Wednesday 30 September 2009

BBQ on the Rocks, 19th September, 2009

Sorry, all these articles are a bit out of chronological order, but here goes.. Thanks to Bridget for report and pics:

Sorry to rub it in… but we all had a FANTASTIC day!

Water was flat as a pancake, sun was shining brilliantly and there was hardly a breath of wind.

Tub 4 (Chris C, Chris L, Alex, Raju, Bridget) beat the Quad (Hannah, Chezzi, Kate and Megan) on the way down, the girls’ excuse being that they had to stop and chat mid-river! Yeah, right…

Chris C in the Tub 4 gave us her best coxing voice, driving us hard for the last stretch, and Chris L coxed on the way back – thanks guys. Well done those who hadn’t rowed sweep oar before, you did fantastically. Felt very proud to have people staring at us all along the river. Just goes to show that we really do all look impressive when we row as a team.

Terry stirred us up for beach rugby in our DRC club kit and wellies in the sand. Very trendy. Next time… beach volleyball? Anyone got a net?


Sunday 27 September 2009

Cambridge Autumn Regatta, 13th Sept, 2009


Tim, Chris, Em, Hannah, John, Terry

Hannah Shire reports:

On the 13th of September 8 members of Deben Rowing Club competed in the Cambridge Autumn Regatta. The weather was pretty cold and fairly dull which didn’t put the scullers in the best mood at the beginning of the day.

Tim Earnshaw was up first in Novice 1x, soon followed by Vet C 1x where he was up against an ex-international sculler and unfortunately missed out on winning.

Chris Lawrence had his J17 1x race and did really well keeping up a good pace throughout, especially as he was up against a very speedy rower from the hosts, Cambridge 99, but unfortunately Chris came second. He also entered J17 2x with Mark Anscombe. After a long wait on the river (over an hour), they raced a crew from Durham. Still no luck with that, however it was a great experience especially as it was Mark’s first ever sculling race.

Chris & Mark

John Churcher entered the Vet E 1x, but he didn’t have such a great start and this gave him a disadvantage and he didn’t manage to catch up with his competitor again.

Chezzi Keig and Kate Carson entered J18 2x and did exceptionally well. They won their first race putting them through to the finals. In the final they were up against two very ‘strong’ looking girls, however they only lost by 2 lengths which is great considering their opposition. Chezzi was only 15, but had to be entered for J18 because of Kate so they did so well due to the age difference too!

Girls double

Hannah Shire and Em Chittock raced in Novice 2x in the morning, but didn’t do too well, especially as neither were warmed up or ready. Later in the day they raced J17 2x against a crew from Cantabrigian Rowing Club. The start was good, but so were the opposition (they certainly seemed confident at the beginning of the race). It was neck and neck for about three quarters of the course and then Hannah and Em finally managed to pull through giving them a straight win of J17 2x. A fabulous end to the day. Overall everyone did so well and a good time was had by all despite the gloomy weather. Well done to everyone!


Many thanks to John Churcher for the photos and to Hannah Shire for the article. Well done to everyone who took part!

Monday 21 September 2009

Boston Rowing Marathon (Part II)

I thought I would keep up the tradition of writing a personal blog on the Boston Marathon (well it’s my second one). Although I have talked about it on and off all year, I only finally entered the race a couple of weeks beforehand. I also politely encouraged Anna and Ian to put their entry in - didn’t fancy doing it on my own.

It was quite a challenge to even get there. I picked my boat up on the Wednesday and managed to bang it on the rack, putting a foot long split in the bow where the canvas joins the hull! Spent Thursday gluing it up with epoxy resin. Then on Friday evening I was maintaining my car and managed to puncture a hole in the radiator! Things weren’t looking good and I thought someone was telling me I shouldn’t go!

I was on night shifts at this point, so also had to work Friday night and didn’t get home until Saturday morning. I managed to find a replacement radiator and spent the day fitting it, then finally travelled up to Lincoln Saturday night, having being up for over 24 hours.

After all that, getting on the water Sunday morning was a very relaxed affair. It was a beautiful day with little wind. After the usual faffing, I started the race on schedule at about 10:05. Anna and Ian were starting 12mins behind and there had been a little banter about catching up. In the event they started early and were boating as I left the start. They must have been only 5mins behind.

I started off quite steadily. I had strong memories of last year where I had suffered with massive cramp at about two-thirds of the distance. I tried to row efficiently, but I couldn’t resist picking off a boat or two on the way to the lock at 13 kms. I was one of 14 novice single sculls in the race and I knew the boats in front were my direct competition. By the lock I must have overtaken 4 or 5 boats! Things were feeling good.

It took about 3 minutes to walk round the lock. We had the help of our ground crew, which made things a lot easier - a chance to take on some water and pack of energy gel. I set off only to see the people I had overtaken immediately behind me again – very frustrating. Anyway, I pushed off and plugged away again.


Still had time to chat to the girls!

Stopping for food and water is a bit of conundrum. Stopping is dead time that you never make up, but you cannot row continuously for over 4 hours! I stopped for a drink at 20km and 25km, then lunch at 31kms where the ground crew were at the bank. I was starting to feel tired and very conscious of the 40km wall I hit last year. I wanted to make sure I was looking after myself. A gel pack and a banana this time! This was my longest stop (1 min 20 seconds as my fancy watch tells me). I set off with a single sculler immediately behind and travelling quickly: no 71, an arch rival. We rowed side by side for miles, pushing each other along! He even asked me when I was going to stop, as he wanted a drink! He eventually stopped and I pulled 250 m ahead. I planned to stop again at 39 km, hoping to complete the last hour non-stop.

The ground crew had been fantastic and were on the bank every half hour or so cheering us on. It was quite lifting. I kept asking how far Anna and Ian where behind, but never got a very clear answer: “not long”, “a few minutes”. There was still a little bit of rivalry there!

When I pulled away at 39km Old Matey no 71 was just behind. I made sure I pulled away in front of him. Things were going to plan, but then I got the first few twinges of cramp in my legs. I had to stop for a few seconds to stretch my muscles. We were now side by side and hit the weed! It was hard going and the pace slowed. No 71 was starting to ease ahead, only by a few metres, but I was finding it hard to respond. We fought the weed together for nearly 4km. I realised I was at risk of cramp stopping me completely and decided to let him pull away. As the weed on the surface of the river cleared, the boat was still heavy, so I stopped and backed down to try and clear any that had got caught on the skeg. It helped and the pace immediately picked up. Only 3km to go and doing 5m 10s splits again, It was just a matter of a steady finish.

It’s a great relief when you first hear the tannoy of the finish line in the distance. I finished in 4h 16m. Truly amazing. Old Matey won the category in a time of 4h 10m and 59s. He had obviously made up a lot of time in the first half. I think I finished 3rd. When I talked to him afterwards he mentioned his coach so I didn’t feel so bad.

Still looking good at the finish (must sit up straight!)

I could actually stand when I got out of the boat this time, but everything moved very slowly. I decided to let the ground crew carry my boat back to the car. Anna and Ian came in as I was wandering along the bank, just a few minutes behind. It was a fantastic day - bright sunshine, miles and miles and miles of flat water, and friendly competition.

Malcolm Pidd, 21 September 2009

Boston Marathon, 20th September, 2009

For a few members of DRC the end of summer and evenings drawing in can mean only one thing: it is time for the Boston Marathon.

As usual the course this year started at Lincoln, from where increasing weary competitors had to wend their way along 50km (31 miles) of river to Boston, also getting out and carrying their boats over a lock at one point.


It is fair to say that neither Malcolm, Ian or I felt exactly prepared for such a long row this year, with only the thought of "at least we know what we're letting ourselves in for" providing some comfort. Malcolm entered the men's Novice 1x category and Ian and I found ourselves in the Intermediate 3 mixed 2x band as there weren't any other Novices.

Malcolm set off first, and despite his calls of "see you on the water", I felt sure that his strength, determination and competitiveness would make him a tough target to catch. Once on the course, it was great to see that there was the usual variety of competitors, both the very experienced and just the very determined. We can only have been rowing for about 5km before I heard shouting up ahead, but I couldn't tell what it was about and quick glances over my shoulder didn't suggest that there had been any steering problems or clashing of blades. A few minutes later we drew level with a single sculler who turned out to be simply shouting at himself and his boat in sheer frustration; he had a broken rigger, but was intent on completing the course nevertheless! Another single sculler apparently capsized in the early stages, but climbed back into his boat and carried on rowing until the end regardless (at least it was a sunny day, so hopefully he soon dried out).

As the kms drew on, there was still no sign of Malcom and around half way we were overtaken by one of the boats in our category, with the others following a few kms later. I don't think Ian will mind me saying that spirits in our boat were a little low at this point and I know my hands were becoming increasingly covered in electrical tape in an attempt to stop further blister expansion. Luckily our shore support (Katherine, Ian's wife, sister and brother in law) were in good voice, however, and as always it was very cheering to have them there on the bank at various points to encourage us...and tell us to hurry up and catch Malcolm!

With just 10km left we told ourselves that we just had to row the distance from Ramsholt to the clubhouse and spirits picked up a bit, despite having to negotiate rather a lot of weed in the river. Ian and I never did manage to catch Malcolm as he finished the course in the phenomenal time of 4hrs 16mis, but we did complete it in 4hrs 26mins (just a couple of mins off our previous record two years ago), so both DRC crews did themselves proud.

A big WELL DONE to Malcolm for his amazing achievement and also to Ian, who has now completed the course 5 times!!