4 Golds, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze for MAA at National Championship regatta
The Club had another very successful weekend at the National Championships in Scotland this weekend and once again was the top performing club.

4 Gold LW2x, HW2x, Anna Townsend, Ruth Sander
LW4-, Alexa Szladowska, Beks Edgar, Lorna Brown, Penny Ladkin
LW4x Anna Townsend, Ruth Sander, Sarah Cornick, Rachel Hutchinson

1 Sliver LW2- Beks, Lorna

2 Bronze LW2-, Rachel Hutchinson, Sarah Cornick LW4x Rachel Drayson, Kate Tilbury, Daniela Charles, Susan Tickner (OUWL BC) - composite

Other notable results were: Amy Propsting was 4th in the final of Women’s Open Singles in a photo finish for 2nd, 3rd and 4th losing out by less than a second and Daniela Charles in her first sculling race made the final of LW 1x and came 6th.

2 wins for MAA at Henley Womens regatta
Congratulations to the entire squad for an outstanding performance and set of results at Women’s Henley.
Once again , Mortlake were the top performing club at the regatta with crews reaching 5 finals and winning two events namely the ELW4x (Helen Ralston, Rachel Hutchinson, Sarah Cornick and Kara Wirt) and the ELW4- (Lorna Brown, Rebekah Edgar, Penny Ladkin and Alexa Szladowska) having set a new course record on Saturday in the heats, a record that had stood for 15 years and was set by the GB National Squad crew, Nautilus in 1995. Full race report

Good luck to 4 crews entered for HRR
MAA has 4 crews racing in the HRR qualifying regatta on Friday 25 June. Amy Propsting will be racing her single in the Princess Royal, there will be a Remenham Challenge cup composite eight with University of London, a composite quad scull in the Princess Grace with Nottingham Rowing club and coxless four racing the Wyfolds Challenge Cup. We wish each crew the best of luck

Club pennant and 6th place in Womens head for MAA
The first womens crew (Rachel Hutchinston, Anna Townsend, Helen Austin, George Menheneott-Phillips, Amy Propsting, Chloe Aitken, Ruth Sander and Helen Ralston) produced the club's best WeHoRR result ever to come 6th overall (beating the S3 pennant winning crew of 2003 which came 7th). In the competitive IM 1 category they placed 2nd to Reading University but won the club pennant for the fastest club crew.
full race report The 3 other MAA crews placed 29th, 42nd and 95th to put all of the crews inside the top 100. MAA was the only club to have 4 crews within the top 100 and showing the strength of the senior womens group, the only club by a long way to have 3 crews inside the top 45. Well done to all racing

HoRR and Vesta Veterans HoR
The next 2 head races are on 27/28 March with 2 crews from the Senior mens group racing on Saturday in the HoRR and a Veteran E mens crew and a Veteran C womens crew racing on the Sunday.

Hammersmith Womens and Juniors head
MAA senior girls placed all 3 crews in top 5 womens boats and won 2 pennants (IM1 and IM3) at the Hammersmith Womens and Juniors head on Feb 28th

Club update Jan 2010
Refurbishment work continues and is expected to finish ahead of schedule (Feb 2010). Most noticable feature is the new windows, but heating and fixtures work like lockers and flooring continues this month. We are planning a launch party and there will be work needed to be done to "move back in" so please watch for further announcements.

2010 subscriptions are now due, please see the Membership page for further details and the renewal form.

Club refurbishment update
The refurbishment work is continuing, currently ahead of schedule. The committee appreciates members' patience while the work is carried out - so far life appears to be running relatively smoothly.

Annual General Meeting 2009
The AGM this year will be proceeded by a short SGM to enable to approval of some rule changes. The SGM will start at 12 noon, and due to the refurbishment will be held at Putney Town rowing club. Please make every effort to attend. The meeting will include reports from the year, plus the 2010 subscription proposals and election of officers (captains, secretaries, treasurers and general committee members).

The club is need of more volunteers, particularly for the roles of Treasurer and Assistant Secretaries, if you would like to consider standing, to help the club to grow and improve, please speak to any committee member or put your name on the sign up sheets (near the beer cellar on our temporary noticeboard).

1. Notice of SGM - Sat 31st October 12 noon PDF 8kb
2. Notice of AGM - Sat 31st October 12:10 PDF 13kb
3. MAABC AGM 2009 Agenda PDF 13kb
4. MAABC proposed rule changes PDF 80kb

Club refurbishment
Most club members will be aware of the plans to refurbish the club, the work is due to start duing September, so there will be disruption to changing facilities and access to the first floor through until Christmas. We will be sending out weekly updates to let you know what is happening, please ensure you are on the update list (email sarah@maabc.com if you are not). There will be some facilities made available to us by our very kind neighbours University of Westminster / Quintin boatclub, but you may need to arrange to shower at work or at home after training.

Great River Race
'Judge' Jeremy McMullen raced this (fixed seat) race again this year, beating his crew's 2008 time and making a good showing within their category. The race was unusually raced from down river (Greenwich) to upriver (Ham) this year. Please visit his just giving site to donate money to his worthy cause Xpression (part of Kingston Mencap). Jeremy's Just giving site.

6 golds medals at Home International regatta
The now traditional final event in the summer season for our womens senior squad. Success at Nationals brings places at this event, where the home nations, England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales compete for gold medals.

Anna Townsend and Ruth Sander repeated last week's victory in Lwt 2x then combined forces with Helen Ralston and Sarah Scrase-Field to win the Womens Quads medals. Other MAA athletes (listed below) came second in what is always hotly contested events.

This concludes a prolific season for the senior squad, on a par with the previous 3 seasons in terms of medals and placings

8 golds, 4 silver, 4 bronze medals at National Championships regatta
The womens senior squad had a very successful weekend at the National Championships winning gold in 3 events: WL2x, WL2- and WL4x, silver in WL4- and bronze in W4x.

Three other boats reached finals: WL1x, plus two crews in W2x. Congratulations to all the crews and their coaches.

As a result of this, the following athletes have been selected for the Home Countries next week in Nottingham.

Tim Burrows joins 'club de cingl'es du mont-ventoux'
Part self confessed mid-life crisis, part noble gesture to raise funds for worthy causes Tim (one of our recent Learn to Row graduates) put himslef through a gruelling cycle climb, by following the footsteps of his childhood hero, Tommy Simpson who died on on Mount Ventoux during the 13th stage of the Tour de France in 1967

Happily Tim lived to tell the tale and would be very grateful for any donations to his chosen causes (Diabetes UK, NADS, White Lodge Centre and Positive Mental Attitude Football League). For more details download Tim's charity flyer. or drop him an email:Tim Burrows

10 medals at Henley Women regatta
The senior womens squad coached by Ian Roots and George Jones, got 6 crews through to finals at HWR this year, 3 crews went onto win the medals:

• Elite Lightweight Coxless Fours: Rachel Thompson, Beks Edgar, Gwen McCormack and Penny Ladkin
• Elite Lightweight Quadruple Sculls: Sarah Scrace Field; Helen Ralston; Sarah Murphy and Ellie Murphy
• Elite Lightweight Coxless Pairs: Sarah Cornick and Sarah Mee

Great River Race - Jeremy McMullen's charity row:
"I am happy to report (belatedly) that Royal Dolphin a 6-blade Thames Cutter hired from Edwards in Richmond and crewed at Bench Blisters by magistrates and judges cracked 2h49m on a glorious sunny September 13. We beat our race target of 3 hours. Our second boat the John Disley a 4-blader came in slightly later. We well exceeded our fundraising for Xpression Kingston junior Mencap puling in over ?7k. Many thanks for all your support by money and advice". Jeremy McMullen

Last races of 2008 - GB trials and Plum puddings
It's sort of the sublime to the ridiculous - from elite performace racing in singles that can decide the direction of rowing careers to a fun romp down the river in scratch eights vying for pride, bottles of wine and plum puddings!

At GB trials, we had 4 lightweight female athletes - Ruth Sander excelled to come 5th (only beaten by the 4 athletes competing who had made the GB team for 2008), with Chloe Atikin 11th, Anna Townsend 14th and Ellie Murphy 17th - fine performances from each of these hard working athletes.

MAA had 6 crews racing the plum puddings (2 from senior women, 1 each from intermediate women, veteran women, senior men and veteran men (tbc)). The senior womens crews had excellent races picking up the first and third prizes, just losing out to the Cygnet mens novices for the 2nd place. Many thanks to Quintin for organising this again, next year perhaps we'd better let them win at least one prize?
Two photos available, courtesy of Jean Rankine:
Veteran Ladies 8, 1
Veteran Ladies 8, 2

2 Wins at Scullers head – 6 December 2008
Two wins this year, from Anna Townsend in Womens Senior 1 Lightweight and Ken Williams in Mens Veteran H. Well done to both of them for this achievement!.

Scullers head – 6 December 2008
Results of the Head can be found at here. We had 24 Scullers from Elite lightweight women to veteran men:

145 H Ralston W.E.LWT
167 S Mee W.S1.LWT
168 A Townsend W.S1.LWT
259 E Bishop W.S2
268 K Wirt W.S2.LWT
342 R Hutchinson W.S3
360 C Fox W.S3.LWT
364 G Mccormack W.S3.LWT
365 S Murphy W.S3.LWT
371 S Cornick W.S3.LWT
386 D Grylls VetC
408 K Rolfsman W.S4
410 C Stothart W.S4
413 K Wright W.S4
414 S Blackburn W.S4
419 J Gapper W.NV
420 L Garrod W.NV
422 C Greenhalgh W.NV
433 A Propsting W.NV
434 A Ramsden W.NV
440 A Watterston W.NV
445 L Brown W.NV
472 J Skipper W.VetC
520 K Williams VetH

Senior women win at Kingston SBH - 22nd November 2008
The women's squads enjoyed a change of scene this weekend on a varied 5km-course that winds past Hampton Court and the town of Kingston itself; a chance to hone racing skills in small boats through the long winter months. The athletes rose to the challenge and came home with a clutch of pots from winning a tidy percentage of the women's events, whilst friendly rivalries were fought in single sculls.

Congratulations to all of the winning crews:
WS2 4x - Maggie Paxton, Helen Ralston, Amy Propsting, Kara Wirt
WS3 4x - Lora Garrod, Gwen McCormack, Chloe S, Beks Edgar
WE 2x - Beks Edgar, Eva Bishop
WS2 2x - Anna Townsend, Chloe Aitken
WS3 2x - Sarah Murphy, Ellie Murphy
WS1 1x - Sarah Mee
WS2 1x - Sanjana
WS3 1x - Ruth Sander
WS4 1x - Amy Propsting
WN 1x - Lora Garrod

MAA Bonfire night party
7pm Saturday 1st November
Fireworks at 8pm
Entrance: £6 *
Bar open until 11pm
Bring your friends, family and flatmates.
* Entrance fee includes jacket potato and chilli (or vegetarian option)

GB senior trials

Ian Roots took 3 members of his group to Senior trials (consisting of a 2k ergo on Saturday, then a 5km single time trial on Sunday.
Chole Aitken was 5th only half a second off 4th in a world class field so a really outstanding result.
Ruth Sander was 9th and Ellie Murphy (u23) was 7th in her division which were good performances.

MAA AGM 12 Noon, 25 October
With our President Peter Haywood chairing, we had succinct AGM on Saturday, Luke Howells gave a good run down of the 2007-8 season (his last as captain) detailing some of the successes that the Senior Womens squad gained and the interest this has brought the club. He also talked about fleet improvements and on going plans to support each club member.
Rob Lloyd-Williams was elected Captain, supported by Sarah Blackburn and Matt Weston as Vice Captains. Julia Hedley is the new Treasurer, with Ian Roots and Kevin McEvoy supporting. Derek Van Der Brink is our new Secretary. the Hon Membership secretary is still John Treadwell. The committee comprises of Vanessa Matthews, Richard McEvoy and Lynda Elms. Luke Howells was elected a Vice President.

Weybridge Silver sculls
A beautiful fine day showing off Up River Thames head racing at it's best, brought home some early season silverware for the senior women. Wins in singles for: Sarah Cornick WS3; Kate Wright WS4 (Joy Skipper and Sarah Scrace-Field 'won' their categories of 1 person each (Vet C and S1). In doubles (both of the categories MAA crews entered) Sarah Murphy & Kara Wirt WS3 2x and Lora Garrod & Gwen McCormack WNV 2x

HIR - Mortlake girls help England Senior Women to retain title
Seven MAA girls made the final trip of the season down to Cardiff for the Home International Regatta. Those representing England brought back 5 golds between them.

England:
LW2x Anna Townsend /Olive Power Gold
LW1x Chloe Aitken 2nd
LW2- Rachel Hutchinson / Sarah Scrace-Field 2nd
W4x Anna/Olive/Chloe with Nicky Spencer from Exeter.

Wales:
W2- Tracy Corbett/ Lorna Brown 4th
W8+ Tracy/ Lorna 3rd

Guardian writer John Henley learns to row at Mortlake
Ian Roots and George Jones spent a day teaching one of the Guardian newspaper's writers to scull as part of a set of features where other writers learned to shot put, high jump and ride a BMX bike.
Full 'learn an olympic sport' article on Guardian site (about 3/4 down the page)
Couple of pictures of John learning - one with George in his typical coaching stance

Nationals - most golds so far - 12 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze
The senior girls slightly bettered their impressive medal tally at this year Nationals. 3 crews with Womens Henley medals under their belts proved their dominance by picking up gold in the same events. 1 crew turned a HWR result around to beat the medalists into 2nd place. Out of 13 possible lightweight medals, MAA brought home 12, in Quads, Fours, Doubles and Pairs.

At MAA we've got used to the senior women winning a great haul of medals at this event every year (2007 - 11 gold 5 silver 1 bronze; 2006 10 gold 3 silver 8 bronze), it should not be taken for granted. The girls (and their coaches) work extremely hard day-in-day-out for years to achieve these exceptional results, right at the top of GB club rowing. Gold medals were thinly spread over many clubs this year (which is great for British rowing in general) Leander got 7 wins but MAA came 2nd with 4 complete wins, Marlow, Maidenhead and Henley all had 3 wins plus a composite win. No Tideway clubs came close to MAA this year.

4 gold medal boats:
LW4x Sarah Mee, Kerrie Trembling, Ruth Sanders, Belinda Davies
LW4- Lorna Brown, Gwen McCormack, Jo Allen, Tracey Corbett
LW2x Anna Townsend, Olive Power
LW2- Rachel Hutchinson, Sarah Scrase-Field

Each of these were decisive victories, each crew having at least a length of clear water over the silver medal crews.

2 Silver
HW2x Anna Townsend / Olive Power
LW1x Deborah Mallinson

1 Bronze
U23 W2x Sarah Murphy, Kara Wirt

19 pots at Molesey
The intermediate groups kicked off a winning weekend for MAA with wins in 3 out of 4 events at Molesey Regatta. The men won S4 eights in a hard fought battle with HSBC which produced the fastest time of the day. The girls joined forces again with the veterans to race an eight at Vet C. Katarina Rolfsman made it 3rd time lucky to beat a field of 12 for her novice single sculling pot.

Open Senior 4 eights Jenni Allen coxing, Brett Greenwood (stroke), Alec Jones, Jeff Ginns, Phil Long, John Sutherland, Andy Reynolds, Matt Weston, Derek Van Den Brink (bow)
Womens Veteran C eights Adam Beake coxing, Joy Skipper (stroke), Anna Ramsden, Sarah Blackburn, Gabriella Smith, Marise Ent, Cathy Robertson, Chris Drake, Sheila Connelly (bow)
Womens novice singles Katarina Rolfsman

14 HWR medals in 6 different events
The girls have had a brilliant weekend at HWR. We had 32 competitors in 13 boats, including 3 composite crews. All the crews put in strong performances but the winners have shown the depth of talent in our lightweight womens group. Out of 6 possible events (4- 4x 2x 2- 1x and senior lwt 1x) we have come home with 4 trophies. Credit due to Ian Roots and George Jones for their hard work over the past year with this group.

The winners are:
Elite Eights (Sports Council Cup) Composite crew with Georgina Menheneott representing MAA
Elite Quad Sculls (Borne Cup) Composite - Anna McNuff (TSS), Lorna Norris, Tasha Smith, Rebecca Rowe (Rebecca)
Elite Lightweight Coxless Fours (Vesta Cup) Tracy Corbett, Gwen McCormack, Jo Allen, Lorna Brown
Elite Lightweight Quad Sculls (Rankine Trophy) Belinda Davies, Kerri Trembling, Ruth Sander, Sarah Mee
Elite Lightweight Double Sculls (Haslam Trophy) Anna Townsend & Olive Power
Senior Lightweight Sculls (Fiona Dennis Trophy) Chole Aitkin

Also worth a mention is MAA student member Harriet Keane who won Intermediate eights with Osiris.

Metropolitan regatta
With the entire senior womens squad plus the intermediate women and men the club was out in force. There were 4 wins from the senior women in W S2 4-, W S1 4x and W Lwt 2x on the Saturday and in W Lwt 2x on the Sunday. Many crews placed highly (2nd and 3rd) in their categories close to worthy winners.

Deborah wins at Twickenham
Deborah added to her pot collection with a win at S2 singles at Twickenham. Also racing were the intermediate double and veteran ladies quad. Some damp and windy conditions were experienced during the day but the sun did shine later on!

Borne @ Chiswick bridge - wins for intermediate women
The sun shone on the first of the 2 MAA based regattas. Although both are run by independent committees, they are very much a part of club life here at MAABC. We had people racing in singles to eights including novices, seniors and veterans. We achieved 2 wins in W S4 1x and WS 3 4+ (including new cox Julia's first pot 3 days after joining the ARA) and several finals places. The new pots are very nice and were admired by all.

Senior women win at Poplar
Due to a lack of space in the right events at Wallingford several crews did not race or raced at above their normal level. So Poplar was another chance to get some early season starts and silverware sorted out. They won in W S2 4-, W S1 2x and W S3 1x. Well done all.

Regatta season starts with win for novice men
The novice men kickstarted the regatta season with a good solid win in novice eights at Chiswick. The new S4 crew continues to go from strength to strength with an aim to qualify for HRR this year.

Head of the River ? Feb 2008
The mens novice 8 produced a solid performance at the recent Head of the River race, illustrating their potential for the forthcoming regatta season. Starting at 182 out of 420 crews, the crew set off at a rate of 34 for the first minute, settling at 30 for the remainder of the race. Rowing against tough competition around them, MAA overtook Emanuel School at Hammersmith Bridge, before pushing through the last gruelling third of the course to pass City of Derby. With cox Jenni Allen urging the crew to the ever elusive finish line, MAA finished 180 overall, and 5th out of 65 in the Novice class, beating the majority of S4 and S3 crews.
Crew: Matthew Weston (Bow), Alec Jones, John Sutherland, Derek van den Brink, Phil Long, Wayne Newton, Joe Steel, Brett Greenwood (Stroke), Jenni Allen (Cox)

Excellent win for Vet men at Hammermsmith
Beating 4 crews in their category (E/F) and on handicap beating all of the other veteran crews (10 in total including competition from quality clubs like London, Quintin and Bedford/Star). Our vets actual time was 12:30.44 41 out of 61 crews, (adjusted 11:17.44 which would have been 2nd on the river!) Great to see good quality racing from all aspects of the club.

Great novice result from Mens head
Our two mens crews from the novice/ intermediate mens group both had good races at the mens head. Previous crews (placings came from the outcome of the 2006 race) had left high starting positions so both crews had to put up with some overtaking, but then placed well within their own divisions. The novice (going off 2nd of our 2 boats) but technically the more proficient/stronger crew came 180th which was an excellent 5th out of 65 novices (2nd club crew home behind Thames) and the S4 boat were 356 which is respectable for a mainly novice crew.

Veterans head cancelled
The veterans head was cancelled - always disappointing for crews that have spent a longtime preparing for and looking forward to the good competition from similar crews that the major races bring. Sadly the weather does seem to claim the scalp of a major race every year.

2 Mortlake friends row to Paris
Nick Tittle, Mens Vet. Squad & Met Pol and Amy Green, (of PTRC noviced at MAA in 2005) are raising money for the British Heart Foundation by rowing from London to Paris in the first organised side by side race. Leaving Westminster Bridge on Friday 2nd May they will row 480 miles down the Thames, across the Channel and up the Seine, hoping to arrive at the Eiffel Tower on Thursday morning. Follow their progress and find out more about the event. on the Le Figa row website.

Four great results from Womens head
After a nervous last few hours watching the weather forecast (and the white horses on the waves outside the boathouse!) finally the hour for racing arrived and the wind dropped enough for the race to go ahead. A strong tailwind made for fast times down the course if a little gusty on the Putney / Fulham reach.
4 crews raced, showing the depth of the current womens groups at MAA this year - MAA A - S1 - finished 16th 20:06.98; MAA B S2 - 28th in 20:30.49; MAA C S3 - 61st in 21:01.59 and MAA D - S4 - 176th in 22:53.80 We also saw some familar faces racing in other crews - retired senior squad member Tasha Smith in the Henley/Upper Thames crew that came 18th and Helen Austin in the composite that came 7th. 2 students who spent the summer with us, Amy Nihad rowing for Cardiff University came 51, Harriet Keane racing at 6 in the Osiris B crew came 40th.

Mens HoRR coming up
The mens HoRR is on Saturday 15th March - MAA has 2 crews entered, S4 starting 121 and Novices starting 182. The MAA/Quintin composite crew which has been racing in recent weeks will race as Quintin starting 98. There are also entries for the Vets Head on Sunday 16th March.

Senior Women win at Hammersmith
The S1 womens crew (first boat of 2 from senior squad) won at the Hammersmith womens and juniors head. Raced over the same short course as the Quintin and Pairs Heads, this is the final preparation race before the Womens head (1st March). MAA had four crews racing, essentially the same crews who will race the Womens head - from the Senior group, S1 and S2 boats, from the intermediates S3 and essentially the Novices racing S4. We wish all the crews well next weekend.
The men are also preparing for their own big race - off to Reading this weekend, forcast looks good for some racing rather than a cancellation!

Anna Townsend places 1st in GB lwt womens trials
Held at Boston as usual, this final head race style time trial was a smaller than usual event, with the current GB althetes exempt from competition. However Anna had a good race to place 1st overall in the Lightweight womens category in a time that was 8 seconds ahead of 2nd place and would have placed her 5th in the heavyweight category. Well done Anna and good luck for future competition.

Upcoming races - eights heads
The main Eights head races are earlier than in previous years due to the early Easter and tide conditions. Next weekend is the last 'primer' for the women with the Hammersmith Womens and Juniors race, raced over the 'short course' Chiswick to Hammersmith. Then the main Womens Head of the River is on Saturday March 1st, followed by the Hammersmith Mens head on Sunday 2nd. The HoRR (mens head) is on 16th March this year, with the Veterans HoRR (full course, Chiswick to Putney this year) on Sunday 17th.
MAA will have 4 womens crew in both Hammersmith and the WeHoRR (2 from the senior group racing S2, 1 from the intermediate racing S3 and 1 mixed intermediate / novice racing S4). Any support on race day is most welcome!

Senior women win at Thames valley head trial
Okay so the MAA senior girls may have been the only entrants in their event (W Open 4-) but they raced the course (Dorney lake) 3 times each in different combinations and one boat finished the 3rd piece in 3rd place overall the division and ahead of several mens eights and all of the womens eights in that division. The time was the fastest womens boat overall that day beating a Marlow 8+ which had raced in the first division.

Quintin Head - Novice men and Veteran men win pennants
Congratulations to the Novice men who won their first event, after so many frustrating cancellations, they were pleased to get across the start line for once! They beat good competition (6 boats) in their category and were placed 17th overall - just 23 seconds behind the Quintin/MAA S2 composite crew. The Veteran men won their pennant, but were disappointed as local adversaries TSS had pulled out. They still beat the other VE crew by over a minute.
Thanks as usual to the kind people next door for running this event (right outside the club, thanks!) and giving us a chance to race in the run up to the main Tideway heads.

Tideway league - MAA novice men win first match
The novice men belatedly got racing underway in 2008 with a strong performance in the newly-formed Tideway League. Following the cancellation of the postponed Wallingford Head they were champing at the bit for some organised racing and a side-by-side challenge over the course that will comprise next week's Quintin Head was the perfect opportunity.
Full tideway league race report

© Copyright Mortlake Anglian & Alpha BC 1998-2010.