There will be a quiz night at the club on Saturday 11th February, starting at 7.00pm. Cost is £5 per person (includes food) and teams will be formed on the night. The bar will be open as well, so please come along and support the club, and find out who will be crowned MAA King or Queen of random trivia knowledge!
There is a sign-up sheet at the club - please add your name so we know how many people to cater for!
Two very well matched crews from the women's senior squad raced at Quintin Head on 28th January, finishing only half a second apart(!) and coming 11th and 12th out of the women's crews (77th and 78th overall). The IM1 crew finished 3rd in category and the IM2 crew finished a commendable 2nd in category only 4 seconds behind City of Oxford, the pennant winners. Following this promising beginning selection will now begin in earnest to form ranked crews as we move towards Women's Head of the River.
Tina Albrecht, a member of the senior group, kindly subbed into the intermediate women's crew, finding herself in the stroke seat! She led them to a solid performance, finishing a creditable 21st in the women's crews (101st overall).
There are four MAA women's crews racing this weekend at Quintin Head - three from the Senior Women's Squad, and one from the Masters Women's Squad. The race starts at 9.30am on Saturday, and runs from Chiswick bridge to Hammersmith bridge. All those racing would be very grateful for support from the bank, so if you're not racing then please do head down to the towpath to cheer on all the MAA crews! The race will be running with an official river closure for the first time, and the MAA crews to look out for are:
68. WIM1 8+
71. WIM1 8+
87. WMasB 8+
115. WIM2 8+
If you are not racing and planning to train on Saturday morning, then please do take into account the river closure - this runs from Kew Bridge to the Mile Post from 8.30am onwards. The river will re-open progressively from Chiswick Bridge as the last crew proceeds down the course and will completely re-open when the last crew finishes (150 crews are scheduled to start).
Courtesy of ex-MAA member Mike Asher, our extremely useful tide tables are now available for 2012 on our website and around the club. Remember to check them before going out on the water, taking special care when spring (extra high or low) tides are predicted. Any queries please contact the club safety advisor Noel Durkin (safety@maabc.com)
The MAABC Annual Dinner will be held on Saturday evening at London Rowing Club, with Mark Hunter, Olympic and World Champion as the guest speaker!
The guest list is now closed, but raffle tickets are still available - £2 for one or £5 for three, with some great prizes on offer. If you would like to buy tickets please contact Kate Tilbury (kate@maabc.com) - you don't need to be attending the dinner to buy raffle tickets, but if you will not be there on the night then please make sure you have nominated someone to choose your prize for you!
The Scullers’ Head this year was mild and fine (as opposed to last year!) with good conditions for racing. The women’s senior squad was represented largely by new and new to sculling members looking
to gain experience racing a single. A couple of old hands were also present in the form of Frankie Sanjana who was the fastest Mortlake sculler and the 11th fastest woman (173rd overall) and Beks Edgar racing in Masters A and coming 4th in her category.
New member Jen Bizley put in a strong performance finishing 2nd out of the Mortlake scullers and 3rd in IM2 Lwt women. The rest of the group showed some promising future potential performing well in the lower categories - notably youngster Suzahn Vermaak coming 3rd in women’s IM3, Alexa Sladowska coming 4th in women’s Novice and Mel Court–Smith (not to be confused with Mel Court of old!) coming 5th in IM3 Lwt.
Five of the Intermediate Veteran Women’s group also raced with strong performances from Anna Ramsden and Kat Rolfsman in particular who came 3rd and 4th in women’s Masters B. David Grylls
also took to the water, as our sole male representative, racing in Masters D and coming 16th in his category.
Full MAABC results below (see the Vesta Rowing club website for the overall results). Well done to all racers!
Frankie Sanjana W.Eli 5th in category, 173rd overall 23.22.03
Jen Bizley W.IM2.LWT 3rd in category, 291st overall 24.24.24
Beks Edgar W.MasA. 4th in category, 306th overall 24.34.53
Mel Court-Smith W.IM3.LWT 5th in category, 309th overall 24.35.07
Suzahn Vermaak W.IM3 3rd in category, 312th overall 24.38.75
Anna Ramsden W.MasB 3rd in category, 326th overall 24.46.61
Alexa Sladowska W.Nov 4th in category, 329th overall 24.48.53
Kat Rolfsman W.MasB 4th in category, 331st overall 24.48.86
David Grylls MasD 16th in category, 342nd overall 24.55.63
Rachel Drayson W.IM2.LWT 6th in category, 367th overall 25.15.13
Emily Dickinson W.IM3.LWT 10th in category, 375th overall 25.24.03
Jo Gapper W.MasB 5th in category, 384th overall 25.35.47
Joy Skipper W.MasD 4th in category, 389th overall 25.41.71
Gabriella Tose W.IM3 8th in category, 400th overall 25.51.22
The 58th Vesta Scullers Head will be held at 10.00am on Saturday 3rd December. We have 16 scullers racing in a wide variety of categories, and they would all appreciate your support either on the bank or down at the club. There will be a group of MAABC supporters at the White Hart (next to Barnes Bridge), from where you can get an excellent view of racing - please come along if you can!
The MAABC scullers racing are as follows (in race number order, with category in brackets):
98. Frankie Sanjana (W.ELI)
214. Beks Edgar (W Mas.A)
251. Jen Bizley (W IM.2 LWT)
252. Rachel Drayson (W IM.2 LWT)
227. Joanna Gapper (W Mas. B)
228. Anna Ramsden (W Mas. B)
229. Katarina Rolfsman (W Mas. B)
311. David Grylls (Mas. D)
359. Joy Skipper (W Mas. D)
369. Laura Campbell (W Mas. D)
488. Alexa Szladowska (W NOV)
499. Suzahn Vermaak (W IM.3)
507. Gabriella Tose (W IM.3)
513. Dani Charles (W IM.3 LWT)
515. Emily Dickinson (W IM.3 LWT)
516. Mel Court-Smith (W IM.3 LWT)
The full draw is available here: http://www.vestarowing.co.uk/events/vesta-scullers-head/vesta-scullers-head-2011-draw
The day after the Fours Head it was the turn of the veterans and IM3 crews. 212 crews faced conditions that were considerably more challenging than on the Saturday.
Mortlake again had 5 entries and were dominant in Veteran B winning both men and women’s veteran B 4x.
Congratulations to both crews (Ian Roots (b), Richard Allen, Jimmy Di Luzio and Mark Chatwin (s) of Quintin. Laura Campbell (b), Gabriella Tose, Anna Ramsden and Katarina Rolfsman (s)).
Vet B 4x 00:20:49.6 (8th overall and 4th Veteran crew) PENNANT WINNER!
W Vet B 4x 00:23:25.8 (108th overall) PENNANT WINNER!
Vet F 4x 00:23:51.09 time only (126th equivalent / 5th in division)
W Vet A 4x 00:24:28.22 (149th overall /6th in category, with a last minute sub in the stroke seat)
W Vet E 4x 00:26:11.35 (200th overall /4th in category).
A fantastic day of racing in good conditions and a great spectacle with 520 crews participating. A strong set of results for the Mortlake women in a year when there was a formidable GB squad presence.
W Elite 4x- 140 (8th women’s crew ) 20:38.98
W Elite Lwt 4x- 187 (12th women’s crew / third in category) 21:00.89
W IM1 4x- 260 (25th women’s crew / 13th in category) 21:34.39
W Elite Lwt 4x- 278 (32nd women’s crew) 21:42.36
W IM1 4- 370 (3rd in category, 20 secs behind the winners, a frustrating race for the crew who were impeded by another crew and otherwise would have been contenders for the pennant) 22:51.05.
The club held its AGM at the end of October and appointed a committee for the coming year:
Captain – Sarah Ulliott
Vice Captain – Anna Roots
Secretary & Safety Advisor – Noel Durkin
Treasurer – Luke Howells
Assistant Treasurers – Ian Roots & Kevin McEvoy
Committee Members – Peter Roberts, Katarina Rolfsman, Ruth Sander & Anastasia (Starz) Watterston
Nina Padwick and Peter Haywood both continue in their roles as Presidents of the club. Nina will act as Chair of the Committee for the forthcoming year. The committee also includes those Vice Presidents who have declared their intention of serving.
The AGM notices are up on the website now, please do read them and come along.
Sarah, Gemma, Beks, Rachel and Lora from the Senior Womens group swapped their boat and blades for trainers and all successfully completed the Berlin Marathon Sunday 25 September 2011. Most of the group have had just 8 weeks to train for the run following the end of the 2011 regatta season and have had a catalogue of resulting injuries between them, which made making even the start line a challenge for Rachel and Beks in particular.
The star of 'Team Mortlake' on the day was undoubtedly 'Smee' (Sarah Mee) who completed her first marathon in an amazing 3:25:56, Gemma Peck followed in 3:44:04 with Beks, Rachel and Lora all closely together finishing in 3:50:09, 3:51:21 and 3:53:35 respectively. The team were very proud to have everyone finish in under 4 hours. Also worthy of note are old MAA senior squad member turned runner Phoebe Sanders who clocked an awesome 3:14:34 and Suzanne Riley who run a very creidtable 4:18:16.
Rebekah, Gemma, Sarah and Rachel were all running in aid of leukeamia and lymphoma research following the loss of Rebekah's friend Vicky on 10 May 2011 to the disease. Thanks to the generosity of many the group have already raised over £1600 but would love to top £2000. If you are able to support the girls and donate to this worthwhile cause you can do so by visiting www.justgiving.com/mortlake-girls-run-berlin. Thank you in advance.
Check out the girls at the finish in their MAA running vests! (L-R Lora, Rachel, Smee, Beks and Gemma)
Jane Pryce-Jones, Jo Gapper, Laura Campbell and Katarina Rolfsman travelled to Poznan in Poland to compete at the World Masters Regatta on 8-11 September. All competed in a double and a quad on both Friday and Saturday. The competition was very tough, all crews raced well, and came in ahead of a number of crews from around Europe. The conditions were pretty hideous on the Friday, but the sun came out on the Saturday. The Regatta was really well organised and the venue was amazing. It was a great experience to race on such a great course. Although we didn’t come back with any medals, we all really enjoyed ourselves and are keen to have another go next year.
After the sucess of our previous BBQ event, we're holding another one! Come, bring your friends and family and sample our yummy food and beer while relaxing in the lovely club house.
Can't promise nice weather, but the welcome will be warm and sunny!
Family discount for more than 2 adults - £8 per adult.
Helpers needed - please contact Katarina Rolfsman for more details, or use the sign up sheet at the club to let us know what you can do!
The Masters Women travelled to Oxford to race in their last domestic regatta for the season. This is a really lovely regatta on the Isis with part of the course in front of the college boathouses. The course is round a gentle bend with some steering hazards in the shape of trees, oncoming traffic in the navigation lane and a bank that doesn't run parallel to the racing line (when do they?) All this adds up to some great fun-to-watch racing.
Laura Campbell started the day off with an early race in WNov 1x. After a hard fought race Laura lost by 2 lengths.
MAA entered two doubles in WMas B 2x and both won their semi finals (against Ardingly and Falcon) to make it an all Mortlake final where Jo Gapper (bow) and Katarina Rolfsman beat Anna Ramsden (bow) and Gabriella Tose by 2 lengths. This was Jo’s first sculling win so she got her novice pot – Well done Jo!!
In the afternoon racing Anna Ramsden and Katarina Rolfsman competed in WMas B 1x but unfortunately neither made it through a round, it was great to see such a big competitive entry in a masters event - it was eventually won by ex-MAA member Emily Booker.
Laura Campbell and Jo Gapper then raced WNov Mas 2x and won the event easily against a crew from Reading. This was Laura’s first sculling win so she got her novice pot too! Well done to a very well deserved pot Laura!
MAA also raced a composite womens eight with some friends from Furnival, the crew was unlucky twice - firstly their opposition in a straight final scratched, and second they were disqualified in the fun sprint event after clashing with the other crew on that notorious bend. Full results on the Oxford City Royal Regatta website
It was a most enjoyable end to a very successful regatta season for the group.
Gabriella Tose raced her single at Stourport Regatta and won the final at IM2 level (having got through a tough semi final against a local competitor who also raced for Reading Uni at Henley).
She also raced a composite double with a girl from Worcester RC at IM3 level. They got through to final, but lost against Ross RC, having only trained once together in Worcester. Stourport boatclub website
8 Mortlake athletes from the Women's senior squad traveled up to a sunny Strathclyde Park last weekend having been selected to compete at the Home International Regatta (see below for British Rowing championships results). The club had athletes representing England, Wales and Scotland and brought home 4 gold medals for England:
Ruth Sander and Helen Ralston represented England in the W Lwt 2x and the W 4x and were victorious in both events clearly leading from the start and with open water at the finish.
Rebekah Edgar and Lorna Brown represented Wales in the W Lwt 2- and W 2-, coming second in the lightweight category and third in the openweight division.
Francesca Sanjana represented Scotland in the W 1x, W 2x and W 4x finishing second in the 1x, third in the 2x and fourth in the 4x.
Alexa Sladowska and Sarah Cornick represented England in the W Lwt 2- coming third - MAA provided 2 out of 3 boats for this event - the winners were the Scottish pair who also won at HWR and the British Championships.
Danielle Charles represented Wales in the W Lwt 1x, W Lwt 2x and W 4x, coming third in the Lwt 1x, fourth in the Lwt 2x and third in the 4x.
An enjoyable day of racing in some good, fast conditions with the chance to celebrate a long and successful season at the party laid on by the hosts (see photo!)
Full results on Scottish Rowing website (word document format)
(Back row left-right) Sarah Cornick, Frankie Sanjana, Helen Ralston, Ian Roots, Beks Edgar, Dani Charles, Lorna Brown
(front row) Alexa Sladowska, Ruth Sander
W1x Gold - Frankie Sanjana – additionally selected to represent Scotland at Home Countries
LW4- Gold - Lora Garrod, Anna, Starz Watterson, Caris Marsh
LW4x Gold – Helen Ralston, Sarah Mee, Ruth Sander, Anna Townsend
LW2x Gold – Helen Ralston, Ruth Sander – additionally selected to represent England at the Home Countries
LW2– Silver – Lorna Brown, Beks Edgar - additionally selected to represent Wales at the Home Countries
LW2- Bronze – Sarah Cornick, Alexa Szladowska - additionally selected to represent England at the Home Countries
LW2x - Bronze – Rachel, Hayley Kugele
Additionally, Dani Charles was selected to represent Wales in the LW2x
A fantastic set of results for the club, very well done to all the athletes, coaches and supporters who have worked hard to make this happen.
Best of luck to the 8 athletes representing 3 of the 4 Home Countries next weekend.
British Rowing Championships website (for race times and results)
Rachel Brighton and Chrissy Richardson won Intermediate 3 Doubles, Anna Ramsden and Katarina Rolfsman won Masters B Doubles. There were lots of other MAA crews in action with some tight finishes but no silverware, Intermediate Womens 2-, Womens Mas D/E 4x, Open Masters D 2x and Open Masters F/G 4x - great to see so many crews out at this event.
Henley Masters Regatta (8-9 July):
Anna Ramsden and Katarina Rolfsman competed in WMB 2x. They beat Weybridge in the first round by 4 lengths. Their opposition scratched in the quarter final. They came up against a German crew in a very gusty semi final. The German crew won by 2.5 lengths and also went on to win the event. Henley Masters regatta website
Henley Royal Regatta (29 June -3 July):
The Lwt 4x raced the Australian squad and lost (although they led for the first 10 strokes)! Not a huge surprise but a great experience and useful training for nationals!
Holland Bekker Regatta (25/26 June):
An international regatta attended by many European national squad crews and top end club athletes. Frankie Sanjana attended in her 1x and performed extremely well racing against the likes of Karsten (arguably the best female single sculler in the world), producing a huge PB and reaching the B final (regatta website).
Richmond Regatta (25 June)
Gabrilla Tose and Laura Campbell competed at Richmond Regatta in IM3 1x and Wnov 1x respectively, by sheer coincidence they both faced the same opposition from Thames (Hodgson) who got through to the final in both events, winning the novice event. Richmond Regatta website
Henley Royal Qualifiers (24 June)
Our Lwt 4x of Helen Ralston, Sarah Mee, Ruth Sander and Anna Townsend succeeded in qualifying in the Princess Grace Women's Quad Sculls event and have drawn the Australian Institute of Sport A(!)
Henley Womens Regatta (17-19 June)
Mortlake was represented in 5 finals at Women’s Henley
Finals contested were - Lwt 4x, Lwt 4-, Lwt 2-, Intermediate 8+, Elite 1x. Our crews all raced well but were pipped at the post in closely contested races - against GB squad or recent GB squad members in a several of cases. Henley Womens Regatta website
Marlow Amateur Regatta (Dorney Lake) (Sunday 19 June):
This event is specially designed to be the standard international competitive Masters distance of 1000m to help crews preparing for Henley Masters Regatta and the World Masters event. Two MAA doubles attended, racing in Womens Masters B, the event was won by Anna Ramsden and Kat Rolfsman beating a Cambridge University and Cambridge City BC composite crew by nearly 13 seconds. Gabriella Tose and Laura Cambell who are a WMC crew competing in a WMB event came third in the event only 5 seconds behind the Cambridge composite crew (over 1000m a C crew would normally get a 6 second handicap advantage). Marlow Amateur Regatta website
Reading Amateur Regatta (Saturday 11 June):
The Intermediate 8+ continued their preparation for Women’s Henley by competing at the Saturday of Reading Amateur Regatta. The 8+ won their heat against UCL to reach the final which they lost to Groton School USA by 1 1/3 lengths. Reading Amateur Regatta website
Barnes and Mortlake Regatta (Saturday 11 June):
Gabriella Tose had a convincing win in WVB1x against TSS (Limbrick) winning by 2.5 lengths. Laura Cambell competed in WNov 1x and lost in a hard fought heat. Anna Ramsden and Kat Rolfsman won IM3 2x against The American School of London by 3.5 lengths. Anna Ramsden and Kat Rolfsman then went on to win the semi-final in WMB2x against TSS. The final was due to be an all MAA against Laura Campbell and Gabriella Tose, but unfortunately it was postponed due to thunder and lightning. The final is still to be arranged. Barnes and Mortlake Results
Metropolitan Regatta (4 & 5 June):
A strong entry at Metropolitan with a win for our Lwt 4- in W Int1 4- (Lora Garrod, Vicky Sampson, Starz Watterston and Caris Marsh) and Frankie Sanjana in W Sen 1x on the Saturday. There were several other solid performances including the Lwt 4x racing in Elite 4x coming 3rd behind a GB junior boat and a GB U23 boat, beating another 2 GB boats in the process. Metropolitan Regatta website
Twickenham Regatta 28 May:
2 members of the Mortlake women’s squad (Suz Riley and Rachel Crockford) teamed up with 2 Furnivall rowers and a cox to win Women’s IM2 4+, beating Sons of the Thames in their heat and Furnivall in the final. The Masters women also attended with Laura Campbell racing novice singles. Laura Campbell and Gabriella Tose raced Masters C doubles, after a hard fought final, they lost by 2 lengths. Twickenham Regatta website
Worcester Regatta 21 May:
Gabriella Tose travelled to Worcester in search of an elusive Novice sculling win - she won in fine style beating local opposition from Worcester Rowing Club by 2 lengths - click thumbnail for photo of Gabriella Worcester Regatta results (PDF)
Womens squad win Victor Ludorum at Poplar regatta (Sunday 15 May)
After multi lane racing disappoinment when Wallingford was called off a couple of weeks ago, the senior womens group had a very successful day at Poplar Regatta despite pretty horrible, extremely challenging racing conditions and very slow times ending up as the most successful women’s club winning the Victor Ludorum.
Results as follows:
Wins: 5
· Singles: Frankie Sanjana won Senior and Elite
· Pair : (Becs Edgar and Lorna Brown) won Senior
· Coxless Four: (Lora Garrod, Vicky Samson, Starz Watterson and Caris Marsh) won IM1 and Senior
Other results:
· Women’s VIII - 2nd in IM2 and IM1
· Quad – 2nd in Elite
· 2 doubles – 2nd and 3rd in IM2
· Pair – 2nd in Elite
· Coxed four: 2nd in IM2
Borne @ Chiswick Bridge Regatta Saturday 7 May:
Organised from our club house by the Borne committee, saw several crews from the club racing including a few wins. Anna Ramsden and Katarina Rolfsman won Womens Masters B 2x against TSS, Lynda Elms also beat a TSS sculler in Womens Masters E 1x. There was a straight final between two MAA Masters E 4x - disappointing not to have any opposition from outside the club, but a good chance to get some race practice in - at least it meant MAA took home the silverware! Borne regatta website
BUCS (British Universities Championships)Saturday 30 April – Monday 2 May:
Helen Ralston raced at BUCS in the Lwt 2x and came second. This means that there is a strong possibility of her being selected for EUSA (European Universities Sports Association Rowing Championships) in Moscow this August. (As with Wallingford conditions were terrible and racing was shortened to 1000m). BUCS Regatta website
Wallingford Regatta Sunday 1 May:
The first regatta of the season and a chance to try out some crew combinations. Unfortunately the event was cancelled mid way due to bad weather and so only a few boats got onto the water to contest heats. A frustrating day for athletes and coaches. Wallingford Regatta website
Devizes to Westminster Canoe Marathon 22-23 April:
Coach Ian Roots and former club member Clive Ferris completed the ‘DW’ (aka the Canoeist's Everest) in 25 hours 15 minutes which placed them as 48th out of 111 finishers plus over 40 crews who did not manage to complete the race. Ian was a late substitute for Clive’s original partner, who was unfortunately unwell, and only had 2 weeks canoe training instead of the recommended 6 months! DW website
Women’s Head of the River Race 2011 (19th March)
Mortlake once again produced a very strong performance at the Women’s Head of the River on March 19th 2011 with three boats finishing within the top 41 places out of 296 crews demonstrating the depth of the women’s senior squad at the club.
After last year’s Club pennant win, hopes (and pressure) were high for the first VIII to produce another winning performance. Preparation went well and it was extremely unfortunate that a sub was required on the day due to illness, however the crew went on to have an excellent and attacking race leaving the chasing Thames crew behind and catching the Italian crew in front, an unusual achievement within the top 10 starters. The first VIII finished in 8th position; unfortunately the club pennant was missed by 3 seconds this year to a strong Agecroft crew, which included a GB international squad member.
Having battled it out in training in the preceding weeks the 2nd and 3rd VIII’s demonstrated the value of such strong internal competition finishing in close proximity in 37th and 41st place.
The masters B crew (weekend masters group) racing IM2 had a good race with a result probably showing limited winter training time.
8th (IM1), 37th (IM1), 41st (IM2) and 148th (IM2).
Vesta Veteran Head of the River Race 2011 (3rd April)
W Masters A – Pennant winners and fastest women’s crew (48th overall)
(Sarah Mee, Anna Townsend, Georgina Menheneott Phillips, Gemma Peck, Chloe Stohart, Chrissie Richardson, Sarah Cornick, Dani Charles, Andrew Dobson (Cox)).
The senior women’s squad, recently returned from training camp in Seville, entered a Masters A crew which although only put together the day before went into the race with every intention of winning in a strong entry including crews from Thames, Vesta and the ever dangerous veteran women at Barnes Bridge. They duly did so convincingly finishing as the fastest women’s crew of the day by a comfortable margin and an impressive 48th overall (out of 204 crews).
Masters E (composite with the Met Police and Aberdeen BC) – 16th in category and 120th overall
W Masters B (weekend masters) – 6th in category and 155th overall
W Masters D + (E) (weekday masters) – 7th in category 198th overall
Fastest womens crew, 13th overall and IM1 pennant at Hammersmith Womens and Juniors head.
The last of the tideway 'warm up' races before the Womens head, MAA had 3 crews all racing IM1 in a field of 34 womens crews. All three crews did very well in good conditions, with the first boat placing 13th overall, first womens boat and winning the IM1 pennant - their time of 12:16.1 was 4 seconds clear of the next womens crew (LEH racing Elite) and 13.2 seconds ahead of the next IM1 crew.
The second crew were 5th women overall, 3rd in IM1, in a time of 12:39.1 followed closely by the third crew in a time of 12:55.7.
Full results available http://www.akrowing.com
This site is updated periodically. Contributions are very welcome and should be emailed to ruth@maabc.com.
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