'. He had to explain that he was actually just in the river. It was pretty funny."

POD: “What was the first thing you did when you got home?”

KIRKWOOD: “I accepted Steve’s facebook friend request. He waited until I had won Henley before adding me. That’s a pretty high standard. I hadn’t added him myself because then he’d know what I was up to.”  Kirkwood’s facebook status after the win “Henley winner 2010 booooooom!!!” has been liked 55 times. A lot, you may think, but with 862 friends this is barely six percent that give a crap about Henley and/or Jamie. Cull them Jamie. Cull them all!

POD: “Where is your Henley medal now?”

KIRKWOOD: “I had a bite of it, did the champagne thing and now it’s in a secure hold in the North in Newcastle.”

POD: “Are you just going to chill out for the summer or have you got any rowing plans?”

KIRKWOOD: “Well, our 4- has the U23 World’s in Belarus in a few weeks and then I’ll be smashing EUSA in the face with Duffy! I won’t be training for it, maybe two weeks drinking training... but nothing crazy.”

QUIZMASTER: "We have a tie for first position this week! Tie-breaker question! Can I have a representative from Team, erm... Team 'Kirkwood Smashed It In The Face' please. Libby steps forward. Foiled by the age of Henry the 8th. We are beaten by an alumni ICBC team. Gutting. At least Jamie can console himself with the thought of his Henley medal.

Thanks to Jamie for keeping it real with POD, and to Kat for the use of her flip-flop to make notes on. We are all very proud of you Jamie. Keep smashing it in the face!

Christina Duffy

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