Imperial College Boat Club shone in the first race of the 2011/12 season with the club winning six [well five] pennants, including an overall win for Adam Freeman-Pask and Jamie Kirkwood. Imperial’s domination for the first head race of the season was unrivalled with wins in Elite 2x, Mixed Elite 2x, Senior 2-, IM1 2-, IM2 2- and W IM2 2- and most crews taking top 3 positions in their categories.
Photo by Nick Ablitt
The return of the one and only Adam Freeman-Pask was greeted with much glee as Pairs head training began. Together with golden boy and last year’s Pairs head victor Jamie Kirkwood, there was only one thing on the double’s minds – Winning – which they did in some style. The head pennant was theirs with 7s to spare ahead of their nearest rivals and 18s ahead of all the other Elite pairs (11:36.8).
Just 9s behind Pask and Kirkwood were Wilf “Team Kimberley” Kimberley and Westminster contemporary George Bradbury [for the record, no relation to Hal Bradbury – see below]. The pink double act was second in the Senior 2x category (11:45.2, third overall) by an agonising 2s, behind Team Kimberley’s GB U23 team mate Ertan Hazine of UL [This near miss of an IC top two makes Press Coordinator Richards angry and think that more training/UL sabotage/banter-mongering is required]. Further close calls came for the lightweight double of Tom Pearson and Tim Richards, who were pipped to the IM2 Lwt 2x win by Walton RC - apparently the ex-juniors never rated below 38 for the length of the course. Tim and Tom can take consolation in the fact they were still the tenth fastest crew racing (12:01.5).
Photo by Nick Ablitt
In the Mixed Elite 2x, ICBC had two representatives in different crews. Hester Goodsell, fresh from her bronze medal performance at the World championships in Bled, Slovenia swapped one lightweight London Rowing Club member (Sophie Hosking) for another (Rob Williams) and went on to win the category (12:03.7, 14th overall). Hal Bradbury doubled up with sister Ro (GB Women’s Squad member) to take third place in the same category [again the elusive Imperial one-two escapes us!] (12:18.7, 33rd overall).
Photo by Nick Ablitt
Kiwi Mark Patterson teamed up with Josh Butler to take the IM1 2- crown and were the second fastest pair of the day (12:16.3, 29th overall) behind ex-Imperial/current-Molesey Elite 2- Dan Ouseley and Ben Smith. In the same category were Ben Spencer-Jones and Pierre Thomas. The pair fell foul of fate within thirty seconds from the start line as they intermingled with a crew from Thames Tradesmen and were unceremoniously tipped into the Thames. As the drowned rats made their way back to the club, disappointment and anguish were understandably etched on their faces.
Danny Bellion and Ireland’s Matthew Monteith found silverware at the end of the Thames’s rainbow [not so much a pot of leprechaun gold but never mind]. They broke their competition, winning their category by nearly thirty seconds (12:24.6, 46th overall) and were the third fastest pair behind Smith/Ouseley and Patterson/Butler. The luck of the Irish wasn’t to last though. In the morning the win was cruelly revoked after confusion over which Imperial Boat Club to join led to an invalid entry for the pair. As with all things in life, one crew’s loss was another’s gain. Danny and Matt’s misfortune meant that the pair of Ben Anstiss and Tobias Witting moved up to third in the category (13:01.7, 132nd overall).
Photo byNick Ablitt
The final male pair entry and win for ICBC came in the form of Ali Hudson and Leo Carrington in the Senior Category. They were the fifth fastest pair overall (12:33.2; 63rd overall) and proved the coaches “tactical” [not sure this is accurate, more luck than anything...] entries had lead to ICBC winning so many pennants.
Photo by Nick Ablitt
There were two further entries for the men’s squadron, both in doubles. Two former Pairs head winners, Simon Steele and Will Todd, were combined in “The Ultimate Double” [both have wanted this to happen for a long time] and came fourth in the IM2 2x category (12:20.0; 38th overall). In the IM3 category, the almost scratch double of Gareth Brown and Miles Holbrough had a solid row coming home in 12:29.7 (59th overall).
The Women’s squadron had two entries, one double of Michelle Vezie and Klara Weaver and a pair of Helen Wood and Chloe Symmonds. Klara and Michelle were third in the women’s Elite 2x (12:58.9, 128th overall) and both were happy with the performance, especially after the double had had a fracas with an unyielding slower Parrs Priory crew, who seemed to have forgotten that the overtaking boat had right of way. Klara informed them, as politely as is possible during a race [and after a week of induction to ICSM], to get out the way.
Helen and Chloe started the race as number 410, which seemed rather ridiculously late, especially for the crowds of cheerleaders stationed at the White Hart near Barnes Bridge [there was practically a boat by boat countdown from crew number 300]. As they passed, the pair looked strong and when the results came out during the evening of celebrations, Chloe excitedly told everyone she’d never won anything [forgetting about Scullers Head in 2010]. They were the sixth fastest female pair of the day, only being beaten by Elites (13:55.3, 296th overall).
Decisive wins across multiple categories for both men and women show that ICBC has started the year with a bang. The first GB Trials and the BUCS Small Boats Head are less than two weeks away and Imperial will continue to step up to the ever-higher mark under the leadership of The Don.