The Women’s Side The novice women had an exciting and intense term. First week started out with lots of confusion about terms like “bow pair” vs. “bow four”, but by second week, everyone was rowing with feathered blades and mostly in time. After a sunny and warm Taster Day, the novices learned to love rowing in the rain and the benefits of erging. Quickly progressing, under the guidance of several senior rowers, lower boat’s captain, and the women’s Head Coach, boats could be set in 4th week and race preparation begin in earnest. Twenty-nine (twenty-nine!!) new rowers stuck out a mild October and unpleasant November for a strong showing at Christ Church and Nephthys.
The training and early mornings paid off. At Nephthys, in 6th week, Women A won the regatta. In four races, they consistently left their opponent trailing far behind, and in their fifth and final, they pushed through to the end to win a close race against St Anne’s.
Confident heading into Christ Church, LCBC was the only club to enter three women’s novice boats. With Blue Flag on the Isis, coxes Haden Spence, Mike Skidmore, and Hannah Hodson did more than their fair share dashing between boats to adeptly lead them through the races. WC beat Balliol WB by a length in the repechage before losing to Magdalene WB. WA handily won their first two races before an incident and poor marshalling knocked them out of the running. WB had a strong showing and made it into the quarter-finals–the top eight boats in the competition! With the resounding success of not one, but three boats making good showings, Lincoln novice women have left a strong impression on their competitors and are eager for Torpids.
“Damn impressive.”–anonymous coach on the river watching Lincoln WA practice “Long and strong!”–Women’s Lower Boats Captain, Leah Rand “I’m glad we didn’t have to race Lincoln.”–Wadham novice rower “I love rowing.”–Lincoln novice
The Men’s Side The novice men have also made great progress this term. Men’s Lower Boats Captain, Adrien Hitz, gave this report:
First of all, I really enjoyed coaching the men’s novices this term. It was very satisfactory to see 20 complete beginners learn to row in less than 6 weeks. At the end of the term, we had two boats capable of rowing decently in 8s. Richard, our head coach, spent a remarkable amount of time running along or from one side of the river to another, making our boys progress quickly. Anthonie, the Men’s Captain, and Patrick from the senior squad also brought a lot of energy in the novice squad.
At Christ Church Regatta, for their first race our B boat had a quicker start than Wolfson B but the race was interrupted. During the re-row, a technical issue on a footplate forced them to row with one less man and they lost the race. They had an excellent repechage against Oriel A, losing only by 1m at an exciting finish. Unfortunately, Boat A were short on competitors getting a bye through to Friday after their first opponent scratched. They then went on to meet a stronger crew, Jesus A, on Friday. It’s a pity they didn’t have the opportunity to race more as the boat was strong and showed potential.
Many of the novices are keen on keeping rowing and have already started to train with the seniors. We are hoping with this new influx to arrive at Torpids with 3 boats on the men’s side!