Robinson Head and Peterborough Head of the Nene

Submitted by Chris Quarton on Sun, 08/02/2015 - 10:33

W1 marshalling in Peterborough

There was plenty of racing for SCCBC this weekend, with the Robinson Head on Friday and a trip to Peterborough on Saturday for the Head of the Nene! M1, M2 and M3 all entered Robinson Head, which this year consisted of the full bumps course, from top station to Peter's Posts. The results were respectable given the lack of rate practice from the crews. M1 finished 5th out of the 9 M1 crews, but need to find a few seconds to keep up with their current Lent Bumps rivals. M2 are very much in the mix with their surrounding crews: with 2 seconds difference between them and Hughes Hall M1, that should be a good tussle come Bumps week! Finally it was M3's first race of the term, and they put in a very good performance although there were unfortunately very few lower boats to compare times with! W1 and M1 took the trip to Peterborough on Sunday. Having been warned that the Head of the Nene usually brings snow, hail, wind and any other sort of abuse from the skies, the crews were pleasantly surprised to find Peterborough dry and relatively calm. W1 raced the 2.5km course, whilst M1 raced the 5km course, and both crews came exactly mid-table in their categories. It was a great experience to race Off-Cam, and particularly to experience such a long stretch of straight river! M1 were particularly impressed to see a crew crash ahead of them in the race though, remarkable given the straightness of the course!

Alumni Reunion Day, March 7th 2015

Submitted by Chris Quarton on Mon, 12/01/2015 - 14:30

SCCBC Alumni are warmly invited to an informal reunion day at the boathouse on Saturday, March 7th 2015. During the day there will be opportunity to mix with other alumni and current students, and to get back out on the river in an VIII if you so wish. Subject to interest, catering will also be provided in the form of a BBQ or similar.

If you are interested in attending, or have any questions, please contact the alumni secretary at cq213(at)cam.ac.uk.

¡SCCBC en Sevilla 2015!

Submitted by Chris Quarton on Mon, 12/01/2015 - 14:01

Members of SCCBC have just returned from a training camp in sunny Seville! The group, which included the Michaelmas M1 crew, a few members of the Women’s squad and M1 coach Lianne Stanford were able to take advantage of international standard facilities for 4 intensive days of training.

Seville has hosted events such as the World and European championships, and is popular with many international rowing squads. It was easy to see why for the Catz rowers, who were amazed by the space on offer over the 4km stretch of wide, near straight water. The blue skies and warm temperatures also helped!

As well as laying some good groundwork for Lent term in the VIII+, rowers were able to use a bow loaded IV+ and a IV-. Many of us also ventured out in singles for the first time, albeit in the novice-friendly wide bottomed sculls! In amongst all this rowing, just enough time was found to explore Seville, and practice some important spanish phrases: “i una cerveza por favor!” Being a favourite.

We believe that this is SCCBC’s first overseas training camp (but please do correct us if you know otherwise!), and it was a great success.Thanks goes to Overall Captain Jon McCree-Grey for having the imagination and commitment to organise the trip, as well as the St Catharine's Alumni Society for their generous support.

Women's Squad: Michaelmas 2014

Submitted by Beth Cullimore-Pike on Wed, 17/12/2014 - 11:03
The women’s boat club had two fours out this Michaelmas: a competing first boat and a second boat just doing water outings. The term has been an exciting one for the women’s side of the boat club, not just for the seniors but also for the strong novice cohort. 
 
The senior crew competed in a number of races this term, showing a good solid performance. Unfortunately our Uni IVs campaign was cut short due to a narrow loss to FaT in the first round by half a length. The crew showed a valiant effort, seeing as our race plan was for the side by side racing we were assuming would be happening, which apparently no longer does. Our last minute race plan consisted of push hard, then push harder and the crew gave it their everything despite a strong wind down the reach. 
 
We then had a change of crew in the W1 boat which set out to train for the rest of the term. Our plan for Winter Head was to get a strong row which we felt we achieved, coming 5th out of the colleges and beating some off-Cam boat clubs as well. 
 
The next focus was of course Fairbairns, the event of the term. Initially it looked like we would struggle to race, due to other commitments. The first compromise was racing in novice Fairbairns, not particularly ideal. Some brilliant rearrangement meant that we could race on the senior day at the end of the Women’s Eights division. Unfortunately this meant we had to time ourselves but we were able to race the full fours course. We came 10th out of the college IVs with a solid row from everyone meaning we all went to boat club dinner with our head held high and celebrated a good term of rowing. 
 
Rowing for the women looks exciting next term with a large number of novices hopefully coming up to join the senior boat club. We will be able to get our new VIII back out on the Cam and train for what will hopefully be another successful Lent Bumps Campaign.

Good showing from Catz in the Fairbairns

Submitted by Chris Quarton on Thu, 11/12/2014 - 18:36

SCCBC performed well in the Fairbairns races at the end of the Michaelmas term last week, with 6 crews competing.

Thursday saw two novice men's crews compete and one novice women's crew. NM1 had the standout performance, finishing 3rd out of all novice crews. Not to be outdone, NM2 were the 4th fastest 2nd novice boat. NW1 also put in a strong midtable performance. Of course the real measure of a successful novice term though is how many stay on as seniors, and based on this term's keenness it's looking optimistic.

On Friday it was the seniors' turn to take to the water, with another 3 crews competing. M1 finished as the 13th fastest college crew, well in the mix with their surrounding crews in the Lents. M2 were the 7th fastest 2nd boat, beating several M1s, crucially including Hughes Hall, whom they are being chased by in the Lents. Finally W1 raced in the IV's division and finished 10th.

Whilst the majority of these results are not spectacular, this term has seen some solid groundwork laid. With the integration of the very promising novice squads with the seniors, I see no reason why Catz can't defend the Marconi Cup from last year's Lents!


NM2 post-race

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