Summer VIIIs

Summer VIIIs Report by Jeffrey Rawson, Men’s Captain 2010-2011

Taken from the Pelican Record, Trinity 2010

“Following on from Torpids, the men had high hopes for success in Summer VIIIs. The term commenced with a training camp on the Isis, thanks to the help of Thomas Chapman and Cesare Omissi, which was focused on entering the Oxford City Bumps competition. Trials were subsequently held to confirm the members of the 1st and 2nd Eight crews for Summer VIIIs. Jonathan Smart and David Fidgett joined a rigorous first squad training schedule carried over from Hilary Term, which consisted of many early starts on the Isis, sprint ergs and afternoon runs. Stephanie Clark was finally able to prove her admirable racing technique and cox the crew with whom she had trained since Hilary. Despite our coach Thomas Chapman’s excellent motivation and guidance, total success proved as elusive as the summer weather. Bumping very quickly on the first day, we narrowly failed to achieve a bump on rivals Linacre during the next, before being bumped the day after. Saturday broke the trend however and saw us successfully awarded another bump, finishing +1 overall.

The second squad, captained by Robert Schoonmaker, undertook an equally rigorous training schedule, with coaching duties shared between Cesare Omissi and Jeffrey Rawson. They were also joined at the start of term by Sophie Cass, a novice cox who progressed rapidly  to competently lead them through the competition. This began extremely well when they qualified at rowing over with the third fastest time in their group. The bumps races proved more difficult however, receiving one bump from Wolfson and twice being forced to courageously row over.

As with the first squad however, the second boat successfully achieved a bump on the final day. Finishing the year with such a large number of enthusiastic and hopeful oarsmen the club looks well placed to continue growing in size, achievements and spirit into the next.”

Corpus M1 Summer VIIIs Crew

Stroke- Jonathan Smart
2-Jeffrey Rawson
3-Jeremy Dodd
4-Jerome Condry
5-Ryan Wood
6-David Fidgett
7-Stuart Thomson
Bow- Carl Morris
Cox: Stephanie Clark
Coach: Thomas Chapman

Corpus M2 Summer VIIIs Crew

Stroke- Stephen Ambrose
2-Felix Timmermann
3-Jan-Willem Scholten
4-James Leigh
5-Klaus Kowalski
6-Niko-Amin Wetzel
7-Robert Schoonmaker
Bow- Daniel Stubbins
Cox: Sophie Cass
Coach: Cesare Omissi

Summer VIIIs Report by Juliet Zani, Women’s Captain 2010-2011
Taken from the Pelican Record, Trinity 2010

“We began an outing-orientated training program with a couple of alterations to the crew, Gordon Stevenson coaching, and Ellen Fryer coxing. We used many sunny outings to once focus on racing in Summer VIIIs in 5th week. We also decided that we’d be more sociable, and attended some crew dates with other College’s M1 boats, resulting in a few new nicknames. The crew also raced in a dragon boat race in Abingdon, supporting the charity Reading Quest; this combined training and socialising in one!

Summer VIII’s week came and we were prepared for some tough racing; we were surrounded by excellent crews after unexpected success in Summer VIIIs 2009. We were consequently bumped every day by Trinity, Lincoln, Jesus and St. Peter’s. We were obviously gutted with this result, but the crew should be proud of their rowing despite the result; the boat improved over the week, and  the crew are determined to row again next year.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped and supported the women,  the Committee, Gordon Stevenson, and the crew of W1 who made rowing and being Captain such fun and so rewarding.  Katie Smith and Rosie Renouf will be co-captains in Michaelmas term next year, with Katie carrying on in Hilary and Trinity terms.”

Corpus W1 Summer VIIIs Crew

Stroke- Juliet Zani
7-Allison Phua
6-Emma-Lucy Pinchbeck
5-Ele Grieveson
4-Alice Penfold
3-Alison Wilson
2-Rosie Renouf
Bow-Katie Smith
Cox: Ellen Fryer

Coach: Gordon Stevenson