Masters of the Boat Race

The start. As in all rowing race pictures taken from the side and astern, the parallax error produces a false picture of the relative positions.

Tim Koch writes:

Recently, rowing in Britain has seen an attempt to change the title ‘veteran’ to ‘master’. This has given rise to some rude and wry comments, but if any group of older rowers deserve to be called ‘masters’, it is the participants in the 19th Oxford - Cambridge Veterans’ Race held on a course from Putney to (just beyond) Hammersmith Bridge on Saturday, 5 April. The minimum age for these Old Blues is 35 with an average crew age of not less than 42. This year, the Cambridge crew contained five Olympians while Oxford boated three including medallists Kieran West, Marc Weber and Barney Williams.

Cambridge Vets. Collective noun: ‘A Tab’. 

Oxford Vets. Collective noun: ‘An Oxonian’.

This is the most relaxed and informal of all the Oxford - Cambridge boat races, either on the Tideway or at Henley, and this is especially evident in the gentlemanly rule that ‘any verdict within six feet shall be declared a dead heat’.

A plot is hatched?

If you don’t know by now.....

Oxford went off the free start high and hard, perhaps a couple of pips higher than the opposition, and quickly got a lead of a couple of seats. Settling well, the Dark Blues increased this to perhaps half a length by the time they passed the OUBC base at Westminster School boathouse. Though Oxford got the first warning off the start, Cambridge got most of umpire Simon Harris’s attention after that. Some put this down to aggressive steering from cox Sarah Smart though she blamed (or maybe thanked) the cross wind.

Approaching Thames RC.

By the end of Putney Embankment there was only slight overlap. Smart later said that when a crew is in this situation, a cox can call for a big push or say ‘just stick in your rhythm, you will come through them, they will break...’ Bravely, she chose the latter. Opposite the football ground there were several clashes, which, in at least one according to umpire Harris, ‘Cambridge lost out’. It looked like the race was effectively over, but things were about to change. Oxford’s ‘high and hard’ start is a dangerous one for a crew not in training and they started to lose pace.

At the Mile Post.

Cambridge kept their rhythm and past the Mile Post they were only a few feet down. Around this point, in the words of cox Smart, ‘we got the sniff and hit our rhythm really strongly...’ The crews drew level just before Harrods and the Light Blues rapidly went a quarter of a length up. Approaching Hammersmith Bridge, Smart said that ‘... just before we were about to break clear, we had stern four clashing and our bow four just put in a massive push and got us clear and once we were clear it was just clean rowing... all the way’.

Nearing the new Harrods development, things started to change.

Cambridge were up by the original Harrods Depository.

Approaching Hammersmith Bridge.

The finish.

Cambridge won by 1 1/4 lengths and the score now stands at thirteen wins to them and six to Oxford. A final thought – with the women racing on the Tideway from 2015, how long before there is a veteran women’s race?

Times:
The Mile Post: Oxford 3m 55s, Cambridge 3m 56s
Hammersmith Bridge: Cambridge 6m 59s, Oxford 7m 03s
Finish: Cambridge 7m 30s, Oxford 7m 35s

Cambridge:
Bow: Tom Middleton
2: Lukas Hirst
3: Paul Wright
4: Kieran West
5: Guy Pooley
6: Dave Gillard
7: Sebastian Schulte
Stroke: Marc Weber
Cox: Sarah Smart

Oxford:
Bow: Nick Holland
2: Donald Macdonald
3: Kingsley Poole
4: Andrew Landon-Green
5: Roberto Blanda
6: Toby Ayer
7: Gerritjan Eggenkamp
Stroke: Barney Williams
Cox: Katie Apfelbaum

Photography © Tim Koch

A Blow To The Head

Not this year. Molesey go off Number One in 2011.

HTBS's Tim Koch reports from London,

On the day before four hundred men’s eights, many from overseas, were due to race the Mortlake to Putney course in the 2013 Head of the River Race, the organisers’ website made the following announcement:

The Committee of the Head of the River Race regrets to advise that the 2013 Race on Saturday 23rd March has been cancelled. After detailed consultation and consideration of the weather forecasts, the Committee consider the river conditions over parts of the course could be unsafe due to the expected strong easterly winds throughout the day.

The Veterans (Masters) Head, due to be held the next day, was also cancelled. The British Rowing website expanded on the HoRR’s decision:

Organisers of the HoRR announced this morning (Friday 22nd) that the race would not be run, due to the combination of wind direction and speed, the strength of the stream, and the low temperatures forecast over the weekend. The stretch of river between the bottom of Chiswick Eyot and St. Pauls School was of particular concern to HORR organisers, with easterly 15-30mph winds, freezing temperatures and strong stream leading to potentially dangerous conditions for the 400+ crews taking part in the event - many of whom have little experience rowing on the Tideway.

The race has been cancelled due to the weather and stream conditions twice before, in 2004 and 2007. The organisers were no doubt influenced by the experience of the Hammersmith Head held on 10 March. This was run from Mortlake to Hammersmith (i.e. just over half of the traditional Mortlake to Putney ‘Championship’ Course) and attracted 100 men’s eights. Despite having the most experienced people on the Thames Tideway in charge of safety, the water around Chiswick Pier unexpectedly became very rough, very quickly and the result was that most boats filled with water and at least three had to be rescued. Not surprisingly, the craft that suffered the most seemed to have buoyancy tanks that were not water tight. In one case this was because holes had been drilled in the tanks to allow cox box wiring to be threaded through!

The unusually cold and wet winter has badly effected rowing in the UK. Just looking at 2013, head races including Weybridge, Boston, Northampton, Stourport, Peterborough, Durham, The Severn, Hampton, Henley, Molesey, Worcester, Burway, and Cardiff have been cancelled due to stream and weather conditions. The Environment Agency (the body responsible for Britain’s rivers) have ‘red boarded’ most of the none tidal Thames. This means that they strongly advise powered and non powered craft to stay off the water. This has severely curtailed rowing at clubs such as Marlow, Molesey, Maidenhead, Henley, Staines and Kingston. There is no procedure for ‘red boards’ on the tidal Thames below Richmond Lock but this does not make it any the less hazardous. I have coxed the Tideway for 25 years and there have been a few times this winter when the strength of the stream has required all my experience to keep control.

Nothing is new - Oxford practice in the floods of 1872.

The organisers of the Henley Boat Races, the Oxford - Cambridge races for heavyweight, reserve heavyweight and lightweight women and lightweight men, have pre-empted the problem and, on 20 March announced:

The organising committee... has made the decision to move this year’s event to Dorney Lake. In view of the strong stream conditions at Henley and the forecast direction and strength of wind for race day, Sunday 24th March, it was deemed unlikely that conditions will improve sufficiently by the weekend for a safe event to take place.

Dorney was, of course, the venue for the rowing events in the London 2012 Olympics. While not as an attractive venue as Henley, it does mean that the event is fairly certain to take place. All this gives rise to the question, could THE Boat Race, due to held on the Tideway on 31 March, be cancelled? I think it unlikely. Even with a higher risk to both boats than would normally be tolerated, the ‘danger’ would probably be accepted as there is obviously a massive rescue operation available.

The women have had more luck with the weather. The 73rd Women’s Head of the River Race was held on 9 March, a mild day with little wind. Race Co-ordinator Guin Batten wrote on the WHoRR website:

The 73rd Women’s Eights Head of the River was the largest in the event’s history and coming one day after International Women’s Day, highlights that women are out there doing sport and doing it to a very high standard. On a rather dull day the stream was fast and the wind slight, allowing number of records to fall. Well done to the pennant winners, the 200 volunteers and marshals, to the 90 women’s novice crews and their coaches and to the 2,727 rowers that made it over the course, in such style.

Imperial College BC ‘A’ came ‘head’ in a time of 18:16:57. Other results are here.

The School’s Head also managed to take place on the Championship Course on 7 March with Hampton going ‘head’. Other results are here.

It has been a long, hard winter. Let us hope that those clubs who have spent a lot of time on the ergos and little time on the water will have a better summer.

Results 2012 World Rowing Master Regatta

The 2012 World Rowing Master Regatta held in Duisburg, Germany, which started on 6 September, ended today.

You will find all the results are here.

Below is a list of the age categories:

A    Minimum age 27 years or more
B    Average age 36 years or more
C    Average age 43 years or more
D    Average age 50 years or more
E    Average age 55 years or more
F    Average age 60 years or more
G    Average age 65 years or more
H    Average age 70 years or more
I    Average age 75 years or more
J1   Average age 80 years or more
J2   Average age 85 years or more

2011 World Rowing Masters Regatta Results

Last Sunday, 11 September, the World Rowing Masters Regatta ended in Poznan, Poland. Here is what FISA posted on their website, slightly edited (link to all the results at the bottom of this entry):

After 400 races, the 2011 World Rowing Masters Regatta is completed. Masters rowers, those 27 years and over and out of international competition, spent four days racing on the Malta regatta course in Poznan, Poland. The rowers came from 37 countries and went up in age from the youngest category, ‘A’, right through to ‘J’-category which included the oldest man who is 92-years young, and the oldest woman who is 89-years young.

To get through this hefty number of races, officials started a new race every third minute and with some rowers taking over five minutes to complete the 1,000-metre course, a lot of tolerance and juggling had to come into play. In the ‘I’ men’s single, 81-year-old Stanislaw Soldatov of Russia’s Dymano Moscow club, took 5:32.52 to finish the course. Soldatov’s race was won by Germany’s Karl Trager, 78, of the German Ruderclub Rossleben. Trager’s time was 4:34.34.

At the other end of the scale, Lars Bo Andersen of Sorø Rowing Club, Denmark, took 3:36.95 to cover the 1,000-metre race in the ‘B’ category single. Andersen is 45-years-old. This was just one of the events Andersen raced in as he, like many of the competitors, choose to race in a number of races. Former Olympian, Pauline Bird, 54, of Great Britain, raced in six events, including a number of different age categories as it is possible to row ‘down’ in a younger age category.

As the racing format does not include semifinals or finals, each event has a number of heats with the winner of each heat receiving a medal. The handing out of medals is thus a full-time job for the organising committee.

On the final day, Sunday, competitors joined together in mixed gender boats for 150 races.

For complete results, please click here.

(Photograph from FISA's Worldrowing.com)

2011 World Rowing Masters Regatta Starts Today

Photo: Niksa Skelin - FISA's website.

Today the 2011 World Rowing Masters Regatta starts on Lake Malta in Poznan, Poland. From FISA's website, HTBS got the following:

The Lake Malta regatta course, located near the city centre of Poznan, Poland, will play host to 2,503 boats from 37 nations at the 2011 World Rowing Masters Regatta, from 8 to 11 September.

Following on from the success of last year’s World Rowing Masters Regatta held in St. Catharine’s, Canada, in which nearly 3,000 rowers participated, the Poznan waters are already thriving with the refreshing mix of experience, competition, friendly rivalry, and Olympic history.

Germany has entered the greatest number of competitors, boasting a healthy 698 boats. Great Britain is the second biggest nation represented here in Poland, with 299 boats. Poland, the United States of America, Denmark, Czech Republic and Australia also have a large fleet of over 100 boats. Organisers have also noted that entries from Brazil, Argentina, and Finland have grown since previous years.

Masters rowing begins at the age of 27, for those who no longer row at the elite level. Competitors range from former Olympians through to those racing for the first time. Races are divided into age groups going through to the recently added “J” category for the over 80 year olds. In this regatta, the eldest male competitor is 92, and the eldest female is 89 years old, proving that age truly is just a number.

Some competitors have already caught the eye of those here in Poznan. Miroslav Knapek, the father of newly crowned World Champion in the women’s single sculls Mirka Knapkova (CZE), will be racing in the “E” men’s double on Friday.

Similarly to last year, the men’s “C” age group is the most subscribed, with a total of 360 boats, 118 of which will be racing in the single. Masters rowers are allowed to enter more than one event at this regatta which means organisers already expect 7,043 “seats” to compete. For instance, Debbie Bregenzer “the cox” of Switzerland will cox a total of 13 boats. Sunday’s racing programme is composed of mixed crews and competitors can make entries during the event for these races, so the number of seats will most certainly rise before the entries deadline on Friday.

The weather for the regatta looks slightly unsettled, with a little bit of wind, rain, sun and cool temperatures forecasted until the culmination of racing on Sunday.

The masters regatta also contributes to a fund to help junior rowers. Last year, 8,176 Euros were raised through the donation of 1 Euro per boat entry fee.

Racing is held over 1,000m with races starting every three minutes. There are no finals, only heats, with the winning boat in each receiving a medal.

Live streaming is provided on the Poznan Organising Committee website here.

Please find the regatta programme here.

Go Marj!

There is an inspiring story in the Boston Globe today, about Mrs. Marj Burgard, who is 81 years young, and a Master Rowing World Champion. Read the story about the amazing Mrs. Burgard here.