Well the last newsletter seemed pretty popular, a whole three positive responses!! I hope more than three of you read it! Anyway here it is….. The long awaited ISSUE 2!! Remember if something is missing from the e-newsletter then email us on the above address. Enjoy………….
Molesey v Cambridge THE Boat Race!!!
In a warm up for the traditional boat race between the provincial universities of Oxbridge and Camford, Molesey sent a crew down to the Tideway for a bit of sparring. With Tom Solesbury out through injury the Molesey crew lost a key man but took to the water in windy conditions with super sub (& Novice!) Pete Marsden from the Development squad and a positive race winning attitude. The crews were due to race from Putney to the mysterious Chiswick steps (somewhere above Chiswick eyot) about a 13 minute race.
The race saw the more practiced Cambridge crew take an early lead and head Molesey after 3 mins. Around Fulham FC GB cox Acer Nethercott coxing MBC pushed Cambridge wide and MBC drew level before a huge Cambridge effort meant MBC were again behind at Hammersmith Bridge. At this point, and the advantage of the big bend with the students MBC looked doomed. But Andy Hodge at stroke and Acer at cox have won the boat race in this same combo before and weren’t going to lose to rivals Cambridge today! At this point MBC had to throw in a huge effort and in the umpires words to this reporter “I’ve never seen an eight take off like that” MBC rowed the students into submission coming home to win by a length round the outside of the bend.
A second two minute sprint saw the light blues take a small lead before crashing into MBC as the Black Death came back at them again and the race was ended with the crew’s level. (An unofficial chat this reporter had with the umpire confirmed a neutral’s view that MBC would have again dominated the boys from Fenn Poly).
Kingston Head of the River
Saturday March 24th saw MBC crew’s line up for the Kingston Head of the River just 7 days before the main event on the Tideway. Molesey had loads of crews racing. We had four of the men’s crews preparing for the eights head and five junior crew out as well as two veteran eights. The conditions were nasty between Ravens eight and Kingston Bridge but all of us on the towpath toughed it out and had a quick pint in the Boaters before heading back to MBC to greet the brave racers!! The results: http://www.kingstonrc.co.uk/content/view/94/2/
MJ15 8+ 2nd Sam Fairburn, Hayden Evans, Joel Bruton, Connor Temple, Geoff Meyers, Oliver Bashiawi, Tim Frost, Tom Fain cox Michael Mumford.
MJ14 4X+ 1st (Maintains their unbeaten run!) Patrick Graham, Lara Christian, Calum Yetman, Alex Cox, Henry Nash.
WJ14 4X+ 1st Chloe Walton, Sammy Tutty, Ellie Roberts, Holy Snelling, Sarah Hopkins
WJ 4+ raced as Senior 2 and the crew of Cox: Bianca Matley, Str. Sophie Drake, 3. Alice Hunt, 2. Georgie Gately, Bow. Emily Goldsmith and another Junior 4+ came 2nd!!
WJ16 4X Harriet Pearce, Elizabeth Ayles, Amelda Gare, Louisa Roberts
MBC Senior men’s crews won S1 eights with second place overall in 15.44 behind the Army winners in 15.40, the Development squad eight were 3rd overall one second further back in 15.45 MBC then Three then were 7th in 16.21 and MBC Four came home 12th in 16.34.
Some good results and some good lessons for the men’s crews preparing for the big one a week later.
Men’s Head of the River
Saturday March 31st saw the Eights Head of the River. The 420 strong race being the second biggest sporting event in London behind the Marathon. 2007 saw FIVE Molesey crews race, well I say race, here is the report form the Chief Silverback himself, strong 6 man of MBC IV who bravely made it to about half way down the course!!
Well it was a bit windy and we were all wondering if the race would be run but whoever decided to let the 8s head go ahead must have been utterly blind. With a crew sinking even before the start of the race, (delaying the start by 10 minutes) the organisers still set crews off and unsurprisingly crews struggled and sank. The Molesey first 8 did brilliant and overtook the Italian crew but then hit something submerged and bent the fin (oops) but hobbled to the finish with some pretty severe steering issues, but they did finish. The Dev 8 made it down the course as did the super-vets. The 4th 8 unfortunately didn’t make it down the course but did make it down to the bottom of the river as they took on too much water and sank and the 5th 8 didn’t even get to start. Good night out though.
And he was absolutely right, it was a great night out, with Bar M in Putney ringing to chants of MOLLEESSSYY MOLLEESSSYY led by the Silverback and heartily joined in by all MBC members present, (even members of the Old Boys 8 who really should know better at their age!!)
Anyway, results, for what they were worth had MBC I in 3rd place, despite Acer coxing with his arm for ¾ of the course, MBC Old Boys in 8th and the Dev squad somehow dragging half the Thames with them but somehow staying afloat. Some good pics of MBC in action:
The results of the 29 crews that finished will not affect next years start order as the race was abandoned. Although that was little consolation to MBC 1 stroked by Andy Hodge with Simon Fieldhouse and Tom Solesbury at 6 & 7 who by Barnes bridge had closed Leander down and were looking awesome with coaches dreaming of 1992 when MBC last won the Head overall, before clobbering an Ent (Ent large tree in Lord of the Rings, don’t you lot read?) and busting the fin so they kept hitting the bank and nearly hit Hammersmith Bridge. (I would have a crew list but nobody seems to want to let me have it despite asking!)
Vets Head of the River
Following on from the Eights Head the day before the Tideway was filled with “experience” on April 1st for the Vets Head (insert your own April fool gag here). The river behaved itself, partly because the tide and wind where in the same direction so just blowing people along!!
The long awaited (well since Molesey Vets Head) rematch between the Novice groups and the lifelong MBC Vets took place with the Novice 8 coming out top by 10 secs. Don’t make ‘em angry, you won’t like ‘em when they’re angry!
An exciting regatta season awaits these two crews, and lets hope they race each other somewhere, a good bit of inter club rivalry is always good!
Also MBC had a women’s crew racing who completed the Hammersmith to Chiswick course in a useful 13.54 secs. Well done to all MBC crews on April 1st, after the day before, who are the fools?!
Full results http://www.vrc.org.uk/vets_head/results.phtml?year=2007&order=finishorder
A Boat Race Preview
I’ll be sitting on the sofa watching telly. There we go, preview done, what did you expect this is MBC! If you want more read the Times! http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/ All you need to know as you watch, is that MBC are much much better than Cambridge. They would have walloped Oxford too but the Dark Blues weren’t brave enough for a rumble this year! I reckon Oxbridge will win, and it will be a good tight race and rowing will be the real winner, although I expect a race of two halves, as long as they just take it a stroke at a time. (Finally I get a chance as a Sports Journo and a chance to use some immortal phrases!)
Look Ahead
Junior Trials 30th – 31st April – This sees MBC juniors trialling for the Junior World Championships in August on the Olympic course in Beijing!! As well as the Coupe de la Jeunesse for European crews. This year sees Callum Wright trialling for the junior boy’s team as well as Phoebe Smith, Chrisse VanBesouw, Vicki Knight and Michelle Vezie for the girls. There will also be another chance for MBC juniors on April 22nd to gain an invite to Junior Final Trials in June, for girls, and July, for boys.
Senior Trials – This takes place on the Hazewinkle course near Antwerp in Belgium (Belgium is so small it’s all near Antwerp!). This year MBC is hoping Andy Hodge (with Oxford’s Pete Reed) will win the pairs regatta for a fourth consecutive year. Also racing in the pairs is Tom Solesbury with Oxfords (Tom Parker) and in the single we have Simon Fieldhouse. We wish all our athletes luck for the trials and the summer season of racing at the World Cups and the World Championships on Munich’s Olympic course from the 1972 Games.
Training Camps – The Easter break sees the MBC senior squad head off to Amsterdam for a hard training camp whilst the J15 boys and girls are also seeing a few days of hard training at Dorney and at MBC, the start of their push for the medals at National Schools in May. Train hard Molesey and lets see some pots and medals in the summer! The J16s, J17s J18s are off to Hazewinkle for some intensive training before the summer racing season.
Regatta Season – April is quiet month for racing at MBC but will see MBC on the water training hard for May events including
- Wallingford May 6th
- Thames Ditton May 19th
- National Schools May 25th – 27th (In Nottingham)
- World Cup 1st Leg Amsterdam May
Club Suppers – Don’t forget that every Thursday night from about 8.30pm there is dinner at the clubhouse and the bar is open. Food is £3, always tastes great and there is always loads to go round. Come along and have a cheap feed with no washing up, and a pint!
Balloon Race - You may have missed the launch but you can still win the prizes right up until the closing date in May!! All balloons were numbered so can still be allocated and there are some left floating worldwide carrying YOUR prize!! Speak to Ed Boyne, any committee member or Captain Ollie Keech to buy a ticket from Ed now. Remember funds go to the Henley fund which, despite its name, helps ALL athlete costs at MBC including National Schools, Junior and Senior triallists, Henley and National Championship crews.
Gorilla nest – www.thegorillanest.com Keep up to date with all at MBC as it happens (almost) on the MBC underground. The site is updated regularly, unless the Chief Sliverback decides some other Ocean somewhere needs rowing across! He’s planning the Pacific next and we can talk about it now as his Mum now knows! He’s not leaving until 2009 at some point so lots of time to check the site out before then! Some good pics of Andy Hodge with MBC’s winning J14 quad from Schools Head.
What have you missed…?
Boat Naming - March 25th saw Molesey name the latest additions to the fleet. This time two new eights, a new coxed four and three new single sculls. I can’t remember the names here and if you want to know them, well, you should have been there!!
Balloon Race Launch – March 25th also saw 1000 black and white balloons let free from the boat club as the first MBC balloon race started. Some got as far as the tree next to MBC whilst most disappeared over the horizon to shouts of glee! (All trapped balloons were released again by the Dev Squad so don’t panic if yours was in the tree!
IMPORTANT BIT – You can still buy tickets for this event!!! All balloons were numbered so you have until the closing date in May to join in the fun and have a chance of winning great prizes from an ipod shuffle to a racing stint in a Mercedes!! All for just £5. Speak to Ed Boynes or any committee member for details.
