Head of the River Race (HORR) 2009: Stroke Adam Freeman-Pask was instrumental in leading the top IC crew to 12th position overall in the biggest head race of the season. The all-IC crew was comprised of four college freshers and finished second in the S2 category in 18:18.72 . Tideway Scullers’ School I were the overall winners finishing in a time of 17:25.21. Sculler’s crew included Alan Campbell (Olympian/Sculler’s Head of the River Champion), Iztop Cop (Olympic Gold), Mahe Drysdale (World Champion, Olympic bronze), Olaf Tufte (Olympic Gold) and Ondrej Synek (Olympic Silver). Despite the hired guns the win is attributed to ex-Imperial cox Ali Williams who in a limited time transformed the single scullers into a crew of sweep rowers. Rumour has it they made the switch to sweep rowing as a result of becoming bored out of their sculls. The standard of competition in the HORR following an Olympic year is always toughest making Imperial’s 12th place ranking even more poignant. The crew were satisfied with the result and Pask feels he’s a really happy man.
IC I (Adam Freeman-Pask, Leo Carrington, Ole Tietz, Henry Goodier, Simon Hislop, Josh Yerrell, Dan Cadoux-Hudson, Danny Bellion) were coxed by Henry Fieldman (12th/409 overall, 2nd/81 in S2). The crew missed out on the University pennant to Oxford Brookes by 20 seconds. Brookes is one of the top-ranked university clubs in the country and have consistently been a thorn in the side of IC crews. Boy-siders Carrington, Goodier, Yerrell and Bellion have set high standards for emerging fresher talent at Imperial and their break into the first eight bodes well for the coming years. Head Coach Steve Trapmore gave an uplifting speech to all crews before individual crew chats: “You know what it’s like, you’ve all done this race before”, at which point Bowman Bellion revealed “Eh, well I haven’t actually.”
The crew set-off at number 2 following last year’s strong performance from a crew featuring IC’s George Whittaker, Freeman-Pask and Hislop, but was ineligible for the University pennant. Cox Henry Fieldman was ecstatic, if not incomprehensible with this year’s result, “12th f*cking place after an Olympic f*cking year, with half the crew f*cking freshers. That’s f*cking awesome man! FML!” The Henry Fieldman Express was in top gear coming through the final hundred metres and on-looking alumni on ICBC’s balcony attested to “hearing the boat sing.”
The upset of the day came with the defeat of IC II by the hands of arch-nemesis IC III who ranked 6 places higher (70th overall) than the second boat (76th overall). When crew selections were finalised for the race there was disappointment in the third boat as many felt they had performed better in training than those chosen for IC II. But the crew should have been delighted not to be banished to the second boat because as Dan Topolski put it: “There is no joy in coming second, because to be second is to be last.” The second boat, or “banter boat” were out-gunned by the third who made a gallant effort in the black stallion Vespoli. IC III (Tom Bell, Tom Arnott, Gareth Brown, Kieron Docherty, Iain Palmer, Mike Zammit, John Davey, Andy Gordon) were coxed by Nicola Quinn-Pyatt and finished in 18:53.16 (8th/91 in S3, 70th/409 overall).
IC II (James Wedlake, Will Todd, John Dick, Richard Winchester, Dom Meyrick-Cole, Adam Mayall, Adam Seward, Alex Gillies) were coxed by Connie Pidoux and finished in 18:56.63 (76th/409 overall, 8th/81 in S2). The crew were devastated by the result and were barely able to face IC III, whose delight could not be contained. It was clear when they came off the water that the crew was not pleased with their row. A steady rhythm could not be found and they had to bludgeon their way through the course. Will Todd and Richard Winchester sought comfort in each other and disappeared after the race to be alone together.
In the novice camp, IC IV performed well. (Sean Delaney, John Beaty, Rory Fallon, Thomas Walshe, Benjamin Fahs, Patrick Hudson, Andreas Prøsch, Alistair Larsson) were coxed by Deepika Reddy and finished in 19:37.87 (187th/409, 4th/60 in Novice category).
Thus ends the head race season and we can finally look ahead to regatta racing; an entirely different form of pain. Post race celebrations began in Walkabout and all camps were satisfied after wins from both England and Ireland in the Six Nations Rugby. (Ireland became Six Nations Grand Slam Champions… England came second). London RC attracted a huge crowd of intoxicated rowers for the jungle-themed after party. Moshing, table dancing and naked swimming in the Thames all made for a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
The men’s squad will have a brief respite from intense training this week before the entire club jets off to Italy on Saturday for Easter training camp.
Christina Duffy