March 2008 - Eight’s Head of the River Race
After cleaning up at head races all year ICBC produced the goods at our main race of the season, coming second to a crew of internationals. The annual gruelling 6.8km processional head race takes place from Mortlake to Putney with over 400 UK and international boats vying for pole position. The novice men were pipped to the Novice Pennant by a mere 2.17 seconds. ICBC's convenient boathouse location on Putney embankment ensures no drinking time is wasted post-race.
April 2008 - Training Camp
With head racing complete for another year and the regatta season looming it was time to get serious. The entire club packed their lycra and headed for the sunny south of France. Free from the irritating distraction of having to learn things in London, we could focus purely on rowing. Blisters were forgotten by evening as we patted each other on the back for a good days training.
May 2008 - BUSA Championships
Strathclyde in Glasgow was our destination for the British University Championships where ICBC dominated their races. Overall ICBC came first in 6 categories, 2nd in four categories and 3rd in 5 categories. This took our medal tally to a whopping 41 giving Sport Imperial plenty of BUSA points to play with.
July 2008 - GB World Championships
Two of ICBC’s elite members Adam Freeman-Pask and Mathilde Pauls were selected to represent GB in Zurich at the World Championships in Linz Ottenshelm, Austria. Competition was tough for both athletes competing in the single lightweight sculls. Pasky and Paulie did the club proud coming 13th and 9th respectively out of a world population (according to the latest census) of over 6.6 billion. And yet they still give us the time of day by humoring us with conversation.
August 2008 – EUSA Championships
After a demanding season of near victories for the senior women’s squad there was deserved acclaim at Lake Jarun in Croatia for the European University Championships. Victory came in the form of silver medals for the lightweight quadruple sculls (4x) and a bronze medal for the pair (2-). A year of starvation finally came to an end for the lightweight quad and GBK have since been regretting their 2-for-1 meal promotion vouchers.
4 reasons to join your club
To make new friends (since strangers are just friends waiting to happen)
So you’ve joined the boat club on a whim. Within days you’re using phrases like ‘Easy there’ and ‘Hold it up’ in everyday conversations. Jokes about long hard strokes and rushing the slide can only get funnier with time and repetiton. You take great joy in explaining the intricacies of ‘Backing down’ to your non-rower friends. They don’t care. These people mean nothing to you. Weeks pass and soon you realise all your friends are rowers. You begin to refer to your crew members by seat number. Any social activity or holiday must include the entire boatclub and is preceeded by multiple reply-all email threads. Weeks turn into months and somehow you end up as press officer.
To cut all ties with your loved ones (excuses for all occasions)
Whether it’s a bank holiday weekend, reading week or term break, at some point you will be expected to leave the big smoke and return to the sticks for some quality family bonding. They’ve missed you. You’ve missed them less so. ICBC offer a range of guilt-free excuses to choose from for coxes, rowers and single scullers alike. From not wanting to let down the crew to being the only one with a functional rigger jigger, Mum will be proud of her little Johnny or Mary. ‘But wait’, I hear you cry, ‘What if my family come to visit me in London!?’ Never fear: ICBC offers affordable getaways from weekend regattas in Glasgow to week-long training camps in France. You never have to see your family again!
To see the world (going backwards)
Not entitled ‘Great’ for nothing, Britain boasts prime locations for racing throughout the year. Domestic racing last season brought the club to such far flung utopias as Reading, Peterborough and Kingston with vaccinations included for the Cantabrigan Winter Head. BUSA took the club to Glasgow while Nat Champs were held in Nottingham. Further afield ICBC participated in international competitions at Bruges, Ghent, Zagreb and Linz collecting medals and pots along the way for both novice and senior crews. It is worth joining ICBC alone to get a ride in the legendary ICBC mini-bus of fun.
To unleash hell and get praise for it (coxing)
They’re small, they’re loud and they’re usually hungry The most critical crew member in a coxed boat, the cox has a tough job. Responsible for the navigation and motivation of the crew, the cox must be fully focused when on the job. As lactic acid begins to seep into the muscles of crew members, the cox can ease the discomfort by screaming abuse down the boat demanding the best out of every stroke. A species of their own, coxes have their own lingo and everything must be done ‘on three’. If commanding a crew of sweaty athletes and coordinating the power and rhythm of the crew is where you see yourself, then ICBC can show you how. These tactical strategists are not to be messed with.
3 things to look forward to this year
The Support Team - ICBC knows good training* (and isn’t afraid to ask).
Olympic Gold Medallist Steve Trapmore, MBE, assumed control of the helm mid-season last year and has psyched himself into a frenzy in anticipation over next season.
The sheer abundance and availability of coaches ensures styles to suit every personality from the extrovert to the more shy members. Either way it is always helpful to know that your coaches grandmother can scull better than you. And she has been dead for twenty years. It really aids progression. Thanks guys.
Gym manager and Stevie T. Fan Club President James Blackley is usually found in the boathouse gym office devising circuits worse than the box jump. Master of the weights area, James will have you bench pressing and pulling your way around the gym. He’ll be the one ordering members to put their weights back when they are finished. It’s a simple request folks.
Strutting around in Lycra (and looking good while doing it)
It begins slowly. The novices in the autumn term are easily identified by their shorts, t-shirts, and inability to comprehend why anyone would choose to wear lycra instead. Senior squads swan around in their tight fitting all-in-ones carrying water bottles in their hips, donning flip-flops in the middle of winter. Somehow, over time, they begin to look cool. The first race means the whole crew should wear the same kit, so you buy an all-in-one. This needs to be washed at some point so it’s perfectly acceptable to purchase another. Time passes and the lycra stockpile grows. It seems wrong to put anything else on in the morning. You catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror coming out of the shower and think you are wearing one. But it’s just tan lines.
Winning
Being a member of ICBC ensures that at some point, you will win. Clear off that top shelf and dust down those window sills because this is the year you redeem yourself in the sporting community. Soon you’ll have medals and pewter tankards bulging from your wardrobes. You may be at Imperial now but it’s time to face reality; chess isn’t and never was a sport. Man up.