Captains’ Interviews: Rowing Club Captain

I hope that the avid Sport readers (you know who you are) have been enjoying the Captains’ Interviews series – because we’ve decided to go weekly on you. After having the Rugby first XV captain last week, we turn to an equally popular (and equally gruelling) sport. Live from the Boathouse in Putney, Rowing Club Captain Patrick Hudson answers my questions.

I have always been slightly in awe of rowers, with their steely, up-at-the-crack-of-dawn training ethos and their sheer drive for success. Somewhat inevitably, the first question I ask Patrick revolves around this: where does he find the motiviation to get up at such scarily hours to train?

“I don’t know where the motivation comes from... Possibly the fact that I live at the Boathouse and my crew will bang on my door to get up?” Ah, it’s all about location then? Not quite, he says: “Seriously though, it’s a rewarding sport and we do everything we can to win – anything less wouldn’t be good enough.” Impressive stuff.

My next question is about the Boat Club itself. Historically, it is one of Imperial’s strongest sporting outfits, with the Putney Boathouse a testament to that fact. What is the level of the current senior squad? How has the club fared in recent years?

Patrick proudly admits that “last season saw our best performance in the last few years”:

“A 4th place out of 300 for the girls at Women’s Eights Head of the River; winners of the University Pennant and four crews in the top 25 out of 400 at the Men’s Eights Head – no club matched that achievement, student or otherwise. Those successes were followed by wins and strong performances at the Henley Regattas in the summer. The current squad is in great shape and looks set to build on last year’s achievements.”

I ask him to elaborate further; what are the main objectives for this season?

“The most prestigious events for us are the Eight’s Head races in March, then Henley Royal Regatta and Henley Women’s Regatta in the summer. Building the fastest possible crews to compete and win at these regattas is our focus.” What about BUCS points? “BUCS is good fun,” he says, “and we’ll put in a strong performance to do our bit for the uni, but it’s not our ultimate goal.” Sport Imperial do have some lofty objectives for this season, but I feel that Patrick and the boat club will deliver – his hunger for winning is unmistakeable.

The current squad is in great shape and looks set to build on last year’s achievements

Moving on to something slightly different, I ask about an association that a lot of people make in their minds: the one between rowing and the Olympics. It’s a very exciting time for any sportsman-or-woman to be in London; will any Imperial rowers be involved in the Games?

“Mel Wilson from Imperial is in the Women’s Quadruple Sculls and Adam Freeman-Pask, an alumnus who still rows with us, is also in the frame for a seat. Both Mel and Adam competed at the World Championships this year.” After my noises of wonder and excitement subside, Patrick continues: “A few club members are volunteering at Dorney Lake and for the rest of us, or those lucky enough to get tickets, we’ll be cheering for GB from the bank.” Personally, I’ll be cheering on any Imperial athlete who makes it to the games – in any sport.

Speaking of cheering, what of the social side of rowing? We don’t often see the oarpeople (not sure if that’s PC or not? – Ed.) around the union, as they tend to be down by the boathouse anyway. Does he have the time to take a breather and enjoy a drink with your rowing mates, I ask – or is the training regime just too strict?

According to Patrick, it’s about getting the balance right: “Training is demanding but there’s a big social side built around the Boathouse and the fact that most of us live in Putney. We normally save the mad-for-it nights out for after races.” He then lets me in on a further piece of (confidential?) information: “ICSMBC were kind enough to expose the weaknesses in our drinking ability at our joint pub crawl recently . . . maybe we should work on that, but we wouldn’t want to steal their thunder.” Wise words from the captain there.

Finally, as is customary, I ask him a bit about himself. How did he get into rowing? “I started rowing as a beginner in my first year at IC by default – I was too fat at the time to make the squash team. It’s incredibly addictive and I like the potential for personal development as well as teamwork.” I can’t help but think that squash lost out somewhere along the way.

What have his personal achivements been so far, then? He is hesitant to make much of this question – unsure whether people are going to be interested or not. I tell him that most students are interested in seeing the people behind the clubs. “Well, I won three BUCS gold medals last year, and came 23rd at Men’s Eights (also in 2011) winning a pennant.

On the back of that, I think it’s safe to say: bring on the races! Good luck to ICBC for the rest of the season.