Oriel Regatta 12-14 June 2003	As ever, Oriel Regatta provided a good excuse for messing about in the sunshine after Eights. Matt Townsend lost his race in the single scull by 3 lengths to the eventual semi-finalist (from Wadham). James Miller-Jones and James Yates entered their first pairs event, and rowed 4 races on their way to victory, despite there being only 5 crews entered in the event. After a few encounters with the bank (none of which were John's fault), one of which resulted in a rerow against Trinity, they beat Pembroke in the final. On the Friday, James Yates swapped sides to row the Stern IV of the Eight in the coxed IVs event. St. John's beat Catz and Balliol fairly comfortably before coming up against an American College crew who were over to enter The Brit at Henley, and had entered the previous day on seeing racing in progress. St. John's gave them their toughest race of the afternoon, losing by 1/2 length in a sprint finish (rating 41-42 at the end). The Americans went on to beat Merton by a comfortable 2 lengths of clear water in the final. And on the Saturday, the Mixed VIII lost their heat by some margin.
Eights: Saturday 31st May	The Women's 2nd VIII finished off a perfect Eights performance, bumping St. Anne's II in the Gut TO WIN BLADES!!! They finished only two places short of a fixed-division place; a real achievement from a crew with only 2 changes from a 2nd Torpid that dropped 17 places to finish bottom of the river. The Men's 2nd VIII attempted to row over at the top of Men's Division V, but were sadly unable to hold off a fast Wadham crew, and got bumped. The Women's 1st VIII were again bumped down, this time by Linacre, and finished at the bottom of the 2nd Division. The 1st VIII started with high hopes of bumping a Merton crew that were on for spoons. They started well, and kept Wolfson to a much safer distance than on Friday (>3/4 length), but again struggled with choppy water in the Gut, and despite closing Merton to 1/3 length on the Green Bank, could not finish them off. They finished 10th in the 2nd Division
Eights: Friday 30th May	The Women's 2nd VIII bumped up again, hitting Corpus Christi II and lining themselves up for the possibility of winning blades on Saturday, when they will be chasing St. Anne's II. The Men's 2nd VIII were bumped for the second time in three days by Merton II, and will start at the top of Division V. The Women's 1st VIII were awarded a technical rowover after the Division was klaxonned owing to swans obstructing the racing line. The 1st VIII got off to a good start, gaining on St. Anne's slightly off the start. However, they coped badly with the choppy water coming into the Gut, and Wolfson were all over their stern leaving the Gut when the Wolfson bowman crabbed. But the race was not over as St. John's steered a poor line up the middle of the Green Bank, allowing Wolfson to close to 1/4 length after they had cruised up the inside and crossed. However, a determined push to the line from John's gained the (unnecessarily hard fought) rowover. Please note that all racing is 1 hour earlier on Saturday.
Eights: Thursday 29th May	The Women's 2nd VIII bumped up again, hitting St. Hilda's II this time. The Men's 2nd VIII rowed over at the top of Division V, and then bumped Merton II back again, moving back up into Division IV. The Women's 1st VIII were bumped rapidly by a fast Worcester crew. The 1st VIII got off to a good start, again taking 3/4 length off Queen's, and holding it to the Gut. By this time, however, a stacked St. Anne's boat was pushing them hard, and the response was not quite enough to hold them. John's conceded the bump coming out of the Gut.
Eights: Wednesday 28th May	A mixed bag for St. John's on the first day of Eights. The Women's 2nd VIII started well, and bumped Jesus II. The Men's 2nd VIII got bumped down to sandwich boat by Merton II. The Women's 1st VIII started slowly, and were attempting to pull away from Balliol when they hit the bank below the Gut and stopped, conceding the bump. The 1st VIII started well, taking 3/4 of a length off the Queen's crew in front of them by the bridge. Sadly, they failed to capitalise on the start, and dealt badly with the turns and the rough water coming into the Gut. Striding it down along the Green Bank, they came in 3 lengths back. Tomorrow they start with St. Anne's behind them, stroked by a certain M. Smith... Oh, and Pembroke got Oriel at OUBC.
Coate Water Regatta 17th May	St. John's sent an unprecedented 3 VIIIs to Coate Water Regatta, getting the Men's 2nd VIII some valuable race experience, in addition to the two 1st VIIIs. The day started with some frantic boat swapping, as the two IVs of the Men's 1st VIII, the 1st VIII itself and the Men's 2nd VIII were sharing either crew, boat or blades. Nevertheless, the first two races went well, with both IVs winning their respective heats, Bow IV demolishing a Llandaff crew by >15 l and Stern IV beating Monmouth by about 2 l. The Men's 1st VIII then lost by 1/2 l or so to Balliol, beating Broxbourne into 3rd place. The Women's VIII lost the final of S4 8+ to Somerville, before the Men's 2nd VIII rowed well against a tetchy Monmouth School crew, to finish 2 l down. The IVs were next out, Bow IV losing their heat, but Stern IV winning S4 4+, beating Oratory School and Ironbridge despite some shipwrecks in the rough water at the end of the course. The Women's 1st VIII/2nd VIII composite crew (losing the two members of the crew with points) then lead Bath University off the start in N8+, but some shipwrecks cost them a place in the final. The Men's 1st VIII then raced a last-minute entry from Univ and a Canford School B crew in the S4 8+ semi-final. Univ, having drafted in RQ (cheers!) after concussing their cox with the stern of their boat, won a tight race by 0.5 l, St. John's beating Canford into 3rd place. Photos can be found here.
Oxford City Bumps 26th April	After a week-long training camp, the 1st VIII split into its two IVs to enter Oxford City Bumps. Stern IV, defending the previous year's finishing position of 4th, bumped Merton within 10 strokes in their first race. For the next three races, they chased Wadham, closing them to 10 feet in the second race, 1/2 a length in the third, and 6 feet in the final race. Bow IV made two quick bumps in their first two races (powered by a certain P. Singfield), and rowed over in the last two. In the third race, they chased down the boat 3 in front to a length, but failed to make up the distance in the last race of the day. Thanks go to Pete for subbing in at short notice, and to Mark McMillan for coxing Bow IV.
Abingdon Head 6th April	In the absence of the undergraduate members of the Boat Club, the graduates in the Men's 1st Crew entered a composite VIII into Abingdon Head with oarsmen from Pembroke and the OILP Boat Club. After a mere 3 outings topping up their suntans, the crew entered S3 at Abingdon Head. Having to enter an earlier division than the competition, they were forced to row up behind a fleet of sculls, and could not warm up properly. This would have been irrelevant, since they spent the next half-hour sitting in a tree in the marshalling area exchanging banter up and down the boat. Giving the sculls ahead of them what they hoped was an adequate head start, they set off, and passed the first scull (with some rather enthusiastic coxing) halfway down the course. Four more sculls followed, and the crew reached the finish in a time of 8:34. Into the head wind, the rate, at 33, was a couple of pips lower than planned. The final results (2nd to Oxford City by 2s) were pleasing, and frustrating all at once: a finish wind, a pip on the rate, or a warmup could have swung it. But all was forgotten after watching the Boat Race over some post-race refreshment!
Torpids: Saturday 8th March	Saturday's racing was cancelled owing to high stream conditions.
Torpids: Friday 7th March	The Women's 2nd Torpid produced their best performance of the week, dropping only 2 places. The Men's 2nd Torpid, with Ian Anderson subbing into the 6-seat this time, did not row their best, and were bumped by SEH II. The Women's 1st Torpid were caught by a fast Worcester crew, and despite a hard chase over the last half of the course, only managed to close Magdalen down to half a length. The Torpid finally bumped up to the top of the Men's 2nd Division after a frantic row. With a fast Univ crew on their stern, they kept the rate up, and hit LMH coming into the Gut. Rowing sandwich boat in the 1st Division was an exciting experience. With the lack of pressure from behind, John's were rowing a good race until they were impeded by Queen's, who had tangled with Wadham after the latter's extremely late concession. With Pembroke having bumped Wadham and easied on the other side of the river, there was no space to get round the Queen's-Wadham blockage. John's tangled with Queen's, restarted facing in the wrong direction, and after a second restart, rowed a fantastic race to close down Wadham to half a length by the finish line. Thanks go to the rest of the river for their support on that last row!
Torpids: Thursday 6th March	A much better day for most of the John's crews. The Women's 2nd Torpid again hit the bank and dropped a further 6 places. The Men's 2nd Torpid, after conceding to Univ II, bumped Hall II, who went on to hit Osler-Green II. So a net up 1. Big thanks go to the "super-sub" Kit Greenwood, who subbed in at 6, replacing Ryan Hayward, who had kindly raced on Wednesday. The Women's Torpid, thanks to the cox Mark McMillan blatantly ignoring his stroke's advice to conceded, held off a fast Worcester crew and bumped Hall, who had hit them the previous day. And the Torpid rowed over only 3 lengths behind Pembroke. After early pressure from St. Peter's, John's pulled away before Peter's were bumped 3 times (leading to a controversial dispute after which Trinity's bump on Peter's was disallowed). All in all, the row was a good one. Pembroke then did what was expected of them in the first division, catching a slow LMH crew in 18 strokes and sending them down to the top of the 2nd Division for John's to chase.
Torpids: Wednesday 5th March	Sadly, the first day did not go well for SJCBC. The Women's 2nd Torpid were caught by Lincoln, conceded late, and got pushed into the bank. Whereupon the rest of the division rowed past them. The Men's 2nd Torpid were caught by Teddy Hall II before the division was klaxonned, and the Women's 1st Torpid were bumped by a fast St. Hilda's crew, got to within 1/4 of a length of Magdalen before slowing and being hit by Teddy Hall. The Men's 1st VIII rowed over behind a rejuvenated (read rather "stacked at the last minute") Queen's crew and 2 lengths in front of St. Peter's, much to their disappointment, after the string of promising results earlier in the term (it turns out that Queen's had had subs in, accounting for their poor performance). Queen's caught LMH early in Division I, so John's thought they would have an easy race and another go at Queen's on Thursday. But it was not to be. Pembroke broke both a rudder cable and a boat when they were within 1/4 of a length of Oriel, and the rest of the Division rowed past them. So the John's Torpid now has to chase the fastest crew on the river. Fun, fun, fun.
Isis Winter League #2 2003 23rd February	Unfortunately, owing to difficulties with coxes, the Women's 2nd Torpid were obliged to scratch from the event. The other 4 St. John's crews used the race as a good practice for Torpids, and were able to draw from it considerable encouragement. The Men's 3rd Torpid rowed over a full minute faster than Merton II, and the 2nd Torpid finished in the middle of the 2nd VIIIs. The Women's Torpid, having done a rapid cox switch before boating (thanks to Mark McMillan) improved by 59s from the previous race, even with a substiture for injury. The Torpid rowed over second, one second behind the winners (Univ), and beating Queen's (who start in front of them in Torpids) by a full 21s, despite having to substitute one of the crew due to a work trip (thanks go to Ryan Hayward). This would seem to bode well for Torpids in two weeks' time. Fingers crossed that the weather holds! Full results may be found on OURC's webpage.
Isis Winter League #1 2003 9th February	Results may be found on OURC's webpage.
Bedford Head 2002 9th February	The first race of the season for the Torpid was over a 2000m course at Bedford. The crew managed to cope with the first-race nerves remarkably well, putting in a gutsy first row, and a more controlled, yet lower-rate second row to finish both races in a time of 6:16, 15s ahead of Queen's, who start ahead of John's in Torpids. Altogether an encouraging performance. More details can be found at the Bedford Rowing Club website.
Wallingford Head 2002 3rd December	The less said the better... Full results can be found here.
Kingston Small Boats Head 2002 3rd November	Michaelmas term's training having been hampered by injury and a lack of enthusiasm, it was sadly only possible to send one IV to Kingston. That being an experienced boat however, it was hoped that a good result might boost the squad's morale. Unfortunately, illness, Lard's visit to Cambridge (academic purposes, oh yeah and getting right royally bladdered with the ex-stroke goon) and the man Sheppard being stuck in Nottingham after a weekend long bender reduced the training time (to 4 outings). Despite that, the John's IV performed well, coming in 6th in S4 and 10th in S3 in times of 17:18.09 and 17:33.03 respectively. The rows were not vintage stuff but there were moments of class and it bodes well for the future. Special mention should be made of new coxwain Michael Sew who performed brilliantly on the day.
Results 2001-2002	Results for the 2001-2002 season
Results 2000-2001	Results for the 2000-2001 season
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