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| The Torpid 2002 Report of Training Camp at Westminister Boathouse, Putney Embankment, London from 4th to 9th January 2002. |
The camp began calmly on Thursday evening when several members of the crew arrived at Chris' house to watch videos, buy food and
catch up after the vac. The morning began with a similar sense of relaxed purpose as we all met in Putney to rig the boat and have the first outings
of the camp. The first day was understandably introductory, but things soon accelerated away from this start to make this one of the most technically
adept and professional camps that has been done by the club.
The facilities at Westminister were truly excellent, the tea-room provided a comfortable setting for the morning break and lunch, and a warm haven on
the one morning it was windy and rainy.
The highlights of the camp were the Argonauts' Dinner on the Saturday at Cafe Rouge, and the race pieces held against Westminister School's 1st Eight
under the gaze of the GB Chief Coach - Juniors, where St. John's ably held their ground against one of the top 6 school crews in the country.
Photographs of the camp can be found here.
The crew is unsuprisingly looking forward to the training this term, and to Torpids at the end of it, which, for many, could be their last race at
College level. Well done to the whole crew for a successful camp, and many thanks to Ben Ollivere and Dr. David Lee for their invaluable guidance
over the 6 days.
Chris Pickup Men's Captain |
| Men's Dev Squad MT01 20/11/01 |
Following last year's success, we were fortunate to start with an incredibly strong squad of 8 ex-1st Eight and 7 ex-2nd Eight
oarsmen. Land Training started on Monday of 0th week, and Water Training shortly afterwards. The aim for the first 6 weeks of the term was to build
up strength and general boatmanship, whilst working through a series of technical emphases on a fortnightly basis. This was done within a squad
system, whereby all who wanted were able to row in 4s during the week, and 8s at the weekend at the Oratory School Boathouse, near Reading. This
group has trained very hard, improving almost daily, as erg scores and weight lift maximums have shown. The squad translated this hard work into
success on the water in Autumn IVs during 4th Week, where the 3 crews fielded came 4th and 9th in the Open 4s, in very fast times, and the Junior 4
retained the Pazolt Challenge cup with a great row, beating their opposition by 16 seconds to demonstrate the depth of the squad. More details on that
race can be found on the results page. The squad then shifted round to form slightly different 4 combinations, in which
they have been training for the last 2 weeks. These crews will race on Saturday 24th November at Tiffin Small Boats Head in Kingston. All support
would be welcome, please contact Chris Pickup if you would like details. In the lead up to this
race, the S3 4+ managed to win the Open 4s Event at Nepthys Regatta by accident- more details can be found here. The Land
Training has shifted to concentrate more completely on endurance training, in preparation for the major event of the term, Wallingford Head, on
Sunday 9th December.
Chris Pickup Men's Captain |
Women's Dev Squad MT01 20/11/01 |
Although having only 6 people in the women's dev squad this term we have had a fairly successful term's training with some
good mixed outings with the Hertford devsquad with a mixed crew entering Nepthys regatta last weekend. Unfortunately we were narrowly beaten by a
very strong Girton College Cambridge crew in teh first round but it was good experience for those involved. Many of us have put a lot of time and
effort into the novices this term as they will make up a large part of our first torpid next term. We hope that they will do well in Christ Church
Regatta and that training all together will commence soon after. A crew composed of Dev Squad members together with some Novices will be entered
into Wallingford Head.
Maddy Riordan Women's Vice Captain |
Men's Novices MT01 22/11/01 |
The Men's Novices were only able to field one crew this year despite the volume of interest at
Freshers' Fair, probably owing to the dreadful weather on Sunday of 1st Week when we first took everyone down to the river! The crew we did have
trained hard both on and off the water and despite being plagued by the occasional drop out (and the occasional girl from Merton!) made excellent
progress. A special mention should be made of the immense toast eating ability of the crew, six of whom, together with their coach (surprise,
surprise!) were able to rack (!) up an unprecedented 35 racks at Breakfast after a morning outing. The gauntlet has been well and truly laid down
to the Men's Dev Squad.
Jon Sheppard Coach |
Women's Novice "1's" MT01 11/12/01 |
Having only rowed as the crew twice prior to Christchurch (including Nephthys Regatta), we were, quite rightly, very proud
when we soundly thrashed Hertford D in our first race on Wednesday. With a fantastic start by the "One's", Hertford D were kept in their place
for the entire race and the efforts and superb rowing of John's were duly rewarded. The attractive warpaint sported by the crew more than did its
job! Pitted against Pembroke A on the Friday, we realised that our next race would be a tough one, especially with the impressive Women's Novice
"A" crew as the act to follow. But ever the optimists we went out there and rowed as hard as we could. Whilst we kept on Pembroke's heels over the
whole course, it was not to be our day and Pembroke were victorious. Blame for this travesty was firmly placed on Esther and her (un)lucky socks!
Good results and a great crew. Well done to the One's! We were brilliant, even if our coach did try to abandon us during our warm up in favour of an
attractive man on the bank. No names mentioned but you know who you are! :)
Katie Taylor Cox |