PUTNEY IC NOVICE HEAD CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD: The second race of the novice calendar occurred with nearly as much drama as the first. After numerous early morning training sessions and some serious self-ego-boosting the Men’s crew were feeling mighty and unbeatable. Despite a disappointing, yet promising third place in Cambridge, winning was the only option here. The Women’s eight on the other hand decided to take the race a little less seriously [maybe feeling a little cocky after their huge Cambridge victory four weeks ago] by adorning festive Santa hats and adding some aerodynamically compromising tinsel to the riggers at least no one would be expecting an emphatic triumph.
Due to the usual diabolical time keeping of many of the crew in-particular Robbie ‘Token’ Hernandez; an argument over which crew should be allowed the more experienced Jess ‘in and out’ Johnson as cox; and the decoration of the girls boat; both crews arrived fashionably late to their own head.
One can only assume that the novice crews from all other universities in the world knew they would not stand a chance against the mighty ICBC Novices and were thus too scared to show their faces. Kindly, Kingston and Roehampton Universities turned up to make up the numbers.
Expected to be the fastest crew, the Men’s novices lead the procession. The 2200m course was navigated without drama: no crabs, no seats falling off, no injuries, no steering mishaps, nothing. This allowed the crew to show the coaches, senior doubters and, most importantly, the rest of the world what they were made of. Cruising home to a time of 7:35.76 Men’s A finished a stunning 15 seconds clear of nearest rivals, Kingston 1 and nearly a minute faster than Roehampton, who, despite having row (roe) in their name and arriving sporting ridiculous matching hats, couldn’t live up to expectation [Jamie Kirkwood was unavailable for comment]. Doubters silenced, confidence boosted, what now could not be achieved?
Further down the river the Women’s boat, with newest recruit Catriona Rowbury coxing, were having a number of organisational issues. Unsure of where the start line was, valuable seconds were lost getting up to speed. The Women’s boat directly behind, possibly equally confused as to where the race had begun, came into contact with the slow starting IC crew in front, continuing the ICBC Novice tradition of crashing. The IC Women eventually got up to speed, having lost an unrecoverable amount of time. It was a valiant effort, finishing in 2nd place in a respectable time of 09:09.81 [Maybe it was a good job they didn't look like they were talking it too seriously in their festive attire].
Photo by Don McLachlan
Maybe next time both Men and Woman can row without a glitch and the full potential of ICBC can be unleashed.
Until the next race, a very Merry Christmas from all at ICBC.
Tom ‘Lycra’ Carpenter