In this issue – • 150th plans unveiled • Massive wins at Scottish Indoors and Inverness • Life after EUBC

Picture: Robyn Hart-Winks, U23 Lwt 2x British Champion Picture credits: Scottish

President’s Welcome What a start to the year it has UPCOMING EVENTS been! 224 makes this year’s membership the largest ever, up 10% on last year. We’ve been Christmas Charity Erg working on 99 novices since the th last issue, and it is safe to say there Around on Saturday 19 December? is potential for the future! And EUBC will be erging on Princes Street to raise that’s before we’ve even money for the Boat Club and Macmillan Cancer mentioned the new crop of Support! Seniors… Come down for some festive fun and give our rowers a cheer! I’ll do it again and again throughout the year, but never will it be unjustified. Huge thanks must go to our Bow Ball coaching team, without whom the development of the programme would not be possible. A special mention The date has been confirmed and the venue goes to Meghan Hunter and Laura Durso, who joined booked! the team in September as our Novice coaches and are Date: 6th February 2016 doing a fantastic job alongside Tom Young. Place: The George Hotel, Edinburgh In this issue, you’ll find reports of our first races of the Please get in touch if you would like to book season, which have been, without exception, successful affairs. The star-studded, block-busting, red-carpeted WeHoRR and HoRR Alumni Dinners Awards were more cause for celebration after we picked up two awards (three if you Invitations will be sent out shortly so keep count one of our new recruits…). But it isn’t just our your eyes peeled. current members who have been busy - the alumni have Until then, save the dates! been at it too! September was a particularly successful th Women’s 8s Head of the River month: Ant Clifford and John Higson became Ironmen March 5 th following some questionable weight loss techniques March 19 Head of the River from Mr Higson; Rob Connolly and Tom Duke joined up with Head Coach Colin Williamson and SABC’s Iain Wilson for the World Masters Regatta, and casually came home with Gold. It seems, then, that the determination to succeed is in our blood. For me, the highlight of this issue has to be the final word from David Patterson. The Rowing Bug: Life 20 years after joining EUBC is not to be missed. Senior Men’s 4+ at Inverness, Oct 2015 I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Credits: Vic Howard

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THE 150th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS

Dear Alexandra,

With EUBC’s 150th Anniversary drawing ever closer, it is my pleasure to invite you to a weekend of celebrations on 11-12th February 2017.

Events will include an alumni brunch and culminating in a Gala Dinner to celebrate EUBC’s past, present and future. The festivities will offer an opportunity to catch up with old friends, reminisce about the club’s rich history, and look towards the next 150 years! It will be a weekend you won’t want to miss!

The estimated ticket cost for the ball will be £70; however, this is dependent on numbers and therefore subject to change.

If you are interested in attending what is sure to be an unforgettable weekend, or have any questions, please contact me via email by 20th January 2016.

But we also need your help! We want as many pictures from people’s time at EUBC on display at our 150th Gala Dinner. Whether it’s you and your crew posing before a training session or a podium picture from one of your races, we’d love them all! Please send in any EUBC memories to Eleri Connick, our Graduate Secretary, at [email protected]

If you would like to be involved in the organisation of the event I would also love to hear from you.

Please spread the word to any other EUBC alumni you know who may not receive Celeste.

Best wishes,

Lydia Stuart-Kregor

Vice-President [email protected]

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A word from Coach Colin Williamson, Head of Rowing

“When does your season start?” “Are you in pre-season?” “When does your season end?”

Frequent questions that I receive when sitting in the Performance Sports Hub at the Pleasance, and when discussing the club and our sport with various ‘muggles’… The answers tend to be “Now” “Kind of” and “Never”.

It is the reality of modern rowing that it is a 52-week undertaking. In fact, as I sat down and planned out the year ahead I realised that it would start on the 1st September and end (hopefully) at the World University Championships on the 4th September the following year. We may sometimes wonder if we have enough hours in the day, but rarely do we come across the situation where there are not quite enough weeks in the year.

It would be easy to dismiss Semester 1 as ‘the quiet one’. Sun baked days on the Henley stretch or International duty on far-flung lakes seems an awfully long way off as we listen to the rain and wind batter the windows of the Pleasance gym. However, it is now that we are at our busiest, when we are making the biggest changes and the club can feel at its bustling best.

Our Senior squads continue to go from strength to strength. Success is now not merely an aspiration, but almost an expectation and a self-imposed obligation from the athletes themselves when pulling on the baby blue. The signs are already good, with 3 British National titles (including the ‘double double’ of both Men’s and Women’s U23 Lwt 2x titles) and some very strong showings in early GB Trials. High hopes, then, of adding to last year’s 3 GB vests.

So, we may be in the ‘quiet’ period of the season (whatever that is) but there is a very audible rumble of hard work Race Reports Scottish Indoors

Written by Eleri Connick

Saturday November 21st saw Edinburgh University Boat Club take athletes from all five squads including the newly formed Development Squad to the Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships! It was a great day for EUBC with many medals being won by the club!

1st Place – Men’s Fresher 1k (Harry Newmark), Women’s Fresher 1k (jointly won by Tanaka Dube and Rebecca Drummond), Men’s Uni Open LWT (Matthew Curtis), Women’s Uni Open LWT (Robyn Hart-Winks), Women’s Uni Open HWT (Mairi Buchan), Men’s Fresher Team, Women’s Fresher Team, Men’s Team & Women’s Team.

2nd Place – Women’s Uni Open LWT (Maddie Arlett), Men’s Uni Open HWT (Rufus Scholefield), Women’s Uni Open HWT (Emily Bowie), Men's Open Sprint LWT (Charlie Thomson) & Women’s Fresher Team.

3rd Place – Women’s Fresher 1k (Charlotte Stephenson), Men’s Uni Open LWT (Gregor Maxwell), Women’s Uni Open LWT (Laura Macdonald), Men’s Uni Open HWT (Calum Irvine), Women’s Uni Open HWT (Anne Rodahl), Women’s Fresher Team & Men’s Team.

A great day for all and an excuse for the trophy cupboard to be expanded!

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Inverness Head

By Graham Ord

Inverness Fours and Small Boats Head took place on the last weekend of October and was the first time that the novices and many of the new seniors donned their racing kit. On one of the best stretches of water in the country, there was racing over four divisions.

Saturday, Division 1 - The Men’s 4+, stroked by Kieran Tierney, stormed down the canal to win their event by a large margin. Establishing a savage rhythm early on, they finished as the second fastest boat overall behind a very quick quad from Glasgow Schools. The Women’s 4-, stroked by Amy Sweeny, was the next fastest Edinburgh boat and eased to victory in their event by more than 25 seconds. Victoria Howard came out on top in the Women’s 1x, making her fastest female sculler of the weekend. Two of the Women’s Novice 4+s had great first racing experiences, finishing 3rd and 5th and winning the accolade of the fastest two beginner university crews.

Saturday Division 2 - Fastest of the division was the Men’s 4- stroked by Kieran Tierney, with the other Men’s 4- stroked by Karol Stanski finishing not far behind. The Women’s 4+, stroked by Amy Sweeny, had a storming row to take victory in the event by more than a minute. The next fastest crew was the first of our four Men’s Novice 4+s. The first boat, stroked by Harry Newmark, was the fastest beginner university crew and rowed well to take 6th place in the novice event. This means that all the boats ahead of them, whilst still of novice status, were not complete beginners this season. The Women’s R2 2- of Annabel Wilson and Catherine Sloan had a dominant race, taking victory by over two minutes. Rounding out the day were our two 1xs of Olivia Alliott and Sharan Mahtani, with an impressive one-two in their event; Olivia claimed the bragging rights!

Sunday Division 1 - Many of the same crews were racing again on Sunday. Our first boat down was the Men’s 4+, stroked by William Horrocks, which took a narrow victory in the R1 4+. They were also the fastest 4+ of the division. The next boat was the 2- of Kieran Tierney and Sebastian Glen, who took victory in the Open 2- and finished as the fastest 2- of the weekend. Next was the Women’s R1 4-. Stroked by Amy Sweeny, the crew won their event comfortably to triumph as the fastest women’s boat of the division. Not far behind was the Women’s R2 4-, stroked by Lizzie Trelawny-Vernon. Next up were the Men’s Novice 4+. The top boat, stroked by Kier Parker, finished a very strong 3rd. Once again, they were only bested by non- university novice rowers. It was fantastic to see all novice crews improve on their finishing position from the previous day. Sharan Mahtani rounded off EUBC’s success in the division, taking a solid 3rd place in the Women’s R2 1x.

Sunday Division 2 - Fastest boat of the day by nearly a minute was our R1 4- stroked by Kieran Tierney. Fastest women’s boat of the weekend was our Women’s 4x. With newcomer Anne Rodahl at stoke, they won the event by a huge margin. The next fastest boat was our Women’s 2x of Lauren Gray and Amelia Donovan. The girls stormed down the course to edged out their nearest competition by more than 50 seconds. The Women’s Open 2- was the last senior boat down the course and took another victory for EUBC. Last up were our Novice Womens’ 4+s. The top boat, stroked by Naomi Rogers, finished 3rd in the event and was comfortably the fastest university beginners women’s boat at the Head. The other three boats also finished well, with small gaps between each boat demonstrating the strength and depth we have in the Novice Women’s squad this year.

Overall the weekend was a huge success for the club. Many medals were won and every crew gained valuable racing experience that they will take to future events. Although the club could not retain the antlers, won by the fastest boat of the weekend, EUBC’s presence was definitely felt through the sheer number of events won over the weekend.

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Novice Men’s XIII at Strathcylde Park EUBC had a clean sweep in the Open Women’s University 2000m at the Scottish Indoor Rowing Championships. L – R: Emily Bowie (Silver), Mairi Buchan (Gold) and Anne Rodahl (Bronze)

Senior Women 4+ at Inverness Head.

(L-R): Amy Regina, Amy White, Jenny Stevenson and The Novice Women at Scottish Indoors Amelia Donovan.

L-R: Rebecca Drummond (Gold), Tanaka Dube (Gold) and Charlotte Stevens (Bronze)

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British Rowing Senior Championship 2015

By Graham Ord

Held at Holme Pierrepont in October, the Senior Championships was the Club’s season opener. As a compulsory event for all GB trialists, 16 Edinburgh athletes made the journey south to take on the country’s finest. The regatta kicked off on Saturday. In the semifinals of the 2x, Matthew Curtis and Gavin Horsburgh raced fantastically to take 2nd place and progress into the A-final. In the final, with the rest of the field bearing down, Matt and Gavin dug deep and managed to hold off the competition to take a fantastic 3rd place. It was to be the first title of an extremely successful weekend. British Champions in the U23 Lightweight Doubles? Check.

Next up were defending U23 Lightweight Women’s Doubles Champions, Robyn Hart-Winks and Maddie Arlett. The girls stormed down the course to finish a very narrow 4th in a tight B-final, retaining their title. British Champions for the second year in a row? Check.

Rufus Scholefield and his composite four managed to progress through their semi-final into an extremely strong A- final, consisting of many current World Champions. It was too tall an order for the four to make it onto the podium, although they pushed it very close indeed. But, British Champions in the U23 Coxless Four? Check.

James Temple and Gregor Maxwell took 4th in C-final, improving in each race. Graham Ord and Henry Millar, after missing out on the A/B semi-finals by less than a second, had a disappointing semi-final but redeemed themselves by taking a resounding victory in the D-final. In the very next race Amelia Donovan and Emily Bowie followed suit and took an even more resounding victory in their D-final. Mairi Buchan in her first ever race, alongside Flore Blake-Parsons took a brilliant victory in their E-final, and Laura McDonald and Emily Bissett finished a very solid 4th in the F-final.

On Sunday, all 16 athletes were competing in quads. On the men’s side it was the lightweights who took the bragging rights again by claiming a spot in the A/B semifinals and then progressing through to the B-final. The boys raced incredibly well but just fell short of the race victory to a very powerful quad from Tees. The lightweight boys also only narrowly missed out on becoming crowned British champions for the lightweight category. The boys openweight quad may have missed out on the A/B semis but, in a what was a thrilling finale to their semi, they managed to progress through to the C-final where they performed well and just managed to creep past a strong quad from Newcastle University to take 5th place on the line.

Both of the women’s boats found themselves lining up against each other in their C/D semi and both boats comfortably cruised through to the C-final. In the C-final the two Edinburgh boats shot out into the leading two positions. The lightweights held a very narrow lead up to the halfway mark where the openweights started to make their move. With 500m to go the openweight girls had taken a 0.3 second lead, however this did not prove to be enough as the lightweight girls fought back, retaking the lead and then claiming the bragging rights as they took victory by a narrow 0.28 seconds.

This was a fantastic weekend for the club with many strong performances culminating in 5 different athletes becoming British champions. The clubs overall strong performance was highlighted in the rankings for the Victor Ludorum: Edinburgh came out in a fantastic 3rd place and as the top university club. Baby Blue Dominance at Brit Champs? Check.

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Lightweight 4x at Brit Champs. U23 British Lightweight 2x Winners. (Bow - Stroke) Gavin Horsburgh, James Temple, (L-R) Matthew Curtis and Gavin Horsburgh. Gregor Maxwell and Matthew Curtis.

Rufus Scholefield in his composite coxless 4. Women’s Lightweight 4x at Brit Champs

(Bow-Stroke): Laura McDonald, Emily Bissett, Robyn Hart-Winks and Maddie Arlett.

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Scottish Rowing Awards

On Saturday November 7th, several members of EUBC travelled across to the Scottish Rowing Awards, which were being held in the Hilton, Glasgow. The evening turned out to be a huge success for Edinburgh with many of our athletes being nominated for awards and winning awards. Crew of the Year Men’s 4+ comprising of Henry Millar, Rufus Scholefield, Calum Irvine, Graham Ord and Chrissy Pak (cox)

Written by Colin Williamson The Edinburgh University Four of Rufus Scholefield, Henry Millar, Graham Ord, Calum Irvine and Chrissy Pak will go down in the history books not just within their own club, but in the official records of . On a scorching hot day in July, the 4+ edged out a Cambridge crew by just a canvas, and in the process shaved 2 seconds off the overall course record for the Prince Albert Challenge Cup. They were to go down by a length and half the next day to eventual winners, the University of Washington. That race was the culmination of a successful season that had seen the four crowned Scottish Champions (in the 4-) British University Silver medallists in the 4+ and winners of Men’s 4+ Winners – Graham Ord and Calum the Elite 4+ at the Metropolitan Regatta. Irvine (L-R) The performances in the four set all the members up for a successful late season after Henley, with stern pair moving in to the GB 8+ for the u23 World Championships, and bow pair winning for as part of the successful Home

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Senior Rower of the Year Maddie Arlett

Written by Colin Williamson Maddie Arlett’s season could be condensed into one sentence to give an idea of her outstanding progress in the sport: Complete Novice sculler in September, 4th in the World in July. Of course there was much hard work and other successes along the way, all of which were achieved due to Maddie’s fantastic work ethic and no little talent. Having taken up the sport in 2012 as a fresher, Maddie first put a pair of sculling blades into her hand at the beginning of the 2014/15 season, and was to prove almost instantly successful, claiming the British u23 Lwt 2x title with (fellow novice sculler) Robyn Hart-Winks. This was to prove the start of a hugely successful season was that saw Maddie take Championship medals in the 4x, 8+ and 1x at British University Championship level. Despite her new found sculling prowess, Maddie still showed her abilities in sweep, being part of the EUBC 8+ that finished 18th at the Women’s and also jumping into a pair to take the Scottish title in that boat class too. A fantastic second place finish in u23 1x at the GB Rowing Team final trials resulted in Maddie going on to race at Essen and the Holland-Beker Regattas (where she raced in the GB Senior lwt 4x), and ultimately the u23 World Lee Boucher, High Performance Coordinator Championships where she finished 4th in the lwt 4x event. for Scottish Rowing, presented Maddie Arlett with her award Maddie is no longer a novice sculler…

Junior Rower of the Year Gavin Horsburgh

New to the baby blue army but far from new to rowing. Formerly of Glasgow Schools, Gavin and his doubles partner jointly picked up the award. Gavin is a junior world champion in the quad and is now rowing as a lightweight for EUBC. He’s already showing great success at Senior Brit Champs and had a fantastic showcase at trials. Gavin is a new fresh face in EUBC and one to keep your eyes on!

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Alums in the Spotlight

John and Ant become an

By Emily Bissett Source: Ironman.com September 2015 saw Edinburgh University Boat Club’s Senior Women’s coach, John Higson, take a second shot at the notoriously difficult Ironman in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Just a year previously, John’s Ironman dreams were put to an unfortunate end after he obtained a puncture on the cycling section of the race, was unable to make up the lost time and so was forced to withdraw. This time round John’s preparations exceeded just the couple of weeks training of 2014, and he even went to some fairly extreme lengths to get down to weight for the event. Some dubious weight loss techniques were employed, and we hope John never advises his lightweights to just eat tomatoes the week before BUCS…

A, considerably lighter, John and fellow EUBC alumni, Anthony Clifford, joined the 2030 strong contingent early on Sunday 13th September to start the grueling 112 mile bike, 2.4 mile swim and 26.2 mile run. He successfully smashed his 2014 swim time of 01:42:44 by completing it in 01:20:14, and achieved times of 07:24:45 and 05:52:40 in the bike and run respectively. Club members, particularly his loyal Senior Women, were on the edge of their seats as they watched John become an Ironman in 15:06:04, having followed his process since the early hours. Ant finished shortly after him in 16:25:23. It is testament to them both that hundreds of fellow athletes were unable to complete the punishing race. So on behalf of the whole of EUBC, a huge congratulations to John and Ant! They have certainly proved that the mental endurance, or insanity, of a rower never fades.

When the look of exhaustion hits the coach…

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Tom and Rob join Coach Colin to take on World Rowing Masters By Calum Irvine The 2015 World Rowing Masters Regatta was held at the Boso Rowing Centre in Hazelwinkel, Belgium in September. There was a strong showing from EUBC with alumni Tom Duke and Rob Connolly competing alongside Head Coach Colin Williamson in a series of Edinburgh University- composite crews, with Iain Wilson from St Andrew making up the fourth member of the crew.

This ‘C’ coxed four were entering into the World Masters following an exciting win at Henley Masters Regatta earlier in the season. There they beat Grosvenor RC by just 1 foot in 3:42, with Colin summing up the race saying, “We were only ahead for 1 stroke, but it was the last one!”.

On the Friday of the World Rowing Masters Regatta both the crew raced the coxed and coxless 4’s, with Colin also going on to race the pair with Rob Connolly. In the first race of the day, the 4+, with cox Lawrence Edwards, secured a win as the crew came up on their tough opposition from behind. They finished with a time of 03:25.33 with the second placed international crew finishing just 2.10 seconds behind. Later that afternoon, they collectively placed 5th and 4th in their races in the 2- and 4- respectively. On the Saturday, the 4+ came in 3rd, a tight race where only 2 seconds split the top three crews. Tom Duke also went on to compete in a pair with Iain Wilson, coming in 5th. Mixed crew racing, consisting of equal numbers of men and women, was the focus on the Sunday. The boys teamed up with women from Wallingford R.C. and Bristol Ariel R.C in the 8+ and Colin and Tom joined forces with two athletes from the Amsterdam club K.R.Z.V. De Hoop to compete in a quad, where they placed 5th. Their collective efforts helped place Great Britain 3rd in the overall medals table. All in all the World Rowing Masters proved to be a successful regatta for EUBC, and we look forward to seeing more of our alumni compete next year!

The Coxed 4 storming to victory at the World Master’s The Coxed 4 (L-R): Colin Williamson, Iain Wilson, Regatta. Laurence Edwards, Rob Connolly and Tom Dukes.

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The Rowing Bug Life 20 years after joining EUBC By David Patterson

EUBC has had a long history with some incredibly talented athletes to come through the program. I was not one of them. I loved the experience though, worked hard, won a stack of races but always felt grateful for the faster rowers in the boat that carried me to glory and pots.

Three years of squeaking into the first and three years in a row being ousted as the weak link just before Henley. 1998 was the hardest. The Captain, Colin Williams, returning bit by bit from injury, was back to strength when it mattered most. We raced and tied. We raced and tied. We raced and tied. David (far left) with his Women’s 8+

We raced, and he won by less than a second. He was the Captain and he had to make the selection. My seat was his seat and the 1998 eight went on to reach the quarterfinals at Henley including an epic victory over selected Oxford Brookes. It hurt then and it hurts now, but that doesn't diminish in any way how proud I was to be a member of the club and how thrilled I was for the success that crew, albeit without me, brought to the club. Colin won the seat, raced hard and is an awesome guy. But damn. So yes, I quit. I had a PhD to write anyways and I couldn't recover from the disappointment of 1998. But in the spring of 1999 the team were shy of port rowers (whoops wrong audience – I mean stroke side as it was to me back in the day). I was still training. I was fit. I returned. We did some seat racing and I even won some of them. We went through a couple of rounds at Henley and raced our EUBC four as the Scotland four at Home Countries. It all worked out in the end I guess.

So I finished the PhD and went to the US for a post-doc. I found myself in a life without rowing for the first time in ages. I didn't like it. Found out that Binghamton University (NY) had a club program (sponsored by athletes and not the school) and before you know it I was coaching the women's team. What a difference it was to look at rowing from outside the boat compared to my battles within. I could see all the things I couldn't do and found a way to be able to communicate it, probably from the 'expertise' of someone who really did struggle in the boat. And heck, if all else fails, I could just tell my crews to be ruthless.

I’m now in my 9th year as head coach of the Men's and Women's rowing program at Fairfield University in Connecticut. We are officially an NCAA Division I program. There are big DI programs and smaller DI programs (though we don't use the word small because it sounds small so we are called Mid-Majors – bless). We have a long way to catch up with the University of Washington. In US terms certainly we struggle to compete with the top programs, but how much of our time rowing has been spent focused on winning? We work to win, we like to win. But there is also satisfaction to be found in forming a crew, working together and making the boat go as fast as possible. When we get it right, that’s enough to keep bringing us back.

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Celeste is published quarterly: in September, December, March and June.

Coming up in the March Edition… HoRR and WeHoRR crews unveiled, a report from BUCS Head and some very special Alums in the Spotlight! For any enquiries please email [email protected]

Picture: The Novice Men’s 8+ at Strathclyde Park

SW at Senior Champs Photo Credits: Emily Bissett

Produced by Eleri Connick for Edinburgh University Boat Club

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