Email Newsletter No 5
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Right, now I’m really annoyed, I’d just written a rather remarkable report on the highs and lows of The National Schools Regatta, the first World Cup, Metropolitan Regatta, Reading Regatta, Thames Ditton Regatta plus heaps of other stuff and my bl**dy laptop decides it will shut down for no reason and lose the lot!!
For this reason the next (now bumper) edition will contain all the summers events including of course National Schools as well as Metropolitan Regatta, Thames Ditton Regatta and Reading Regatta and ! All events above will get a report, I have included Andy Hodges report from the first World Cup as he wrote it and I can just cut and paste it again!! As for the rest of the events, patience my friends, patience!! Oh if anybody wants to write a little report about any of these events, pleeeeease do. It can be credited to you or anonymous but this newsletter thingy is starting to really eat into my work day, and I’ve got ebay and facebook for that! (What’s Facebook? Well it’s this website where you can poke your friends… you’ve given up haven’t you?)
FISA World Cup
Report by Andy Hodge Great Britain Coxless Four Strokeman…
Again the bloody Dutch! They are always there, but at least they tried something new. For the first time a crew has led us in a race. The GB coxless four, for which I stroke, has been able to boast back to back wins at the major world events for the past 2 years, and I can gladly say we're still on top. We had a great regatta, putting into practice new thinking in technique and boat design. We also had a little test from our close rivals and fellow Molesey members, the Dutch four, who lead us through the 1000 metre mark. Though belief in our rhythm and a winters worth of strength meant we didn't panic or falter, the smiles were back on our faces when they fell back and we won our semi without a major incident. The final was straight forward, a solid race and a win by nearly 2 seconds. The belief I now have in this crew is cemented; we haven't reached our potential yet but are on our way, our Olympic dream is on course!
Thank you to everyone who sent me, Monkey, Tom and Acer good luck messages. It means a lot know that you're watching, and maybe a few might even make it out to Amsterdam World cup on the 23rd 24th June?!
Since this Hodge has also been seen in the Grobler Uber-Eight! They won at Amsterdam beating World Champions from the Eight Germany and the real GB 8. Another great GOLD Mr. Hodge. Simon Fieldhouse (Monkey) came home 8th in the quad after narrowly missing the A Final and Tom Solesbury rowing with past MBC member Tom James came home 9th in the coxless pairs.
Women’s Henley
Well how can I put it AMAZING!! The senior coxed four of Tessa Zant, Tracey Axten, Gina Keech and Debbie Pyke cox Adrian Ellison came home from the rain and mud fields more akin to Glastonbury than Henley with 5 little Red Boxes! An amazing regatta saw the girls defeat Sydney RC in round 1 before an easy round two to line up against City of Oxford in the Semi Final. With an incredible row the girls booked their slot in the final with a victory of just FOUR feet!!
The Final was a going to be tough, damn tough you ever been in a Henley Final? It’s that tough!! Coach Jackie Prout noticed that her crew’s 4 foot victory was the same time as the University of London’s 2.5 length victory in the other semi, time for the dream to end?
The race started and MBC shot into an early lead and things looked good, then it appeared that the 4 footer was telling, MBC were being rowed down and were down with just 500m to go. Time for the dream to end?
You might think so. Were the MBC supporters braving the mud going to be disappointed, was the club going to have wait another 12 months for a Women’s Henley win? Surely the dream was now over?
Well…… no, of course not. You don’t put those four girls in boat, stick one of the UK’s top coxes in and expect them to roll over and die! They stormed back and on the line snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, by an easy 6 FEET! MBC won its first crew event at Women’s Henley. What can we say? Well done to Coach and crew, the year has been tough but we all hope it was worth it. Gina Keech said that evening “I’m shattered but I’m happy” and rightly so!
The Senior Women’s quad of Sofia, Julia, Sarah and Sam dogged by illness and injury all season and Sarah only came into the crew with days to go. They raced well but unfortunately lost to Mortlake in the first round. They were, suffice to say a little frustrated but Mortlake have shown to be a class crew all year so MBC were expected to get beaten with ease, in the end a 1 length verdict was credit to the crew.
The Junior girls have a coxed 4 and an eight, the four of Phoebe, Helli, Michelle, Chrisse coxed by (cox email me above I don’t have your name!) also had a tough opener against Bedford, National Schools Champions. The MBC girls won that then dispensed with Headington’s top crew in round 2.
This set up a semi-final against arch rivals LEH. LEH outsized MBC and they were certainly favorites. However at 500m MBC led by a length going through in 1.49 (if you don’t know a junior women’s coxed four, upstream, coming in under 2 mins is fast) so MBC were absolutely flying. At 1000m going past the boating areas MBC still led and looked good. However that first 500m was beginning to bite back. Over the last 500m LEH moved back and snuck past MBC to win by half a length and went onto win the final with ease. A good effort from the MBC junior four despite disappointment, they really took a chance and put themselves on the line, something you need to do to win at this level.
Alice Bray MBC’s junior coach also had an eight in the event and with the US schools coming over this is a cut throat event. The crew beat the yanks in the first round then lost to some bigger yanks, a good experience for these younger girls though, hopefully they can build on that next year.
Henley Royal Regatta - Preview
The men’s crew lists are below…
Thames Cup:
Cox: Tory Sethard- Wright
str: Nick Baker
7. Karl Hudspith
6. Pete Marsland
5. Mo Sibhi
4. Rob Rayner
3. Ben Pugh
2. Ed Boyns
Bow. Dan Badr-Safdari
Wyfold Cup:
MBC A
Str: Ben Curtis
3. Scot Rennie
2. Callum Wright
Bow. Jonty McNuff
MBC B
Str. Telfyn Beddoe
3. Jimmy Ansell
2. Giles Ritchie
Bow. Rob Dwan
Britannia Cup
MBC A
Str. Jon Alexander
3. Geraint Jones
2. Henry Newton
Bow. Tom Cunliffe
Cox. Zoe Davies
MBC B
Str. Doug Bull
3. James Foad
2. Ronan Lomas
Bow. Hugh Bolton
Cox Lucy Barton
Visitors:
Oxford/MBC comp
Str. Chris Martin (MBC)
3. Ben Smith (OUBC)
2. Olly Moore (OUBC)
Bow. Robin Esmond-Fray (OUBC)
Ladies Plate
Molesey and New York Athletic Club
Cox. Niel Chugani
str. Monster
7. Bobby Thatcher
6. Greg Searle
5. Jonny Searle
4. Mike Blomquist
3. tbc
2. David Gillard
Bow. tbc
The Remenham Challenge Cup
Molesey & Mortlake
Tracy Axten
Tessa Zant
Debbie Pyke
Gina Keech
Diamonds James Stevenson
Stewards: Molesey and Leander - Andy Hodge
Phew!! You got all that?
Anyway the qualifiers are Friday 29th June and we have some MBC crews racing to get into the regatta proper. The main event starts on Wednesday 4th July with Semi-Finals on Sat 7th July and Finals on Sun 8th July. Keep up to date with MBC progress at
You can see the draw from about 6.00pm on Saturday 30th July and then the race timetable from about 8.00pm each evening for the following day. Perfect to plan your day so you can turn up in time to cheer on the boys in black to greater efforts. MBC certainly has some chances this year, look out for the Thames Cup and Ladies Plate crews as well as the Wyfold and Britannia fours.
WHAT HAVE YOU MISSED??
Well Sunday 17th June saw the MBC annual fundraiser for the Henley appeal. Despite the name, ALL athletes benefit from this fund with money going towards training camps, National Schools accommodation, Gent Regatta, Men’s and Women’s Henley and National Championships.
So all athletes benefit, men, women, junior and senior. I’ll be blunt, I was disappointed with the lack of people there this year. All the athletes racing at Men’s and Women’s Henley were there so it was a good time to meet the guys you’ll be cheering on upstream! And remember the key point the Henley Fund funds all athletes across the board at MBC.
There is a letter at the bottom of this newsletter from Jonathan Steele, fundraiser extraordinaire, and donations can made to the Henley Fund at any time of year and for any amount. 5 pence to £500 and more. ALL donations are gratefully accepted and then you can play YOUR part in ALL MBC success for the season. So go on, just a little bit, our athletes of all ages need you!
I’m sure we’ll see you next year!! (or else Foxy will find some jobs for you around the club!)
Look Ahead
Well the big one is the Molesey Boat Club SGM. Date is THURSDAY 12TH JULY. This is an opportunity for ALL MBC members to come and vote for who will be on next years committee.
Some important decisions here as it affects who runs YOUR club. We have two key positions with leaving committee members firstly Dickon Poole is retiring as President, although will still be co-coordinating the junior program and Jon Van-Ingen is retiring as Treasurer. Jon, alongside Dickon has been a key member of the junior coaching team and will we hope continue be.
Both Dickon and Jon have worked hard for MBC over the years and the whole club owes them huge thanks for all their efforts. Leave your wallets at home Dickon and Jon there’s bound to be a drink or two of thanks for your work at MBC coming your way. I’m sure both Jon and Dickon will be on hand to support and assist whoever takes over these roles, in the mean time Dickon, do we still come to you for “Presidents Drinks” at Henley this year?!!
Also future regattas include
Kingston Amateur
The National Championships of Great Britain
Molesey Amateur
And for those of you who like adventure there is a large MBC contingent heading down to Devon in July for the National Surfboat Championships!! What’s Surfboats?? Well it’s this...
(waiting for photo)
So if you want to see MBC’s senior men in speedos and the women in bikinis getting flipped out of boats…. Then head down to Saunton Sands North Devon on July 28th, it should be great!
Letter Attached
7 Garricks Ait,
Thames Street,
Hampton
MDX TW12 2EW
HENLEY APPEAL FUND 2007
1st June 2007
Dear Member,
Another year gone so quickly and Henley is fast approaching so once again I need to write to you for this appeal, ever mindful of your significant help already this year to raise money for Andy Hodge’s Eight, now in our proud possession.
The Henley Fund this year will help out the seniors with their training camp costs in Amsterdam and a grant is also being made to the juniors who went in a big squad to the Nat Schools Championships and despite a lot of sickness came back with two golds, one silver and three bronze medals, an improvement on last year.
Dickon Poole is asking some of the juniors and parents to attend our Henley fund raising party on Sunday (17th) so do come and meet them-and please bring your donations as you have done in the past.
With your continued help we should be able to help our athletes at Womens Henley, Henley Royal and maybe the Nat Champs.
The Captain’s ambitions for the men’s squad which should get settled after the Met Regatta this weekend is to have at HRR a Thames Cup Eight(mainly our development squad),Britannia and Wyfold 4s with a Ladies Plate and a senior Quad as well. The women’s squad though small in nos are doing very well and should be at Henley Women’s and possibly as a senior quad at HRR.
With this huge squad it is obvious that we cannot do this without your generosity and again I would ask for cheques payable to Molesey Boat Club Henley Fund and either given to me at the party or posted to my new address above, now that I have moved to Garricks Ait.
Yours Sincerely,
Jonathan Steel
MBC Henley Fund Raiser
I have pleasure in enclosing a cheque for £_____ to support our crews
Name __________________________
