Henley Royal Regatta 2010: Strokeman Jamie Alexander Kirkwood has won the Visitor’s Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta as part of an Imperial, Durham, Leander composite. The lightweight crew were the heroes of the day usurping the heavyweight Leander ‘A’ crew into a headwind. IC qualified an impressive nine crews for the regatta with most losing out to semi-finalists or finalists.
The Visitor's Challenge Cup
Jamie Kirkwood (IC), William Fletcher (Durham), Jono Clegg (Leander) and Dave Jones (Leander), essentially the U23 lightweight GB coxless four, won the Visitor's Challenge Cup after a successful season of racing. Kirkwood has had a terrific year since joining ICBC winning Sculler's Head of the River, Duisberg International Regatta in the 4-, MET Regatta in the 4- and Championship Singles at BUCS. He now adds a Henley Royal medal to the tally. The crew cruised through the opening rounds of the event easily picking off Molesey B.C. by 1 1/2 lengths in 7:02 on Friday and Club San Fernando and Club de Regatas la Plata, Argentina by an easily verdict. Kirkwood had time to update his facebook status before the showdown with Leander `A' on Sunday: "Lets Smash this Final in face tomoz!" And so he did. POD caught up with the wonderboy and the full interview can be found in `A Conversation with Jamie Kirkwood'. Transcript of Regatta Radio highlights of his race can be found here.
The Temple Challenge Cup - Student Event Men M8+
ICBC had two student eights in the Temple event with IC's first crew pre-qualifying after a solid performance at MET regatta. Unfortunately both crews went out in the opening round. IC 'A' of Iain Palmer, Alex Gillies, Mark Mearing-Smith, Leo Carrington, Danny Bellion, Paddy Hudson, Tom Pearson, Gareth Brown and cox Libby Richards faced their greatest rivals Durham University 'A' on Wednesday who knocked the IC eight out by a 1 ¾ length margin. Transcript of Regatta Radio highlights of his race can be found here.
The IC 'B' crew of Adam Seward, Manuel Pierce, Random Novice #1 (he was here first so he gets the #1 tag), that horrendously good looking bloke who some of the more rude members of the boat club think looks a little like an aging Rocky, Matt Taylor, Hal Bradbury, Matt Lunt, Random Novice #2 (who we now know has a smoking bird) and cox Ed Hill. [No prizes for guessing who supplied POD with the crew list]. They lost out to Tilberg University of Holland by 5 lengths.
Had both IC crews progressed they would have met for an all IC showdown in the next round. There was relief on the coaches behalf that this did not transpire. When POD questioned both crews about their most memorable Henley experience there was no hesitation to the key topics, all of which concerned Paddy Hudson: bridges, bareback riding, an epiphany realising disinterest with trucks, a sudden rekindling of interest in trucks and asinine questions about gravity. POD was even treated to the actions of said event by the man himself. LAD.
Amidst the excitement of rekindling his interest in trucks, Hudson dropped his phone in the river. Retrieval obviously required full submergence of Hudson, Winny and Ben Newland. Adam Seward was at the scene: “He got it back after the water screwed it up so much that the camera flash switched on permanently, giving away its position. The ‘rescue launch’ showed up for them about 20 minutes after they had got out. Rapid response or what.”
Tom Pearson described HRR as a "four day bender" while Adam Seward was witness to a horrific attack on a fellow rower: "On Wednesday night a large long-range projectile pineapple full of cider made rather successful rapid contact with the rear of a "UL Crew" t-shirt in mahiki. He didn't look angry, just disappointed, much to the thrower's dismay."
The Prince Albert Challenge Cup - Student Event Men M4+
The student coxed four of Simon Steele, Henry Goodier, Rory Sullivan, Jonny Rankin and cox Henry Fieldman qualified comfortably for HRR in the time trials the week before. Their first race was on Wednesday against the internationally respected Princeton University, USA and was set to be a tough challenge. It turned out to be one of the races of the week with IC battling against the Americans and finding themselves trailing at halfway. Spurred on by cox Fieldman asking the crew whether they really wanted it or not, the IC boys dug deep and came from a length down to over three-quarters of a length up, rowing straight through the Princeton crew.
“THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT BOYS!” was Rory Sullivan's reaction as they crossed the line in 7:18. It was one of the first races of the day and the Temple 8+ were listening in to the race live on Regatta Radio. There were cheers when the presenters announced that “...it’s a long way to be sent home in the first round." Fieldman’s exclamation “That was easy boys!” was picked up by the presenters who relayed it across to the tens of listeners. “…and Henry Fieldman seems to think that was an easy row, I’m not sure his rowers agree!” It was later reported to be a “slaying of giants” and such quality of racing was not expected so early in the regatta.
On Thursday the crew had been depleted by the previous day’s racing more than they had expected and lost out to the University of Bristol by 1 ¼ lengths. Bristol went on to reach the final but fell to an Irish crew from UCD by 2 lengths. Despite the disappointment Fieldman was positive about his Henley experience, in particular Wednesday’s race: “It was the best race I have been a part of this year, and possibly one of the best races I have been in while at Imperial that I can remember. Unfortunately it seemed to take a lot out of us and we had a little less to give against a strong crew from Bristol the following day. I think it highlights some things we need to work on next year, but fortunately all the guys in the crew and myself will still be students, and excited to give it our best shot next time.”
The Ladies' Challenge Plate - Intermediate Event Men M8+
Regatta Radio described the Ladies crew as four of Imperial’s best rowers in a composite with a London Club and two German clubs. The German contingent was courtesy of exploited acquaintances associated with IC's world class lightweight rower Ole Tietz. The crew consisted of Tietz (IC) at stroke, Martin Eiermann (Mainzer RV), Adrian Bretting (Berliner Ruderclub), Olaf Beckmann (Berliner Ruderclub), Pierre Thomas (IC), Iain Weir (London RC), Will Todd (IC), Josh Butler (IC) & cox Seb Pearce (IC). The crew had a thrilling race on Friday beating Leander Club 'A' by 1 length in a time of 6:35 and were pumped for Saturday’s battle against a composite of Oxford Brookes University and Oxford University. Despite a courageous battle of giants the IC composite were squeezed out of a win by ¾ of a length, but went out in a blaze of glory.
Fieldman, cox of the PA4+ was impressed by the performance: “Watching the IC/German 8 race in the Ladies Plate event I couldn't help but be filled with excitement. It was great to watch an IC crew hold its own, and sometimes even more than that, against some really tough crews.“ Find out more about the Ladies Plate Crew in “Talktime with Ole Tietz.”
The Wyfold Challenge Cup - Club Event Men M4-
It’s been a tough year for the Wyfold, no Brit, no Wyfold, oh we have a cox... Brit, oh no we don’t… Wyfold crew of Sam Lindsay, Josh Barker, Jon Cook & Ben Anstiss. Despite the best efforts of outside pair and parental units Ben and Sam the crew managed to lose their accommodation on the morning of having to move in. Within the hour Mrs. Bush was on the case and soon every house within a twenty-mile radius was informed of the dilemma. Accommodation was found.
The M4- crew successfully qualified for HRR the week previous and despite steersman Anstiss’ fears, negotiated a successful route around the slowest non-qualifiers with only a few Anglo-Saxon style yells. However the steering became the topic of conversation during the opening round on Regatta Radio as the Sport Imperial line degraded throughout the race. After beating N.S.R. Oslo of Norway by 1 ¾ of a length the SI crew were subjected to an official warning from the umpire. Transcript of Regatta Radio highlights of his race can be found here.
In the second round on Thursday SI were up against Star Club from POD’s native Bedford. These four clearly were part of the Bedford Massive and defeated Imperial by 3 lengths in 7:54. There was a strong headwind for the race and despite the result Anstiss remains positive: “Star came over afterwards and said they were pretty worried off the start, they expected to be a length up by the barrier and they had a couple of feet, we pushed them hard.”
Like all sensible crews knocked out in the early stages it was time to hit the vodka. Josh went barkers: “IT’S LIKE A ROLLERCOSTER!!!”
The Princess Grace Challenge Cup - Open Event Women W4x
Hot off the back of two finals at HWR, the women’s squadron were represented in the quadruple sculls event by Zoë Lee, Lenny Kennedy, Kat Holloway and Mathilde Pauls. They steamed through qualifiers the week before and were unlucky to be drawn against the New Zealand National quad racing as Waiariki R.C. a week later. The IC W4x had a quicker start than the Kiwi’s and pulled out ahead for the first “ten” strokes (read seven). Despite a strong row the crew were beaten by 2 2/4 lengths. Waiariki went on to make the final but lost out to the GB 4x (Gloucester R.C & Leander).
Holloway: “I think we did well, it was a tough crew and we hadn’t been together very long.” In fact the crew was hastily thrown together after HWR with Lee and Kennedy making a long-awaited return to sculling after months of rowing together in their very successful (Elite MET & HWR champions 2010) pair.
The Chav family of Chanel (Lenny), Ritzy Lee (Mathilde), Clinique (Zoë) and Bianca (Kat) arrived in Henley in their five door tinted hatchback chavmobile to accommodations far below their already pretty low standards. Kennedy drew the line when she was woken by a cat walking across her face: “I was appalled.” Holloway, who slept through the drama (thanks to her sleeping mask, earphones and sedation tactics in case of failure in the former) was oblivious to the attack on Kennedy’s life. With just a few hours sleep snatched before race day they left a note at the house and did not return.
Knocked out: time for the lash. Even coach Steele aided in the inebriation of his crew by calling an “important meeting”. Steele followed through on his £50 surface area bet and presented Holloway with a bottle of champagne. Kudos Mr. Steele, your honour is restored. The Beast claims she got 5 hours 28 minutes sleep over the weekend: 5 hrs on Friday, 25 minutes on Saturday and 3 minutes on Sunday. A dinner comprised of six cups of coffee for the non-caffeine drinker powered her though: “It got very schweaty, but I think I drunk myself sober.”
Mel Wilson in the midst of Imperial medicine exams was competing in the women's open singles event and beat D. Mallison of Quintin B.C. easily in Thursday's first round. Wilson found herself up against the eventual event winner, world class M. Knapkova of Slavia Praha Czech Republic on Friday and was knocked out.
The Remenham Challenge Cup - Open Event Women W8+
The IC's women's 8+ failed to make it through the qualifiers for HRR after two of their crew members had to pull out due to sickness. Alumni super-subs Trish Keegan and Rachel Smith were drafted in at the last minute and Keegan was abruptly thrown into the strokeseat. The final line-up was Trish Keegan, Chloe Symmonds, Maggie Paxton, Christina Duffy, Rachel Smith, Charlie Maile, Christina Matteotti, Ro Smith with Tom Fieldman coxing. Keegan set off like a bat out of hell and the crew hung on for dear life down the course. Despite a gallant effort the crew did not progress. Nicky Smith rowing for City of Oxford and Rachael Davies in a Tideway Scullers composite did qualify but were knocked out of HRR in the opening round, COX by Vesta and Scullers by the GB National 8+ rowing as a club composite.
By Saturday teatime there was good turnout at the annual alumni tea. A brand new gazebo was purchased especially for the event. POD: “Ooh a new gazebo, where did we get this?” Iain Palmer: “It was bought with the money set aside for a new set of blades for the women’s squad.” Comedian. If any alumni are offended by this statement then please send a cheque to ICBC re: blades for women’s squadron. Many thanks.
And thus we come to the end of another year of rowing. The winter ice has long melted, the dark mornings are no more and with not a drop of rain in sight it's clear that it's time to rack the boats until conditions are unfavourable to sanity of mind once again. Head Coach Steve Trapmore continues to push athletes and punish competitors: "World Domination phase 1.0 complete. Initiate phase 1.1 v1."
Congratulations to the Legend of the Year: Jamie Alexander Kirkwood. Kirkwood has been contacted by the sponsorship consul for Oxford Dictionary in the hopes that he can be the face of a new generation of spelling. We live in a time where the order of letters is irrelevant to the speed or punctuality of catches; a time where lively syntax does not deliver Henley medals. Kirkwood has been an inspiration to POD who for years has been trapped in a grammatically correct dimension. The unfolding possibilities comfort POD as she approaches the end of her student life and concludes the final PODcast. Well done on a tough season's training everybody! Enjoy the summer ICBC!
Christina Alexander Freeman-Duffy-Kirkwood
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