LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT YEAR - 2024/2025
Save the date! Friday 6th December: 1828 Society Drinks in OSCR following Fairbairn’s Cup Races
OVERVIEW
Josh Moore (President)
Now that the May Bumps are over and the wet tents from the garden party (huge thanks to all those who still came out in droves to support us!) have been put away, we are already busy making plans for another great year.
GROWING THE CLUB
We recently sat down as a new committee to plot out our strategy to build up the club this year. We agreed that the main aim is to be bigger. To improve our squads, we need strength and depth in our sides, so the focus will be to have a really effective recruitment drive at the start of term. To this end, we have organised a BBQ for all Queens’ students to attend at the very start of term. There will be an opportunity to give rowing a try, see the boathouse and our facilities and meet our coaching team and squad members. For all new students, details of this event are also published in the Fresher’s Calendar.
Moreover, as we move into Michaelmas term, we are organising a weekly college circuits session, open to anyone from Queens’. The aim of this is to increase the club’s visibility to college members beyond the BBQ and into term and hopefully encourage people to join us for circuits, even if they are not rowing with us. We hope this will be a cool opportunity for Queens’ members to get together and do some exercise – a welcome break from the stress of work.
To build our squads, we also need a better coaching system to cater for more members and their different needs. We are really lucky to have Ed Parkhouse joining us this year as the women’s Head Coach, alongside Freya Watts, as the new women’s Captain. Ed did a great job of coaching W1 last Mays, so it is exciting news that he has decided to fully commit to Queens’ this year and take on the Head Coach role. Freya is also unusually well-qualified for a captain. She has a formal coaching qualification herself. She is a huge asset to the women’s side, and we can’t wait to see how she builds on the strength in the squad from Leena Mueller-Koegler’s captaincy. The squad has already seen significant success with Gigi Pezier and Orla Mantle winning the club 8+ category with CUBC at the British Rowing Senior Championships in Nottingham – a brilliant start to the year. Well done Gigi and Orla – flying the flag for QCBC!
Seeking to emulate the women’s success, Rob has drawn up thorough plans for this year. Alongside Christian Scott, the men’s captain, Rob will transition the side from a very cohesive group who trust and understand each other into a competitive selection of men’s eights which can expect to bump in both Lents and Mays this year. This is only possible thanks to the hard work put in by outgoing men’s captain, Gus Molyneux. Both the senior men and senior women have had stringent summer training programs, the rewards of which will, no doubt, show on the water very soon.
Finally, Chiara Dell’Orfanello has kindly agreed to create a QCBC video to help promote us and get everyone excited about the start of term. This will be posted on our social media platforms in September, so look out for it to see some of the footage we have taken this year. Watch this space.
IMPROVING OUR FACILITIES
When I was elected president, I wanted to get our facilities cleaned up. We are full of energy as club, so the buildings should reflect that. We are very lucky, that the maintenance team, led by Kevin Hoover, agreed to refurbish our gym for us over the summer. We are very grateful to them for this. They have repainted all the walls and will shortly be sanding down and revarnishing the gym floor for us. This will provide a fresh start for the new term; not least because it was a good chance to have a proper clear up and hopefully make some space to invest in a set of dumbbells for the gym.
It has also long been a dream of our coaches, to be able to take out an entire crew in small boats. I am pleased to share that we now have purchased two second hand pairs that will make this possible alongside the collection of sculls we already have. Club members have been using the small boats over the summer and we hope we can make some entries into the Small Boats Head on the first weekend of October.
PRE-SEASON CAMP
Given our aim is to grow the club’s numbers, we also need our current members to be ambassadors for QCBC in the college community. Hence, we will be running a pre-season camp for senior club members on the 3rd October – 6th October in an effort to not only hit the ground running with their own water training but also get the whole club excited about the successful year ahead. Captains will present their plans for the season to the club and Rob and Ed, the coaches, will set out their programs for the year. We will also have talks on nutrition and strength and condition in an effort to give our members the best chance of success and to equip them to be able to manage rowing alongside their main priority: study!
Seniors are those who have rowed for at least one year before, so if you are new to Queens’ but have rowed before, you would be very welcome at our pre-season camp. Please reach out to qcbc-president@srcf.net.
Rosie Freeman, the newly elected Coxes’ Captain, will be leading a specialised training program for new and existing coxes to improve their skills with the help of the coaches. This will give our coxes the best chance to tackle the tricky corners of the Cam as our boats get faster as the training goes up a level.
Once we progress beyond the pre-season camp and the novice recruitment period, Brian Cuce will take the lead in organising our annual QErgs indoor rowing competition in the first weekend of November. We will then look to translate all our training into strong performances on the water in the Fairbairn Cup. Novice crews will race on Thursday 5th December and senior crews will race on Friday 6th December. We are hoping to also have a strong alumni presence both racing and also supporting at the Fairbairn Cup. If racing or coming to the river to support might interest you, please reach out to qcbc-president@srcf.net. We would love to have you with us on either day at Fairbairn’s or at other races throughout the term. Don’t be a stranger!
1828 SOCIETY
We are pleased to announce that, building on the work of previous committees, we have set up an official alumni society for QCBC. The Queens’ Alumni & Development Office now manages this for us. The society takes its name from our year of establishment, 1828. The idea is that for a small contribution of £18.28 per month, quarter, or year, we will have the funds to better organise andrun alumni events to keep current and former members of the boat club connected. To this end, we will be organising a drinks reception in the OSCR for all 1828 members alongside our Fairbairn’s celebration drinks in Old Hall for the students. Held on the Friday of Fairbairn’s (6th December 2024), this will be a great opportunity for alumni and students to meet and for the current members to show their gratitude to alumni for the support they give us. New members are strongly encouraged, as we grow this initiative, in the hope that it will, in time, provide a source of funds to invest in our equipment and coaching costs too. If you are interested in joining, please either email me or Emily Walsh from the Alumni Office at development@queens.cam.ac.uk.
EXCITEMENT FOR THE NEW TERM
As Michaelmas will inevitably come around quickly, the excitement is building amongst members. We have done more training this summer than in any holiday I can remember in my time at Queens’. Lots of different people are making huge contributions to the club to make this term a success which does not go unnoticed. Thanks to all the Committee, Alumni, current members and College Teams such as the Alumni Office, Maintenance and Catering who are key to the Boat Club’s success. Here’s to a great year.
SOME KEY DATES
October 3rd -6th Senior pre-season training camp
October 7th 2pm - 4pm – BBQ for potential new members
October 12th – Pairs Head and Autumn Head
November 3rd – QErgs Indoor rowing competition
November 9th – Cambridge Winter Head
November 24th – Fours Head
December 5th & 6th – Fairbairn Cup
December 6th – 1828 Society Drinks in OSCR