Wadham College Boat Club Society A NEWSLETTER for current and former members of Wadham College Boat Club issue 44, 2014-15 WELCOME TO THE SOCIETY’S NEWSLETTER. Many (from the BCs the excellent and over-achiev- Many minor miracles have resulted in a few bigger ing Steph Hall and Tom Johnes and from the Society ones this year. Diana Mountain and Lucy Ventress) have invested precious spare time to achieve true financial visibility Going one level beyond the fabulous headline that for College, the Boat Club and the Society, and over- is “Wadham Women Head of the River in Torpids sight is now as it should always have been. and Eights”, Wadham Men are now up to 11th in Division 1 and are 6th in Torpids, up from 11th. Where next? That so many have enjoyed the sport to Wadham Women’s 2nd VIII is now up in Division such an extent at Wadham, yet only 140 alumni now 2 of Torpids. That is ahead of ten college first boats. support the Boat Club through membership of the The women came 41st in their Tideway Head and the Society; that is wrong and a real failing. This is start- men 151st. Maddy Badcott represented the Universi- ing to change. Alumni can now sign up online and ty, rowing at five in the winning Boat Race Crew. The we have hundreds of past rowers to contact. Do say if achievements have been great, so too has the depth you would like to be part of this effort. The Boat Club and breadth of involvement in our sport. Many boats uses approximately £19,000 a year: roughly split 7 have raced on the Isis and on the Thames elsewhere, from College, 7 from subscriptions and sponsorship supported not just by Rod Andrews’ meagre 40 hour and 5 from the Society. Racking at Godstow, now a a week contribution, but by many others including prerequisite for consistent training, costs £5K all on Paul Bowen, Julian Fox, Hannah Stratford, Yon-Hee its own. A wider supporting base of alumni could Kim and Diana Mountain. Different help has come make a very big difference to the sustainability of this in the form of donations of a tub pair, a screen for the high level of rowing achievement. We know we need gym and contributions towards new small boats. This to up our game as the Boat Club has upped theirs, has all meant a rapid rate of learning and improve- and we are at length doing so. Please do join us to ment in speed and pleasure. help - even if you could just spare a couple of hours to call and mail some former crewmates. And yet the miracles were needed to a far greater ex- tent than is apparent. Despite great continuing sup- Enjoy what follows, both because port from College, particularly from our President you have played at least a small the Warden, from the Domestic and Finance Bursars part in the continued flourishing and from the Development Office, a lot went wrong. of an excellent Boat Club, and At one stage, racking fees and Torpids dinner bills because hard work and wise guid- had been paid by individuals due to BC cash flow ance has produced excellence and issues. On our side, we had disparate accounts and happiness. equipment plans and an inadequate database, not BEN WILLIAMS, CHAIRMAN. reconciled with College. Much has since changed. WHAT IS THE BOAT CLUB SOCIETY? For those of you who may not have heard of it, the Society is for former members of Wadham College Boat Club and their supporters. It exists to: HELP THE PERFORMANCE OF THE BOAT CLUB so that all crews are as successful as possible. The Society pays 50% of the Boat Club’s equipment costs and so plays a vital role in supporting the success of Wadham on the river. DEVELOP A SOCIETY WHICH INCREASES THE ENJOYMENT OF ROWING for former and current Wadham oarspeople. The Society aims to hold a number of social events during the year, the main event being the annual regatta and dinner usually held in September. If you have left Wadham and are not already a member please join the Society. Go on, it’s only 25 quid a year. Do your bit to allow others to continue the sport as you did when you were at College. Visit www.wcbcs.org.uk to sign up. Men’s squad by JOE EMSLEY THIS YEAR, THE MEN OF WCBC HAVE ENJOYED to a strong Balliol MA (the eventual runners-up). ROARING SUCCESS. The Godstow tides have Wadham MA beat Teddy Hall MB by 1L, rowing behaved, the squad is vast in numbers, and M1 has in sixes when the 3-man’s seat flew off! Then lost to reached new heights. Alongside Rod, Hannah Strat- LMH MA thanks to a devastating near-ejector crab. ford and Julian Fox, we were fortunate to welcome back Society legend Paul Bowen, who swiftly inte- Our seniors started off strong. Training being attend- grated himself in the coaching of the novice squad. ed consistently by most, not all. We had 12 staying on from the previous year, and real potential for a Our adventures began with the notorious Oriel racing VIII. Regrettably, commitment tailed off, with Regatta. An M1/M2 composite VIII was entered, time-demanding blues sport and injuries stealing feeling pretty unstoppable from a division climbing, away much of our crew. Despite this, a Henley-wor- blade-winning Summer 2014 campaign. Defeating St thy “core four” managed to get to work, comprising John’s, then Balliol in the final, the elusive hip-flasks of M1 rowers Tom, James Evry, and Joe Blackmore, were ours. We won the men’s VIII category! Keen to joined by fresher Will, an experienced Westminster keep up the good work: a formidable coxless pair of rower. incoming Captain and his comrade. Wisely reserv- ing 20 minutes prior to our race time, for Jordan to A frequent concern is retaining novices into Hilary learn how to steer, and well, the intricacies of rowing term. This was simply not an issue this year! All but stroke-side altogether, we surprising lost (though did a couple returned, hungrier than ever to get out on succeed in avoiding either river bank). the river - boosting the men’s squad to a sizeable 30. Some returned in full-stash parade, while oth- After a long and restful summer, the focus of early ers - the crowd I’d cajoled into rowing “at least until Michaelmas was simple. Light the beacons; recruit ChristChurch” - sheepishly admitted they’d too from far and wide! The bulk of our novice intake caught “the bug”. came from graduates, our brothers in Harris Man- chester, and thirdly, a contingent of my dear friends. Rod and Paul were itching to get started, and im- A couple of sessions at Iffley tank and a boat club plored me to settle crews quickly. So, after a well-at- curry later, our novice squad looked promising. tended winter training camp back in Oxford, the 1st ChristChurch was on the horizon - Wadham easily Torpid was formed. The Michaelmas four; Scott - filled two strong novice VIIIs. Regatta verdict, as who we’d skilfully baited away from coaching Trinity follows: girls, and three ex-M2s. We would row four, some- times five times a week as this complement, without Wadham MB beat Pembroke MB by 2L, then lost fail - a commitment that would pay dividends come 7th week. to bump St John’s - robbing us of the chance, and sending us up two to 9th. Rod was confident we’d 2nd and 3rd Torpid took frustratingly longer to catch Trinity on the next day. But with a weaker St shape. M2 comprised primarily of technically-sound, Catz in Trinity’s sights, we knew it would be an over- but gym-reluctant old timers. Contrastingly, M3 - bump if anything. “Patience - the bump will come”. entirely ex-novice - couldn’t have been keener! And so it did. M1 also caught St Catz on Greenbanks sending us up to 8th. We went into Friday expecting Henley Head fell on 14th Feb, so would be a telling a harder row, but bumped out on Trinity by Don- trial run for Torpids. The crew were really excited nington Bridge. With Balliol crashing into the gut, - though whether this was for the rowing, or to be and plummeting down the division, we were 6th on spending Valentine’s Day with W1, I’m still not sure. the river! After a warm-up downstream, we started the time trial at a confident rate of 34. During the second Saturday of Torpids will not be forgotten anytime 500m it became clear we were faster than the crew soon. M1 were faced with the daunting task of chas- ahead, closing down the 15-second gap with every ing Wolfson for blades. If the time came, Rod told us push. Pembroke, Oxford were on our tail but did not to prepare “to go somewhere you haven’t been be- make the advances we expected - reassuring, con- fore”, and on promising each other to rise to the chal- sidering their current hold on Torpids headship. We lenge, we boated. Cannon-fire and without an ounce finished the 3000m course in 10:50. 2nd in IM3, and of self-preservation, M1 tore after Wolfson. Passing 15th overall. A solid row. Boathouse Island, most other crews had bumped out, yet Wadham, Wolfson and Christ Church were grav- M3 had shaped up to be a highly motivated and itating towards each other every stroke.