BUCS Regatta Crew Announcement

The entries are in and the May Day Bank Holiday weekend is within touching distance which means only one thing in British Universities Rowing.. BUCS Regatta is nearly upon us! Taking place at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham as usual, crews of all standards, shapes, sizes, fitness and skill levels will be taking to the water targeting everything from just making it to the finish line in one piece to that standout Championship Gold medal winning performance against seasoned GB oarsmen and women.

The BUCS PwC Rowing Regatta is the largest regatta in Europe, and attracted 944 crews from 68 universities in 2012, where Loughborough Students Rowing managed to top the medal table for the first time. Going into the regatta, which is the final event of the BUCS Rowing 2012-13 calendar, we are currently sitting 7th in the points table with local rivals Nottingham University Boat Club clinging onto 6th place.

We are excited to announce that this year we are entering 39 crews, with the aim of putting in some strong performances and getting as many people racing as possible. Please see below for crew information:

OPEN WOMEN

Intermediate 8+
Kat Aguilar-Agon; Hannah Wright; Nicky Gray; Caitlin Boyland; Emily Quimby; Fiona Robinson; Kirsty Brown; Ruth Mckellar; Nat Egginton (cox).

Championship 4-
Louise Hart; Beth Lloyd; Sarah Bonar; Katie Bartlett.

Intermediate 4+
Kat Aguilar-Agon; Fiona Robinson; Emily Quimby; Alex Beviss; Nat Egginton (cox).

Beginner 4+
Cherry Fermor; Katie Baggott; Lucy Rogers; Alex Brady; Nat Egginton (cox).

Championship 2-
Louise Hart; Katie Bartlett.

Intermediate 2-
Nicky Gray; Ruth Mckellar.

Championship 4x
Louise Hart; Beth Lloyd; Sarah Bonar; Katie Bartlett.

Championship 2x
Sarah Bonar; Beth Lloyd.

Intermediate 2x
Hannah Wright; Kirsty Brown.

Championship 1x
Katie Bartlett.

Intermediate 1x
Louise Hart.

Beginner 1x
Laura Scott.

OPEN MEN

Intermediate 8+
Sam Hayes; Ayrton Carlton; Jared Minnican; James Ingle; Jon Stimpson; George Hallewell; Jack Redwood; Alex Watkins; Rob Lawson (cox).

Beginner 8+
Warren Price; Jake Griffin; Adam Wright; Rob Watson; Ben Cossor; Jamie Colvin; George May; George Osborne; Matt Mitchell (cox).

Intermediate 4+
Connor Duncan; Ben Colman; Massimo Santoro; James Douglas; Louise Hart (cox).

Beginner 4+
Jamie Colvin; Rob Watson; George May; George Osborne; Matt Mitchell (cox).
Warren Price; Matt Goodhead; Adam Wright; Harry Beagrie; Dan Mungall (cox).

Intermediate 2-
Massimo Santoro; James Douglas.

Intermediate 4x
Jon Stimpson; Jack Redwood; George Hallewell; James Ingle.
Ismail Hussein; Matt Brazkiewicz; Rich Bryan; Ben Colman.

Championship 2x
Craig Turner; Alex Kratzer.

Intermediate 2x
George Hallewell; James Ingle.

Intermediate 1x

Ayrton Carlton.

Sam Hayes.
Jack Redwood.

Beginner 1x
Matt Brazkiewicz.
Rich Bryan.
Ben Colman.
George Hallewell.
Ismail Hussein.
James Ingle.
Jon Stimpson.


LIGHTWEIGHT WOMEN

Intermediate 1x
Alex Beviss.
Hannah Wright.

LIGHTWEIGHT MEN

4x
Alex Evangelidis; Stuart Walker; Craig Turner; Alex Kratzer.

2x
Craig Turner; Alex Kratzer.

1x
Alex Evangelidis.

Trio For Rio: World Cup 1 @ Sydney International Rowing Regatta

On 24^th March 2013 in the middle of the night (if you are British), three Loughborough Students Rowing alumni made club history. Matt Gotrel, Jonny Walton and Monica Relph, all raced at the first World Cup in Sydney, Australia. Furthermore, Matt brought home gold!

Loughborough Students Rowing alumni (from left) Matt Gotrel, Monica Relph and Jonny Walton.

The first race of the new Olympiad meant a chance for new faces to step on to the senior international scene and take their first steps on the 'Road to Rio', and our Loughborough trio did not disappoint! A new look team GB saw Monica Relph in the women’s quad, Jonny Walton in the men’s single scull and Matt Gotrel alongside three Olympic gold medalists from the London games in the men’s eight.

The women’s quad was an exciting new crew prospect, with all four new faces on the senior team. On day one of the Regatta Monica, joined by Tina Stiller, Olivia Carnegie-Brown and Zoe Lee faced a tough first heat, beaten by eventual bronze medal winners New Zealand and had to race the repechage on day two, which they got through comfortably to reach Sunday’s A Final. The race was dominated by a young and very talented Australian crew, but the GB girls showed their strength and promise by putting in a great finish to end up 4^th in this very competitive event.

For Jonny Walton, Loughborough’s Sportsman of the Year 2012 this was also his debut performance in the men’s single at a senior event having finished 8^th in the same event at the Under 23 World Rowing Championships in 2011. The “Leicester Legend” as he known, made his heat of the first world cup look easy, leading the field from the first stroke and never looking back, to win the race by 13 seconds and qualify automatically for Sunday's A Final. One of the favourites leading in to race, but not in his trademark yellow boat due to racing down-under, Jonny was perhaps taken by surprise in his final as Bulgarian born Georgi Bozhilov went out at a blistering pace and grunted his boat through the line to finish first. Jonny who looked comfortable and relaxed throughout the majority of the race, put on the after burners in the final 500m to make an impressive move from 6^th to finish 4^th. A fantastic start to his Olympic campaign!

Finally Matt Gotrel, who learnt to row at Loughborough University, competed in the final event of the regatta in what was named “Jurgen’s Big Eight”. An impressive line up which included three of London 2012’s gold medal winning men’s four Pete Reed, Alex Gregory and Andy Triggs Hodge as well as bronze medal winners in the men’s eight Moe Sbihi, Tom Ransley and cox Phelan Hill, Matt was under no small amount of pressure to keep up the expectations of these phenomenal athletes. It would seem Gotrel thrived under the pressure, executing a perfect race in this five boat final, in which they lead from start to finish! It is rare for a rower to have such accelerated success in the sport. In just a few years we have seen Matt go from novice to World Cup gold medalist, of which Loughborough Students Rowing Club is very proud to have been part of!

Matt Gotrel (top row, second from right) posing with 'Jurgen's Big Eight' crew and a gold medal around his neck.

The next World Cup of the series is from the 21^st-23^rd June at Eton, Dorney, the venue of the 2012 Olympic Games. Tickets are available online and it would be great to bring that special Loughborough edge to the famous ‘Dorney Roar’!

(Special thanks to Pete Reed MBE for the team photograph!)

By PIPPA WHITTAKER

To see the races in full follow the links below:

Monica Relph - Women's Quadruple Sculls (W4x) Final

Jonny Walton - Men's Single Sculls (M1x) Final

Matt Gotrel - Men's Eight (M8+) Final

NEWS: World Rowing Cup a great success for three Loughborough graduates

We have an article on this coming shortly but while you wait, check out the write up from Samsung World Rowing Cup 1 in Sydney by Loughborough Sport here:

LOUGHBOROUGH SPORT NEWS: World Rowing Cup a great success for three Loughborough graduates

Craig Turner Man Of Steel.. Erg Marathon Finisher

On Friday 22nd March at 1100, it was sadly announced that the 2013 edition of the Head of the River Race in London. This is that most gruelling of races on the tideway stretch of the River Thames in central London, where around 420 crews from all around the world take on the 4.25 mile (6.8 km) championship course from Mortlake to Putney that is famously rowed every year when Oxford and Cambridge contest The Boat Race, in the opposite direction.

For many, this meant an early start to the lash along the river (cough, members of our alumni club, Plesiosaur Boat Club!!). For one Loughborough lightweight, Craig Turner, this purely meant an opportunity for another challenge, to row a marathon on the rowing machine!

Craig, 22 year old, said, "I carb loaded and obviously I've got to be lightweight for BUCS. So I thought, you know what, I'll put this energy to good use and do a marathon!" Described as an "absolute nutter" by his crew mates, the gutsy ginger finished all 42195 metres in an incredible time of 2 hours 44 minutes 19.2 seconds - for those of you who like numbers that's a average pace of 1:56.8 /500m or power output of 219.7 Watts.

This is a massive achievement, especially considering Craig did no specialised training for the event. He has really set the bar here for other club members!

By PIPPA WHITTAKER

Lincoln Head Round Up

We had four boats entered this weekend into three classes, with both senior and novice boys racing for Loughborough Students. Due to the event being held in the first weekend of the university holidays, only a few crews were able to go but they all had a good time and have no doubt learnt from the experience!

First up were Sam Hayes and Jared Minnican, both out on their own in the Novice 1x. On all accounts, the day was absolutely freezing and delivered pretty much all the types of bad weather you could imagine! In all this, Sam managed to find his own little spot of sunshine, covering the 3000m upstream course in 14 minutes 04 seconds to win the Novice 1x division. This was closely followed by Jared, who managed to post a time only three seconds slower and take second place.

The Novice 4+, in only their third competitive outing since they started rowing, managed to finish 3rd, under the commandment of cox Matt Mitchell. The crew have gelled well and certainly had their fair share of incidents along the course, starting before they even got under way. Bowman Warren Price said that although verging on hypothermia while waiting to start, "we started well, crashed, crashed with another boat, had a scrap with a barge, and caught a crab." Not ideal but all part of novice racing and the boat certainly has great potential for the rest of the season, with BUCS Regatta particularly in mind.

Will Bunn and Tom Hewlett in the Novice 2x also had to endure the extreme cold conditions and, similarly to the Novice 4+, encountered a crash along the way too! Initially, Tom commented, "I'm never going rowing ever again, in my life, ever." When asked to comment why he explained that, "rain, sleet, snow, rain, and then a touch of hail rounded things off. I paid my £10 (entry fee) to get hypothermia!" On reflection the boys decided to the view that these things happen and that although it won't go down as a day of their happiest memories in a boat, a beer sorts everything out!

A mixed bag of opinions and happiness with how the day went then, but no doubt it was a valuable racing experience to those who were there competing.

Former Loughborough Students Rowing members and current Loughborough University students Richard Donnor and Tim Ives were also racing at the event, representing Loughborough Boat Club in the Novice 1x. Richard finished 4th and Tim finished 6th in the division.

By JAMES DOUGLAS

Loughborough Students Rowing Crews and Results (all crews raced over 3000m):

NOV.1x
Sam Hayes. 1st (14:04)
Jared Minnican. 2nd (14:07)

NOV.4+
Bow - Warren Price; 2 - George Osborne; 3 - Ben Cossor; Stroke - Jamie Colvin; Cox - Matt Mitchell. 3rd (15:35)

NOV.2x
Bow - Will Bunn; Stroke - Tom Hewlett. 3rd (15:28)