Injury and illness stalks rowing club at trials

Last weekend, after the long four hour drive through the wind and rain from London to Boston, Lincolnshire (a mere 22 miles from the awesome seaside resort of Skegness), several of the Imperial College Boat Club (ICBC) contingent wondered “What the hell are we doing here?”; the answer – the GB Rowing Team’s first assessment of the year and BUCS Small Boats Head. This exhausting weekend consists of a 2km ergo test on the Saturday, followed by 5km races on the Sunday in singles (for all GB trialists and any students fancying their chances at taking a BUCS medal), double sculls and pairs (for the remaining available BUCS points). Despite having a depleted squad, just nine Imperial students came due to multiple injuries and illnesses, ICBC put in a sterling effort and walked away with some impressive feats of fitness and 18 BUCS points.

With just the erg to focus on, Saturday was a very tense day for all. The hall was very simple – one sports hall, 20 ergs laid out in two rows cornered off but still visible so all could witness the fate awaiting them. All athletes were measured for height, weight and arm span before the moment when they’d face some of the biggest names in British rowing. ICBC can hold their heads proudly as eight out of fifteen rowers beat their personal bests.

ICBC can hold their heads proudly as eight out of fifteen rowers beat their personal bests

After a quick paddle, a big Italian meal and some interesting sleeping arrangements the night before, the squad awoke early on Sunday morning to bright sunshine... with winds of up to 16mph. Fortunately, it was to be a tail wind. Division by division, the results were released and all of ICBC were happy to see Alumni George Whittaker had won GB heavyweight trials overall. Simon Steele brought home IC’s quickest single time of the day (19:31.3 – 15th in BUCS). Further solid performances came from Dom Meyrick-Cole (19:45.0 – 51st GB trialist), Leo Carrington (19:50.0 – 21st in BUCS) and Ben Spencer-Jones (20:07.7 – 72nd GB trialist, 33rd in BUCS). Leonora Kennedy and Zoë Lee continued to go from strength to strength as they both were in the top ten overall with times for the women’s single of 20:58.3 (8th overall) and 21:09.8 (10th overall) respectively.

Jamie Kirkwood continues to have a golden glow around him as he smashed his way to win the lightweight trials. Further lightweight success continued for Sam Scrimgeour (18:44.2 – 12th Lwt GB trialist), Josh Butler (18:44.5 – 13th Lwt GB trialist), Alex Gillies (18:55.9 – 17th Lwt GB trialist) and Tom Pearson (19:37.1 – 35th Lwt GB trialist, 7th BUCS). Chloe Symmonds also put in a strong performance in the women’s lightweight single (21:52.2 – 12th Lwt GB trialist, 9th BUCS).

Jamie Kirkwood continues to have a golden glow around him as he smashed his way to win the lightweight trials

IC also fielded a further five boats with the aim of gaining BUCS points and medals. In the doubles, Ben Spencer-Jones and Alistair Hudson came 6th in a time of 17:55.9, while the W2x of Christina Duffy and Selina Graham came 4th in a time of 20:30.0. Unfortunately due to the absence of many of the club’s bowsiders; due to man flu/busted joints/doctors orders etc, the lightweight men’s double had to be withdrawn and it was down to four strokesiders to race the pairs.

On top of this, chaos nearly ensued when the pleasure cruiser, the “Boston Belle”, decided the start of the third and final division would be the perfect time to head down the centre of the river, heading directly towards the fifty boats coming in the opposite direction. Fortunately, disaster was averted and the Belle pulled into the side. In the Men’s Championship Pairs, Imperial A (Steele/Carrington), having already successfully overtaken Durham B, were heard from the bank employing a Kirkwood Tiger [a now well known winning mechanism] with 100m to go and they raced their way into fourth place (18:51.8). Imperial B (Matt Whaley/Pearson) put in another storming performance overtaking “three and a half crews” over the 5km course and beat Imperial A by five seconds to bring home the Bronze medal (18:46.9). The women’s pair of Symmonds and Duffy also brought home the bacon coming in second (21:12.9) behind a very strong Durham crew.

All in all, the weekend was a success and, in time honoured tradition, McDonalds was eaten on the way home with delight, even by the conscientious lightweights. With Fours Head of the River less than two weeks away, ICBC has little time to reflect and needs to be ready for a few more miles on the home water of the Tideway.