Imperial Fresher Novice Invitational Head: Imperial was victorious in the first annual Fresher Novice Invitational Head which took place from Hammersmith bridge to the ICBC flagpole in Putney. Imperial men’s and women’s crews won their races with IC1 clocking the fastest time overall. UL accepted the challenge and put up a good fight against the stronger IC crews on their home water.
Imperial’s hopes of a win lay on the capable shoulders of IC1 composed of Andreas Proesch, John Beaty, Rory Fallon, Thomas Walshe, Chris Kroon, James Falkingham, Benjamin Fahs and Basile Vigmetom. Kate Wylie coxed the crew through the course in the fastest time of the day (6:39.7). Photographic evidence later revealed the fast-moving stream was avoided by the crew who hugged the bank in the final straight and were reluctant to take the easy option.
Irishman Thomas The Tank Engine at seat 5 was steaming along for his crew with Chris Kroon and James Falkingham reporting sounds of grunting emanating from the stern. Rory ‘No lycra’ Fallon refused to follow the recent lycra obsession his fellow novices have succumbed to and was having none of it. Unfortunately for Rory, lycra has it’s practical uses beyond the obvious fashion appeal. This was discovered when his shorts got trapped in the boat’s runners three times causing a huge wave to enter the boat.
IC2 of Vikram Bangara, Angelo Tardugno, Aria Hemat, Patrick Hudson, Valerio Chang, Alistair Larsson, Lawrence Tse and Morris Jones came third behind UL1 in a time of 07:25.3. The loss of time may have something to do with cox Mackenzie Clavin easying the boat 100 metres from the finish. Calls from marshalling launches of “Don’t stop - keep going. You are not at the finish!” were ignored by the crew who clearly had better use for their time and were done with the whole rowing thing for the day.
The women’s crew beat off UL’s competiton by 9.8 seconds finishing in 07:29.8. There was some minor conflict of opinion as to the actual definiton of a “women’s crew”. We would like to apologise to the bow pair for any remarks questioning their gender and would like to remind UL that this was IMPERIAL fresher novice invitational head race, therefore minor details such as these may be overlooked in the interest of being an all-inclusive club. On a completely unrelated note some of the UL “Fresher” novice crews were spotted wearing senior squad kit and were overheard discussing their novice years “back in the day”.
Meanwhile on the embankment Adam Seward, Leo Carrington, Louise Hart, Iain Palmer and Danny Bellion were busy cheering in support of IC crews. Reports claim Dom Judas-Cole was heard shouting ‘Go UL’ at one point during the race. Of course this was only when he wasn’t throwing rich tea biscuit crumbs over Danny’s head so seagulls could swoop down and feed: “They eat in the air, that’s awesome!’. Yes Dom, yes it is.
Post race sandwiches and beer went down well, especially to UL crews who had to row the 8 km back to their clubhouse afterwards. Within five minutes of the mingle IC's women's stroke Georgie Phillips had managed to invite the entire UL squad back to Walkabout at which point their coach stepped in and requested a ceasefire from Phillips.
With races over until after the holidays novices have been sent in search of hills to run up and down in order keep the turkey-belly at bay. Wins at Cambridge and the IC head race promises another exciting season of racing ahead for the novices. Well done to all who took part.
Christina Duffy