Published by0 Rowing8* Ink / www(.rowingservice.com/voice 11 June 2007 CONTENTS PJDF 3Three tears for regattas 1-4 7 Hammer Smith 2 Readers’ Voice Letters 5 Anniversaries 5 Boat Race on the box 6-7 HMS Cornwall in Croatia 6 HORR confusion 8-10 News 8-10 Wing riggers reviewed 10 Enclosure in the Sky 11-13 Overseas News 12 Dead heats explained 13 Classified adverts 13 In the heat of Beijing 14 CoxVox 14 Book reviews 15 Results Service 16-22 Rant 23 Holiday Planner 23 RowingVoice is pub- lished by Rowing Ink. Editors Rachel Quarrell and Christopher Dodd © RowingVoice™ All rights reserved. Photograph: Jaap Oepkes Material may not be reproduced in any media without written permis- sion of RowingVoice Three tears for regattas? Contact: voice@ Competition review, what identified for improvement: rowingservice.com competition review? UK rowers o the need for recreational rowing; tel 07710-538114 of less than three years’ vintage, o an “appropriate and easily understood points fax 0870-164-1650 or who have never been involved system”; in club administration, might be o a “progressive pathway to higher levels of Published irregularly. performance”; forgiven for having less than a clue o the need for a competition programme which what the phrase means. And yet it RowingVoice will be would (ambitiously) satisfy the needs of all could have had the biggest impact ages and ability levels. publishing a special on club rowing since the formation In plain English, the point was to eradicate some compact HRR issue of the Amateur Rowing Association, for the Royal Regatta. of the perceived bottlenecks, and cater better and might yet. for those who were not likely to become elite Send in your news, let- athletes. ters, classified adverts Analysis and interviews Rachel and other offerings. One such bottleneck was at senior 3 and senior Quarrell and Christopher Dodd 2 level. As most club secretaries know, there are hundreds of S3/S2 crews, but only handfuls of S1 Our grateful thanks to he competition review arose out of the and elite crews racing at most events. This tends BigBlade, Jaap Oepkes, ARA’s Forward Plan for 2001-2005. One to leave most S2/S3 athletes with a simple choice: Niall Darroch and Peter Tconclusion of that survey of the state and either race without winning for months on end, Spurrier for photographic future of various sections of GB rowing was that or earn points for winning and progress quickly competitive club rowing needed to change in contributions in this issue. to what has become a much higher competition order to serve club athletes better. Four areas were level, at which they will then find it hard to » The magazine that puts the engine into room........ Readers’ Voice p 5 » 11 June 2007 08*/( page 2 for all classes (men, women, U23,3 lightweight 7HaPmmJeDrF Smith’s « succeed. So, what to do about it? The original and junior). Intermediate regattas could be any idea was to create three tiers of regatta: national, distance and have any number of lanes, but Voices Off should provide at least two races per crew for regional and local. Three working parties Random reshuffles? were set up in 2003 to examine these options, qualifying events, with events in all boat types including a large number of regatta organisers, for J14-J18, senior and veteran. Both these Presumably the changes made secretaries and chairmen/women. types of regatta were planned to have their in the crews to tackle the second main results entered into a league of some sort round of the world cup in Some of their regattas would be able to fit (perhaps like the National Rowing League, Amsterdam — two eights and straight into the new format, while others which was about to be formed), which would two pairs — are Jurgen Grobler’s would have to be adapted. The working allow comparison of club against club. way of offering fresh challenges parties reported back in late 2003, the national to proven units as well as newer competition committee reviewed the proposals Primary regattas were in some ways the most ones which need to heighten and Ann Colborne was appointed as a specialist radical format. They had to be less than 800m, their performance. I suspect, consultant on the matter. with any number of lanes, but were restricted to novices and C status events - the modern however, that this is not the only In March 2004 a formal ARA competition senior 4, plus juniors. The emphasis was on reason for a shake up. review document was produced. It included a participation, and each entered crew had to be I spotted Ian Lawson walking number of radical proposals, expanding on the guaranteed at least two races. How the primary home in Henley on returning three-tier regatta classification system. This was regattas achieved this was up to them. from the Linz world cup, and largely to be based on the type of course (length his face seems to have changed. and number of lanes). With this went a proposal I speculate that the cause was that each competitor would have a status WHAT HAPPENED NEXT not a chance encounter with a determined by a combination of the previous he next stage was to consult the English lamppost or an oar handle, but season’s status plus the number of wins in the and Welsh clubs directly. A regional with a forceful fist. Methinks current season: related to points, but slightly Tconsultation process began in the spring there have been harsh words in different. of 2004, with feedback going to the ARA via the headmaster’s study, and the The three regatta types were to be primary, Ann Colborne, divisional representatives, and culprit is probably lucky to have intermediate and national. National regattas the national competition committee. The first a seat in any boat at all. There were to be multi-lane (a minimum of 4 lanes), problem was the intermediate level. Designed are, by the way, no changes to at least 1500m, and must include elite events as a catch-all for regattas neither big enough the men’s sculling crews. nor small enough to fit into the other » THE CASE STUDY: off in a dividional final, with Hampton C and Royal Shrewsbury School C both crowned Holme Pierrepont BIRMINGHAM REGATTA divisional champions after winning a total of to be national base four races each. irmingham Regatta, on the Edgbaston Idly thumbing through the ARA reservoir, has run as a primary event “The primary status works because historically Whole Sport Plan for 2005-2009 Bsince 2005. Regatta secretary Chris Birmingham Regatta isn’t very big”, explains - sad, I know - at half-term, a Anton, explains. “We didn’t quite get the Anton. “We never expect to make money, have few gems shone out from the 44 concept right in 2005”, he says. “We tried to hardly any competitors over the age of 16, pages of silken politically-correct do three-lane repechages, but that didn’t work. and usually just do better than break even. We equalitarian health-and-safety- Now we do round-robins. help ourselves by putting events - for instance laden toadying to quangos, novice fours and eights - in different divisions, official bodies, and all and We divide events into groups. For three or four so people can double up. Senior 4 eights are in sundry. entries, the crews all race each other in pairs, the morning and novice eights in the evening, and the top crew of the round-robin is the so many junior crews compete in both. This o Such as ‘building capacity’ winner. For five or more entries we divide them year we set a limit of 125 crews and reached under ‘Our priorities’: into leagues of three or four, which race round- it before the closing date. Some schools are ‘Holme Pierrepont is a robin. The winners of these leagues race off in very complimentary about the system: this year national training base for the final. We keep the crews on the water until Hampton [School] said some of their boys had national squad athletes in the they’ve finished racing”. never got out of the boats all day. We find it’s a Midlands and North.’ confidence booster for the youngsters.” This last is a crucial point: it saves time which o Such as the aim of providing would otherwise be spent docking and boating Birmingham Regatta has had primary ‘rowing for life through for the extra races. “It’s OK if the weather isn’t status since 2005. The regatta also makes well-resourced clubs’. cold”, adds Anton - fortunately so far this hasn’t approximately half its income from local o Such as the campaign to been a problem in balmy April weather. sponsors. All the events are non-qualifying, so ‘represent British interests earn no ARA status points. In 2007 the regatta The biggest entry at Birmingham this year was through FISA commissions’ offered 30 events, of which 8 were senior 12 crews into the boys J14 quads. Six crews by encouraging Brits to try novice and the rest junior (J10 to J18, both raced in Division A (two leagues of three), and and get on the Fisa council sculling and sweep). No invitational races in six in Division B (again two leagues of three). (Fisa commissioners are higher categories were held this year. The winners of each round-robin league raced appointed by Fisa to look » Boat Race Blues - ITV’s coverage and the race reviewed p 6 » 11 June 2007 page 3 308*/(7PJDF « after Fisa’s interests, not their « categories, intermediate status didn’t off the agenda, pending further consultation national interests, although survive the feedback from the regions.