IC Rowers get more golds

The Diamond Jubilee Regatta was held over the weekend of the 20-21st October at the scene of the summer’s Olympic rowing frivolities, Dorney Lake. The prospect of a major 2 kilometre sprint event just three weeks into the autumn term struck fear into even the hardiest IC rower. However, despite the shock to the system, it turned out to be a hugely successful event. Imperial College Boat Club arrived in force, storming their way up the medal table and finishing second in the Victor Ludorum at the end of the weekend.

Competition at the Regatta was fierce. Usually at events ICBC are used to racing other crews of a similar standard: BUCS for example. However the revised format meant that all categories of crew would race each other, pitting lightweights against heavyweights and seniors against us little under-23s. Winners of respective categories would then be worked out at the end of racing based on overall rankings. In addition Olympians who had raced over the summer were encouraged to attend and race for their home clubs. This meant that we were lining up against the actual big deals, in a rowing equivalent of you racing Usain Bolt with one man and his dog watching from the stands of the Olympic Stadium.

Imperial’s all student rowers came away from the event with two gold medals, in the under-23 lightweight double and the under-23 men’s eight. Lightweight dream-team Wilf Kimberley and Tim Richards won the gold, having both attending the under-23 World Championships over the summer. They were pushed hard by Myles Holbrough and Paul Jones, also of Imperial, who finished second in the under-23lightweight doubles category. This excellent one-two meant BUCS points galore and a high final placing, with the doubles finishing 8th and 10th overall.

On the Sunday the student men’s 8 were racing for the first time this year. The crew of Hal Bradbury, Sam Cottrell, Jonny Rankin, Ali Hudson, Ben Spencer-Jones, Henry Goodier, Wilf Kimberley and Tim Richards with cox Ellie Smith had extremely tough competition. In their semi-final they found themselves off the pace in the first 1000m, needing a top 3 finish to make the A-final. The boys put in a powerful push at halfway, getting their bows in front of Newcastle University and into the critical third place spot. Knocking Newcastle out also meant that Imperial were the only under-23 crew in the final, automatically getting them a gold medal! In celebration strokeman Kimberley pulled out a huge chocolate cake, which many of the crew got stuck into. Coach Stu Whitelaw struggled to give his pre-race chat for the final as he couldn’t keep his hands off the ‘dirty beast’ and was seen wolfing slices and slices of cake down after the boys boated. In the final the crews lined up: Leander, Cambridge, Molesey, Oxford Brookes, Imperial and Tideway Scullers. The Imperial crew were the only boat not containing any Olympians, and the Leander boat actually had five medals from the London 2012 games! IC managed to hang on for a 5th place finish overall. Two-man Sam Cottrell had given so much that he didn’t have the energy to hold on to his oar once they had crossed the line. It got caught under-water and he ‘crabbed’ ending up pinned backwards with a handle in his face until the boat slowed to a halt. Although not the most stylish way to finish a race, Cottrell said that ‘at least everyone thought that I had pulled hard’.

The beauty of the new format meant that in the semi-final of the men’s quad, Paul Jones found himself looking across at his opposite man in the London RC boat, who happened to be Bill Lucas, a 6ft6 GB Olympic Beast. Paul, who in normal terms is average sized but in rowing circles is a midget, laughed off the size difference in typical Gallic fashion however this time confidence wasn’t enough unfortunately. The quad of Myles Holbrough, Paul, Rory Sullivan and Dan Powell missed out on the A-final but managed a positive 4th in the under-23 category. Another quad containing Simon Steele, rowing with last year’s captain Paddy Hudson finished 6th in senior quads.

Imperial medic and London 2012 rower Mel Wilson stormed to victory in the women’s 8 in a composite crew also containing 4 other ICBC members. Mel had a very successful summer, coming 6th at the Olympics in the women’s quad after taking a year out of studying to focus on the games. She has been back training with the squad at IC this year and has been showing off some very flashy kit out on the river! The ICBC non-students achieved other excellent results at the regatta, with victory in the women’s four and alumni, lady-killer and Olympic spare Adam Freeman-Pask stroking a heavyweight quad to 5th in the A-final.

There was success for the women’s double of Lizzie Cottrell and Georgie Phillips. They finished 3rd out the university crews and 6th overall in women’s doubles, adding to the Boat Club’s early season haul of BUCS points. ICBC also had a student double of Annie Hooper and Lily Beadle finishing 7th in this event. Further women’s success came with a student crew of Louise Connell, Harriet Cross, Caterina Buizza and Hannah Patterson finishing 5th in the A final of the women’s coxless fours, an excellent result against some very strong crews.

The BUCS points are already racking up, the medals are coming in and it looks like it could be the year for ICBC. The next event for the crews is the Toga Party this coming Saturday, followed by the small matter of GB trials a couple of weeks after. It is great to see so many novices down the Boat Club at the moment, and we look forward to more success for ICBC in the coming months.