BUCS 4s and 8s Head 2011: The River Nene has been kind to ICBC on occasions, and this year’s BUCS Head was one of those as success after success was had over the weekend. Every crew entered were in the top ten of their event, 111 BUCS points were won from the club’s performance in the Championship events and the medal haul was impressive with 4 golds, 2 silvers and 4 bronzes awarded.

Photo Copyright Iain Weir

It was an early start on the cold wet Saturday morning as the ICBC Novice Squadron made their way to Peterborough for the first day of racing, which is dedicated solely to Beginners. Once assembled on the boggy banks of the river with boats rigged, the Team Chat was given by coaches Don McLachlan, Stu Whitelaw and Dougie Thoms under the vivid pink canvas of the marquee, borrowed from another tideway club [no prizes for guessing which!]. The first races were for the women’s four (Harriet Cross/ Maddy Whybrow/ Rosie Davies/ Sarah Tattersall/ cox: Libby Richards) and the men’s eight (cox: Jess Johnson/ Tommy Hirst/ Tom McArdle/ Xavier Lorrain/ Tom Carpenter/ Alex Quigley/ Mattieu Burnard-Galpin/ Robbie Hernandez/ Reuben Hill). As they boated, with the rain pouring down, the 2.5km race ahead suddenly seemed much further.

Photo Copyright Iain Weir

As the four marshalled above the start, it began to hail and Sarah Tattersall announced (under the advice of coach Whitelaw) “Right, it’s too cold, the hands are going down the trousers”. This was followed approximately ten minutes later by a race marshal informing the female crews that racing was about to commence and it was time for “Tops off girls”. [Press Coordinator Richards thinks he needs to choose his words more carefully next year]. All was going well in the men’s eight as lengths of clear water were put on crews around them until the final 500m, when an unfortunate crab by the strokeman [even more unfortunately positioned in front of the coaching party and many photographers on the bank] cost the crew valuable seconds and they finished 8th in their category. In the meantime, the women’s four were storming down the course, avoiding crews crashing all around and crossed the line, snatching the bronze medal in the process. In the second division, four further members were added to the women’s four to make the eight (cox: Alice Wickham/ Rowena Harrison/ Tattersall/ Davies/ Rio Stoddart/ Cross/ Joanna Taylor/ Whybrow/ Lucy Adkins) who came 9th overall. In the mean time, the men’s four (Hirst/ McArdle/ Lorrain/ Carpenter/ cox: Johnson) [one Tom away from a Four of Toms] were hindered once again, this time off the start, by some “week-old novices” and yet still managed to take 6th place.

Photo Copyright Iain Weir

As the Novices made their way back to London Town for a night of celebration, the drenched coxes Johnson and Richards awaited the arrival of the senior men’s squad [all of whom had had a nice lie in and not left until 12 noon]. The two senior eights had a rapid outing before retreating to the hotel, where multiple evening meals were eaten [even by the lightweight men] and ITV1’s Take Me Out was watched avidly by all.

As soon as the first division was complete, preparation for the second began. Frantic re-rigging of the lightweight quad to a four and the heavyweight four to a quad was required once the boats were off the water. In the blink of an eye, the Men’s Championship quad (Sullivan/ Goodier/ Hudson/ Steele) and the Lightweight Four (Pearson/ T Richards/ Kimberley/ Brown) were back on the water and were bringing home more medals; silver and gold respectively, with the lightweights taking a lead of 35 seconds on every other crew in their category.

Photo Copyright Iain Weir

Photo Copyright Iain Weir

By the time of the third division, 10km had already been raced flat out by many members of ICBC, and yet the most important race of the day (to many) was yet to come – Men’s eights. This is such a big deal that, for the first time, Cambridge University Boat Club had entered their two crews, who will take on Oxford on the 26th March – the Blue Boat into Championship eights and Goldie into Intermediate eights. On the way to the start, both ICBC crews kept the pressure light to let the aching legs attempt to recover before smashing it down the course for a second or third time. The Intermediate eight (cox: Johnson/ Pearson/ T Richards/ Bellion/ Lea-Wilson/ Seward/ Brown/ Lunt/ Jones) had an eventful finish to the race as they ambitiously attempted to overtake two crews at once but unfortunately this ended in a clash with Newcastle, causing Lunt to crab and break his footplate in one fell swoop 200m from the finish [the reaction from the bank is unrepeatable in the public domain]. Despite the theatrics, the bronze medal was theirs. The Championship eight (cox: L Richards/ Whaley/ Sullivan/ Spencer-Jones/ Goodier/ Steele/ Hudson/ Kimberley/ Carrington) was confident in its own abilities and Whaley urged the boys to focus on their rowing and rhythm and see just what they could do. The crew looked solid down the last 750m, holding their form, and were cheered on from the bank. All the effort paid off and the silver medal was theirs behind the fresh-legged Cambridge Blue Boat [none of whom had raced earlier in the day]. When the results came through from coach Whitelaw on the journey back to London, IC’s minibus shook with delight and the obligatory celebration in McDonalds was called for.