The Heineken Roeivierkamp is one of the highlights of ICBC’s calendar in the run up to Head of the River and, over the years, it’s never failed to provide entertainment. This year, the four distance regatta (2500m time trial, 250m side-by-side, 750m side-by-side and 5000m time trial – each equally weighted), held on the river Amstel just outside the centre of Amsterdam, fell the weekend before Women’s Head of the River so the Gentleman’s Squad were joined by a proportion of the fairer side of ICBC. 

The three eights (one women’s, two student men’s) made their way to the Netherlands across Britain, France, Belgium and half of Holland in 5 vehicles – The Kat-Mobile (driven by Kat “The Beast” Holloway), Lee Motors (Zoë Lee), Stunning Lunts (Matt Lunt), The Motley Minibus (Adam Seward) and the Truck (Don/Stu) [Press Coordinator Richards can’t take any credit for the names given to the vehicles – they were the work of Stu “mmm chocolate…” Whitelaw]. Despite a staggered departure from Putney, the aim was for all to arrive approximately at the same time; the Motley Crew arrived a good hour and a half ahead of the Kat-Mobile and the Truck on the Friday evening; Lee Motors were stuck in a traffic jam around the Netherlands/Belgium border contemplating the meaning of "100% BOB 0% op" and Stunning Lunts were still somewhere in France.

The boats were rigged and everyone made their way for food at the host boat club, ASR Nereus, where many an IC eye was caught by the calibre of the Dutch females [good news for those staying for the post-race party?]. Afterwards, the obligatory trip “into town” was made and ICBC took in the local delights but, as Simon Steele nearly found out, there are some parts of the city where it isn’t sensible to take your camera out of your pocket, even just to “take a video of Ben Spencer-Jones’s reaction”. After this debacle, Steele (with co-conspirators Henry Goodier and Adam Seward) managed to make friends with some passing Dutch police, as they tried to get their leg over a wall. The police suggested it was “a pretty old wall, perhaps you could show it more consideration by walking around it”. Little did the police notice the ginger toms, Gareth Brown and Jake Lea-Wilson, had already gone over the top and disappeared out of sight… 

Despite the frivolities of the previous evening, all were awake bright and early for a pre-paddle on the Saturday before the two races of the day – 2500m followed immediately by 250m sprint. The women’s eight (cox: Connie Pidoux/Laura Greenhalgh/Mathilde Pauls/Mel Wilson/Lenny Kennedy/Zoë Lee/Christina Duffy/Kate Jones/Lottie Howard-Merrill) raced first and, against stiff competition, came a respectable third in both races (2500m – 8:05.6; 250m – 0:49.2). On the Sunday, the girls held their position with two solid performances in the 750m (2:34.5) and 5000m (16:30.6).

This was an important weekend for the women and, in particular, for Kat Holloway and Christina Duffy, who were vying for the final seat in the top women’s eight. Duffy had already attempted to immobilise the competition by digging up the roads in Clapham the week before, resulting in Holloway falling off her bike and being hospitalised, but Kat recovered too quickly. Duffster and Holloway were also in the Kat-Mobile on the way over and apparently attempts were made on Duffy’s life by speeding onto the ferry. Even the sleeping arrangements (sharing a double bed) were not ideal [Duffy admits to waking up during the night and contemplating the pillow and looking at Kat…] but by the end of the weekend, Pauls had tendonitis and so Duffaluffagus and the Beast joined forces for the 5000m.

Meanwhile, the men’s squad were having hardware issues. The main features of the course are two tight bends and an extra-large rudder was brought in an attempt to allow easy passage round the corners. Unfortunately, this was bent on the Saturday morning by the sheer might/speed of the colossal 1st eight (cox: Henry Fieldman/Matt Whaley/Rory Sullivan/Ben Spencer-Jones/Ali Hudson/Simon Steele/Henry Goodier/Wilf Kimberley/Leo Carrington). For racing the 2500m/250m, a slightly smaller rudder was used but again, the sheer speed caused the rudder to buckle, but good times were still recorded (2500m – 7:02.1, 250m – 0:42.5). Another small rudder (the sort used on Tideway) was put on the boat for Sunday and, after a successful 750m sprint (2:16.6) the boat faced its biggest test, De Grote Bocht - The Big Bend, at the start of the 5000m. The small rudder took the corner perfectly and they stormed home in 14:44.6.

Photo by Gareth Brown

While the 1st eight were faffing with rudders, knives were out on the newly “refurbished” (but still with a battered appearance) Bob Schroter as attempts to fix the connecting wire of the speakers were made.  Once back in the fully functional Bob, the 2nd eight (cox: Libby Richards/Tom Pearson/Hal Bradbury/Tim Richards/Josh Yerrell/Adam Seward/Jake Lea-Wilson/Gareth Brown/Matt Lunt) felt much more at home, except perhaps for Matt Lunt who, a week earlier, had been put onto his unnatural side, bow side.  As the weekend progressed, the 2nd eight went from strength to strength and gained confidence (2500m – 7:19.7, 250m – 0:42.4, 750m – 2:19.3), culminating in an impressive 5000m, which involved overtaking the (slightly more) local Gent Sport and shouts from the bank of  “good work Imperial”.  Unlike previous years, they couldn’t quite beat the 1st eight except for 0.1s in the 250m, but achieved a very respectable time of 15:09.7.

As soon as the 5000m was completed, the boats were rapidly de-rigged and put on the trailer so ICBC could go their separate ways – the Kat-Mobile, Lee Motors, Stunning Lunts and the Truck for the ferry back to Britain; the Motley Minibus crew to the Lash machine before the epic after-party at the Nereus Boat House [the event is sponsored by Heineken…].

Libby Richards